Wemos LOLIN C3 Mini board is powered by Espressif ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V microcontroller and follows the company’s earlier Wemos D1 Mini (ESP8266) and LOLIN S2 Mini (ESP32-S2) form factor for compatibility with the original stackable Wemos D1 shields.
The tiny board comes with 4MB flash embedded in the ESP32-C3 chip, a USB Type-C connector, reset and user buttons, as well as sixteen through holes for GPIOs, VBUS, 3.3V, and ground signals.
LOLIN C3 Mini V1.0.0 specifications:
- SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-C3FH4 single-core 32-bit RISC-V (RV32IMC) microcontroller up to 160 MHz with 400 KB SRAM, 4MB Flash
- Connectivity – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE (in SoC)
- Expansion headers – 2x 8-pin headers with up to 12x GPIO, ADC, I2C, SPI, UART (3.3V I/O voltage)
- USB – 1x Type-C USB for 5V power and programming
- Misc – Reset button and button 0 also used to enter Device Firmware Upgrade (DFU)
- Dimensions – 34.3 x 25.4 mm
- Weight – 2.4 grams
The board comes pre-installed with MicroPython, but can also be programmed with Arduino and the ESP-IDF. You’ll find tutorials to get started with either MicroPython or Arduino in the Wiki.
The board design is closer to the one for Wemos/LOLIN D1 Mini, as it does not come with the double rows of I/O headers found in LOLIN S2 Mini made possible with the additional GPIOs found in ESP32-S2 SoC. Having said that, the latest version of LOLIN D1 Mini board (V4.0.0), replaces the user button with an I2C connector, and C3 Mini is the only board to also support Bluetooth (Low Energy).

LOLIN C3 Mini can be purchased for $4.10 on Aliexpress, or about ten cents more than the S2 Mini board, so it may be mostly interesting to people wanting to use both WiFi and Bluetooth. All three boards are compatible with a range of shields and accessories offered by Wemos including LED shields, relays, sensors, E-ink displays, and so on.


Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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