LILYGO T-Beam
An all-in-one ESP32 development board combining LoRa radio, GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth with an onboard 18650 battery holder, widely used for Meshtastic mesh networking and LoRaWAN tracker applications.
$30.77
Hardware Specifications
Connectivity
Components
Dual-core Xtensa LX6 microprocessor at 240MHz with integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
Semtech LoRa transceiver for 868/915/923MHz frequency bands
Semtech LoRa transceiver for 433MHz frequency band
u-blox GPS module providing NMEA position, velocity, and time data
Power management unit handling battery charging, power distribution, and fuel gauge
OLED display controller for the optional 0.96-inch 128x64 monochrome display
Resources
Overview
The LILYGO T-Beam is one of the most popular all-in-one LoRa development boards available, integrating an ESP32 dual-core processor, Semtech SX1276/SX1278 LoRa transceiver, u-blox NEO-6M GPS module, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a 0.96-inch OLED display on a single board. An onboard 18650 battery holder with the AXP192 power management IC makes it a complete standalone platform for portable wireless applications.
The board is available in multiple frequency variants: 433MHz (using SX1278), and 868/915/923MHz (using SX1276), covering the major LoRa frequency bands used around the world. Each variant can be ordered with or without the optional OLED display, and both soldered and unsoldered OLED options are available.
The T-Beam gained widespread popularity as the reference hardware for Meshtastic, an open-source off-grid mesh networking protocol. Flashing Meshtastic firmware turns the T-Beam into a mesh radio node capable of sending encrypted messages and GPS positions without any cellular or internet infrastructure.
Beyond Meshtastic, the T-Beam is extensively used for LoRaWAN tracker nodes (connecting to networks like The Things Network), GPS asset tracking, long-range remote sensor telemetry, and amateur radio APRS applications. The combination of GPS, LoRa, and Wi-Fi on a battery-backed platform covers a very broad range of IoT field deployment scenarios.
Firmware Compatibility
- Meshtastic: The T-Beam is a primary supported platform for Meshtastic mesh networking firmware. Flash directly from meshtastic.org/flasher.
- Arduino: Fully supported with LoRa, GPS (TinyGPS++), and OLED libraries readily available.
- ESP-IDF: Supported for advanced development.
- MicroPython: Community support available with GPS and LoRa modules.
Flashing Guide
- Install the CH9102 or CP2102 USB-to-serial driver (depending on board revision).
- Connect via Micro USB cable.
- For Meshtastic: use the web flasher at flasher.meshtastic.org and select "T-Beam" as the device.
- For Arduino: select "ESP32 Dev Module" in Arduino IDE, install the required libraries (LoRa by Sandeep Mistry, TinyGPS++, Adafruit SSD1306), and upload your sketch.
- Hold the POWER button for 2 seconds to power on the board when running from battery.
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