BPI-BIT

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

Micro-USB
BPI-BIT board
50 × 50 mm
ESP32
MCU
160MHz
clock
4MB
flash
520KB
SRAM
26· Two 12-bit, 18 Channels ADC
GPIO
BLE 4.2+ WiFi
radio
On this page

Pinout

26 pins
View:
BPI-BIT pinout diagram
PinGPIOLabelsStatusCapabilitiesNotes
10MPU9250_INTstrapping-
21TXPWMuartuart
32P12PWMstrapping-
43RXPWMuartuart
54RGB_LEDPWMstrapping-
65SSP16PWMstrappingspi
712P6PWMstrapping-
813P3PWMstrapping-
914P7PWMstrapping-
1015P4PWMstrapping-
1116P8PWMstrapping-
1217P9PWMstrapping-
1318SCKP13PWMsafespi
1419MISOP14PWMsafespi
1521SDAP20PWMsafei2c
1622SCLP19PWMsafei2c
1723MOSIP15PWMsafespi
1825BUZZERP0DAC1PWMsafedac
1926P10DAC2PWMsafedac
2027BUTTON_BP11PWMsafe-
2132P1PWMsafe-
2233P2PWMsafe-
2334TEMPERATURE_SENSORstrapping-
2435BUTTON_AP5strapping-
2536LIGHT_SENSOR1strapping-
2639LIGHT_SENSOR2strapping-

Start with these

10 pins with no boot or system involvement
SCKP13MISOP14SDAP20SCLP19MOSIP15BUZZERP0P10DAC2BUTTON_BP11P1PWMP2PWM

Freely 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
PinLabelWhat to knowRole
MPU9250_INTGPIO0Must be HIGH during boot for normal startup; if held LOW on reset, forces flash programming mode.Strapping
P12GPIO2If driven HIGH on reset (while IO0 is LOW), selects an unsupported SDIO boot mode, causing boot failure.Strapping
RGB_LEDGPIO4Sampled at reset for boot config; should not be driven at boot (affects boot mode timing).Strapping
SSGPIO5Must be HIGH during boot; if pulled LOW at reset, alters SDIO slave timing and may prevent normal boot.Strapping
P6MTDI (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
P3MTCK (GPIO13)Used for JTAG debugging (TCK); avoid using as GPIO if JTAG is needed.Other
P7MTMS (GPIO14)Used for JTAG debugging (TMS); driving it as GPIO may interfere with JTAG or produce spurious signals at boot.Other
P4MTDO (GPIO15)Keep HIGH during boot (internal PU); if LOW on reset, bootloader log is silenced and boot mode may change.Strapping
TEMPERATURE_SENSORGPIO34Cannot be used as output (no drive capability); only suitable for analog/digital input.Other
BUTTON_AGPIO35Cannot be used as output; only suitable for input.Other
LIGHT_SENSOR1GPIO36 (SENSOR_VP)Cannot be used as output; only suitable for input (e.g., analog read).Other
LIGHT_SENSOR2GPIO39 (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
PinLabelWhat to knowRole
TXU0TXD (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
RXU0RXD (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
P8GPIO16Connected to internal PSRAM on PSRAM-enabled modules; not usable as GPIO on those modules.Flash
P9GPIO17Connected to internal PSRAM on PSRAM-enabled modules; not usable as GPIO on those modules.Flash
These are recommendations, not hard rules - with the right pull-ups, timing and boot-state awareness most pins can be made to work. When in doubt, start green.
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 minutes
Tool:
1
Connect over USB
Install your USB-serial driver (CH340 / CP210x) if no port appears. Not detected? Hold BOOT while plugging in.
2
Match & flash
Set the Tools options shown, then click Upload.
3
Verify it runs
The onboard LED on GPIO18 blinks - swap the pin if your board's LED differs.
Set these in Tools · leave everything else at default
Arduino IDE 2.x — Tools Copy
Board: "ESP32 Dev Module"
Flash Size: "4MB (32Mb)"
Flash Mode: "DIO"
Partition Scheme: "Default 4MB with spiffs (1.2MB APP / 1.5MB SPIFFS)" (default)
Upload Speed: "921600"
▸ every other Tools option — leave at default
Board: 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
Find it: Tools ▸ Board ▸ ESP32 Arduino ▸ ESP32 Dev Module
blink.ino Copy
// blink the onboard LED
void setup() {
  pinMode(18, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
  digitalWrite(18, HIGH); delay(500);
  digitalWrite(18, LOW);  delay(500);
}
board to selectesp32dev⧉ copy
platformio.ini Copy
[env:bpi-bit]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32dev
framework = arduino
monitor_speed = 115200
upload_speed = 921600
Find it: PlatformIO Home ▸ Boards, search esp32dev — or type it after board =.
board to selectesp32dev⧉ copy
device.yaml Copy
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_out
Find it: search ESPHome's board list for esp32dev (same ids as PlatformIO).
esptool doesn't pick board settings — a prebuilt .bin already has them baked in. This is just the raw flash command.
terminal Copy
esptool.py --chip esp32 --port /dev/ttyACM0 \
  --baud 921600 write_flash 0x0 firmware.bin
--port = your /dev/tty* (macOS/Linux) or COMx (Windows).
Build details: sketch space 1310720 B · data 294912 B · DIO

Specifications

ESP32 · 50 × 50 mm
Compute
MCU
ESP32
Clock
160 MHz
SRAM · Flash
520 KB · 4MB
Radio
Wi-Fi
802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth
4.2 LE
Antenna
PCB
I/O
GPIO · ADC
26 · Two 12-bit, 18 Channels
UART · I²C · SPI
3 · 2 · 4
PWM
16 channels
Power
USB
Micro-USB
Serial
-
Boot address
0x1000
Flashing
Upload · OTA
esptool_py · esp_ota
Flash · Boot mode
DIO · DIO
Sketch · Data
1.25 MB · 288 KB
50 mm50 mm
50 × 50 mm
The BPI-BIT uses esptool_py for firmware uploads, esp_ota for over-the-air (OTA) updates. Flash mode is DIO with DIO boot mode. The maximum sketch size is 1.25 MB with 288 KB available for data.

About 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
BPI-BIT
BPI-BIT
$20.00per unit, typical

Resources

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