Howto add a Waveshare EPD model to ESPHome?

ronnie_j · October 9, 2023, 7:39pm

Hi All,

I am trying to build a combination of HA tts speaker combined with e-paper display for the living room.
For the case I am a bit space limited, but 3.52 inch display would fit the case, which is what I ordered from Waveshare including a ESP32 driver board. I can successfully run the demo software, so hardware is in good shape. I was under the impression that all e-ink displays would be supported with this: Waveshare E-Paper Display — ESPHome

However, that is not true.

According to esphome, the used library is from ‘soonuse’ :

github.com

soonuse/epd-library-arduino/blob/e4bc3884213fcb05a2857901a0b46339083458e5/readme.md

# Arduino libraries for Waveshare e-paper series
Arduino libraries for Waveshare e-paper series
## Hardware connection (e-Paper --> Arduino)
    3.3V --> 3V3
    GND  --> GND
    DIN  --> D11
    CLK  --> D13
    CS   --> D10
    DC   --> D9
    RST  --> D8
    BUSY --> D7
## Expected result
1.  Copy the libraries (e-paper/arduino/libraries) of Arduino demo code to 
    the libraries directory of Arduino IDE.
    (C:\users\username\documents\arduino\libraries by default. You can also 
    specify the location on 
    Arduino IDE --> File --> Preferences --> Sketchbook location).
2.  Open the project (arduino/epd-demo/epd-demo.ino)
3.  Compile and upload the program.
4.  The e-Paper will display strings, shapes and images.

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which seems to be quite stale in the codebase, and limited with respect to the amount of models.

Waveshare itself also has an Arduino section, which seems more maintained:

In an attempt to see if I can find/map how these libraries are included in ESPhome, I tried finding the source code in esphome, but this seems to be not present.

Is there a way to get my display supported/added to esphome, and how should I go about?
Should it be simple as adding the CPP code into esphome in some directory, of does code needs to be created?

Many thanks,

Ron

jazzmonger · January 31, 2025, 5:29pm

nobody working on this? There are several waveshare units w/out support. I have a 3.52" e-paper unit.

if someone can point us in the right spot, we might be able to get these units working.

Haspelknecht · February 1, 2025, 12:19pm

The driver for EPD is a litte bit buggy, that makes results a dice game. You find the driver in the compments folder. If you compare the actual driver with some other drivers (for example GxEPD2) that would be best to change the actual driver with the other ones.

jazzmonger · February 1, 2025, 2:11pm

Unfortunately, I had to give upon these displays. Too many issues. Slow update time is the real killer. It’s too bad. They look great and the commercial application would have included potential operation in full sunlight. Oh well.