Unlocking the Mystery of the Round LCD Module GC9A01
I just go this stunning round display.
It’s SPI (4 wires) 1.28 inch 240X240 pixels lcd.
And since I never used one before I thought it will be interesting to show you guys what I do when I get a new hardware. It’s one of the things I have helped many people over the years when they had issues. So let’s hook this up and see how it works.
This purchase was completely spontaneous, I sowed it, I ordered it I did not look into the details, so I have no clue how it works.
This is the product page on ebay, and let’s see if we can get the information from it.
First of all, you can see the driver IC which will help us in the search and also its 3.3 and 5 V tolerance. Which is great since we can use an uno.
There are wiring diagrams for raspberry pi, and for an UNO as well.
It’s a 4 wire SPI bus, with back light, command data pin and reset as well.
And I wonder if any one wrote a library for it, so will copy the driver IC name
As always google is our best friend, pasting the IC name and adding “Arduino library” got me to this library: github.com/moo...
Looking for the IC name in the readme, show that it is supported
You can choose to install from the IDE or just download the zip, whatever works for you. And let’s check on of the examples.
After installing the library I opened the clock example.
What’s important for us now is this line, as I mentioned before that it’s a 4 Wire spi that has data and command pin, reset, chip select and the last one is BL which is back light that can be govern by pwm as well.
So let’s connect the board, upload the code and see if it works.
I prefer to have the wiring pinout written down, but if I would to written it down, you wouldn’t be able to read it, so I printed it out.
First I want to connect the power. It is important with new hardware to know if it needs to be supplied with 3.3 or 5 V. we did establish that the data line can tolerate 5V. but according to wiring diagram on the ebay post the VCC is connected to 3.3V.
So let’s hook it up.
VCC goes to 3.3V,
GND to GND
and now connect the rest
DIN goes to D11.
CLK goes to D13.
CS goes to D9
DC goes to D8
Reset goes to D7 And last is BL that goes to D6
Now I couldn’t ask for a better result, I have uploaded the clock code example and nothing happened. I even tried the hello world example and still nothing.
Then it hit me, of course, I never set the code to the right LCD settings.
Scrolling to this line, you can see the comment that show us this link for the screen type settings.
github.com/moo...
I opened the link and searched for the driver GC9A01.
Here it is so let’s copy this setup. You can click copy to clipboard
Place it in the code instead of the original setting. Comment the previse code.
And let’s try it now.
This project is a gift that keeps on giving, and again, it did not work. Which actually surprised me.
So back to google it is, and this time I decided to look for “Arduino uno and GC9A01”
Noticing this image and following the link got me to this site
www.waveshare....
and under the resources tab, I downloaded the demo code.
out of the downloaded zip file I extracted “Arduino/ LCD_1inch28” folder into my sketchbook
Now I uploaded the code and still it did not work, then I notice the pinout under this defines, and matched them with the wiring I already done.
And it finally works, and works great.
I’m really interested to figure out why the other library did not work. And I’m going to look into it.
But at least we know now that the screen is working.
The color Is amazing and I’m really pleased with this purchase.
I mentioned before that it was a spontaneous purchase, this is what it was for.
I gotten this beauty, still functions well, need a bit of a cleaning. When I sow it first on a FB post, in the angle the photo was taken it seemed that the hole was a perfect circle, and off course it’s not
The screen was meant to fit in it. Still thinking of cleaver way to make it fit.
Still not sure what I want to do with it, I done a mobile conversation, and you can see a link on the screen and in the description
• Taking a rotary-dial p...
so I want to make something else, Ideas will be welcomed.
And now let’s go take care of that library
I went back to the code and did notice (again) that it only mentioned the Nano and Mini as supported boards and not the uno. I was guessing before that it will work on a uno since it’s the same MCU the 328p and with the factory example it did work on the uno.
So - it’s not - I changed into a Nano, kept the same wiring and as you can see it works nice. And again, I really love the colors.
well, I hope you find this video useful, if you have not done that by now, please subscribe, leave a comment, give a thumbs up and see you next time
Пікірлер: 140
I've never messed around with anything like this before, but was intrigued with the possibilities of creating something using circular screens. Thank you for showing everything you did clearly (and for even taking the time to write everything up for easy reference in your video description!) and including points of frustration that others may come across. Very informative video! It's too bad the phone you purchased didn't have a perfectly circular cutout-- that would've been a very cool idea.
