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🌊 Slight dispatch delays possible as we catch up with sale orders, please bear with us 🐨

1.54" SPI Colour Square LCD (240x240) Breakout

by Pimoroni

Add a bright, hi-res, square LCD screen to your Raspberry Pi (or Pico) projects with this 1.54" Breakout Garden-compatible SPI display.

We sourced this vibrant LCD display to use on Pico Explorer Base and we've become rather fond of it. We've given it the full Breakout Garden treatment and now it's super-easy to incorporate into other Raspberry Pi or Raspberry Pi Pico projects. The screen is around 40% bigger (by area) than the one on our 1.3" square breakout, giving you plenty of room to fill with detailed graphs or lots of data from sensors. Its 1:1 aspect ratio means it would also be good for displaying square images (like album art or Instagram photos), or perhaps even for using as the screen on a mini handheld games console?

Like our other LCD breakouts, it's an IPS display so has great viewing angles and it's super-crisp and bright. It's driven by SPI and you should be able to run it at up to ~50FPS, although we've found that anywhere from 10FPS looks good for most uses.

You can use this breakout completely solder-free (which is very handy for prototyping) by combining it with any of our Breakout Gardens with SPI - check out the extras tab for some options! We've also included a strip of male header in case you want to hook it up to your SBC or microcontroller with wires, all traditional-like.

Features

  • 1.54" colour LCD (240x240 pixels)
  • SPI interface
  • 3.3V or 5V compatible
  • Reverse polarity protection
  • Compatible with all models of Raspberry Pi (Python library)
  • Compatible with Raspberry Pi Pico (C++/MicroPython libraries)

Specifications

  • 240x240 pixels (~220 PPI)
  • 27.72mm x 27.72mm active area
  • Brightness: 250 cd/m^2
  • 900:1 contrast ratio
  • 160° viewing angle (horizontal and vertical)
  • ST7789V driver chip
  • Dimensions: approx 45mm x 32mm x 5mm

Getting Started (Raspberry Pi)

This breakout uses the same ST7789 library as our square and round LCDs. The library makes it straightforward to display images, text or graphics, and even display animated GIFs!

If you're not using a Breakout Garden, then this is how to connect your LCD Breakout up to your Raspberry Pi.

Our Python library is set up to use SPI 0 by default on the Pi (BCM 7 for CS, BCM 11 for SCK, and BCM 10 for MOSI), BCM 9 for DC, and BCM 19 for the backlight.

Here's which pins to connect between your LCD breakout and your Pi's GPIO (note that it's BCM pin numbering):

  • 3-5V to any 5V or 3V pin
  • CS to BCM 7
  • SCK to BCM 11
  • MOSI to BCM 10
  • DC to BCM 9
  • BL to BCM 19
  • GND to any ground pin

You can of course use other pins with your LCD Breakout, but you'll have to change them accordingly when you instantiate the display in your code.

Getting Started (Raspberry Pi Pico)

If you're using a Raspberry Pi Pico you can copy our custom MicroPython uf2 to your Pico which includes drivers for this screen.

The easiest way to use our SPI breakouts with a Raspberry Pi Pico is by plugging them into a Pico Breakout Garden Base or a Pico Breakout Garden Pack.

If you'd rather wire them up to a Pico directly, here's how it goes!

  • 3-5V to any 5V or 3V pin
  • CS to GP17
  • SCK to GP18
  • MOSI to GP19
  • DC to GP16
  • BL to GP20
  • GND to any ground pin

Notes

  • This display has a shinier surface than its smaller cousin, so if you're after more of a matte effect you might be better off going for the 1.3" one.
  • Some versions of this breakout have the Controller Out/Peripheral In pin labelled as COPI, instead of MOSI.

32 customer reviews

a year ago
A really neat and easy to use sensor package. Shouldnt take more than an hour to familiarise yourself with it as the library for it is pretty robust and easy to use. Added it to a project of mine (circuit python) and it works just as expected. I really like it!
by Sony about BME280 Breakout - Temperature, Pressure, Humidity Sensor via REVIEWS.io
2 years ago
A great little sensor that is almost 'plug and play'. Just plug it into a board like the Pico Breakout Garden and download the example program to get it going. You really don't need to do much yourself. That said, more accessible, improved documentation, detailing the methods used to set up the device and access data would help deepen understanding of the device and how to develop and modify applications using it.
by Robert about BME280 Breakout - Temperature, Pressure, Humidity Sensor via REVIEWS.io
2 years ago
Useful sensor with a choice of connectors for soldering. Worked seamlessly with a Pico W. Found the literature and information on the Pimoroni website somewhat arcane and less than straightforward to access, but plenty of help available on YouTube
by Robert about BME280 Breakout - Temperature, Pressure, Humidity Sensor via REVIEWS.io
2 years ago
Bought the BME280 breakout as a replacement for the BME280 sensor on an Enviro+ board that had gone awry. After checking with the excellent Pimoroni forum for help, I soldered the board to the GPIO header on the Enviro+ with the supplied header pins. I made use of the address selection trace on the back BME280 breakout board. All now works and is up and running the Luftdaten python script with a small change to the code to allow for the address change to 0x77. Great service from Pimoroni, ordered on Tuesday and arrived on Thursday.
by Mike about BME280 Breakout - Temperature, Pressure, Humidity Sensor via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Instructions on how to use it and set up are good. Got it all working without hassle and used it as a project to team my kids to solder, which went well. Readings seem to be accurate and correspond with other local weather stations in the year.
by John about BME280 Breakout - Temperature, Pressure, Humidity Sensor via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
These sensors work as they should, I couldn't find how to access specific addresses using the pimoroni python library examples but a search led me to install the RPi.bme280 libràry (sudo pip install RPi.bme280) and I was able to read from two dme280 sensors connected in parallel using addresses 0x76 and 0x77.
by Anonymous about BME280 Breakout - Temperature, Pressure, Humidity Sensor via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
Handy little sensor.. I am using this to provide a data feed to the magic mirror smart dashboard I have at home to keep an eye on indoor conditions. Fantastic. Try to keep the unit few cms away from the pi..it is quite sensitive to any heat.
by Badrinath about BME280 Breakout - Temperature, Pressure, Humidity Sensor via REVIEWS.io

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