DFRobot FireBeetle 2 ESP32-C5 IoT Development Board with Wi-Fi 6, BLE 5, Zigbee 3 & Thread 1.3

Overview

FireBeetle 2 ESP32-C5 IoT Development Board is a low-power wireless development board built around the Espressif ESP32-C5. It combines a 240MHz single-core RISC-V processor with modern wireless connectivity, including dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, and IEEE 802.15.4 support for Thread and Zigbee.

This makes it a strong fit for connected sensor nodes, smart home controllers, Matter or MQTT-based Home Assistant projects, and power-conscious remote monitoring systems. The board also supports solar input and battery charging, making it suitable for long-term outdoor or semi-outdoor deployments such as plant monitoring and environmental logging.

For makers and engineers, the board offers a practical balance of wireless flexibility, low sleep current, and useful onboard interfaces. It can also be used in higher-performance wireless applications like robotics and FPV control where reliable connectivity and low latency matter.

Key Features

• Espressif ESP32-C5 with 240MHz RISC-V single-core processor
• Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 support on 2.4GHz and 5GHz
• Bluetooth 5 and Bluetooth mesh support
• IEEE 802.15.4 compatible with Thread 1.3 and Zigbee 3.0
• Low deep sleep current of 21μA in battery-powered mode
• USB Type-C power input
• VIN supports 5V DC or 4.5-6V solar panel input
• Onboard charging with maximum charging current up to 0.5A
• 18 digital I/O and multiple communication peripherals for embedded projects

Wireless & Interfaces

The ESP32-C5 platform on this board supports IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax, with 2.4GHz and 5GHz operation in 1T1R configuration. Available Wi-Fi modes include Station, SoftAP, SoftAP+Station, and Promiscuous mode.

In addition to Wi-Fi, the board supports Bluetooth 5, Bluetooth mesh, and IEEE 802.15.4 at 2.4GHz with a data rate of 250Kbps. This gives developers the flexibility to work with Wi-Fi devices, BLE peripherals, Thread networks, and Zigbee ecosystems from a single development platform.

For hardware expansion, you get 18 digital I/O, 2x I2C, 1x SPI, 3x UART, 1x I2S, a 12-bit SAR ADC with 7 channels, LED PWM controller with 6 channels, infrared transmit and receive channels, and DMA resources for more capable embedded applications.

Getting Started Notes

In Arduino IDE, select ESP32C5 Dev Module as the board. USB CDC On Boot can be enabled for serial output over USB, while disabling it routes serial output through TX and RX. Choose the partition scheme according to the onboard flash, then select the correct port before uploading.

The onboard LED test uses GPIO 15. If the LED does not blink after uploading the example, reset the board. This is a 3.3V development board, so take care when connecting external peripherals and signals.