Using a 2.9 inch E-Paper Display with ARDUINO

[Daestrum]

I think the graphics arrays are in a .h file not a .cpp file ( could be wrong though ) purely from reading about 3 color e-paper displays. ( I don't own one to try on ).
One array is black/white the other is 3rd color. They appear to get written separately to the display.

Edit: Just ordered one to try on. Arrives Friday.

 

[Marc DANIEL]

It's possible. The ARDUINO sketches use the 2 files "imagedata.h" and "imagedata.cpp" and it seems to me that imagedata.h is an empty shell which is filled during the sketch by the content of "imagedata.cpp" but I could be wrong .

I put in PJ the content of the sketch that I use to obtain the display of the "Waveshare Electronics" image.

 

[Marc DANIEL]

On Amazon I saw a 400x320 7 color e-ink display... the price, though.... aouch!!!!

We never stop technological progress

 

[Marc DANIEL]

I managed to get my 2.66 inch E-Ink to work with ARDUINO UNO and the ARDUINO sketch "epd2in66b"

I get the following image...

On the other hand, impossible to obtain a result by connecting the Raspberry Pi Pico mini-card in ARDUINO IDE mode

even by pressing the button located on the back of the card before the USB connection, which triggers the recognition of this card by the PC

 

[Daestrum]

Well the e-paper display arrived. Just trying to get the software installed.

 

[Marc DANIEL]

What model did you order?

 

[Daestrum]

Waveshare 296x128(B) V3 (was the result of Amazon search 3 colour e-paper)

 

[Marc DANIEL]

Waveshare 296x128(B) V3 (was the result of Amazon search 3 colour e-paper)

So practically the same model as me

 

[Daestrum]

I think the display I received has a fault as not a single example will run on it. Every compile ends in fatal error pytool ....

If I disconnect the display from the nodeMCU it runs anything I compile. Think the display is pulling pins down/up its not meant to.

Can't be bothered to try any more, it's in the bin now lol.

 

[Marc DANIEL]

It's really regrettable.
If you ordered this product from Amazon, they refund very easily according to my habits

 

[Daestrum]

Just trying with some uno's/mega/8266's


Finally got it working and uploaded a picture to it. (nodeMCU)

EDIT: had to remove the image, granddaughter was not too pleased lol.

Had to change the pins around - rst line was causing the problem.

 

[Marc DANIEL]

For those who only want to display text on the electronic label, just use the ARDUINO sketch in PJ, you will get the following display on a 2.9 inch E-Paper

But before launching the sketch, you must check that the necessary GxEPD2 library is already installed, otherwise you must follow the following instructions:

 

[Marc DANIEL]

As I have 2 kinds of E-Paper screens, one 2.9 inches and a second 2.66 inches, I noticed that the display in the previous sketch is the same on both devices. In both cases , we obtain a maximum display of 7 lines of 26 characters (182 characters). This is a big difference with small LCD screens (2 lines of 16 characters or 4 lines of 20 characters).

 

[Marc DANIEL]

Still no library for B4R, I wonder if we couldn't perhaps use this library?

I tried the EREL method again to create an XML file, this time the command line worked and I got no error messages but I got a disappointing XML file that doesn't work.

 

[Daestrum]

Finally it makes sense now.
Using a nodeMCU and a 2.9b v3 display, in order to upload the sketch RST (D4 pin) must have open circuit or else sketch wont load.
After the sketch is loaded reconnect D4 and reset NodeMCU. Then it works.

E-paper display​	NodeMcU​
VCC​	3.3v​
GND​	GND​
DIN​	D7​
SCK​	D5​
CS​	D8​
DC​	D2​
RST​	D4 (use patch wire to break easier)​
BUSY​	D1​
​

 

[Marc DANIEL]

It seems to me that this tool will allow us to easily create our own images in the format expected by E-Paper screens

​

 

[Daestrum]

I just used the loader example (waveshare) so I could upload image from phone or computer.

 

[DonManfred]

I just used the loader example (waveshare) so I could upload image from phone or computer.

Do you have a link for us to this "tool"?

 

[Daestrum]

It's from this page https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/E-Paper_ESP8266_Driver_Board

Scroll down til you see 'Preparation' heading
Under that is a link marked 'click here'

Basically it sets up a web server on the 8266 - when youi connect with a browser you can upload the image and convert it for the display model you choose.

Note: it doesn't appear to check the size of the image file you give it. It crashed until I simply passed one the same size as the display (128 x 296).

 

[DonManfred]

Note: it doesn't appear to check the size of the image file you give it. It crashed until I simply passed one the same size as the display (128 x 296).

thank you.

I own a https://www.waveshare.com/product/displays/e-paper/epaper-1/photopainter.htm?sku=24709
and i am using the Tool ConverTo7c_bmp.zip (downloaded from wavesharesite too)
The tool does create the bmp from the sourceimage. It also resizes automatically.