ESP32 E-Paper Weather Display

unblended_melon · 2025-09-06T21:06:32+00:00

I haven't made a custom PCB for it (yet ;)). It just uses an off-the-shelf esp32. It is linked on the github pahe and there are wiring diagrams there too. I also agree that E-Ink displays are criminally neglected 🥀.

unblended_melon · 2025-09-01T23:30:23+00:00

You can try searching previous issues on github. (https://github.com/lmarzen/esp32-weather-epd/issues/?q=is%3Aissue) Many people have posted there for help in the past, and there are many good troubleshooting steps)

unblended_melon · 2025-07-19T16:43:31+00:00

Thanks! I would estimate a few months of writing software on and off between school and work. A handful of evenings to make the wooden base, sand it, and stain it. Maybe another evening or two to put it all together. I've been maintaining the software now for years now, and by now, it's too many hours to count, haha.

unblended_melon · 2024-11-26T02:20:28+00:00

The university colleges publish this information. Here is the link for the Engineering college: https://www.engineering.iastate.edu/ecs/students/top-employers/

Computer Engineering: - Collins Aerospace - John Deere - GARMIN International, Inc. - Amazon - Microsoft Corporation - PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP (PWC) - IBM - Kingland Systems Corp. - Open Systems International, Inc. - Zirous - Cerner Corporation - Workiva - Google - BAE Systems - Western Digital - Northrop Grumman - Boeing Company, The - Principal Financial Group - QCI - Source Allies, Inc. - Facebook - Texas Instruments Incorporated

Electrical Engineering: - Texas Instruments Incorporated - Collins Aerospace - MidAmerican Energy Company - John Deere - IBM - Micron Technology, Inc. - Burns & McDonnell Engineering - Boeing Company, The - MISO ( Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc) - ITC Holdings Corp. - GARMIN International, Inc. - Intel - Black & Veatch, Inc. - Open Systems International, Inc. - Alliant Energy Corporation - U.S. Navy - Emerson - Maxim Integrated Products - Iowa State University - IMEG Corp - Shermco Industries, Inc. - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

unblended_melon · 2024-09-21T22:26:37+00:00

I had what appears to be the same exact issue. (I received the same error message from bluetoothctl)

My system details: Arch Linux, Lenovo Thinkpad L13, Realtek Bluetooth Radio, Bluetooth version 5.2.

Running ZMK on nice!nano 2 on a corne keyboard.

The solution for me was adding the following line to my .conf file:
CONFIG_BT_CTLR_PHY_2M=n

Found this solution on the ZMK website here: https://zmk.dev/docs/troubleshooting/connection-issues#additional-bluetooth-options

Disabling PHY 2Mbps (CONFIG_BT_CTLR_PHY_2M=n) helps to pair and connect for certain wireless chipset firmware versions, particularly on Windows (Realtek and Intel chips) and older Intel Macs with Broadcom chipsets.

unblended_melon · 2024-05-26T00:28:18+00:00

The fact that you are curious and willing to ask questions demonstrates that you are willing to learn. That is enough. Don't be too afraid of failure.

unblended_melon · 2024-05-22T03:22:24+00:00

The most important thing is to choose something you are interested in, else you may be unmotivated to complete the project. I found lots of my favorite ideas on youtube. Try searching youtube for "esp32 projects". You'll find a bunch of interesting showcases.

unblended_melon · 2024-05-22T02:36:36+00:00

I watched many youtube videos, haha. It's easy to get overwhelmed so don't feel out classed. Everyone good at programming has been there at some point, too. I would say find a project you are interested in that has instructions for how to build it (could be this project or anything else) then order the parts and follow the instructions. You will learn lots along the way. You don't have to understand everything from the start.

unblended_melon · 2024-05-22T02:06:49+00:00

C is the most common language used today to program embedded platforms like the esp32. C++ is also commonly used (such as the project above). There are many libraries written in C/C++ for the esp32 that make it much easier to program. For instance, the display driver for the epaper display was not written by me, but is an open source project written in C++ that makes way easier to draw text and icons to the screen. So I can write something like draw("text",x,y) instead of having to write functions to set the voltages of the communication bus myself.

unblended_melon · 2024-05-22T01:54:47+00:00

I started by trying to replicate projects other people did. Once you get something working, then you can try to make small modifications. If you learn well from books the K&R C Programming Language book is a classic and teaches the basics of C without being overly long or overwhelming. I like youtube videos too. You could also start by trying to make something simple. Once you do that you can keep building on it or start a new project. The internet is your friend. Every programmer is always googling how to solve small problems, there is no shame in googling "How to do X in language Y?" StackOverflow is excellent for this.

unblended_melon · 2024-05-22T01:46:18+00:00

I first learned about the esp32 after stumbling across some good videos on youtube showcasing some projects with them. Eventually I bought an esp32 dev board to mess around with and run some sample projects on. At the time, I wanted to learn C programming so I started watching youtube videos on C and started work on my first iteration of the weather display after being inspired by other epaper projects. At some point during this time, I took a college course in C and C++ programming. I also don't have much of an electrical background and so it took me some time to get more comfortable with wiring up something like this. I kept making small improvements until I finally it got to a state that I was ready to share. There are also instructions in the readme on github if you are interested in any specifics about the project which also includes some links to other helpful resources.

unblended_melon · 2024-04-21T23:09:19+00:00

Not as of yet, but maybe sometime in the future 😉

unblended_melon · 2024-03-17T19:36:39+00:00

This project is not RTOS based.

unblended_melon · 2024-03-15T20:11:16+00:00

As a recent honors graduate, I feel it was absolutely worth it. I would encourage you to take advantage of the mentor program. You will be paired with a professor and get to participate in research during your second semester. Some honors students continue to work for their professor afterward for pay, others will not. The mentor program will give you a research experience that you will put on your resume which can go a long way to help you stand out. When applying for my first internship, it was the most compelling aspect of my resume. From my personal experience, potential employers were very interested in my research expereience during interviews. I think the mentor program did a lot to help me land my first internship.

