Hardware: Waveshare ESP32‐S3‐RS485‐CAN - dalathegreat/Battery-Emulator GitHub Wiki

Hardware basics

The Waveshare ESP32-S3-RS485-CAN is an affordable and easy to source board. It supports 1x CAN channel, and 1x RS485 port. It comes with a DIN mountable case, and accepts an input voltage between 7-36V

Where this hardware shines

On setups that require RS485, and have CAN controlled contactors (E.g. Tesla Battery with a Fronius inverter). This board is a more future proof alternative compared to the LilyGo T-CAN485

[!IMPORTANT] This board supports more than 1 CAN channel as from FW 10.10.1!

[!IMPORTANT] This board supports GPIO controlled contactors as from FW 10.10.1.

Purchase link

The hardware can be bought via sites like AliExpress, or the official Waveshare

Limitations

This board has a single CAN channel and single RS485 port. The 4-pin SH1.0 connector on the board exposes GPIO1 and GPIO2, which can be configured in firmware settings as either a status LED or an I2C display (see below).

Optional accessories

Status LED (NeoPixel via GPIO2)

The 4-pin SH1.0 connector (located directly behind the USB C connector) can power an optional Adafruit NeoPixel (or any WS2812-compatible single LED) connected to GPIO2, providing a visual status indicator. Please note that the Waveshare only outputs 3.3v!

Once wired, open the Settings page in the web interface and set GPIO 1/2 function to Status LED (this is the default).

I2C Display (SSD1306 via GPIO1 + GPIO2)

The same connector can alternatively drive an SSD1306 128×64 I2C OLED display, using GPIO1 as SDA and GPIO2 as SCL.

In the Settings page, set GPIO 1/2 function to I2C Display (SSD1306) to enable this.

[!NOTE] The status LED and I2C display are mutually exclusive — only one can be active at a time.

Expansion header

The board has pads for a 20-pin 2.0mm-pitch pin header.