Getting Started Tips 3.5" Elecrow TFT ESP32

Playing around with the Elecrow 3.5” all in one ESP32, Touch Screen, TFT & SD Card board.
In this video I share my experience navigating my way through the board’s capabilities and using the TFT_eSPI library for the first time.
There are several unexpected situations that can really tie you up in knots so hopefully this video will help you get up and running a lot quicker.
06:32 - If you want to jump straight into my eight tips goto 6mins 32secs on the time bar of the Video.
06:32 - Tip 1 Use TFT_eSPI Library
09:20 - Tip 2 Modifying “User_Setup.h”
11:12 - Tip 3 Uploading Sketches (Boot & Reset Buttons)
12:48 - Tip 4 SD Card Size (FAT32 Formatting)
14:26 - Tip 5 Making 24bit JPEGs
16:25 - Tip 6 Creating Image Arrays (Rinky Dink!)
18:51 - Tip 7 Connector Types (NOT CONFIRMED!!!)
19:44 - Tip 8 TH-cam API Library (for fellow TH-camrs)
20:55 - Tip 8b Add client.setInsecure()
If you're considering adding this powerful Elecrow ESP32 HMI board to your collection, check out the affiliate links below. Your support through these links won't cost you an extra penny but goes a long way in supporting this channel:
3.5” Screen 320x480 SPI TFT Touch Screen :- amzn.to/3tqFcJV
Other sizes
2.4” Screen 240x320 SPI TFT Touch Screen:- amzn.to/3Tzj3DK
2.8” Screen 240x320 SPI TFT Touch Screen:- amzn.to/47atroG
Rinky Dink - Automatically convert your images into to C code :- www.rinkydinkelectronics.com/t...
FAT32 Formatting Utility for your larger SD cards:- ridgecrop.co.uk/index.htm?guif...
Online Image Converter :- online-image-converter.com/
Bodmer Github page for TFT_eSPI :- github.com/Bodmer/TFT_eSPI
HY2.0 Plug Connector (NOT VERIFIED YET!) :- www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3150042167...
13th Jan 2024 UPDATE :- I received the order, but despite the eBay page showing the white plastic connector surrounds, the supplier only sent the metal crimp pins. I contacted the supplier who simply said I needed to place a 2nd order for the rest of it. Given the page was misleading, I would have thought they would send them FOC, but no joy. I wont be pursuing this any further.......
TH-cam API Library Github Page :- github.com/witnessmenow/ardui...

[@kmi4693]

Thank you so much for this comprehensive video. I came across this board and skipped it due to lack of documentation. I'll try it now. Best wishes for your future projects

[@paulpkae]

Thanks for you comments, I'm glad you found the video of use. Good luck with the board. It's a fantastic little display.

[@keithharding]

Great Video Helped alot Thanks

[@paulpkae]

Thanks for the comment. It means a lot to get such feedback and helps inspire me to develop more. Glad you found it of use.

[@milctoast]

The connectors Elecrow uses are called Crowtail.
The ones you found are Grove connectors. I don't know if they are compatible.

[@paulpkae]

Thanks. I guess I will find out when they arrive and I will then update in my description above.

[@psyience3213]

That's pretty cool. I just bought one that plugs directly into the arduino uno. Also very impressive. One of the biggest problems though was including the libraries took up 50% of the program memory. I wanted to make a little handheld game device for my kids with stupid classic games like snake, checkers, tic tac toe etc. I had less than a thousand bytes of program memory by the time I was done.
Also wasn't easy figuring out how to program it. A combination of looking at the example code, which I have to say tends to suck pretty bad, and just going through the actual source code itself. Looking at the header file helps a lot, at least what functions are available.

[@paulpkae]

"A thousand bytes of program memory" takes me me back to my early programming days on a ZX81. You had to really think about each line of code you wrote and understand the memory overhead of each variable & statement. To be honest I found that challenge to be more fun.
In your instance, would you be better off migrating to an alternative micro controller with more memory?

[@psyience3213]

@@paulpkae yeah probably lol I’m just getting into mironcontrollers though and I’m only aware of a few but I know there’s an overwhelming amount of them. Price is a big factor, the uno is like $15 and I got nano’s for $5 so I guess that determines a lot.

[@paulpkae]

@@psyience3213in the UK you can buy a pack of three ESP32s for £20. That's about $8.5 each. amzn.to/41I7uvW

[@psyience3213]

@@paulpkae that's awesome I'm definitely going to get a couple of those. Thanks for the suggestion.

[@jalmince]

Hello there !
I ve ordered that board ( actually the 5'' type) but i can t find any doc that would tell which actual gpio pins the connectors are linked to ?!
Have you git any clue?
Thanks. Jean-paul

[@paulpkae]

The website is difficult to navigate, but there is an abundance of information and documents to be found.
But the simplest answer is that once your board arrives, you will find that the GPIO references are all silk screen printed at each connector.

[@njsurf1973]

couldn't you use a multiplexor to expand I/O? already need a projext box or some way to mount.

[@paulpkae]

Yes, you could expand out by utilising other devices. Also, if your not using the I2C connection then this port additionally presents I/O 21 & 22. So you have 4no. I/O's in total that you can utilise.

[@njsurf1973]

@@paulpkae there is another esp 32 display people call the "cheap yellow display" that uses a lot of the same libraries including the LVGL, and I know there's several GitHub repositories dedicated to it. I think some of those would cross over to this display and some of what you're doing would definitely work on that display.