How to Get a LED to Fade on ESP32-S3

Fading an LED on the ESP32-S3 is simple using PWM (Pulse Width Modulation). The ESP32-S3 has built-in LEDC (LED Controller) hardware, which makes it efficient for dimming LEDs smoothly.

Steps to Fade an LED on ESP32-S3

1. Connect the LED – Attach the positive leg of the LED to a PWM-capable GPIO pin and the negative leg to the ground via a resistor (220Ω recommended).
2. Set Up PWM in Code – Use the LEDC library to configure the PWM signal.
3. Write a Simple Code – Use the following example in Arduino IDE:

const int ledPin = 5; // Use any PWM-capable GPIO  
int brightness = 0;  
int fadeAmount = 5;  

void setup() {  
    ledcSetup(0, 5000, 8);  
    ledcAttachPin(ledPin, 0);  
}  

void loop() {  
    ledcWrite(0, brightness);  
    brightness += fadeAmount;  
    if (brightness <= 0 || brightness >= 255) {  
        fadeAmount = -fadeAmount;  
    }  
    delay(30);  
}

1. Upload and Test – Upload the code and observe the LED fading in and out smoothly.

This method ensures smooth LED dimming with minimal CPU usage.