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you very much, comments like this defiantly make me want to keep on doing videos like this :) I also wished the screen would have feet the phone ... I still think of ways to use them both :)
WOW. Great video. I've been looking for detail information for this display. Finally, your video was step-by-step and detailed and finally the display works. Thank you for that. Much appreciated.
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
Awesome, thank you! What are you building ?
@trauatsgg3809
2 жыл бұрын
@@talofer99 I'm first have to consistenly get it to work. But, If you could show...I would like to display a 'gif' on it. Do you know how to do this?
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
@@trauatsgg3809 I never did any thing more than shown in the video. Did you try to google it ?
@trauatsgg3809
2 жыл бұрын
@@talofer99 yes, but it was not as detailed as your video. i did not get it to work
@trauatsgg3809
2 жыл бұрын
here is the link: kzread.info/dash/bejne/i2R2qdCBdti_crg.html
Cool project! Thanks for the info.
@talofer99
3 жыл бұрын
Thank you :)
Make a sweep tube shape starting with the target oval and sweep to the round Very easy in FREEcad , HTH
@talofer99
Жыл бұрын
That is a great idea, I got it on the table for weeks now, finally managed to scream the esp32 camera directly to the screen, so planning on creating a door spy hole with it.
I just got into the micro controllers and am learning. I learned a lot from your video. Thank you. By the way, if relevant how did the phone mod go?
@talofer99
6 ай бұрын
Thank you very much, It's nice to hear that the video helps out people ! :) It never happened, I got very busy at work for the last year and half, I do not (unfortunately) even get to make new videos. I got an esp32 camera board with this screen attached to it, doing live stream from the camera, for over a year now on the table ... can not find the time and power needed to make a video about it I hope one day soon it will happen :)
Hello the circule screen,it can work without those cables?
@talofer99
4 ай бұрын
Hi there back, well, cables is what connects the data between the MCU and the screen. The only way to eliminate them will be to create a board that will connect to it without cable just with a connector. I'm pretty sure if you search google you might find one ready like this.
@winuwu6076
4 ай бұрын
THANKSSS you very much!!! i have a proyect of university and idknow nothing about this :(@@talofer99
Digital navigation compass for the screen maybe, simple but nice
@talofer99
Жыл бұрын
That is a really cool idea :) I'm working on a camera and screen on the same esp and steam the video to it. Someone suggested in one of the comments to make a door viewport, just need the time to figure out how to install it and make a video about it. the setup is on my table for the last 2 weeks :)
@b4by_dr1v3r4
Жыл бұрын
@@talofer99Ohh, that's a cool idea too! Will be very cool to see it! Nice video by the way
@talofer99
Жыл бұрын
@@b4by_dr1v3r4 Thank you very much. Yes I think it will be a cool one as well, hopefully soon I got some time off from work (holidays here soon) and I will be able to finally create a new video.
How to display bmp images whit the nano on this screen
@talofer99
Жыл бұрын
Connect the screen to the correct pinout, you will need some input for the image, you can do it by adding an SD card reader maybe, or can have the info as hex file. For the rest there is an example in the example section of the library.
@fabianboelens3899
Жыл бұрын
@@talofer99 I already tried it with this library, which is also the only one I could find to control this screen, but I can't get a photo on it, text and stuff works, but it doesn't work with photos and I can't find anything else online either then this with the nano and this screen
@talofer99
Жыл бұрын
@@fabianboelens3899 did you try is with the use of external SD ?
@fabianboelens3899
Жыл бұрын
@@talofer99 not yet I will try this tomorrow I will tell you if it works thanks for answering so quickly
@talofer99
Жыл бұрын
@@fabianboelens3899 sure thing, let me know how it worked. Just first make sure you can init the SD properly since both are SPI.
Would you be so kind to also share a code for displaying an image? Thanks a lot!
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
All the code I used is in the examples of the library.
Have you ever come across a larger version of this? Would really like one around 2"
@talofer99
11 ай бұрын
No I did not, It would have been very cool.
Hey, I manage to figure out how to get “Helloworld” sketch to work. For bus class Replace “Arduino_DataBus *bus = create_default_Arduino_DataBus()” with “Arduino_DataBus *bus = new Arduino_SWSPI (8/* DC */, 9/* CS */, 13 /* SCK */, 11/* MOST */, -1 /* MISO */) Replace the display class like you did normally expect replace the 7 with a -1 in front of /* RST */
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
Cool, You mean got it to work on an Uno ?
