ideaspark® ESP32 Development Board 16MB Integrated 1.9 inch ST7789 170x320 TFT LCD Display,WiFi+BL Wireless Module,CH340 Driver USB Type-C for Arduino Micropython

Once I found the rightbflash program, it worked flawlessly for what I intended it for. Solo bitmining. *Note* USB-C to USB-C doesn't work to power on, I needed USB-A to USB-C. Will definitely be buying more. They will look awesome on my desk at work and wall at home.

I bought a couple of these and had only the usual difficulty plugging the module into a standard solderless breadboard. Getting all 30 pins inserted into a breadboard, particularly a new one, takes patience, but the pin spacing is correct so this is no worse than any other ESP32. The module is wide enough that to make connections to the GPIO pins it's easiest to combine two breadboards, side by side (see photo). I've gotten the display working with the Adafruit TFT libraries and look forward to using the display for viewing real time trace messages of what's going on inside the ESP32. This should be a big help in debugging and, with 16MB of flash, there will be room for lots and lots of code. Or, maybe, have a couple of these around the house to show real-time status of the home security system I'm going to build. Someday soon ....

Ok I have been having a problem with this board becasue GPIO2 Shares the WIFI with the DC on the Display Port. After working a day and a 1/2 with ChatGPT, we have found a work around that is not hard to fix. When doing your sketch you need to run the WIFI command first and then do the display work after it connects, if you do not do this the display locks up and the board goes into constant reboots. Here is an example. // ✅ WiFi FIRST (CRITICAL for your board) WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA); WiFi.setSleep(false); WiFi.begin(ssid, password); Serial.print("Connecting to WiFi"); while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) { delay(500); Serial.print("."); } Serial.println(); Serial.println("WiFi Connected"); // ✅ Lock GPIO2 AFTER WiFi is done with it pinMode(2, OUTPUT); digitalWrite(2, HIGH); // ✅ Backlight pinMode(32, OUTPUT); digitalWrite(32, HIGH); // ✅ Display init AFTER WiFi tft.init(); tft.setRotation(1); tft.fillScreen(TFT_BLACK); tft.setTextColor(TFT_YELLOW, TFT_BLACK); tft.setTextSize(2); tft.setCursor(10, 10); tft.println("WiFi OK"); tft.println(WiFi.localIP()); Chat GPT also had me add a 10K Ohm resister between the 3.3v pin and the D2 pin WiFi briefly pulls GPIO2 into unstable states during RF startup The 10kΩ pull-up keeps DC from floating Keeps the display in DATA mode instead of random COMMAND mode Prevents the freeze most of the time Now to be honest, I did this before we tried the code to start WIFI first, so you may not need this. But with this board D2 being tied to the WIFI and the display was a bad Hardware mistake. The displays DC should have been tied to pin D16 or something that is not tied to the wifi. Needless to say the board works great now after figuring that out.

