Getting Started with LILYGO T5 E-Paper S3 Pro

What Is the LILYGO T5 E-Paper S3 Pro？

LILYGO T5 E-Paper S3 Pro is a compact development board featuring a 4.7-inch ultra-low power e-paper display driven by the ED047TC1 controller, offering 16 grayscale levels and a resolution of 960×540. Powered by the ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 module with 16MB Flash and 8MB PSRAM, it supports 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and BLE 5.0, making it ideal for IoT and low-power applications.

This board integrates advanced features like touch control (GT911), RTC (PCF8563), LoRa (SX1262), and GPS (MIA-M10Q), along with a BQ25896 battery management chip and TPS65185 e-ink power driver for efficient energy handling. It supports development in Arduino IDE and VS Code, and is compatible with the epdiy v7 library for direct e-paper driving.

Hardware and Software Update Overview

ID	Hardware	Software	Remark
H752-01	v1.0-241224	v1.2_250118	latest
H752	v1.0-240810	v1.0-241203	-

H752-01 New Version:

Integrated the TPS65185 power management chip for e-paper control
Supports local refresh and Vcom voltage adjustment to enhance display color depth
Compatible with epdiy v7 for direct e-paper driving
Includes a built-in GPS module for positioning capabilities

Datasheets

Module

The chip datasheets can be found in the ./hardware directory.

Name	Dependency library
epdiy	https://github.com/vroland/epdiy
SX1262	jgromes/RadioLib@6.5.0
BQ25896	lewisxhe/XPowersLib@^0.2.3
GPS	mikalhart/TinyGPSPlus@^1.1.0
Sensor	lewisxhe/SensorLib@0.2.2
LVGL	lvgl/lvgl@^8.3.11

Schematic & 3D

For more information, see the ./hardware directory.

Schematic :
T5_E-Paper-S3-Pro

Board size

Shell size

Begin with LILYGO T5 E-Paper S3 Pro

PlatformIO

Install Visual Studio Code and Python, then clone or download the project repository.
In Visual Studio Code, search for the PlatformIO extension and install it.
Once installed, restart Visual Studio Code to activate the extension.
Open the project folder. PlatformIO will automatically download all required third-party libraries and dependencies. This initial setup may take some time—please be patient.
After installation is complete, open the platformio.ini configuration file. In the [example] section, uncomment the desired routine, then press Ctrl+S to save the file.
Click the icon in VS Code to compile the project. Connect your device via USB, and select the correct COM port in VS Code.
Finally, click the icon to upload the program to the device's Flash memory.

Arduino IDE

Install the Arduino IDE.
Copy all files from the project/lib/ directory and paste them into your Arduino libraries folder (typically located at C:\Users\YourName\Documents\Arduino\libraries).
Launch the Arduino IDE, then go to File → Open in the top-left menu and select an example file from project/example/xxx/xxx.ino.
Configure the Arduino settings as required. Once configuration is complete, click the Upload button in the top-left corner of the Arduino IDE to compile and upload the code.

Arduino IDE Setting	Value
Board	ESP32S3 Dev Module
Port	Your port
USB CDC On Boot	Enable
CPU Frequency	240MHZ(WiFi)
Core Debug Level	None
USB DFU On Boot	Disable
Erase All Flash Before Sketch Upload	Disable
Events Run On	Core1
Flash Mode	QIO 80MHZ
Flash Size	16MB(128Mb)
Arduino Runs On	Core1
USB Firmware MSC On Boot	Disable
Partition Scheme	16M Flash(3M APP/9.9MB FATFS)
PSRAM	OPI PSRAM
Upload Mode	UART0/Hardware CDC
Upload Speed	921600
USB Mode	CDC and JTAG

Folder structure:

├─boards : Some information about the board for the platformio.ini configuration project;

├─data : Picture resources used by the program;
├─example : Some examples;
├─firmare : `factory` compiled firmware;
├─hardware: Schematic diagram of the board, chip data;
├─lib : Libraries used in the project;

Examples

-✅ bq25896：bq25896 test
-✅ bq27220：bq27220 test
-✅ display_test：Ink screen display test.
-✅ factory：Factory firmware program.
-✅ GPS：The GPS test needs to be done outdoors.
-✅ io_extend：IO expansion chip test.
-✅ lora_recv：SX1262 LoRa send test.
-✅ lora_send：SX1262 LoRa recv test.
-✅ lvgl_test：Test using LVGL as image engine.
-✅ rtc_pcf8563：Real-time clock chip test.
-✅ sd_card：SD card read test.
-✅ touch：GT911 test.

