Need help with 7pin 2.8inch display

ESPHome
1

Hello, I intend to use the following 2.8-inch display for display purposes with Esphome: https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005008825201269.html
(the last one from this page, labeled with: 2,8" TFT SPI 240X320 GMT028-05 V1.1
The display has the following 7 pins: GND,VCC,SCK,SDA,RST,DC,CS
I am using an ESP32-C3 super mini (pinout: ESP32 C3 Supermini Pinout - 3rd Party Boards - Arduino Forum)
This is my yaml file:

esphome:
  name: devboard-c3neu

esp32:
  board: esp32-c3-devkitm-1  #pinout https://forum.arduino.cc/t/esp32-c3-supermini-pinout/1189850
  framework:
    type: esp-idf

# Enable logging
logger:
  level: DEBUG
  
# Enable Home Assistant API
api:

ota:
  - platform: esphome
    password: "b7be6fcb9bb455e6a49a8d42888412e5"

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid1
  password: !secret wifi_password1
  power_save_mode: none
  output_power: 8.5dB

# Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
  ap:
    ssid: "Devboard-C3 Fallback Hotspot"
    password: "4GnJCpG3dH1k"

spi:
  clk_pin: GPIO10
  mosi_pin: GPIO06  

# Display
display:
  - platform: ili9xxx
    model: ST7789V
    dc_pin: GPIO08
    reset_pin: GPIO09
    invert_colors: True
    update_interval: 5s

    lambda: |-
      static int counter = 0;

      it.printf(20, 20, id(my_font_small), "counter:%d", counter);
      it.line(30, 30, 50, 80);
      counter++;

# define font
font:
  - file: "open-sans.ttf"
    id: my_font_small
    size: 10
    glyphs: '&@!,.?"%()+-_:°0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzåÄäÖöÜü|/ß'

The display does not seem to be controlled correctly (all pixels shows white).
Note: The test output of the counter works with a completely different display (1.3 inch 4-pin oled I2C: ssd1306_i2c). Therefore, it must be related to the configuration or wiring of the new 2.8 inch display."

wiring:
ESP32-C3 ----- Display
GND >-----< GND
3V3 >-----< VCC
GPIO08 >-----< DC
GPIO09 >-----< RST
GND >-----< CS
GPIO10 >-----< SCK
GPIO06 >-----< SDA

I would need some hints on what I could try to get the display working. Has anyone successfully controlled this display with ESPHome? Thank you in advance, Jarny.

2

The specs on ali says ST7735 driver, you are using ST7789V in your yaml, so change model to ST7735 and try again…

3

Thank you for the reply. This was my fault. It was already the third or fourth try to get the display running with another driver or other settings.
Now I am switching back to the driver ST7735 which is not working but should at least be the correct driver. I also tried setting invert_colors to False.

Maybe the log helps to get more ideas:

[15:56:23][I][app:115]: ESPHome version 2025.5.0 compiled on May 24 2025, 15:56:00
[15:56:23][C][wifi:600]: WiFi:
[15:56:23][C][wifi:428]:   Local MAC: 70:04:1D:36:DB:C4
[15:56:23][C][wifi:433]:   SSID: [redacted]
[15:56:23][C][wifi:436]:   IP Address: 192.168.6.172
[15:56:23][C][wifi:439]:   BSSID: [redacted]
[15:56:23][C][wifi:441]:   Hostname: 'devboard-c3neu'
[15:56:23][C][wifi:443]:   Signal strength: -61 dB ▂▄▆█
[15:56:23][C][wifi:447]:   Channel: 8
[15:56:23][C][wifi:448]:   Subnet: 255.255.255.0
[15:56:23][C][wifi:449]:   Gateway: 192.168.6.1
[15:56:23][C][wifi:450]:   DNS1: 192.168.6.1
[15:56:23][C][wifi:451]:   DNS2: 0.0.0.0
[15:56:23][C][logger:224]: Logger:
[15:56:23][C][logger:225]:   Max Level: DEBUG
[15:56:23][C][logger:226]:   Initial Level: DEBUG
[15:56:23][C][logger:228]:   Log Baud Rate: 115200
[15:56:23][C][logger:229]:   Hardware UART: USB_SERIAL_JTAG
[15:56:23][C][logger:233]:   Task Log Buffer Size: 768
[15:56:23][C][spi:068]: SPI bus:
[15:56:23][C][spi:069]:   CLK Pin: GPIO10
[15:56:23][C][spi:070]:   SDI Pin: 
[15:56:23][C][spi:071]:   SDO Pin: GPIO6
[15:56:23][C][spi:076]:   Using HW SPI: SPI2_HOST
[15:56:23][C][ili9xxx:091]: ili9xxx
[15:56:23][C][ili9xxx:091]:   Rotations: 0 °
[15:56:23][C][ili9xxx:091]:   Dimensions: 128px x 160px
[15:56:23][C][ili9xxx:092]:   Width Offset: 0
[15:56:23][C][ili9xxx:093]:   Height Offset: 0
[15:56:23][C][ili9xxx:099]:   Color mode: 16bit
[15:56:23][C][ili9xxx:108]:   Data rate: 40MHz
[15:56:23][C][ili9xxx:110]:   Reset Pin: GPIO9
[15:56:23][C][ili9xxx:112]:   DC Pin: GPIO8
[15:56:23][C][ili9xxx:114]:   Color order: RGB
[15:56:23][C][ili9xxx:115]:   Swap_xy: NO
[15:56:23][C][ili9xxx:116]:   Mirror_x: NO
[15:56:23][C][ili9xxx:117]:   Mirror_y: NO
[15:56:23][C][ili9xxx:118]:   Invert colors: YES
[15:56:23][C][ili9xxx:123]:   Update Interval: 5.0s
[15:56:23][C][mdns:120]: mDNS:
[15:56:23][C][mdns:121]:   Hostname: devboard-c3neu
[15:56:23][C][esphome.ota:073]: Over-The-Air updates:
[15:56:23][C][esphome.ota:074]:   Address: devboard-c3neu.local:3232
[15:56:23][C][esphome.ota:075]:   Version: 2
[15:56:23][C][esphome.ota:078]:   Password configured
[15:56:23][C][safe_mode:018]: Safe Mode:
[15:56:23][C][safe_mode:019]:   Boot considered successful after 60 seconds
[15:56:23][C][safe_mode:021]:   Invoke after 10 boot attempts
[15:56:23][C][safe_mode:022]:   Remain in safe mode for 300 seconds
[15:56:23][C][api:170]: API Server:
[15:56:23][C][api:171]:   Address: devboard-c3neu.local:6053
[15:56:23][C][api:178]:   Using noise encryption: NO
[15:57:17][I][safe_mode:041]: Boot seems successful; resetting boot loop counter
4

I found the solution. There where several mistakes in my config.
In my setup I wired the display cs pin to ground. That doesnt work and after I configure the cs signal in the display config, wired the signal, the display shows random color pixels instead of the white pixels. After that I correct my other mistakes in my yaml: wrong display resolution and wrong color depth https://github.com/esphome/issues/issues/6772 !
Now my display setup look like that:

# Display 2.8inch gmt028-05
display:
  - platform: ili9xxx
    model: ST7735
    cs_pin: GPIO05
    dc_pin: GPIO20
    reset_pin: GPIO21
    color_palette: 8BIT
    data_rate: 80Mhz
    dimensions:
      width: 320
      height: 240
    invert_colors: false
    update_interval: 1s

regards
Jarny