4.2inch e-Paper Module (C)

Introduction

Note: The raw panel require a driver board, If you are the first time use this e-Paper, we recommend you to buy the HAT version or buy more one driver hat for easy use, otherwise you need to make the driver board yourself. And this instruction is based on the version with PCB or driver board.

400x300, 4.2inch E-Ink display module, three-color, SPI interface

Interfaces

VCC	3.3V
GND	GND
DIN	SPI MOSI
CLK	SPI SCK
CS	SPI chip select (Low active)
DC	Data/Command control pin (High for data, and low for command)
RST	External reset pin (Low for reset)
BUSY	Busy state output pin (Low for busy)

Working principle

Introduction

This product is an E-paper device adopting the image display technology of Microencapsulated Electrophoretic Display, MED. The initial approach is to create tiny spheres, in which the charged color pigments are suspending in the transparent oil and would move depending on the electronic charge. The E-paper screen display patterns by reflecting the ambient light, so it has no background light requirement. Under sunshine, the E-paper screen still has high visibility with a wide viewing angle of 180 degree. It is the ideal choice for E-reading.

Communication protocol

Note: Different from the traditional SPI protocol, the data line from the slave to the master is hidden since the device only has display requirement.

CS is slave chip select, when CS is low, the chip is enabled.
DC is data/command control pin, when DC = 0, write command, when DC = 1, write data.
SCLK is the SPI communication clock.
SDIN is the data line from the master to the slave in SPI communication.

SPI communication has data transfer timing, which is combined by CPHA and CPOL.

CPOL determines the level of the serial synchronous clock at idle state. When CPOL = 0, the level is Low. However, CPOL has little effect to the transmission.
CPHA determines whether data is collected at the first clock edge or at the second clock edge of serial synchronous clock; when CPHL = 0, data is collected at the first clock edge.

There are 4 SPI communication modes. SPI0 is commonly used, in which CPHL = 0, CPOL = 0.

As you can see from the figure above, data transmission starts at the first falling edge of SCLK, and 8 bits of data are transferred in one clock cycle. In here, SPI0 is in used, and data is transferred by bits, MSB first.

Note: Besides the display, this e-Paper is same as the 4.2inch e-Paper Module (B). For information and instruction, you can refer to the wiki page of 4.2inch e-Paper Module (B)

Documentation

Demo code

Github

Datasheets

Datasheets

Related Resources

This is a post in Arduino Form about our SPI e-Paper thanks to ZinggJM, maybe you want to refer to.

Waveshare e-Paper display with SPI

Question:

Working requirements of e-Paper?

Answer:

Two-color B/W e-paper
- 【Working】Temperature: 0~50°C; Humidity: 35%~65%RH
- 【Storage】Temperature: ≤30°C; Humidity: ≤55%RH; Max storage time: 6 months
- 【Transport】Temperature: -25~70°C; Max transport time: 10 days
- 【Unpack】Temperature: 20°C±5°C; Humidity: 50%RH±5%RH; Max storage time: Should be assembled in 72h
Three-Color e-Paper
- 【Working】Temperature: 0~40°C; Humidity: 35%~65%RH
- 【Storage】Temperature: ≤30°C; Humidity: ≤55%RH; Max storage time: 3 months
- 【Transport】Temperature: -25~60°C; Max transport time: 10 days
- 【Unpack】Temperature: 20°C±5°C; Humidity: 50%RH±5%RH; Max storage time: Should be assembled in 72h

When store three-color e-Paper, please refresh it to white, and keep the screen upward. Note that you need to update it at least every three months.

Question:

What do you need to note about e-Paper refreshing?

Answer:

Refresh mode
- Full refresh: e-Paper flicker when full refreshing to remove ghost image for best display.
- Partial refresh: It don't flicker if you use partial refresh (only some of the two-color e-paper support partial refresh). Note that you cannot use Partial refresh all the time, you should full refresh e-paper regularly, otherwise, ghost problem will get worse even damage.
Refresh rate
- When using, you should set the update interval at least 180s.(except Partial supportable types)
- Please set the e-Paper to sleep mode or power off it directly, otherwise, the e-Paper is damaged because of working in high voltage for long time.
- You need to update the content of three-color e-Paper at least one time every 24h to avoid from burn-in problem.
Working place
We recommend you to use the e-Paper indoor. If you need to set the e-paper outdoor, Please place the e-paper in shadow and protect it from UV. When you designed you e-paper product, you should take care about the working situation like temperature, humidity, etc.

Question:

How much could the flexible e-paper be bended

Answer:

The IC part of e-Paper cannot be bended, you can bend the display area in degree larger than 60°C

Question:

Why the e-Paper cant work with Arduino?

