Choose Your Board¶
SpoolSense supports four ESP32 board variants.
ESP32-WROOM DevKit (Recommended)¶
The most common and beginner-friendly option.
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Board | Freenove ESP32-WROOM (recommended) |
| Chip | ESP32-D0WD-V3, dual-core 240MHz |
| Flash | 4MB |
| USB | USB-C |
| GPIO | 30+ available pins |
| Status LED | External SK6812 RGBW (optional wiring) |
| Price | ~$3-5 (2-pack available) |
Pros:
- Widely available, well-documented
- Plenty of GPIO for all peripherals (LCD + keypad + NFC reader)
- Cheaper
Cons:
- Larger form factor
- No onboard RGB LED
ESP32-S3-Zero / S3-Zero-M (Waveshare)¶
A compact option with USB-C and onboard RGB LED. Available in two variants:
- ESP32-S3-Zero — requires soldering pin headers yourself
- ESP32-S3-Zero-M — comes with pre-soldered pin headers (ready to use with dupont wires)
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Chip | ESP32-S3 |
| Flash | 4MB |
| USB | USB-C |
| GPIO | Limited (USB uses GPIO 19/20) |
| Status LED | Onboard WS2812 RGB (no wiring needed) |
| Price | ~$6-8 |
Pros:
- Very small form factor
- Onboard RGB LED (always available, no wiring)
Cons:
- Fewer available GPIO pins
- LCD + keypad together is not recommended (pin conflicts)
- Slightly more expensive
ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1 (Espressif)¶
A full-featured development board with 16MB flash and 8MB PSRAM. Best for builds that want separate SPI buses for NFC and TFT.
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Board | ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1-N16R8 |
| Chip | ESP32-S3, dual-core 240MHz |
| Flash | 16MB |
| PSRAM | 8MB (octal SPI) |
| USB | USB-C (two ports: UART + USB) |
| GPIO | 30+ available pins |
| Status LED | Onboard WS2812 RGB on GPIO 48 |
| Price | ~$8-12 |
Pros:
- 16MB flash + 8MB PSRAM for future features
- Separate SPI buses — PN5180 on SPI2, TFT on SPI3 (no bus contention)
- Onboard RGB LED (no external wiring)
- Plenty of GPIO for all peripherals
Cons:
- Larger than S3-Zero
- Two USB ports can be confusing (use the UART port for serial output)
ESP32-C3 SuperMini¶
A tiny, inexpensive RISC-V board (HORNAXYS, Waveshare, and other clones). Scoped build: NFC reader + I2C LCD + WS2812 status LED only.
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Chip | ESP32-C3 (single-core RISC-V, 160 MHz) |
| Flash | 4MB |
| PSRAM | None |
| USB | USB-C (native USB-Serial/JTAG) |
| GPIO | 13 exposed pins (0–10, 20, 21) |
| Status LED | External WS2812 (onboard LED is single-color blue, not RGB) |
| Price | ~$2-4 |
Pros:
- Cheapest option by a wide margin
- Very small footprint (about the size of a US quarter)
- No soldering required on most clones (pre-tinned headers)
Cons:
- No TFT support — single usable SPI controller is dedicated to the NFC reader
- No keypad support — pin budget too tight
- No PSRAM, less flash headroom for future features
- Strap pins on GPIO 2, 8, 9 require care when wiring (see PN5180 wiring)
Which Should I Choose?¶
| If you want... | Choose |
|---|---|
| Cheapest build, smallest footprint | ESP32-C3 SuperMini |
| Simplest build, most GPIO | ESP32-WROOM |
| LCD + keypad + NFC reader | ESP32-WROOM |
| Smallest possible scanner (LCD + NFC) | ESP32-S3-Zero or ESP32-C3 |
| Onboard LED (no wiring) | ESP32-S3-Zero or S3-DevKitC |
| PN5180 + TFT on separate SPI buses | ESP32-S3-DevKitC |
| Most flash + PSRAM | ESP32-S3-DevKitC |
Note
Each board has its own firmware binary. The installer and web flasher handle board selection automatically.
Have a different ESP32?
If you have a different ESP32 board and want it supported, open an issue with the board name and specs. Most ESP32 variants can be added with just a pin mapping update.