Help needed to get this tiny screen working - ESP32-c6 1.47in display

[darleschixon]

Hey all, I’ve been using HA for a few years now and I’ve decided to try ESPhome.

I thought this tiny esp32-c6 with screen was really cool and would be a nice place to start. Have I mad it more difficult for myself?

It’s connected and visible in HA but I can’t get the screen to display anything.

Log level debug:
Full log here - INFO ESPHome 2024.11.0INFO Reading configuration /config/esphome/sdsd.yaml... - Pastebin.com

but this is where it seems to fail

[09:11:10][W][component:237]: Component display took a long time for an operation (101 ms).
[09:11:10][W][component:238]: Components should block for at most 30 ms.

My config

esphome: name: abc friendly_name: ABCesp32: board: esp32-c6-devkitc -...

I’ve been using these two pages to help with the config but I’ve hit a wall.

ILI9xxx TFT LCD Series

ST7789V TFT LCD

Any help would be massively appreciated.

Thanks

[Karosm]

@darleschixon

Have I mad it more difficult for myself?

Definitely yes. Basic Wroom32 board would be easier to start with.
Anyway, nice board I have to say.
Read the waveshare wiki.
Start with the correct display pins:

[RonnieLast (Last of the Ronnies)]

Looking at the debug log it looks like the display is detected ok.

[09:15:54][C][ili9xxx:094]: ili9xxx
[09:15:54][C][ili9xxx:094]:   Rotations: 0 °
[09:15:54][C][ili9xxx:094]:   Dimensions: 172px x 320px
[09:15:54][C][ili9xxx:095]:   Width Offset: 0
[09:15:54][C][ili9xxx:096]:   Height Offset: 0
[09:15:54][C][ili9xxx:102]:   Color mode: 16bit
[09:15:54][C][ili9xxx:111]:   Data rate: 40MHz
...

Put the logger into VERBOSE mode and boot up again. Then do the same with VERY_VERBOSE mode. Very verbose should post the commands to the display and will be very long; we only need ~15 seconds of that one. Upload both.

logger:
  level: VERBOSE

Logger Component

[RonnieLast (Last of the Ronnies)]

@darleschixon and pull down that password for your WiFi
It should be hidden in the secrets like this:

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password

Secrets are managed here:

[darleschixon]

Thanks @RonnieLast @Karosm for your hep. Much appreciated.

I’ve hidden my Wifi details now.

I got a little further using the correct GPIO numbers as @Karosm pointed out above.
I was able to see the shape on the screen but it was very intermittent and the same error appeared in the logs as before.

Config
Verbose log
Very_verbose log

[darleschixon]

Weirdly, if I install via usb.

When I get to this screen

It works and the screen shows the shape (just a random example I found)

But as soon as the install is “successful” the screen goes off.

[darleschixon]

Posting a new Very_verbose log here because it looks a lot different to the first one I posted.

[RonnieLast (Last of the Ronnies)]

I wonder if the SPI and display are negotiating the correct speed? I had an issue not unlike this last week and it was resolved by configuring the speed on I2C…

Component display took a long time for an operation (283 ms)

Ok, I resolved it. It’s the I2C frequency - the default is 50kHz - not enough for my needs. I used 300kHz and it’s fine since: i2c: # Support for the RTC with backup battery sda: 21 scl: 22 scan: True frequency: 300kHz id: bus_a

[darleschixon]

As soon as I put i2c in my config I get this error about Pin 21

[Hellis81]

Because you use the pin on the LCD.
This display is not i2c? So if you need i2c then you need to select other pins than the default

[RonnieLast (Last of the Ronnies)]

It’s SPI and not I2C.

1.47_LCD_Manual.pdf

I meant my update as an example of what can happen if the protocol cannot communicate to the display at the expected speed. Sorry for the confusion.

[Hellis81]

The ST7789V component has these parameters you could try and change:

data_rate (Optional, frequency): The SPI data rate (default 20MHz.) Can be reduced if required, e.g. to compensate for long data cables.

spi_mode (Optional, 0-3): The SPI clock mode to use (default: mode0.) The ST7789V datasheet specifies mode 0, but some displays appear to require mode 3. This should be one of mode0, mode1, mode2 or mode3 (or just a digit from 0-3.)

EDIT;
Just noticed from the manual Ronnie posted:

Could that be the spi_mode?

[darleschixon]

Trying this now:

display:
  - platform: st7789v
    model: Waveshare 1.47in 172X320
    dc_pin: GPIO15
    cs_pin: GPIO14
    reset_pin: GPIO21
    spi_mode: 3
    id: tft_ha
    lambda: |-
      // Draw a circle in the middle of the display
      it.filled_circle(it.get_width() / 2, it.get_height() / 2, 20);

I also noticed that the manual mentioned 4 Line SPI on the same table you took a screenshot.
Found this info from here

"For quad type instead specify data_pins:

• data_pins (Required, Pin Schema): Must be a list of exactly 4 pins to be used for the quad SPI output data lines."

[darleschixon]

Looking at the logs around SPI. Does it look like 1 pin is missing here?

[13:55:51][C][spi:064]: SPI bus:
[13:55:51][C][spi:065]:   CLK Pin: GPIO7
[13:55:51][C][spi:066]:   SDI Pin: 
[13:55:51][C][spi:067]:   SDO Pin: GPIO6
[13:55:51][C][spi:072]:   Using HW SPI: SPI2_HOST

[EBME2]

Is the screen backlight on by default? Your picture looks like it is, if not you should be able to control with

# Define a PWM output on the ESP32
output:
  - platform: ledc
    pin: GPIO22
    id: backlight_pwm

# Define a monochromatic, dimmable light for the backlight
light:
  - platform: monochromatic
    output: backlight_pwm
    name: "Display Backlight"
    id: back_light
    restore_mode: ALWAYS_ON

[darleschixon]

Weirdly enough I’ve just added
backlight_pin: GPIO22
to my config and the screen is showing correctly.

Thanks to everyone who helped out,

This is the working config for spi and display

spi:
  clk_pin: GPIO7
  mosi_pin: GPIO6

display:
  - platform: st7789v
    model: CUSTOM
    dc_pin: GPIO15
    height: 320
    width: 172
    offset_height: 34
    offset_width: 0
    cs_pin: GPIO14
    reset_pin: GPIO21
    backlight_pin: GPIO22
    spi_mode: 3
    data_rate: 4000000.0
    id: tft_ha
    lambda: |-
      // Draw a circle in the middle of the display
      it.filled_circle(it.get_width() / 2, it.get_height() / 2, 20);

I am still getting the orignal error in the logs but the screen is working, so I’m going to ignore that for now (I’m sure I’ll regret this later)