@TheSwedishMaker
2 жыл бұрын
Tried this but it says DC was not declared in this scope
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
Replace it with 8....
@TheSwedishMaker
2 жыл бұрын
@@talofer99 not really sure what you mean? replace DC with 8? So (8/8/,9/9.....
@TheSwedishMaker
2 жыл бұрын
Oh! I got it! Thanks
Hey, great vid :) I really want to show videos on this screen! I managed to show regular images but videos are hard. Tried to use fbtft + fbcp and fbcp-ili9341 to mirror the HDMI output to the SPI one, but this screen driver GC9A01 is not supported :/ Any ideas?
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
Hi thank you very much. I actually never done any thing with the screen after this video. I actually had to google half of what you wrote, since I never dove into video before. Maybe this will give you some ideas ? www.instructables.com/Play-Video-With-ESP32/ Please do let me know if you find a way to do it :)
@LeBoomStudios
2 жыл бұрын
Had the same problem, ended up buying the round Hyperpixel. Apparently those small displays have way too little bandwodth to actually mirror hdmi and the workarounds are a real stretch to begin with. Don't waste your time.
This configuration works for arduino nano too. Thanks.
@talofer99
Жыл бұрын
Hi. Are you asking if it can work on nano ?
@teocerda5367
Жыл бұрын
@@talofer99 No, I can confirm it.
לפי המבטא אתה בטח מישראל !!
Yea I just bought one just like it. I can’t get mine to work for the nano. I was wondering if you could help me?
@talofer99
3 жыл бұрын
which library did you try ? did you setup all the setting same as I did ? is it the same exact board ?
@stevenspencer2661
3 жыл бұрын
I did the same thing , but it may have to do with the fact that the Arduino Nano I am using was hand soldered. I’m thinking about getting a new one to try again. I was also wondering if you could help me soon with uploading gifs and JpeGs like you did in the video
@talofer99
3 жыл бұрын
@@stevenspencer2661 soldering issues can be a problem. I did not use any images on the screen in the video.
di you think it will be possible to read small video on this screen ?
@talofer99
Жыл бұрын
Hi, I can guess you asked if its possible to shoe a video on this screen ? The answer is yes, but in order to do so, you will need to have process that will get the video frame and convert it to a frame the screen is capable of showing - like jpg for example. I'm not sure what will be the frame rate with the need to process the video into images and then to transfer each image to the scree. The closest I know of is an example of animated gif shown on the screen. Hope this helps :)
@eyedeeproduction5542
Жыл бұрын
@@talofer99 thanks ablot for your developed answer ! It help for sure !!
Is there a way to do the sketch with an esp32?
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
Sure there is kzread.info/dash/bejne/YqdopM9ycdWaYrg.html
Late to the party, but the clock example works for me if I use 5V VCC. 3V does not work for me. Maybe its the discrepancy of using 3V power and 5V logic? just my guess
@talofer99
10 ай бұрын
Never thought of that, it could possible that this is the cause.
Would be nice to use this mod on a AIO liquid cooler for the cpu
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
That would be cool!
did you ever get the adafruit library to work?
@talofer99
3 жыл бұрын
I never tried the adafruit library. The one I tired did work on a Nano. Its in the video.
Please do more video about this device.
@talofer99
Жыл бұрын
Thank you. I do hope to make more.
It's awesome!
@talofer99
3 жыл бұрын
Glad you think so! The colors are amazing - I hope to find a wat to mount it to the phone :)
@SusanAmberBruce
3 жыл бұрын
@@talofer99 Yes the colours are amazing as you say, my suggestion about the phone, it looks like there is enough widgth but the hole will need to be enlarged and the edges remodeled, you could make like two wooden doughnuts that sandwich will hole the display in it's centre, then glue into phone, it will look so cool! bit of pain to disguise and Bob's your uncle.
Is it possible to connect this display directly to an fpv camera?
@talofer99
10 ай бұрын
Good Q, never tried it, which fpv camera do you use ?
