Flip Clock on a Cheap Yellow Display (CYD)

This program uses a Cheap Yellow Display to show a classic flip clock. The design is based on Jeremy Cook's Simulated Flip Clock, but I've updated the code to use modern libraries and a CYD. Note: Touch the screen to force a flip.

Requirements

CYD (part ESP32-2432S028R) is an ESP32 with a a built-in 2.8" LCD display (240x320) touchscreen. More information is available here and from Random Nerds.

Dependencies

This project requires the following libraries.

TFT_eSPI Arduino and PlatformIO IDE compatible TFT library optimized for the Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040), STM32, ESP8266 and ESP32 that supports different driver chips.

XPT2046_Touchscreen Touchscreen Arduino Library for XPT2046 Touch Controller Chip. Even though TFT_eSPI provides some support for touchscreens, it doesn't work on the CYD, so you need this for touchscreen functions. Note: If you are using PlatformIO, you must configure the library in the platformio.ini by pointing to the official repo or manually downloading the lib. The library included by PlatformIO is out of date.

roboto_64.h - This file holds the fonts for the large digits. Small digits use a font from the TFT library.

Instructions

Download main.cpp and robot_64.h. robot_64.h is an include, so it needs to be where your compiler keeps included files. You will need to configure two variables, "ssid" and "WiFipassword" for your setup. To use the code as written, create a "secrets.h" text file in your "include" folder. It should hold something like

const char *ssid         = "My Home Wifi";               // Change this to your WiFi SSID
const char *WiFipassword = "MySuperSecretPassword";      // Change this to your WiFi password

to hold your WiFi credentials. The other option is to add these to the top of the main.cpp file and comment out the "#include <secrets.h>".

To use a 24 hour display, set this line const bool MilTime = true; to true. To use a 12 hour display, set MilTime to false, const bool MilTime = false;

To set the clock to your time zone, change the line that says const long gmtOffset_sec = -5 ; to be the value for your location. This is the difference between your time and UTC. -5 is Eastern Time, aka New York time. 0 is London, etc.

Not all CYDs are the same. For my CYD (a variant of the original), I had to add -DTFT_INVERSION_ON=1 to platformio.ini (or the equivalent #define TFT_INVERSION_ON to the User_Setup.h). You may need to remove that to get your colors correct.

In the platformio.ini, upload_speed = 961200 is a bit aggressive. You may need to reduce this if your CYD/cable/PC are in a mood.

Visual Studio Code/Platformio vs Arduino IDE

The source is configured to use platformio.ini to configure settings for TFT_eSPI. To configure these settings under Arduino IDE, copy the User_Setup.h from Random Nerds to your TFT_eSPI folder under your Arduino\libraries. Details are at Random Nerds CYD Tutorial.