M5Stack CoreS3 SE cost-down ESP32-S3 IoT controller features a 2-inch touch display, a microSD card slot, a speaker, two microphones

The M5Stack CoreS3 SE, also called M5CoreS3 SE, is a cost-down version of the M5Stack CoreS3 IoT controller based on the ESP32-S3 wireless microcontroller with a 2-inch capacitive touch display, a microSD card slot, a USB-C port, a speaker, two microphones, and one Grove connector for expansion.

The M5Core S3 SE loses the DIN Base so the associate features are gone and DIN rail mounting is not possible by default anymore. That also means the M5Stack CoreS3 SE controller is about twice as thin, and the color is also different (medium grey vs black grey). Major internal changes include the removal of the camera and the three sensors found in the original model.

M5Stack CoreS3 SE specifications with highlights in bold and strikethrough showing differences against the CoreS3 model:

• Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3FN16R8
  • CPU – Dual-core 32-bit Xtensa LX7 microcontroller with AI vector instructions up to 240MHz, RISC-V ULP co-processor
  • Memory – 512KB SRAM, 8MB PSRAM
  • Storage – 16MB flash
  • Connectivity 2.4GHz WiFi 4 (802.11b/g/n), Bluetooth 5.0 BLE + Mesh,
• Antenna – Internal “3D” antenna
• Storage – MicroSD card slot
• Display – 2-inch display with 320×240 resolution via ILI9342C driver, capacitive touch support
• Camera – 0.3MP VGA camera @ 30 fps using GC0308 CMOS sensor
• Audio
  • 1W speaker connected to AW88298 I2S power amplifier chip
  • Dual microphones connected to ES7210 audio decoding chip
• USB – 1x USB Type-C port
• Sensors (none)
  • LTR-553ALS-WA proximity sensor
  • BMI270 6-axis gyroscope and accelerometer
  • BMM150 magnetometer
• Expansion
  • 30-pin female header connected to DIN base with
    • 4-pin GPIO Grove connector
    • 4-pin UART Grove connector
  • 4-pin I2C Grove connector
• Misc
  • Power and Reboot buttons
  • Power switch
  • BM8563 RTC
• Power Supply
  • 5V via USB Type-C port
  • 9V-24V DC input via DC jack (previously in DIN Base)
    
  • Built-in 3.7V/500mAh battery (previously in DIN Base)
  • AXP2101 power management chip
• Power consumption
  • Battery
    • Standby mode: 4.2V/104.64uA
    • Active mode: 4.2V/109.67mA
  • USB power supply – 5V/166.27mA while active
• Dimensions – 54x54x16 mm; DIN rail mountable; M3 mounting screws
• Weight – 73.3 grams 38.4 grams
  

The M5Stack CoreS3 SE remains programmable with the Arduino IDE or UIFlow visual programming tool, and users can reuse the Arduino library for the CoreS3 available on GitHub as well as some of the Arduino sketches. As one would expect, the code samples making use of the camera and sensors won’t work… Further technical details can be found on the documentation page.

I first found the M5Stack CoreS3 SE on the company’s Aliexpress store where it is sold for $38.90 plus shipping, but you’ll also find it on the M5Stack shop for $38.60. For reference, the original M5Stack CoreS3 IoT controller sells for $59.90, so the discount is significant if you don’t need any of the extra features.

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.

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