What is it?

The 2.9" ESPaper module is a one stop solution to display data from the internet on an energy efficient ePaper display while running on a LiPo battery. The module only consumes power when it is fetching data over WiFi and during the update of the ePaper module. Then it goes back to deep sleep mode while the ePaper still shows the data from the last refresh. Depending on update frequency and time required for the update the module can run several weeks or even months from a LiPo battery. For your convenience I also included a LiPo charging circuit so once the battery is depleted you can easily re-charge the attached LiPo.

The popular built-in ESP8266 WiFi module is easy to program by using the Arduino IDE. I developed a new library to program the ePaper module, offering many drawing functions like drawing lines, circles or boxes. Drawing of text is very easy and you can use the integrated fonts or create your own with our online font creator tool http://oleddisplay.squix.ch/ The module comes with a setup guide and a sample WeatherStation application which shows you how to program the device.

In order to create a truly low-energy device we decided to not integrate the Serial-to-USB converter into the module. So in order to program you will need an external USB-to-Serial programming device. We also created a Plus Kit containing this module, the programmer, a 600mAh battery and a practical acrylic case.

Features

• 2.9″ ePaper module 296*128 pixels, B&W
• MCU: ESP8266 Wroom-02 with WiFi
• JST XH2.5mm LiPo battery connector and charging circuit
• 3 buttons for user interaction: RST: wakeup the module from deep sleep, e.g. to refresh data, S0 FLASH/GPIO0: used to put ESP8266 in programming mode or for user menu, S1 GPIO 12: User interaction

Why did you make it?

I realized that there were many interesting applications for a device which could display information fetched from the internet over WiFi and run possibly many weeks from a LiPo battery. While you can find all the single components on various online shops it was interesting to design a device which would not only use little power but also be so compact that you could put it into a tiny enclosure and place it anywhere in your home or office without having to connect it to a wall plug.

What makes it special?

This module is interesting because is very compact, energy efficient and you get all the tools to program it to your own needs. You can also just flash and configure the provided WeatherStation sketch and use it as a beautiful weather station.