Answer:

The I/O level of Arduino is 5V, and the e-Paper should be driven with 3V3. If your Arduino cant drive the e-Paper successfully, please try to convert the level to 3.3V

You can also try to connect the Vcc pin to the 5V of Arduino to see whether the e-Paper works, but we recommend you not to use 5V for a long time.

Question:

Why does the color of e-Paper look a little black or grey?

Answer:

You can try to change the value of Vcom on demo codes.

Question:

Three-color e-paper looks more red/yellow than the picture on website?

Answer:

Because of different batch, some of them have aberration. Store the e-Paper right side up will reduce it. And if the e-Paper didn't be refreshed for long time, it will become more and more red/yellow. Please use the demo code to refresh the e-paper for several times in this case.

Question:

Why my e-paper has ghosting problem after working for some days

Answer:

Please set the e-paper to sleep mode or disconnect it if you needn't refresh the e-paper but need to power on your development board or Raspberry Pi for long time.Otherwise, the voltage of panel keeps high and it will damage the panel

Question:

Why the FPC of the e-Paper is broken after using for some times?

Answer:

Please make sure you have used it in correct way.

To：

Dear Customers, There may be a lag of several hours before we could process your order, depending on the time difference between your location and ours. Sincerely hoping your understanding!

Email(support)

services01@spotpear.com

TAG： Milk V Duo Raspberry Pi 3.5 inch LCD F Display Capacitance TouchScreen 60fps ST7796 GT911 320x480 Also For Arduino/Pico2/ESP32/RP2040/RP2350 USB to UART Serial UART Bus Servo TTL ST3235 30KG.CM Magnetic Encoder 360° High Precision And Large Torque DeepSeek AI Voice Chat ESP32 C6 Development Board 1.83 inch TouchScreen Display 240x284 ESP32-S3 Tuya AI Voice Robot T5-E1 1.75 inch Round AMOLED TouchScreen GPS For XiaoZhi Development Board Raspberry Pi Camera 12MP Sony IMX708 autofocus HDR Module 3 Sensor Assembly Raspberry Pi 5 Raspberry Pi Robot Dog Wavego Pro 12 quadruped ESP32 ESP-NOW color recognition and self-balancing control Raspberry Pi5 PCIe TO M.2 MINI Support Gen2 and Gen3 SSD Compatible 2230 2242 ESP32-Hi Mechanical Dog ESP32 C3 Servo AI Voice Chat Development Board Deepseek RS232 to RJ45 Raspberry Pi Pico 2 RP2350B 7inch Capacitive TouchScreen 7 inch LCD Display Development Board 800×480 Install Espressif IDF Plugin Tutorial User Guide Raspberry Pi 5 SSD ESP32-S3 A7670E 4G development board supports LTE Cat-1/2G/GNSS positioning/WiFi/Bluetooth Raspberry Pi ST7789 ESP32-P4-WIFI6 4.3inch LCD Display AI Development Board 480×800 4.3 inch TouchScreen Deepseek Raspberry Pi Pico 7inch DVI LCD

Price：

$35.89

Model：

4.2inch-e-Paper-Module-(C)

4.2inch E Ink display module, yellow, black, white, 400x300

TAG： 1.54 inch Passive NFC e-Paper BW Display E-ink Screen No Need Battery Wireless Powered Raspberry Pi 5 8G Raspberry Pi 5 Official Case ESP32 C3 Raspberry Pi LCD Robots Car 360° Omnidirectional 2-Axis Pan-Tilt Camera Serial Bus Servos General Driver Board Magnetic Encoder Servo Motor 85KG.CM 12V 24V 360&deg; RS485 8.2inch Round LCD HDMI Capacitive 8.2 inch Touchscreen Display 1080x1080 For Raspberry Pi/Jetson Nano/mini PC Raspberry Pi Pico 2 RP2350 1.43 inch AMOLED TouchScreen Development Board 466x466 1.43inch Display QMI8658 6-Axis | PCF85063 RTC | SD | Battery Port Raspberry Pi Pico 10.1inch DVI LCD Milk V Duo Raspberry Pi 5 PCIe to NVMe 2.13Inch E-Paper Core3566002032 PCIe TO M.2 HAT+ Raspberry Pi 5 PCIe M.2 NVMe SSD Pi5 2280-2242-2230-Board-C JETSON NANO MINI Expansion Board Arducam Raspberry Pi 5 Model - 2GB / 4GB / 8GB / 16GB RAM ESP32 P4 Development Board WIFI6 3.4 inch LCD Round Display 3.4inch TouchScreen 800×800 Dual Microphones