DIGI C5

Testing. Breadboard the C5 and test it before you solder anything. A C5 soldered into a PCB can go back to the stable S3 firmware only by desoldering it and fitting an ESP32-S3.

The DIGI C5 replaces the XIAO ESP32-S3 with a XIAO ESP32-C5 on the same PCB, with the same footprint, peripherals, and mesh. Its radio covers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. The S3 radio is 2.4 GHz only. It runs every DIGI feature; this page covers what differs.

Bands and channels

The node has one radio, so it works on one band at a time. The band setting decides which of your channels the node scans.

Band	Setting	Scans
2.4 GHz	0	Channels 1 to 14
5 GHz	1	Channels above 14
Both	2 (default)	Every channel on your list

Change the band under System → Settings → Scanning → Band, or with @<NODE> CONFIG_BAND:<0|1|2>. Stop any running scan first. The node keeps the setting across reboots.

Flashing

Flash from the Experimental — XIAO ESP32-C5 channel of the Web Flasher, or build the C5 environments from the feat/c5 branch. See Build from source.

Known limits

• 5 GHz is for scanning only. The node's own Wi-Fi access point stays on channel 6 (2.4 GHz).
• Changing the band applies a new Wi-Fi country setting, which can drop clients connected to the access point.
• CSI motion on a C5 separates movement from background less cleanly than on an S3, and its trigger scale is different. Do not copy a trigger value between the two boards.

Full reference

The pinout (pad-by-pad against the S3), the build details, and the chip-level notes are in ESP32-C5.md and ESP32-C5-firmware-notes.md.