Hardware-FeatherS3 - ESP32-DevKitC-32E work ???

[Sakab001]

Hi everyone, I got a bit mixed up with my order and started having the hardware “Feather S3” (May 2025) manufactured with JLCPCB, and I accidentally ordered an ESP32-DevKitC-32E for it. Since then, I’ve learned that the Feather is narrower and I can’t plug them together.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/gL8AAOSwv25jz9FO/s-l1600.webp
https://www.ebay.com/itm/116583890495?_skw=feather+s3&itmmeta=01K31PDFZPPZVVV4HR5FBETSBR&hash=item1b24f0fe3f:g:gL8AAOSwv25jz9FO&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA4FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1eQfahgTEe4ZiOVeH3EiwNhCxD54KPXbzBywqapNHGy5ilpWO%2Fer8yYtl%2F1Cr0d%2FCFTGio7UCUBriLFeoDjKBOa52KyFAMR34mkvmWH8BF4AX3x3IDsMzllnbBqNUeVaVq9dKKxLmNbeJT2EXAhG9HKRXodZtmjLK9kBHWpgA89xcdor%2BkPvXdy62%2Femkkz0JSojBhMRXHzTT9Zu2eMEekGgcahp1wew4CkEax86jkYbUpPrpFojJKrrJ3%2FD6GDX5%2BQ4jSURxa5gTJ6GBugqQGa%7Ctkp%3ABFBMkoC2tphm

If I rewire the necessary pins with wires, will it work, or do I absolutely need to get a Feather S3? If it won’t work and I do need the S3, is this version okay? The one I found differs from the S3 listed in the description. It is also a Feather S3, but the connector at the end and one or two components are different.

[cure]

Hey, I added the "FeatherS3" (May 2025) variant.

It is designed to work with Unexpected Maker's "FeatherS3", which has a different form factor than the ESP32-DevKitC-32E, as you discovered.

There are many ESP32 boards in the Feather form factor. The one you found on Ebay is the "Adafruit ESP32-S3 Feather with 4MB Flash 2MB PSRAM - STEMMA QT / Qwiic", which is documented extensively on the Adafruit website. The physical form factor is the same since they are both "Feather" boards.

The next most important thing to verify is that the pinouts match for the pins used by the esphome-lg-controller:

• Adafruit ESP32-S3 Feather: pinout
• Unexpected Maker's FeatherS3: pinout

The 3V3 and GND pins that are used by the esphome-lg-controller board are in the same position on both boards. The LINBUS RX/TX GPIO numbers are swapped, but you can just tweak the base.yaml accordingly.

There is one caveat: I picked the FeatherS3 because it explicitly supports being powered from the 3V3 pin. For the Adafruit's Feather ESP32-S3, the power management documentation says that it is technically possible to do the same but it is not recommended, I quote:

========================================
The Feather is not designed for external power supplies - this is a design decision to make the board compact and low cost. It is not recommended, but technically possible:

• Connect an external 3.3V power supply to the 3V and GND pins. Not recommended, this may cause unexpected behavior and the EN pin will no longer work. Also this doesn't provide power on BAT or USB and some Feathers/Wings use those pins for high current usages. You may end up damaging your Feather.

========================================

Would it work anyway? Maybe? I have not tried. Not providing power on BAT or USB is no problem for this use case (there would be no other Feathers/Wings connected). The EN pin is not connected, so that's no issue either.

[Sakab001]

I went ahead and ordered this in the meantime! I’m so excited — both parts should arrive next week, and I can finally start putting everything together :)) Thanks a lot for your help and for getting back to me!
https://www.tinytronics.nl/en/development-boards/microcontroller-boards/with-wi-fi/unexpected-maker-feathers3-esp32-s3-development-board-usb-c