Introduction

Playing around with the ESPHOME and W5500 ethernet module on different ESP32 boards. Goal is to be able to use SPI for ethernet and I²C for other sensors or extensions.

Table of contents

1. ESP32C3 Super Mini
2. SEEED XIAO ESP32C3
3. LILYGO T-ETH-Lite

ESP32C3 Super Mini

Hardware wiring schema

And even with this small sized board, there is some room for extra connections!

Possible improvements to investigate:

• CLK wire for the W5500 SPI bus is set to GPIO08
• GPIO08 is also the linked to the status led of the ESP32 C3 super mini development board
• possible or better to use GPIO02 instead?
• update 18.01.2024: switching CLK to GPIO02 did not seem to work...

ESPHome config

At first, I only got it to work with the arduino framework:

esphome:
  name: esp32c3-super-mini
  friendly_name: esp32c3-super-mini

esp32:
  board: esp32-c3-devkitm-1
  framework:
    type: arduino

# Enable logging
logger:
  level: DEBUG

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:

ota:

ethernet:
  type: W5500
  mosi_pin: GPIO10
  miso_pin: GPIO09
  clk_pin: GPIO08
  cs_pin: GPIO5
  reset_pin: GPIO04
  interrupt_pin: GPIO03
  clock_speed: 25MHz

i2c:
  scl: GPIO07
  sda: GPIO06
  scan: True
  id: bus_a

sensor:
  - platform: bmp280
    temperature:
      name: "Temperature"
      unit_of_measurement: °C
      accuracy_decimals: 1
    pressure:
      name: "Pressure"
      unit_of_measurement: hPa
      accuracy_decimals: 0
    i2c_id: bus_a
    address: 0x76

After some iterations, it also works with the esp-idf framework; some tweaking of the platformio options was necessary:

esphome:
  name: esp32c3-super-mini-idf
  friendly_name: esp32c3-super-mini-idf
  platformio_options:
    board_build.flash_mode: dio
    board_build.mcu: esp32c3
    board_build.f_cpu: 160000000L

esp32:
  board: esp32-c3-devkitm-1
  framework:
    type: esp-idf

So far, connection seems to be lightning fast and super stable.

In my experience, the easiest way of flashing the new ESP32C3 boards is by using the Adafruit ESPTool.

PCB design

Work in progress on a pcb design for a small board with ethernet connection and exposure of all remaining GPIOs.

See PCB folder for first design attempt.

SEEED XIAO ESP32C3

Hardware wiring schema

Two more pins left for other purposes!

ESPHome config

I didn't manage to get the board working with the arduino framework. Esp-idf framework works fine as follows:

esphome:
  name: seeed-xiao-c3-w5500
  friendly_name: seeed-xiao-c3-w5500
  platformio_options:
    board_build.flash_mode: dio
    board_build.mcu: esp32c3
    board_build.f_cpu: 160000000L

esp32:
  board: seeed_xiao_esp32c3
  variant: esp32c3
  framework:
    type: esp-idf

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:

ota:

ethernet:
  type: W5500
  mosi_pin: 10
  miso_pin: 9
  clk_pin: 8
  cs_pin: 4
  reset_pin: 2
  interrupt_pin: 3
  clock_speed: 25MHz

i2c:
  scl: 7
  sda: 6
  scan: True
  id: bus_a

sensor:
  - platform: bmp280
    temperature:
      name: "Temperatuur"
      unit_of_measurement: °C
      accuracy_decimals: 1
    pressure:
      name: "Luchtdruk"
      unit_of_measurement: hPa
      accuracy_decimals: 0
    i2c_id: bus_a
    address: 0x76

binary_sensor:
  - platform: status
    name: "Status"

text_sensor:
  - platform: ethernet_info
    ip_address:
      name: IP Address

switch:
  - platform: restart
    name: "Restart"

LILYGO T-ETH-Lite ESP32S3

Hardware wiring schema

Flashing: see https://github.com/Xinyuan-LilyGO/LilyGO-T-ETH-Series?tab=readme-ov-file

I managed to get the board operational, but I had to upload the code from within ESPHome in Home Assistant; uploading a bin file did not work.

ESPHome config

esphome:
  name: lilygo-t-eth-lite-w5500
  friendly_name: lilygo-t-eth-lite-w5500
  platformio_options:
    board_build.flash_mode: dio

esp32:
  board: esp32-s3-devkitc-1
  framework:
    type: esp-idf

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:

ota:

ethernet:
  type: W5500
  mosi_pin: 12
  miso_pin: 11
  clk_pin: 10
  cs_pin: 9
  reset_pin: 14
  interrupt_pin: 13
  clock_speed: 25MHz

binary_sensor:
  - platform: status
    name: "Status"

text_sensor:
  - platform: ethernet_info
    ip_address:
      name: IP Address

switch:
  - platform: restart
    name: "Restart"