FireBeetle 2 ESP32-S3 camera board ships 16MB flash, 8MB PSRAM, PCB or external antenna

DFRobot “FireBeetle 2 ESP32-S3” is a 2MP camera board with ESP32-S3N16R8 dual-core WiFi and Bluetooth microcontroller fitted with 16MB flash and 8MB PSRAM, and offered in two versions: a more compact variant with a PCB antenna, and one with an external antenna offering a better signal quality.

The FireBeetle 2 ESP32-S3 also features two rows of I/Os with GPIO, I2C, SPI, ADC, USB 2.0, etc…, a USB-C port for power and programming, a few buttons, and support for a LiPo battery through a 2-pin JST connector and a charging circuit.

FireBeetle 2 ESP32-S3 specifications:

ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 wireless module
- SoC – ESP32-S3FN16R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ 240 MHz with
  - 2.4 GHz 802.11n WiFI 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity
  - Memory – 8MB PSRAM
  - Storage – 16MB SPI flash
Camera – Camera connector fitted with 2MP OV2640 camera with 68° FoV, up to 1600×1200 resolution
Display – GDI connector for optional 1.54-inch, 1.8-inch, or 3.5-inch TFT display
USB – 1x USB Type-C OTG port for power and programming
Expansion
- 18-pin through and castellated holes with up to 13x GPIOs, 1x SPI, 9x ADC, 1x I2C, 5x touch interfaces, Reset, 3.3V, GND
- 14-pin through and castellated holes with up to 11x GPIOS, USB 2.0, 9x ADC, 9x touch interfaces, VCC
Misc – Boot button, Reset button, user button (D14) charging LED, user LED (D13)
Power Supply
- 5V via USB Type-C port
- 2-pin connector for LiPo battery, ETA6003 charger chip
- AXP313A PMIC
Power Supply
- 5V/1A via USB Type-C port or VCC pin
- Max Charging Current: 1A
Dimensions – 60 x 25.4mm
Temperature Range – -20 to +70°C

FireBeetle 2 ESP32-S3 board can be programmed in C or Python using the Arduino IDE, the ESP-IDF framework, and MicroPython. DFRobot provides more technical details and instructions to get started with both Arduino and MicroPython on the wiki. The vector instructions in the ESP32-S3 MCU make it suitable for machine learning projects such as object detection or speech recognition, for example, using the ESP-DL library.

The board provides an alternative to the popular LilyGo T-Camera S3 board, but the display is optional, and there’s no built-in microphone and PIR motion sensor, so those would need to be added separately if they are needed for your project. I’m not able to find any enclosure either, so you’d have to design one yourself if you need one.

DFRobot sells the PCB antenna variant of the FireBeetle 2 ESP32-S3 board for $19.90 and the one with an external antenna for $20.90. That’s roughly in line with the price of the T-Camera S3 board which also includes a small 0.96-inch OLED display. Note that “FireBeetle 2” is a family of boards, so make sure to include “ESP32-S3” when looking for the board on other shops.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

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.