Summary of MEET ESP32-C3 BOARD ON TOP OF A RECHARGEABLE 16340 BATTERY
LILYGO has released the TTGO T-OI PLUS, an ESP32-C3 board with a rechargeable 16340 LiPo battery holder designed for very low power use. Its single-core RISC-V SoC draws about 5 µA in deep sleep and 130 µA in light sleep, far lower than ESP8266/ESP32. The board supports on-board charging, battery monitoring via A0 voltage divider, three status LEDs (Green UART, Blue charging, Red power), and shares T-OI ESP8266 headers for expansion compatibility. A community tweak removing the Red LED reduced deep sleep current from 1 mA to 110 µA.
Parts used in the TTGO T-OI PLUS:
- ESP32-C3 single-core RISC-V SoC
- Rechargeable 16340 LiPo battery
- On-board battery charging circuit
- Voltage divider connected to Pin A0 for battery monitoring
- Green LED (UART communication indicator)
- Blue LED (charging indicator)
- Red LED (always-ON power indicator)
- Board headers compatible with T-OI ESP8266 expansion modules
What can be better than ESP8266 and ESP32? Maybe a battery-powered ESP32-C3 board designed to provide lower power consumption.
LILYGO® has just launched an ESP32-C3 board with a rechargeable 16340 battery holder. The new board, aptly named LILYGO TTGO T-OI PLUS consumes lesser power as its SoC single-core RISC-V processor uses 5uA and 130uA in deep and light sleep modes respectively in contrast to its counterparts’ ESP8266 and ESP32 which consume approximately 20uA and 2000uA in deep and light sleep modes respectively.
The TTGO T-OI PLUS is furnished with the capability of charging the LiPo battery attached through its charging circuit. The board’s battery level can be monitored with software with a few lines of code to read the voltage divider signature on its Pin A0. The board also comes with 3 LEDs — Green (indicates communication over UART), Blue (charging indicator) and Red (always-ON power indicator). A GitHub user who made a little tweak with the board said the Red LED can be killed manually by taking it off with a screwdriver. This tweak however lowered the overall deep sleep current from 1mA to 110uA, which undoubtedly is acceptable if one would like to prevent quick battery discharge.
The TTGO T-OI PLUS board also has the same headers pinout with the T-OI ESP8266 board, so it’s safe to say that both have expansion modules that are compatible.
Read more: MEET ESP32-C3 BOARD ON TOP OF A RECHARGEABLE 16340 BATTERY
- How much current does the ESP32-C3 consume in deep sleep compared to ESP8266 and ESP32?
The ESP32-C3 consumes about 5uA in deep sleep versus approximately 20uA for ESP8266 and around 20uA for ESP32 as reported in the article. - How much current does the ESP32-C3 consume in light sleep compared to ESP8266 and ESP32?
The ESP32-C3 consumes about 130uA in light sleep while ESP8266 and ESP32 consume approximately 2000uA in light sleep. - Can the TTGO T-OI PLUS charge its battery on board?
Yes, the board is furnished with a charging circuit to charge the attached LiPo battery. - How can battery level be monitored on the TTGO T-OI PLUS?
The battery level can be monitored in software by reading the voltage divider signature on Pin A0. - What do the three LEDs on the board indicate?
Green indicates UART communication, Blue indicates charging, and Red is an always-ON power indicator. - Can the Red LED be disabled to reduce sleep current?
Yes, a GitHub user removed the Red LED manually, reducing deep sleep current from 1mA to 110uA. - Is the TTGO T-OI PLUS compatible with T-OI ESP8266 expansion modules?
Yes, it has the same headers pinout as the T-OI ESP8266, so expansion modules are compatible.
