LILYGO Launches TTGO T-OI PLUS ESP32-C3 RISC-V Development Board with 16340 Battery Holder

Another device based on Espressif's ESP32-C3, a RISC-V-based drop-in replacement for the popular ESP8622 microcontroller, has appeared. The LILYGO TTGO T-OI PLUS is an all-caps development board, which comes complete with a battery holder for portable projects.

The Espressif ESP32-C3 was announced late last year, following leaks, as a successor to the popular but ageing ESP32. The core of the chip is a 32-bit processor built around the free and open-source RISC-V instruction set architecture, along with a wealth of peripherals, all packaged in a chip designed to be pin-compatible with the ESP8266.

Despite this, designs built around the chip have been slow to appear. Two of the first appeared earlier this week from NodeMCU, and now LILYGO is getting in on the action.

The LILYGO TTGO T-OI PLUS, first spotted by CNX Software, features an ESP32-C3 running at 160MHz and with 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy (BLE) connectivity. 400kB of static RAM (SRAM) and 384kB of EEPROM are included, though there's no mention of any external flash in the official specifications.

A key feature of the new board is a battery holder for 16340 cells, located on the rear, which given the low power draw of Espressif's part should keep the device ticking for quite some time. There's also a Grove-compatible expansion header, physical power switch and reset button, USB Type-C for power and data, and a Hirose U.FL connector for an optional external antenna.

The part is now available on AliExpress at $4.50 with battery holder, or $4.30 without.