@user-cf3zf8kc3o
10 ай бұрын
Night Eagle 3
@talofer99
10 ай бұрын
@@user-cf3zf8kc3oI do not see any type of output from the camera that will be able to feed directly to the screen
@user-cf3zf8kc3o
10 ай бұрын
I'm not an Expert, but with another microdisplay i've connected the video cable of the camera to the av cable of the microdisplay and It works but this looks diffrent
@talofer99
10 ай бұрын
@@user-cf3zf8kc3o This display does not have an AV input. it has to get digital data to know what to display. It's basically a EGB LED matrix that you control with specific commands to tell it what pixel to light up in what color.
and now the wireing for an esp8266
@talofer99
Жыл бұрын
Same SPI and choose the pins for the rst/bl
it looks perfect for a clone of the new Google watch
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
For sure ! There is alsort of pre-made hardware like that... for example this one I found on ali www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002404207335.html
Hi! Can you please help me out? Been trying to do this project "DPNVG mk3 (DIY Quad Nod NVG, Night Vision) part2" on youtube but a lot of us facing a problem with no image and the creator is not going to share the source code, would you mind to have a look and create the code with Arduino IDE? The setup is similar, ESP32-CAM + GC9A01. Thanks in advance
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
Hi, I'm not familiar with it , but I will try to take a look
@desmondlow7586
2 жыл бұрын
@@talofer99 Thank you very much.
@stephenopitz3106
2 жыл бұрын
@talofer99 I have the same problem have you had any luck with the coding I am using an esp32-s with these 1.28 spi screens using an OV7725 camera module.
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
@@stephenopitz3106 what same problem ?
@stephenopitz3106
2 жыл бұрын
@@talofer99 So when I supply power to my esp32-s cam with an OV7725 module camera attached and the spi LCD 1.28-inch screen I cannot get my esp to transmit video I only get the backlight of the screen. Any help would be much appreciated!
Hello.. great video, I was just wondering if you could guide me on how to use this screen on the raspberry pi 4? I have googled and tried myself but am struggling. I think I have connected it properly but the screen is just black so I guess it requires programming. Your help would be greatly appreciated.. thank you.
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you :) From what you wrote it seem that you are expecting it to work as a display for the rpi 4 OS ? instead of connecting it to a a screen ? If so - I doubt it will work - not out of the box like that. Here is a link to connections and I think there is an example there are as well www.waveshare.com/wiki/1.28inch_LCD_Module
@Mikrod16
2 жыл бұрын
@@talofer99 ok thank you very much :)
@Mikrod16
2 жыл бұрын
@@talofer99 suppose I already had a python file could I just output that? Instead of displaying the raspberry pi screen? Thanks
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
@@Mikrod16 Yes you can - but you need to code it to do so There is a library for it, you can see example for it in the link I placed before.
@Mikrod16
2 жыл бұрын
@@talofer99 ok thank you very much for your help
Nice vidoes, can you pm me, i got the same LCD i know it works, but no clueless how to get it to work like a watch, new to Arduino, got a Arduino Nano
@talofer99
3 жыл бұрын
Thanks, I'm sure there are endless example out there for a clock. I even think of the example in the library is a clock.
Hi this video was greatly helpful thanks a lot! Can you share the whole code with me please?
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
All the code I used is in the examples of the library.
@ilos9883
2 жыл бұрын
@@talofer99 Okay thanks!!
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
If you still have issues with making it work, let me know which example you need the code for I will upload it for you.
@ilos9883
2 жыл бұрын
@@talofer99 Honestly I've been trying for days to get a gif displaying on my GC9A01 using esp32 and thought maybe your code could help. I do not have an Arduino nano sadly, so won't work for me it seems. Thank you so much for replying!
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
@@ilos9883 It's your lucky day :) And it will work on esp32 for sure Take a look at this video kzread.info/dash/bejne/YqdopM9ycdWaYrg.html and this is the link for the code github.com/talofer99/ESP32CAM-Capture-and-send-image-over-esp-now And let me know if it worked for you :)
Can you email me the code please? I have been trying to do the same steps but for some reason I can't find the library, please help:)
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
Did you try the links in the description ? Which library are you missing ?
@lolaa_emo4916
2 жыл бұрын
@@talofer99 the last one Arduino uno it's not available right now
@talofer99
2 жыл бұрын
@@lolaa_emo4916 this ? www.waveshare.com/wiki/File:LCD_Module_code.zip
Could i marry this with say a runcam night eagle 3?
@talofer99
6 ай бұрын
You will need special board for it www.digikey.com/en/maker/projects/wireless-security-camera-with-the-arduino-yun/d73062bd2bbc4415a73f7446e624a9c4#:~:text=You%20need%20an%20Arduino%20Yun,sensor%2C%20and%20a%20microSD%20card.&text=The%20first%20step%20is%20to%20insert%20the%20SD%20card%20in,motion%20sensor%20to%20the%20Yun.
ok
@talofer99
Жыл бұрын
Thank you.