Need help with Wingoneer TFT display on UNO

I’m having trouble getting a Wingoneer LCD TFT SPI display working with an Arduino UNO. I am just getting a blank white screen. Any ideas about what I am doing wrong?

This is the display:
WINGONEER 2.8 inch LCD TFT LCD SPI Serial Touch TFT Color Screen

I am using the built-in TFT and SPI libraries.

These are the connections between the display and the UNO:

DISPLAY PINS ARDUINO UNO PINS
GND --------------- GND (SPI CONNECTOR)
VCC --------------- +5V (SPI CONNECTOR)
CLK --------------- SCK (SPI CONNECTOR)
MOSI --------------- MOSI (SPI CONNECTOR)
RES --------------- PIN 8
DC --------------- PIN 9
BLK
MISO --------------- MISO (SPI CONNECTOR)
CS1 --------------- PIN 10
CS2
PEN

This is the code.

#include <TFT.h>  // Arduino LCD library
#include <SPI.h>

// pin definition for the Uno
#define cs   10
#define dc   9
#define rst  8

// create an instance of the library
TFT TFTscreen = TFT(cs, dc, rst);
// char array to print to the screen
char sensorPrintout[6];

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  // Put this line at the beginning of every sketch that uses the GLCD:
  TFTscreen.begin();
  // clear the screen with a black background
  TFTscreen.background(0, 0, 0);
  // write the static text to the screen
  // set the font color to white
  TFTscreen.stroke(255, 255, 255);
  // set the font size
  TFTscreen.setTextSize(2);
  // write the text to the top left corner of the screen
  TFTscreen.text("Sensor Value :\n ", 0, 0);
  // ste the font size very large for the loop
  TFTscreen.setTextSize(5);
}

void loop() {
  Serial.println("Hi");
  // Read the value of the sensor on A0
  String sensorVal = String(analogRead(A0));
  // convert the reading to a char array
  sensorVal.toCharArray(sensorPrintout, 4);
  // set the font color
  TFTscreen.stroke(255, 255, 255);
  // print the sensor value
  TFTscreen.text(sensorPrintout, 0, 20);
  // wait for a moment
  delay(1250);
  // erase the text you just wrote
  TFTscreen.stroke(0, 0, 0);
  TFTscreen.text(sensorPrintout, 0, 20);
}

The TFT library is specific to the Arduino LCD, which is a ST7735 based device.

Open the library manager, search for ILI9341 and pick a more appropriate library, eg. Adafruit ILI9341, or ILI9341_t3.

I tried a few libraries intended for ILI9341 but the only one that would compile correctly was the Adafruit ILI9341 library. I double checked all the physical connections and made certain the example code defined pins were the same as the actual physical wiring.

The result is the sketch runs through to the end evidenced by all the Serial.print statements. Unfortunately, the display screen is still just a blank white screen.

Here is the provided example code

NOTE: I REMOVED A FEW OF THE LONG SUBROUTINES AT THE END TO GET THIS POST BELOW THE 900 WORD LIMIT.

/***************************************************
  This is our GFX example for the Adafruit ILI9341 Breakout and Shield
  ----> http://www.adafruit.com/products/1651

  Check out the links above for our tutorials and wiring diagrams
  These displays use SPI to communicate, 4 or 5 pins are required to
  interface (RST is optional)
  Adafruit invests time and resources providing this open source code,
  please support Adafruit and open-source hardware by purchasing
  products from Adafruit!

  Written by Limor Fried/Ladyada for Adafruit Industries.
  MIT license, all text above must be included in any redistribution
 ****************************************************/


#include "SPI.h"
#include "Adafruit_GFX.h"
#include "Adafruit_ILI9341.h"

// For the Adafruit shield, these are the default.
#define TFT_DC 9
#define TFT_CS 10

// Use hardware SPI (on Uno, #13, #12, #11) and the above for CS/DC
Adafruit_ILI9341 tft = Adafruit_ILI9341(TFT_CS, TFT_DC);
// If using the breakout, change pins as desired
//Adafruit_ILI9341 tft = Adafruit_ILI9341(TFT_CS, TFT_DC, TFT_MOSI, TFT_CLK, TFT_RST, TFT_MISO);

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  Serial.println("ILI9341 Test!"); 
 
  tft.begin();

  // read diagnostics (optional but can help debug problems)
  uint8_t x = tft.readcommand8(ILI9341_RDMODE);
  Serial.print("Display Power Mode: 0x"); Serial.println(x, HEX);
  x = tft.readcommand8(ILI9341_RDMADCTL);
  Serial.print("MADCTL Mode: 0x"); Serial.println(x, HEX);
  x = tft.readcommand8(ILI9341_RDPIXFMT);
  Serial.print("Pixel Format: 0x"); Serial.println(x, HEX);
  x = tft.readcommand8(ILI9341_RDIMGFMT);
  Serial.print("Image Format: 0x"); Serial.println(x, HEX);
  x = tft.readcommand8(ILI9341_RDSELFDIAG);
  Serial.print("Self Diagnostic: 0x"); Serial.println(x, HEX); 
  
  Serial.println(F("Benchmark                Time (microseconds)"));
  delay(10);
  Serial.print(F("Screen fill              "));
  Serial.println(testFillScreen());
  delay(500);

  Serial.print(F("Text                     "));
  Serial.println(testText());
  delay(3000);

  Serial.print(F("Lines                    "));
  Serial.println(testLines(ILI9341_CYAN));
  delay(500);

  Serial.print(F("Horiz/Vert Lines         "));
  Serial.println(testFastLines(ILI9341_RED, ILI9341_BLUE));
  delay(500);