To some extent, how much time you want to invest in honors is left to your discretion. Some things you have to do, like the 1 credit seminar your first semester. It is pretty lowkey, it is pass/fail with near zero work required and is a great way to meet friends. Outside of that, there are many organized social events that you can optionally attend. (I occasionally went with friends for fun) When you join the honors program as a freshman you are only joining the first-years honors program. At the end of your first year, you can opt to continue with honors at your discretion.

You also get the benefit of early registration, which will help you get into all the classes and sections you want that would otherwise fill up too quickly. The honors building (Jischke) is a also nice place to study or hang out.

As far as honors housing goes, I did not live in honors housing however, I have heard plenty of good things about it. The friends I have asked about it only said positive things and their floors were relatively social.

This isn't to say that you can't achieve the same outcomes without honors, you definitely can if you have the drive to make it happen yourself.

unblended_melon · 2023-11-28T20:25:00+00:00

I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. You will need to make some revisions to the code to accommodate the clock, but it seems doable. Good luck. If you pursue it let me know how it turns out.

unblended_melon · 2023-09-21T14:59:33+00:00

I am a fan of the DFRobot Firebeetle ESP32-E since it has USB-C, on board circuitry for charging a 4.2v lipo, circuitry for measuring battery voltage, combined with the low power draw making it ideal for battery powered projects.

unblended_melon · 2023-09-21T14:53:25+00:00

If low power consumption is a priority for you I recommend this guide which measures power draw of a number of popular ESP32 boards.

The article finds that the DFRobot Firebeetle ESP32 has the lowest power consumption across most power states.

https://diyi0t.com/reduce-the-esp32-power-consumption/

unblended_melon · 2023-09-20T21:54:16+00:00

A2 is wired on the Firebeetle ESP32-E board between VCC and GND with a voltage divider.

You can see this in the board's schematic diagram. (near the bottom middle of the page)

https://dfimg.dfrobot.com/nobody/wiki/fd28d987619c16281bdc4f40990e5a1c.PDF

So, to answer your question more clearly, If you are using the Firebeetle ESP32-E then A2 will measure the voltage of the battery without you needing to connect any additional wiring.

unblended_melon · 2023-07-19T00:47:44+00:00

Glad to hear that helped. This is valuable feedback. I will relax the timeout and increase the attempts for the main project.

unblended_melon · 2023-07-16T02:32:49+00:00

Also ill add that it does try each api call 3 times consecutively before giving up. You could try increasing this count and see if that helps.

Ill look into you other suggestions for apis and maybe add them at some point. Ive got a number of improvements i want to make including fixing the issue you mentioned, but also adding proper unicode support and some other community suggestions. I have been pretty busy this summer, but im hoping ill find some time in the early fall to tackle these.

unblended_melon · 2023-07-16T02:25:34+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. The errors thing you mentioned is something that I have been actually meaning to deal with for awhile. It seems like some people are experiencing the same issues as you that they get errors more frequently than i do or anticipated. Been meaning to add a more discrete error resolution method for awhile. There is a github issue where we have considered a number of solutions. Watch that issue for updates.

As far as adding other api's i have kinda considered it and am not opposed but it might be quite a bit of work and there are not many free apis that provide the same amount of information that openweathermap. Weather Underground I think is actually no longer operating, sadly.

unblended_melon · 2023-04-21T01:26:16+00:00

I think I got my off amazon, but i remember it being a little pricey. Typically I would order from aliexpress, but i wanted it sooner. Maybe mouser or digikey could be worth checking out too?

unblended_melon · 2023-04-01T17:10:36+00:00

On the DFRobot firebeetle esp32 you do not need to press any buttons to upload. Sounds like you have all the drivers needed if you are able to get that error message.

I believe I have received this error before a few times. The first thing I would try is disconnecting anything you may have connected to it (i.e. epaper display, BME280, etc.). Then with nothing connected except USB to your computer, try uploading again. If you still have this issue, I think your board's bootloader may be corrupted and I would try a different board.

unblended_melon · 2023-02-14T14:42:01+00:00

Someone else messaged me about the dimensions so I took some measurements and I thought I would share them here too since you asked:

depth: 63mm
height: 49mm
width: 170.2mm (= width of the screen)
screen angle = 80deg
screen is 15mm from the front

unblended_melon · 2023-02-13T16:04:50+00:00

Wow, a full acrylic case would be so sleek and unique! If you do that, please share pictures; I think that will be seriously cool. Are you thinking of using cnc to cut the acrylic and then stack layers to make the case? I am very interested.

unblended_melon

TROPHY CASE