Spectra
ESP32-C5 LoRa dev board with dual-band Wi-Fi 6.
A breadboard-friendly LoRa dev board that pairs the dual-band Wi-Fi 6 ESP32-C5 with a Semtech SX1262 radio, battery charging and a USB-C port.
Overview
The ESP32-C5 is the only ESP32 with dual-band (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) Wi-Fi 6, and almost no LoRa dev boards use it. The WX-4A fills that gap. It was built as a 5 GHz-capable sensor node for SpectraMesh, where it can see traffic that 2.4 GHz-only boards miss, including some drones' Remote ID broadcasts.
It straddles a standard breadboard, flashes over native USB-C with no UART bridge, and has a LiPo charger with load sharing so it can run on battery.
Rev 1.0 has been fabricated and brought up: the ESP32-C5 and the SX1262 radio both check out. Rev 1.1 is a parts-list-only correction, so production boards use the same proven copper.
Build log WX-4A Spectra ESP32-C5 LoRa Dev Board
Specs
| MCU | ESP32-C5 module: dual-band Wi-Fi 6 + BLE, 16 MB flash, 8 MB PSRAM |
|---|---|
| LoRa | Ai-Thinker Ra-01SH (Semtech SX1262), 915 MHz, up to 22 dBm |
| Antenna | On-board u.FL for LoRa |
| Display | 4-pin header for a 0.96" SSD1306 I²C OLED |
| USB | USB-C, native USB-Serial-JTAG |
| Power | MCP73831 LiPo charger, load sharing, 3.3 V LDO, JST-PH battery input |
| Size | About 27.5 × 70 mm, 2-layer |
| Headers | 0.1" breakouts on both long edges, breadboard-friendly |