BPI-BIT
by Banana Pi
Tiny ESP32 board from Banana Pi - great for wearables, STEM education, and lightweight wireless builds.

On this page
Pinout
26 pins| Pin | GPIO | Labels | Status | Capabilities | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | MPU9250_INT | strapping | - | |
| 2 | 1 | TXPWM | uart | uart | |
| 3 | 2 | P12PWM | strapping | - | |
| 4 | 3 | RXPWM | uart | uart | |
| 5 | 4 | RGB_LEDPWM | strapping | - | |
| 6 | 5 | SSP16PWM | strapping | spi | |
| 7 | 12 | P6PWM | strapping | - | |
| 8 | 13 | P3PWM | strapping | - | |
| 9 | 14 | P7PWM | strapping | - | |
| 10 | 15 | P4PWM | strapping | - | |
| 11 | 16 | P8PWM | strapping | - | |
| 12 | 17 | P9PWM | strapping | - | |
| 13 | 18 | SCKP13PWM | safe | spi | |
| 14 | 19 | MISOP14PWM | safe | spi | |
| 15 | 21 | SDAP20PWM | safe | i2c | |
| 16 | 22 | SCLP19PWM | safe | i2c | |
| 17 | 23 | MOSIP15PWM | safe | spi | |
| 18 | 25 | BUZZERP0DAC1PWM | safe | dac | |
| 19 | 26 | P10DAC2PWM | safe | dac | |
| 20 | 27 | BUTTON_BP11PWM | safe | - | |
| 21 | 32 | P1PWM | safe | - | |
| 22 | 33 | P2PWM | safe | - | |
| 23 | 34 | TEMPERATURE_SENSOR | strapping | - | |
| 24 | 35 | BUTTON_AP5 | strapping | - | |
| 25 | 36 | LIGHT_SENSOR1 | strapping | - | |
| 26 | 39 | LIGHT_SENSOR2 | strapping | - |
Start with these
10 pins with no boot or system involvementFreely assignable - no strapping, flash, USB or JTAG duties. Ideal first picks for buttons, sensors and LEDs.
Fine - with a little care
sampled at boot or shared with debug/serial| Pin | Label | What to know | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| MPU9250_INT | GPIO0 | Must be HIGH during boot for normal startup; if held LOW on reset, forces flash programming mode. | Strapping |
| P12 | GPIO2 | If driven HIGH on reset (while IO0 is LOW), selects an unsupported SDIO boot mode, causing boot failure. | Strapping |
| RGB_LED | GPIO4 | Sampled at reset for boot config; should not be driven at boot (affects boot mode timing). | Strapping |
| SS | GPIO5 | Must be HIGH during boot; if pulled LOW at reset, alters SDIO slave timing and may prevent normal boot. | Strapping |
| P6 | MTDI (GPIO12) | Keep LOW during boot (internal PD); pulling HIGH at reset selects 1.8V flash mode, causing flash brownout if 3.3V flash is used. | Strapping |
| P3 | MTCK (GPIO13) | Used for JTAG debugging (TCK); avoid using as GPIO if JTAG is needed. | Other |
| P7 | MTMS (GPIO14) | Used for JTAG debugging (TMS); driving it as GPIO may interfere with JTAG or produce spurious signals at boot. | Other |
| P4 | MTDO (GPIO15) | Keep HIGH during boot (internal PU); if LOW on reset, bootloader log is silenced and boot mode may change. | Strapping |
| TEMPERATURE_SENSOR | GPIO34 | Cannot be used as output (no drive capability); only suitable for analog/digital input. | Other |
| BUTTON_A | GPIO35 | Cannot be used as output; only suitable for input. | Other |
| LIGHT_SENSOR1 | GPIO36 (SENSOR_VP) | Cannot be used as output; only suitable for input (e.g., analog read). | Other |
| LIGHT_SENSOR2 | GPIO39 (SENSOR_VN) | Cannot be used as output; only suitable for input. | Other |
Only if you know the tricks
wired to flash or USB - expect a fight| Pin | Label | What to know | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| TX | U0TXD (GPIO1) | Connected to on-board USB-UART for uploading and logs; drives serial output at boot, so using as GPIO can disrupt programming or console. | USB |
| RX | U0RXD (GPIO3) | Used for receiving data from USB-UART (programming); also pulled HIGH at boot for console communication, so using as GPIO can disrupt uploads. | USB |
| P8 | GPIO16 | Connected to internal PSRAM on PSRAM-enabled modules; not usable as GPIO on those modules. | Flash |
| P9 | GPIO17 | Connected to internal PSRAM on PSRAM-enabled modules; not usable as GPIO on those modules. | Flash |
Pinout notes All 26 pins on the BPI-BIT are usable GPIO. Peripheral wiring is straightforward: I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO21 and SCL on GPIO22; the SPI bus ( MOSI , MISO ,…
All 26 pins on the BPI-BIT are usable GPIO.
Peripheral wiring is straightforward: I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO21 and SCL on GPIO22; the SPI bus (MOSI, MISO, SCK, SS) is broken out in full; TX/RX on GPIO1 and GPIO3 cover serial logging and flashing.
Beyond plain digital I/O you get 2 true DAC outputs.
12 of the exposed pins carry boot-time or system duties on the ESP32 (MPU9250_INT, P12, RGB_LED and 9 more) - check the guidance above before wiring anything to them. SCK, MISO, SDA, SCL and 6 more are free of any such role - the safest first picks.
Getting started
flash your first firmware in ~2 minutesBoard: ESP32 Dev Module Flash Size: 4MB (32Mb) Flash Mode: DIO Partition Scheme: Default 4MB with spiffs (1.2MB APP / 1.5MB SPIFFS) Upload Speed: 921600
// blink the onboard LED
void setup() {
pinMode(18, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
digitalWrite(18, HIGH); delay(500);
digitalWrite(18, LOW); delay(500);
}[env:bpi-bit]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32dev
framework = arduino
monitor_speed = 115200
upload_speed = 921600esp32dev — or type it after board =.esp32:
board: esp32dev
variant: bpi-bit
framework:
type: esp-idf
# blink - GPIO18
output:
- platform: gpio
pin: 18
id: led_out
light:
- platform: binary
name: "LED"
output: led_outesp32dev (same ids as PlatformIO).esptool.py --chip esp32 --port /dev/ttyACM0 \
--baud 921600 write_flash 0x0 firmware.bin--port = your /dev/tty* (macOS/Linux) or COMx (Windows).Specifications
ESP32 · 50 × 50 mmAbout this board
Inside sits the ESP32 - a dual-core Xtensa with both Bluetooth Classic and BLE.
The $20.00 price tag is typical for an ESP32 board.
Around the module: an MPU9250 IMU, an addressable RGB LED (GPIO4), a buzzer, an ambient-light sensor and A/B buttons.
- 5x5 matrix of 25 addressable WS2812 RGB LEDs (data on GPIO4)
- micro:bit-compatible 20-pin gold-finger edge connector
- Onboard NTC thermistor for temperature sensing
Where to buy
prices are typical street prices
Resources
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