  Serial.print(F("Rectangles (outline)     "));
  Serial.println(testRects(ILI9341_GREEN));
  delay(500);

  Serial.print(F("Rectangles (filled)      "));
  Serial.println(testFilledRects(ILI9341_YELLOW, ILI9341_MAGENTA));
  delay(500);

  Serial.print(F("Circles (filled)         "));
  Serial.println(testFilledCircles(10, ILI9341_MAGENTA));

  Serial.print(F("Circles (outline)        "));
  Serial.println(testCircles(10, ILI9341_WHITE));
  delay(500);

  Serial.print(F("Triangles (outline)      "));
  Serial.println(testTriangles());
  delay(500);

  Serial.print(F("Triangles (filled)       "));
  Serial.println(testFilledTriangles());
  delay(500);

  Serial.print(F("Rounded rects (outline)  "));
  Serial.println(testRoundRects());
  delay(500);

  Serial.print(F("Rounded rects (filled)   "));
  Serial.println(testFilledRoundRects());
  delay(500);

  Serial.println(F("Done!"));
}


void loop(void) {
  for(uint8_t rotation=0; rotation<4; rotation++) {
    tft.setRotation(rotation);
    testText();
    delay(1000);
  }
}

unsigned long testFillScreen() {
  unsigned long start = micros();
  tft.fillScreen(ILI9341_BLACK);
  yield();
  tft.fillScreen(ILI9341_RED);
  yield();
  tft.fillScreen(ILI9341_GREEN);
  yield();
  tft.fillScreen(ILI9341_BLUE);
  yield();
  tft.fillScreen(ILI9341_BLACK);
  yield();
  return micros() - start;
}

unsigned long testText() {
  tft.fillScreen(ILI9341_BLACK);
  unsigned long start = micros();
  tft.setCursor(0, 0);
  tft.setTextColor(ILI9341_WHITE);  tft.setTextSize(1);
  tft.println("Hello World!");
  tft.setTextColor(ILI9341_YELLOW); tft.setTextSize(2);
  tft.println(1234.56);
  tft.setTextColor(ILI9341_RED);    tft.setTextSize(3);
  tft.println(0xDEADBEEF, HEX);
  tft.println();
  tft.setTextColor(ILI9341_GREEN);
  tft.setTextSize(5);
  tft.println("Groop");
  tft.setTextSize(2);
  tft.println("I implore thee,");
  tft.setTextSize(1);
  tft.println("my foonting turlingdromes.");
  tft.println("And hooptiously drangle me");
  tft.println("with crinkly bindlewurdles,");
  tft.println("Or I will rend thee");
  tft.println("in the gobberwarts");
  tft.println("with my blurglecruncheon,");
  tft.println("see if I don't!");
  return micros() - start;
}

unsigned long testLines(uint16_t color) {
  unsigned long start, t;
  int           x1, y1, x2, y2,
                w = tft.width(),
                h = tft.height();

  tft.fillScreen(ILI9341_BLACK);
  yield();
  
  x1 = y1 = 0;
  y2    = h - 1;
  start = micros();
  for(x2=0; x2<w; x2+=6) tft.drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2, color);
  x2    = w - 1;
  for(y2=0; y2<h; y2+=6) tft.drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2, color);
  t     = micros() - start; // fillScreen doesn't count against timing

  yield();
  tft.fillScreen(ILI9341_BLACK);
  yield();

  x1    = w - 1;
  y1    = 0;
  y2    = h - 1;
  start = micros();
  for(x2=0; x2<w; x2+=6) tft.drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2, color);
  x2    = 0;
  for(y2=0; y2<h; y2+=6) tft.drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2, color);
  t    += micros() - start;

  yield();
  tft.fillScreen(ILI9341_BLACK);
  yield();

  x1    = 0;
  y1    = h - 1;
  y2    = 0;
  start = micros();
  for(x2=0; x2<w; x2+=6) tft.drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2, color);
  x2    = w - 1;
  for(y2=0; y2<h; y2+=6) tft.drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2, color);
  t    += micros() - start;

  yield();
  tft.fillScreen(ILI9341_BLACK);
  yield();

  x1    = w - 1;
  y1    = h - 1;
  y2    = 0;
  start = micros();
  for(x2=0; x2<w; x2+=6) tft.drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2, color);
  x2    = 0;
  for(y2=0; y2<h; y2+=6) tft.drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2, color);

  yield();
  return micros() - start;
}

unsigned long testFastLines(uint16_t color1, uint16_t color2) {
  unsigned long start;
  int           x, y, w = tft.width(), h = tft.height();

  tft.fillScreen(ILI9341_BLACK);
  start = micros();
  for(y=0; y<h; y+=5) tft.drawFastHLine(0, y, w, color1);
  for(x=0; x<w; x+=5) tft.drawFastVLine(x, 0, h, color2);

  return micros() - start;
}

unsigned long testRects(uint16_t color) {
  unsigned long start;
  int           n, i, i2,
                cx = tft.width()  / 2,
                cy = tft.height() / 2;

  tft.fillScreen(ILI9341_BLACK);
  n     = min(tft.width(), tft.height());
  start = micros();
  for(i=2; i<n; i+=6) {
    i2 = i / 2;
    tft.drawRect(cx-i2, cy-i2, i, i, color);
  }

  return micros() - start;
}

It may help if you can post one of more pictures of your hardware showing all the connections clearly.

Oh, I've just noticed, on the Amazon page:

  1. VCC (power supply is 3.3V)

What you said:

PickyBiker:
VCC --------------- +5V (SPI CONNECTOR)

You may have roasted it...

I believe you are correct. I'll look for a 5v version. Got the Adafruit library sooooo I'll look at the Adafruit displays...

Thanks for catching that!