Adafruit 2.13" Monochrome eInk / ePaper Display with SRAM - 250x122 Monochrome with SSD1680

by Adafruit

Easy e-paper finally comes to microcontrollers, with this breakout that's designed to make it a breeze to add a monochromatic eInk display.

Chances are you've seen one of those new-fangled 'e-readers' like the Kindle or Nook. They have gigantic electronic paper 'static' displays - that means the image stays on the display even when power is completely disconnected. The image is also high contrast and very daylight readable. It really does look just like printed paper!

This breakout as a 2.13" monochrome (black and white) display with 250x122 black pixels on a white-ish background. The monochrome displays take a lot less time to update than the tri-color displays, only a couple seconds instead of 15 seconds!

Using the CircuitPython or Arduino libraries, you can create a 'frame buffer' with what pixels you want to have activated and then write that out to the display. Most simple breakouts leave it at that. But if you do the math, 250 x 122 pixels x 2 colors = 7.6 KBytes. Which won't fit into many microcontroller memories. Heck, even if you do have 32KB of RAM, why waste 8KB?

So Adafruit did you a favor and tossed a small SRAM chip on the back. This chip shares the SPI port the eInk display uses, so you only need one extra pin. And, no more frame-buffering! You can use the SRAM to set up whatever you want to display, then shuffle data from SRAM to eInk when you're ready. The library they wrote does all the work for you, you can just interface with it as if it were an Adafruit_GFX compatible display.

For ultra-low power usages, the onboard 3.3V regulator has the Enable pin brought out so you can shut down the power to the SRAM, MicroSD and display.

Adafruit even tossed on a MicroSD socket so you can store images, text files, whatever you like to display. Everything is 3 or 5V logic safe so you can use it with any and all microcontrollers.

Comes assembled and tested, with some header. You'll need a soldering iron to attach the header for breadboarding or installing into your project.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Uses SSD1680 chipset for driving E-Ink display

Revision History:

  • As of May 9, 2021 we're selling a version with SSD1680 chipset, instead of the SSD1675 chipset. Firmware code will need to be updated as they are not code compatible.

Product Dimensions: 61.5mm x 39.3mm x 5.3mm / 2.4" x 1.5" x 0.2"

Product Weight: 13.5g / 0.5oz