When I bought two of these I also bought some breakout boards. I was expecting the distance between the pin rows to be the same as a typical ESP32 module (24ish mm). They are closer to 28mm apart. It should work fine with a breadboard, but be careful about buying a breakout board. I haven't gotten the boards running, but I am feeling a little salty about the pin profile, so 3 stars for not making the issue more prominent. [update] I have the board running. I used the Arduino IDE. It seems to work pretty well. I am not sure how far it can transmit, but I am feeling a bit more positive about the board. You can adapt the board into a 1 inch or 0.9 inch breakout board by purchasing some pin headers and the EPLZON 2" x 1.5" solder breadboard here on Amazon. Here is my test code for the module: #include <WiFi.h> #include <ArduinoOTA.h> #include <Adafruit_GFX.h> #include <Adafruit_ST7789.h> #include <SPI.h> // TFT Display Pin Definitions #define TFT_MOSI 23 #define TFT_SCLK 18 #define TFT_CS 15 #define TFT_DC 2 #define TFT_RST 4 #define TFT_BL 32 // Watchdog indicator colors #define WATCHDOG_RED ST77XX_RED #define WATCHDOG_BLACK ST77XX_BLACK #define WATCHDOG_GREEN ST77XX_GREEN // Replace these with your network credentials const char* ssid = "Your_Wifi_SSID"; const char* password = "Your_Wifi_Password"; // Device name const char* deviceName = "ESP32_OTA_Device"; // Initialize the TFT display with the appropriate pins Adafruit_ST7789 tft = Adafruit_ST7789(TFT_CS, TFT_DC, TFT_RST); // WiFi status and OTA variables String wifiStatus = "Connecting to WiFi..."; String ipAddress = "IP: None"; String otaStatus = "OTA Idle"; // Watchdog indicator variables unsigned long lastWatchdogToggle = 0; int watchdogColorIndex = 0; uint16_t watchdogColors[] = {WATCHDOG_RED, WATCHDOG_BLACK, WATCHDOG_GREEN, WATCHDOG_BLACK}; // Progress bar dimensions int progressBarWidth = 300Skip; int progressBarHeight = 20; int progressBarX = 10; int progressBarY = 130; // Function to update TFT screen with Wi-Fi connection and OTA status void updateScreen() { tft.fillScreen(ST77XX_BLACK); // Display the device name in white tft.setCursor(10, 10); tft.setTextColor(ST77XX_WHITE); tft.setTextSize(2); tft.println(deviceName); // Watchdog indicator (flashing square) tft.fillRect(250, 5, 20, 20, watchdogColors[watchdogColorIndex]); // Display Wi-Fi status with dynamic color tft.setCursor(10, 40); if (WiFi.status() == WL_CONNECTED) { tft.setTextColor(ST77XX_GREEN); } else { tft.setTextColor(ST77XX_YELLOW); } tft.println(wifiStatus); // Display IP address tft.setCursor(10, 70); tft.setTextColor(ST77XX_WHITE); tft.println(ipAddress); // Display OTA status with dynamic color tft.setCursor(10, 100); if (otaStatus.startsWith("Error")) { tft.setTextColor(ST77XX_RED); } else if (otaStatus.startsWith("OTA Update")) { tft.setTextColor(ST77XX_YELLOW); } else { tft.setTextColor(ST77XX_GREEN); } tft.println(otaStatus); } // Function to draw the OTA progress bar void drawProgressBar(unsigned int progress, unsigned int total) { int filledWidth = (progressBarWidth * progress) / total; tft.fillRect(progressBarX, progressBarY, filledWidth, progressBarHeight, ST77XX_GREEN); tft.fillRect(progressBarX + filledWidth, progressBarY, progressBarWidth - filledWidth, progressBarHeight, ST77XX_BLACK); } void setup() { Serial.begin(115200); // Initialize the TFT display tft.init(170, 320); // Initialize with 170x320 resolution tft.setRotation(1); // Set the orientation to landscape tft.fillScreen(ST77XX_BLACK); // Clear the screen tft.setTextColor(ST77XX_WHITE); tft.setTextSize(2); // Initialize the backlight pin pinMode(TFT_BL, OUTPUT); digitalWrite(TFT_BL, HIGH); // Turn on the backlight // Display the initial message on the screen updateScreen(); // Connect to Wi-Fi WiFi.begin(ssid, password); while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) { wifiStatus = "Connecting to WiFi..."; updateScreen(); delay(1000); } wifiStatus = "WiFi Connected!"; ipAddress = "IP: " + WiFi.localIP().toString(); updateScreen(); // Set up OTA ArduinoOTA.setHostname(deviceName); ArduinoOTA.onStart([]() { otaStatus = "OTA Update Started..."; updateScreen(); }); ArduinoOTA.onEnd([]() { otaStatus = "OTA Update Completed!"; drawProgressBar(100, 100); updateScreen(); delay(1000); // Pause before going back to the main screen }); ArduinoOTA.onProgress([](unsigned int progress, unsigned int total) { otaStatus = "OTA Updating..."; drawProgressBar(progress, total); }); ArduinoOTA.onError([](ota_error_t error) { if (error == OTA_AUTH_ERROR) otaStatus = "Error: Auth Failed"; else if (error == OTA_BEGIN_ERROR) otaStatus = "Error: Begin Failed"; else if (error == OTA_CONNECT_ERROR) otaStatus = "Error: Connect Failed"; else if (error == OTA_RECEIVE_ERROR) otaStatus = "Error: Receive Failed"; else if (error == OTA_END_ERROR) otaStatus = "Error: End Failed"; updateScreen(); }); ArduinoOTA.begin(); } void loop() { ArduinoOTA.handle(); // Handle OTA updates // Flashing Watchdog indicator (every 500 ms) unsigned long currentMillis = millis(); if (currentMillis - lastWatchdogToggle >= 500) { lastWatchdogToggle = currentMillis; watchdogColorIndex = (watchdogColorIndex + 1) % 4; // Cycle through colors updateScreen(); // Redraw screen with new watchdog color } }

Solid product. Was able to quickly roll out my RFID application using this kit.