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Basics: Project 070g

Project name: ESP32 Development board - 3.5'' 320×480 TFT LCD Shield with ILI9481 driver

Tags: ESP32 Dev Module, ESP32 development board, ESP32 Development board with WiFi and Bluetooth, ESP32-DevKitC V4 development board, ESP-WROOM-32 module with ESP32‑D0WDQ6 chip, Espressif Systems, ESP32-based development board, ESP32 modules, ESP32-WROOM-32, ESP32-WROOM-32U, ESP32-WROOM-32D, ESP32-SOLO-1, USB-UART bridge, IOT, ESP-WROOM-32 Dev Module, ESP32 DEVKITV1, Installing the ESP32 Board in Arduino IDE, Uploading sketch, Arduino Uno, 3.5'' 320×480 TFT LCD Shield, 8-bit Parallel, SD Card Module, Micro SD card, ILI9481 driver, ILI 9481 driver, ili 9481 driver, ili 9481

Attachments: sketches and modifiedlibrary; originallibrarynotused

In this project, you need these parts :

1. ESP32 development board with WiFi and Bluetooth and USB A / micro USB B cable 1 pc

2.Arduino IDE ( you can download it from here  )

General

We will learn how to connect 3.5'' 320×480 TFT LCD Shield ILI9481 driver to your ESP32 development board and use it. 

There are a lot of different development boards made. You can find more information about them here. 

Understanding the ESP32 Development board with WiFi and Bluetooth

You can read more about it here.

Understanding 3.5'' 320×480 TFT LCD Shield with ILI9481 driver

You can read more about it here.

Signals and connections of the 3.5'' 320×480 TFT LCD Shield with ILI9481 driver

LCD_D0 - LCD_07 - Data pins

SD_SS - Secure Digital (SD) card SS. (Chip Select or Slave Select) - the pin on each device that the master can use to enable and disable specific devices.

SD_DI - Secure Digital (SD) card DI. Master Out/Slave In (MOSI). SPI communication. The Master line for sending data to the peripherals. Used for the DBI type C mode. If not used, please connect this pin to ground. 

SD_DO - Secure Digital (SD) card. (Master In Slave Out) - SPI communication. The Slave line for sending data to the master. Used for the DBI type C mode. 

SD_SCK - Secure Digital (SD) card SCK (CLK). SPI communication. SCK (Serial Clock) - The clock pulses which synchronize data transmission generated by the master

LCD_RST - Liquid Crystal Display Reset. This signal low will reset the device and must be applied to properly initialize the chip. Signal is low active.

LCD_CS - Liquid Crystal Display Chip select. Chip select input pin (“Low” enable). 

LCD_RS (LCD_CD or LCD_DC) - Liquid Crystal Display Register select/ Command/Data

LCD_WR - Liquid Crystal Display Write register. Write control pin for the DBI interface. When the DBI type C is selected, this pin is used as serial clock pin. If not used, please connect this pin to IOVCC. 

LCD_RD - Liquid Crystal Display Read. Read control pin for the DBI interface. If not used, please connect this pin to IOVCC. 

GND - connects to ground pin
5V -  connects to power supply 5 V
3V3 - connects to power supply 3.3 V

Signals and connections of the ESP32 Development board with WiFi and Bluetooth

You can find more information (datasheets, schematics, pins descriptions, functional desgn descriptions) about each board (made by Espresiff Systems) by pressing Getting started link close to each board here.

Let's check our development board - ESP32 DEVKITV1 with ESP-WROOM-32 module from Espressif Systems:

Pinout diagram for the ESP Wroom 32 breakout:

ESP32-WROOM-32 - ESP32-WROOM-32 module soldered to the development board. Optionally ESP32-WROOM-32D, ESP32-WROOM-32U or ESP32-SOLO-1 module may be soldered instead of the ESP32-WROOM-32.

USB-UART Bridge - A single chip USB-UART bridge provides up to 3 Mbps transfers rates.

BOOT button - Download button: holding down the Boot button and pressing the EN button initiates the firmware download mode. Then user can download firmware through the serial port.

EN button - Reset button: pressing this button resets the system.

