This guide is intended to get you using the Adafruit 2.13" tri-color e-ink FeatherWing and 2.7" tri-color e-ink shield quickly with CircuitPython.

These displays come with headers already soldered on - male headers for the shield version and female headers for the Feather version. This allows them to be plugged in to their respective microcontrollers without soldering. Place on the microcontroller, upload your code and graphics file, and display!

Refresh Times

Most LCD, OLED, and LED displays can be written to quite fast which helps to do moving graphics and colors easily.

For eInk displays, this is not the case. Erasing an image involves sending special signals to the display to "undo" the colored pixels from displaying. Adafruit recommends to not refresh these displays more often than every 180 seconds (3 minutes).

If they are written to more quickly, the display may be damaged. A damaged display may have pixels permanently on or off or other anomalies and voids the warranty. If you want to know more about time between refreshes, see the datasheet on the display you are using here and here.

eInk displays continue to display an image, even with the power off. If you want a fairly static image, say a picture or a name badge, eInk is wonderful.

If you want a crisp, rarely changing display, eInk is great. For fast changing information, please consider a different class of display like TFT or OLED.

Parts

Feather Form Factor

Angled shot of a Adafruit Feather M4 Express.
It's what you've been waiting for, the Feather M4 Express featuring ATSAMD51. This Feather is fast like a swift, smart like an owl, strong like a ox-bird (it's half ox,...
$22.95
In Stock

Metro Form Factor

Angled shot of a Adafruit Metro M4 feat. Microchip ATSAMD51.
Are you ready? Really ready? Cause here comes the fastest, most powerful Metro ever. The Adafruit Metro M4 featuring the Microchip ATSAMD51. This...
$27.50
In Stock
Top down view of a Adafruit 2.7" Tri-Color eInk / ePaper Shield with SRAM - Red Black White.
Easy e-paper finally comes to microcontrollers, with this breakout that's designed to make it a breeze to add a tri-color eInk display. Chances are you've seen one of those...
Out of Stock

Programming

Any USB data plus power cable will work if it fits your computer at one end and has a micro B connector on the other end. The one below is a favorite, but pick your own depending on your needs.

This guide was first published on Nov 13, 2019. It was last updated on Mar 18, 2024.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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