A look at the TTGO T4 from LilyGO an ESP32 LCD development board

The TTGO T4 from LilyGO is an electronic development board based around an ESP32 with a built-in 2.2 inch TFT display. There is also a 2.4inch LCD option as well.

The USB to serial converter makes it easy to program, even using the  Arduino IDE. The board has a micro USB connection with which it can be programmed and/or powered.

Pinout and functions

Specifications:

• ESP32 chip (240Mhz dual core processor)
• Flash memory: 4MB
• PSRAM: 8MB
• Built-in Wi-Fi
• Built-in Bluetooth
• Built-in 2.2 inch TFT display (ILI9341 driver)
• Built-in power management chip (IP5306) with Li-ion/Li-Po battery charging circuit (charge up to ~2A)
• USB to serial converter: CP2104 or CH9102 (drivers)
• Built-in micro SD card connection
• I2C connector: 5p JST-PH
• I2C cable included
• Battery connector: 2p Molex Picoblade
• Battery cable included
• Dimensions PCB: 65.9×40.8mm

ILI9341 is a 262,144-color single-chip SOC driver for a-TFT liquid crystal display with resolution of 240 RGB x 320 dots, comprising a 720-channel source driver, a 320-channel gate driver, 172,800 bytes GRAM for graphic display data of 240 RGB x 320 dots, and power supply circuit.

ILI9341 supports parallel 8-/9-/16-/18-bit data bus MCU interface, 6-/16-/18-bit data bus RGB interface and 3-/4-line serial peripheral interface (SPI).

The moving picture area can be specified in internal GRAM by window address function.

The specified window area can be updated selectively, so that moving picture can be displayed simultaneously independent of still picture area.

Purchase

This board costs around £22 for the 2.4 inch version

LILYGO® TTGO T4 V1.3 ILI9341 2.4 inch LCD Display Backlight Adjustment ESP32 Development Board WIFI Wireless Bluetooth Module – Buy this from Aliexpress here

Development

There are several examples on the github repo

Quick Start

1. Install TFT_eSPI from the Arduino library installation manager
2. Copy the Buttons in the LilyGo_Txx/lib directory to the <C:\Users\UserName\Documents\Arduino\libraries> directory
3. Enter <C:\Users\UserName\Documents\Arduino\libraries\TFT_eSPI> to change the configuration file. For different types of boards, you need to enable the corresponding TFT_eSPI setting (select the corresponding pin of the LCD screen).

I have the T4 V1.3 version so I did this

• Open User_Setup_Select.h in the TFT_eSPI directory and disable it by #include <User_Setup.h>.
• Uncomment the #include <User_Setups/Setup22_TTGO_T4_v1.3.h> line

• Select the board according to the following options

  1. Board -> ESP32 -> ESP32 Dev Module
  2. PSRAM -> Enable (if it is TS, you need to select Disable here)
  3. Flash Size -> 4MB(32Mb)
  4. Flash Mode -> DIO
  5. Some other options are filled in according to the actual situation, and the selection is as shown in the figure below

• Click the right arrow above Arduino IDE to compile and upload (please make sure to install the serial driver and connect the board to the computer via USB)

Check the examples out from

https://github.com/Xinyuan-LilyGO/LilyGo_Txx