Pins

// BOARD PIN DEFINE

#define BOARD_GPS_RXD 44
#define BOARD_GPS_TXD 43
#define SerialMon Serial
#define SerialGPS Serial2

#define BOARD_I2C_PORT (0)
#define BOARD_SCL (40)
#define BOARD_SDA (39)

#define BOARD_SPI_MISO (21)
#define BOARD_SPI_MOSI (13)
#define BOARD_SPI_SCLK (14)

#define BOARD_TOUCH_SCL (BOARD_SCL)
#define BOARD_TOUCH_SDA (BOARD_SDA)
#define BOARD_TOUCH_INT (3)
#define BOARD_TOUCH_RST (9)

#define BOARD_RTC_SCL (BOARD_SCL)
#define BOARD_RTC_SDA (BOARD_SDA)
#define BOARD_RTC_IRQ (2)

#define BOARD_SD_MISO (BOARD_SPI_MISO)
#define BOARD_SD_MOSI (BOARD_SPI_MOSI)
#define BOARD_SD_SCLK (BOARD_SPI_SCLK)
#define BOARD_SD_CS (12)

#define BOARD_LORA_MISO (BOARD_SPI_MISO)
#define BOARD_LORA_MOSI (BOARD_SPI_MOSI)
#define BOARD_LORA_SCLK (BOARD_SPI_SCLK)
#define BOARD_LORA_CS (46)
#define BOARD_LORA_IRQ (10)
#define BOARD_LORA_RST (1)
#define BOARD_LORA_BUSY (47)

#define BOARD_BL_EN (11)
#define BOARD_PCA9535_INT (38)
#define BOARD_BOOT_BTN (0)

// ED047TC1 --- e-ink paper
#define EP_SCL (40)
#define EP_SDA (39)
#define EP_INTR (38)
#define EP_I2C_PORT I2C_NUM_0

#define EP_D7 (8)
#define EP_D6 (18)
#define EP_D5 (17)
#define EP_D4 (16)
#define EP_D3 (15)
#define EP_D2 (7)
#define EP_D1 (6)
#define EP_D0 (5)
#define EP_CKV (48) /* Control Lines */
#define EP_STH (41)
#define EP_LEH (42)
#define EP_STV (45)
#define EP_CKH (4) /* Edges */

// PCA9535
// Extend the interface and set the read/write ports via I2C.
// IO1X
#define PCA9535_IO10_EP_OE // EP Output enable source driver
#define PCA9535_IO11_EP_MODE // EP Output mode selection gate driver
#define PCA9535_IO12_BUTTON
#define PCA9535_IO13_TPS_PWRUP
#define PCA9535_IO14_VCOM_CTRL
#define PCA9535_IO15_TPS_WAKEUP
#define PCA9535_IO16_TPS_PWR_GOOD
#define PCA9535_IO17_TPS_INT
// IO0X
#define PCA9535_IO00
#define PCA9535_IO01
#define PCA9535_IO02
#define PCA9535_IO03
#define PCA9535_IO04
#define PCA9535_IO05
#define PCA9535_IO06
#define PCA9535_IO07

Test

Power Consumption in Sleep Mode

How to download programs through flash_download_tool ?

Download and install the Flash Download Tools.
Connect the device via USB. The T5_E-Paper_S3_Pro will enter download mode by following these steps:
1. Press and hold the BOOT button
2. While holding BOOT, press and release the RST button on the back
3. Finally, release the BOOT button

Launch the Flash Download Tools and make the selections shown in the reference image.

Choose the program you wish to download, then click the Start button to begin flashing, as illustrated.

Once the download is complete, press the RST button to restart the device.

Getting Started with LILYGO T5 E-Paper S3 Pro

What Is the LILYGO T5 E-Paper S3 Pro？