Micro USB Port - USB interface. It functions as the power supply for the board and the communication interface between PC and the ESP module.

TX0, TX2 - transmit pin. GPIO pin

RX0, RX2  - receive pin.  GPIO pin

3V3 (or 3V or 3.3V) - power supply pin (3-3.6V). 

GND - ground pin.

EN - Chip enable. Keep it on high (3.3V) for normal operation.

Vin - External power supply 5VDC.

Wiring

3.5'' 320×480 TFT LCD Shield  | ESP32 Development board

LCD_RST                -1 (3V3 pin)

LCD_CS                  D2 (GPIO 2)

LCD_RS (LCD_DC)   D4 (GPIO 4)

LCD_WR                  D5 (GPIO 5)

LCD_RD                  D21 (GPIO 21) 

LCD_D0                  D12 (GPIO 12)

LCD_D1                  D13 (GPIO 13)   

LCD_D2                  D14 (GPIO 14)

LCD_D3                  D15 (GPIO 15) 

LCD_D4                  RX2 (GPIO 16)

LCD_D5                  TX2 (GPIO 17)        

LCD_D6                  D18 (GPIO 18)

LCD_D7                  D19 (GPIO 19)

3V3                        Not used

5V                          VIN

GND                       GND

Step by Step instruction

The ESP32 is currently being integrated with the Arduino IDE like it was done for the ESP8266. There’s an add-on for the Arduino IDE that allows you to program the ESP32 using the Arduino IDE and its programming language.

1. Installing ESP32 add-on in Arduino IDE (Windows 10 OS)

1. Download and install the latest Arduino IDE Windows Installer from arduino.cc
2. Download and install Git and Git GUI from git-scm.com
3. Search for Git GUI, right-click the icon and select “Run as administrator“
4. 
5. Select the Clone Existing Repository option.
6. 
7. Select source and destination. Source Location: https://github.com/espressif/arduino-esp32.git
8. Target Directory:C:/Users/[YOUR_USER_NAME]/Documents/Arduino/hardware/espressif/esp32
9. Do not create the espressif/esp32 folders, because they will be created automatically.
10. 
11. Click Clone to start cloning the repository.Wait a few seconds while the repository is being cloned.
12. 
13. 
14. Open the folder: C:/Users/[YOUR_USER_NAME]/Documents/Arduino/hardware/espressif/esp32/tools
15. Right-click the get.exe file and select “Run as administrator“.
16. 
17. You will see that necessary files will be downloaded and upzipped. It will take some time.
18. 
19. When get.exe finishes, you should see the following files in the directory.
20. 

2. Uploading sketch to ESP32 development board

1. Do wiring.
2. Plug the ESP32 development board to your PC and wait for the drivers to install (or install manually any that might be required).
3. Open Arduino IDE.
4. Open Boards manager. Go to Tools -> Board -> Boards Manager… (in our case it’s the DOIT ESP32 DEVKIT V1)
5. Select COM port that the board is attached to (if you don’t see the COM Port in your Arduino IDE, you need to install the ESP32 CP210x USB to UART Bridge VCP Drivers)
6. 
7. Open one of the sketches, compile and upload to your ESP32 development board. If everything went as expected, you should see a “Done uploading” message. (You need to hold the ESP32 on-board Boot button while uploading).
8. Press the ESP32 on-board EN button to reboot it. 
9. 
   

Code

In our project we used TFT_eSPI modified library. The original library was attached and mention just for reference.

We have attached different examples of code in this project. All of them were tested and found fully working.

Summary

We have learnt how to connect 3.5'' 320×480 TFT LCD Shield ILI9481 driver to your ESP32 development board and use it. 

Libraries

• All libraries attached on the begining of this project description.
• TFT_eSPI library included.Download, unzip  and add to libraries in our PC, for example C:\Users\toshiba\Documents\Arduino\libraries. This link you can find in Preferences of Adruino IDE program which installed in your PC. You can read more about it here.
• TFT_eSPI modified library included.Download, unzip  and add to libraries in our PC, for example C:\Users\toshiba\Documents\Arduino\libraries. This link you can find in Preferences of Adruino IDE program which installed in your PC. You can read more about it here.

Sketch

• See attachments on the begining of this project