Getting started with a TFT display on an ESP32

At a glance

I bought a small TFT display from Temu to be used in a project, but I wanted to test it out first. The display is a 1.8” TFT with a resolution of 128x160 pixels, it’s a cheap display that’s easy to use with the ESP32.

Hardware

The parts I used:

1. ESP32
2. 1.8” TFT display from Temu
3. Jumper wires

As with most cheap electronics from the likes of Aliexpress or Temu, you don’t get any instructions or guides, so here’s my wiring

TFT Pin Number	Pin Name	Description	ESP32 Pin
1	VCC	Power positive (+3.3V)	3.3V
2	GND	Power ground	GND
3	CS	Chip Select (LCD selection control signal)	GPIO 5
4	RESET	LCD reset control signal	GPIO 4
5	DC	LCD command/data selection signal	GPIO 2
6	SDI (MOSI)	SPI bus write/read data signal (MOSI)	GPIO 23
7	SCK	SPI bus clock signal	GPIO 18
8	LED	LCD backlight control signal	3.3V
9	SDO (MISO)	Not connected (NC, as per spec)	(NC)

Software

Starting out, I just wanted to display some static text on the screen to see how it looked, here’s the code I used. Notice how you treat the screen like a board with coordinates, setting the cursor at locations then printing output. Coordinates 0,0 denotes the top left of the display.

Libraries

• https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-GFX-Library
• https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-ST7735-Library

#include <Adafruit_GFX.h>        // Core graphics library
#include <Adafruit_ST7735.h>     // Library for ST7735
#include <SPI.h>

// Define pins for the display
#define TFT_CS         5  // Chip Select
#define TFT_RST        4  // Reset
#define TFT_DC         2  // Data/Command

// Initialize the ST7735 display
Adafruit_ST7735 tft = Adafruit_ST7735(TFT_CS, TFT_DC, TFT_RST);

void setup() {
  // Initialize the Serial Monitor
  Serial.begin(115200);
  
  // Initialize the display
  tft.initR(INITR_BLACKTAB);  // Init ST7735S chip
  tft.setRotation(1);         // Set the display rotation
  
  // Set the display background color to black
  tft.fillScreen(ST77XX_BLACK);
  
  // Print a message on the display
  tft.setTextColor(ST77XX_WHITE);  // Set text color to white
  tft.setTextSize(1);              // Set text size
  tft.setCursor(0, 0);             // Set starting point for text
  tft.println("Hello, ESP32!");
  
  // Simulate GPS Data on the display
  float lat = 37.7749;
  float lon = -122.4194;
  float altitude = 30.0;
  
  // Print data
  tft.setCursor(0, 20);            // Move cursor down
  tft.println("GPS Data:");
  tft.print("Lat: ");
  tft.println(lat, 6);
  tft.print("Lon: ");
  tft.println(lon, 6);
  tft.print("Alt: ");
  tft.print(altitude);
  tft.println(" m");
  Serial.println("started up!");
}

void loop() {
  // You can update the display data here
}