“E-Ink Display! E-Ink Display! E-Ink Display!” Just when the friends who were waiting for the replenishment of the DAPLink board came, they enthusiastically urged for the “new product” again. So, if you have any recommended models for the three-color E-Ink display, please leave a message at the end of the article~
Engineer friends always have a unique sentiment for E-Ink displays. Hezhao launched the LuatOS E-Ink e-book and E-Ink calendar application examples last year, which, combined with the cost-effective MCU series development boards, allow for easy DIY of various creative applications.
Especially worth sharing is the open-source masterpiece of @灰太狼烤着吃 — the project of the 2.9-inch/1.54-inch desktop E-Ink display:
▼ Click to view video demonstration ▼
Thanks to @灰太狼烤着吃 for sharing this project. Friends who are interested can click the “Read the original text” at the end of the article to download the latest materials.
1
Main Hardware Materials
Based on Hezhao ESP32C3 Development Board’s2.9-inch/1.54-inch Desktop E-Ink Display— Built-in lithium battery power supply, can switch between four different display modes: clock, weather, ancient poetry, and images.
The main hardware used in the project is as follows:
1.1 E-Ink Display:
The models of the E-Ink display used in the project are:
2.9-inch:HINK-E029A01 1.54-inch:HINK-E154A05
The E-Ink displays were purchased from Xianyu, both are black and white two-color E-Ink displays, with 24P pins. Since partial refresh is used in the program, using three-color or multi-color displays may not work properly. Other models of E-Ink displays have not been tested, but most E-Ink display driver circuits are relatively universal and can be tested by yourself.
1.2 Main Control:
This project uses the Hezhao ESP32C3 Development Board as the main control, controlling the E-Ink display through the corresponding driver circuit.
This development board adopts a stamp hole design, so in this project, the development board is treated as a patch component, soldered onto the PCB board to save space.
Currently, Hezhao sells two types of ESP32C3 development boards: the classic version and the minimalist version. Both styles can be used in this project. I personally recommend beginners to get the classic version, as it is easier to program and less prone to pitfalls than the minimalist version.
1.3 Power Management Circuit:
This project uses the ETA6093 chip for power management.ETA6093 is a switching lithium battery charger, which can provide a charging current of 1.2A to the battery and provides a boost output operation of 5V/1.2A. It only requires one inductor to achieve bidirectional power path management for automatic mode detection and switching operations.
In this project, it is connected to the USB power supply port on the ESP32C3 development board — when using USB power, the ETA6093 chip is in charging mode, charging the lithium battery; when USB power is disconnected, the lithium battery provides power to the development board and E-Ink display through the ETA6093 boost output.
In addition, USB power does not affect downloading programs to the development board via USB.
The battery used in the project is a lithium battery model 301048 (3*10*48mm). As low power design has not been implemented, the usage time is relatively short, it is recommended to use USB power when using the desktop ornament.
1.4 Switch Button:
This project uses a toggle switch to turn the device on and off, and two buttons to control the interface and mode switching.
2
Software Function Implementation
The E-Ink display ornament currently has functions such as clock/weather/ancient poetry and image display. Next, I will explain the main points of software development.
2.1 Development Tools
The Hezhao ESP32C3 development board, besides the officially supported LuatOS development, can also choose to develop using Espressif IDF/Arduino/MicroPython, etc., based on personal development experience.
This project is developed using Arduino, and it is necessary to install Arduino’s ESP32C3 support.If not installed, please find relevant materials to install it yourself.
Here I provide cloud disk materials and usage methods to help everyone quickly configure, refer to:
[Technical] Open Source! E-Ink Desktop Ornament with Four Modes ~ Step-by-step DIY Guide
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1RU4y1e7xD?t=64.4
2.2 Arduino Libraries
Use the Arduino Library Manager to install the following five dependency libraries:
-
ArduinoJson Library: Parses JSON data; the weather, ancient poetry, famous quotes, etc., in the project are obtained through some APIs stored in the returned JSON data.
-
GxEPD2 Library: Drives the E-Ink display.
-
Time Library: Configures time.
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Timezone Library: Switches time zones.
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U8g2 Library: Image display library.
2.3 Program Compilation and Download
-
Modify Pin Definitions:
Modify the relevant definitions under “C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\esp32\hardware\esp32\2.0.0\variants\esp32c3”.
static const uint8_t SDA = 4; //8
static const uint8_t SCL = 5; //9
static const uint8_t SS = 7;
static const uint8_t MOSI = 3; //6
static const uint8_t MISO = 10; //5
static const uint8_t SCK = 2; //4
This configuration is modified based on the pin definitions of the Hezhao development board. For detailed pin descriptions, refer to:
https://wiki.luatos.com/chips/esp32c3/board.html#id5
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Select File:
Download the program in the attachment, and open the file with the same name in Arduino.
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Basic Settings:
Select the development board as ESP32C3 Dev Module; choose the corresponding download method:If it is the minimalist version, select Internal USB; for the classic version, select UART0; finally select the correct port.
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Compile and Download: Click download, wait for compilation and download success.
Using the 1.54-inch version, it is also very convenient to use the official demo from Hezhao. Relevant materials can be referred to:
ESP32C3 Development Board Materials:
https://wiki.luatos.com/chips/esp32c3/index.html
E-Ink Display Materials:
https://wiki.luatos.com/peripherals/eink_1.54/index.html
LuatOS Programming Tutorial:https://wiki.luatos.com/boardGuide/flash.html
3
Open Source Project/Code Download
The relevant materials and usage instructions for the 2.9-inch/1.54-inch desktop E-Ink display have been updated on the Lichuang Open Source Square. Friends who are interested can give it a try~
Original Project Link:https://oshwhub.com/small_da/2.9cun-zhuo-mian-mo-shui-ping-ba
Open Source License:MIT
Schematic
PCB
At the end of the article, click “Read the original text” to download the relevant latest files.
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