Want to add printing to your ESP32 projects, receipts, invoices, barcodes, even logos—without using a full PC? Using a thermal printer like the PNP-500 with an ESP32 lets you do just that. Thermal printers are popular because they print quietly, need no ink, are simple to interface, and work fast. In this guide, you’ll learn how to wire up a thermal printer to an ESP32, use ESC/POS commands, print text, images, barcodes & much more.
What Is a Thermal Printer & Why Use It?
Thermal printers use heat on special thermal paper to produce text or graphics. Since there are no rollers or ink cartridges, they’re cheaper in maintenance and more compact. You’ll often find them in:
- Receipt printers in shops
- Label printers for barcodes
- Small embedded displays in IoT devices
With ESP32 thermal printer, you can create custom printing applications, say a QR code receipt printer, smart home logs, industrial data logs, and so on.
Hardware You’ll Need
- ESP32 Development Board
- PNP-500 thermal printer module
- 2 Push Buttons
- 2-cell Li-ion battery
- Resistors
How to Wire the Printer to ESP32
- Use the TTL (UART) interface of the printer. This is simpler than RS232 in many cases.
- Connect the TX/RX pins of ESP32 UART2 to the printer’s RX/TX pins.
- Power the printer from a stable voltage (around 7-9V preferred; 5V works for simple text).
- Optionally, add buttons: one button to move through demo image printing, another for full format/demo prints.
Make sure to use pull-ups on signal lines if wires are long to reduce noise, and common ground.
for more step-by-step tutorial: ESP32 Thermal Printer Tutorial: Interface PNP-500 Receipt Printer with Arduino Code & Circuit Diagram
Applications & Use Cases
Here are some ideas where an ESP32-thermal printer combo can be useful:
- Printing sales invoices / receipts
- IoT monitoring dashboards that print logs spontaneously
- Barcode/QR code tickets or labels
- Smart lockers or access control systems printing QR codes
- Portable printing for outdoor data collection
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