Why Does The ESP32 Run So Hot?

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_phillip
 
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Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2021 3:28 pm

Why Does The ESP32 Run So Hot?

Post by _phillip »

Greetings,
I have begun testing the ESP32 microcontroller's and quickly learned that the board I used to run Blink got so hot I could smell it. The Espressif forum has no 'official' notice on this. Poster's note this, but nothing concrete from Espressif, that I could find.

Internet research was sporatic at best. I have read that some library was being updated to (hopefully) alleviate this issue by disabling the wifi or BLE when not needed. There are many sites that demo this board, but none mention this fact save for surprised user's whose comments follow.

I have no experience with these boards, so perhaps someone could comment on this. I have returned to using my very dependable Feather MO WiFi boards. No fancy breadboards required!

Thanks!

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Why Does The ESP32 Run So Hot?

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Wifi devices burn a fair amount of power in the name of generating signals strong enough to be heard at the other end of the connection, so it's normal for them to run warm. The symptoms you described sound more like a short circuit somewhere.

How much current does the board use while running Blink?

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