Understanding NodeMcu 12-E & 1.44" TFT LCD Display connectivity

Other Hardware Displays
1

Hi. First time poster and first time arduino'r. Might be wrong subforum? Please let me know if I should address this somewhere else. I was hoping for some assistance with better understanding the layout of these 2 pieces I received from Amazon. I bought the following pack:

Amazon Link

Here's a picture of the pieces. Please ignore the blue top device. The bottom left and bottom right are the ESP8266 and Display, respectively:

I've been doing some research and trying to understand how to connect these 2 pieces. The video tutorial found on the amazon page is pretty good, but the LCD display's pins are a little bit different:

I've also been looking for documentation and I find it very difficult, I believe the ESP8266 is this ESP8266 ESP-12E NodeMCU, but I can't quite figure out the Display. The pins don't line up to:

128x128 Colour LCD
Adafruit 1.44" TFT LCD - ST7735R
1.44" 128x128 TFT LCD with SPI Interface

The pins on the LCD Display are as follows:

VCC 8. GND
GND 7. LED
GND 6. VCC
NC 5. CLK
NC 4. DIN
LED 3. D/C
CLK 2. CS
SDI 1. RST
RS
RST
CS

The pins on the ESP8266 are as follows:

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Any help or guidance would be great. Just looking to connect these before I even dive into the coding aspect. Again, first time arduino attempter (probably should have bought a real kit rather than some Amazon 'kit' too. bleh). Please let me know if I need to supply additional information. Thanks!

Update: So, there was a hidden image on the Amazon link. It wasn't displayed on the left hand side. However, upon clicking on an image and bringing up a new windows, I found some wiring instructions. I will follow these tonight when I get home to see if I make any progress. Thanks for being a sound board for my first attempt at this!

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2

Please find a link to the actual Blue display board.
Or at least read the number on the large integrated circuit.

I suspect that you have an ST7735S controller. It might be ILI9163 or similar.

Install the proper TFT_ST7735 library from Bodmer's GitHub site.

I am very wary of hacked libraries from unknown websites. They might be fine. Post a link.

David.

3

Thank you for the quick reply David. I apologize, I am not following your recommendations.

When you mean the Blue display board, are you referring to the LCD Display? If so, I do not have an 'official' link, only the information was supplied on the amazon link here.

I will look into the ST7735S controller or ILI9163 and see if it is what I have. The LCD display I have is a 128x128.

I have not tried installing any libraries yet, only trying to understand the physical connectivity between the ESP and LCD Display.

Again, thank you for the reply back David.

4

I read the message on a Tablet.
I looked at your link on my PC. I can see the part number. It is 74HC245

I can't see the module pinout. I assume that it is designed to plug into the Analog and Power headers of an Arduino. The HC245 translates the 5V logic of a Uno. It should work fine with the 3V ESP8266.

It looks as if the LED pin can be switched by logic.

The link implies that it has a ST7735. And it suggests Adafruit_ST7735 and Adafruit_GFX libraries (which you can install with the Library Manager)

So everything looks good.

It is up to you to show your wiring. And explain what you see and what you expected to see. e.g. from a Library example.

Connect LED to 3V. I suggest that you use the software constructor. We will get the hardware working later.

Adafruit_ST7735 tft = Adafruit_ST7735(TFT_CS, TFT_DC, TFT_MOSI, TFT_SCLK, TFT_RST);

You must edit the defines to match your wiring. e.g. #define TFT_CS D1

David.

5

Okay, I have wired the LCD Display to the ESP8266 per the amazon link:

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I have set the board manager to ESP8266 and chose the NodeMCU 1.0 (ESP-12E Module)

I have installed the Adafruit-GFX-Library and Adafruit-ST7735-Library.

I am using the ST7735 example "graphicstest".

I have updated:
#define TFT_CS D1
#define TFT_RST D2
#define TFT_DC ??

However, I do not understand what DC is correlated to, as I do not see this on the ESP8266 nor the LCD Display.

Consequently, I have the following screen on my display. It has not changed after many different tinkerings. I am unsure what I am doing wrong.

6

TFT_DC D3
TFT_MOSI D7
TFT_SCLK D5

DC and RS are different names for the same thing. DC means Data/Command. RS means RegisterSelect
MOSI and SDI are the same. MasterOutSlaveIn. SerialDataIn.
SCLK. SerialClock

Yes, it is confusing. Google is your friend.

Seriously, it is better to start with an Arduino Uno. Your display just plugs into the header sockets.

David.

7

This worked! Thank you very much David. I now understand a bit more about the displays and naming convention. I agree, I should have started with an Arduino Uno. I will begin programming this now.