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I can't find a clear answer on this through my searches, maybe someone here can help me.

Can I power my ESP32 through the Vin pin?

What is the best way to do it?

enter image description here

JRE
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nunocv
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    The ESP32 has no such pin. You must be using a module that contains an ESP32. Check the documentation of your module, or at least provide which specific module you have that contains an ESP32. – Justme Sep 21 '20 at 15:07
  • I wonder what the label "Vin" stands for. Maybe "voltage in". That sounds like a good place to put the voltage in, yes it does. – user253751 Sep 21 '20 at 16:36
  • @Justme i just added a picture of the module. The reason i posting this here is because i could not find any documentation anywhere. – nunocv Sep 22 '20 at 00:46
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    That would be the intended usage, yes, but you need to check the board documentation for the input range of the regulator used. Pay attention to both minimum and maximum. Or you could connect the USB Jack to a USB supply or host... – Chris Stratton Sep 22 '20 at 01:16

3 Answers3

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Vin on Arduinos, and on this kind of "compatible" ESP32 boards, is connected to a voltage regulator on the board, in this case the AMS1117, which is a linear regulator with a 3.3 V output.

As it is a linear regulator, I wouldn't put too high a voltage on the regulator's input, as it may run hot. It is a low-drop-out regulator, and should work properly with 5 V as input voltage.

You could also use USB to power the board, of course.

ocrdu
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    i'm going to use and external power supply of 5v to power the MCU and other components as well. thanks for your reply, it helped a lot – nunocv Sep 23 '20 at 02:09
  • This is best answer. Should be accepted – Willy satrio nugroho Jul 21 '21 at 04:51
  • @nunocv Hi. I've a similar issue. Have you succesfully powered the board by simply connect the external power source to Vin and GND? – M4Biz Feb 09 '22 at 16:00
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    @M4Biz yes it works great. As someone mention here the key is to use a good power source (stable) and even with that i used a capacitor right next to the Vin and GND pins. If i recall right i used a 47uF – nunocv Feb 11 '22 at 12:25
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It totally depends on your development board.

You can check your connection with schematic. If the Low Drop-Out (LDO) regulator input is directly tied to Vin then you can use this pin directly as the input. Most of the boards outputs are like that. I think your board has the connection and you can use this pin as voltage input.

If you use USB charging with AC electricity, I recommend to you use a capacitor between the Vin and GND pins.

TonyM
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Fırtına Hüseyin GÖKTAŞ
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I'm using a dev similar board.

As @ocrdu mentioned, there is a power regulator on the dev kit board, but the ESP32 itself only uses 3.3v

I have been able to power mine a few ways:

  1. via the microUSB port (obviously)
  2. via 5v to the VIN pin on the board
  3. via 3.3v to the 3v3 pin
PeteL
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