Connecting the Pervasive Displays EXT4

Connecting the Pervasive Displays EXT4 Extension Kit

The Pervasive Displays e-Paper EPD Extension Kit Gen 4 provides two options to connect it to the controller board.

The first option uses the adapter board specifically designed for the Arduino Nano form-factor.
The second solution relies on a 20-way cable to connect to virtually any board. It uses the standard electronics colours to ease the identification of each signal.

The hardware was sampled by Arduino and Pervasive Displays.

For a safe connection of the e-paper displays, please refer to EPD Handling and ESD Precaution.

Pins maps

Pins 1 to 10 are standard and shared with the EXT3 and EXT3.1 extension boards. Pins 11 to 20 are specific to the EXT4 board.

Connecting the EXT4 to the screen

The EXT4 features one 24 ways connector for the flat cable of the screen.

Lift the lock of the ZIF connector up;
Align the flat cable with the connector;
Insert the flat cable into the connector;
Gently press the lock of the ZIF connector down.

Connecting the EXT4 to Arduino Nano Matter with the adapter board

On the Arduino Nano side of the adapter board,

Identify the USB label and the two white marks for ground.
Align them with the corresponding USB plug and white ground marks of the Arduino Nano Matter board.
Plug the Arduino Nano Matter board into the adapter board.

On the EXT4 side of the adapter board,

Identify the white mark.
Align it with the white mark of the EXT4, with signal 1 for Ground.
Plug the adapter board into the EXT4.

This procedure with the adapter board could also be used with the other members of the Arduino Nano family operating at 3.3V.

Arduino Nano 33 IoT powered by a SAMD21 and a WiFi and BLE radio;
Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect powered by a RP2040 and a WiFi and BLE radio;
Arduino Nano ESP32 powered by an ESP32-S3 with WiFi and BLE ;
Arduino Nano 33 BLE and Rev2 powered by a Nordic nRF52840 with BLE;
Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense and Rev2 powered by a Nordic nRF52840 with BLE and multiple sensors.

Power and logic signals are 3.3V only.

Connecting the EXT4 to 5V may damage the board and the screen. A regulator and logic level converters are required.

As an example, the Remote E-Paper Weather and Message Board project leverages the Pervasive Displays EPDK-Matter but uses instead the Arduino Nano ESP32 with WiFi connectivity.

Connecting the EXT4 to any micro-controller

To connect the EXT4 to any micro-controller, plug first the 20-way cable into the male pins of the EXT4 board with

The white cable in front of the white mark of the silk-screen;
The black cable in front of the black mark of the silk-screen. It is also marked with a white dot on the connector.

On the micro-controller side, the minimal implementation requires 11 signals.

Pins 1 to 11 include power, SPI bus and control signals for the screen;
Optional pins 12 and 13 give access to the button and the RGB LED;
Optional pins 14 to 20 provide access to the I²C bus and the interrupt signals of the sensors.

Two examples are shown below.

The Arduino Nano Matter board features enough GPIOs to connect all the signals of the EXT4.

The Silicon Labs xG24 Explorer Kit features a limited set of GPIOs. The Flash chip select signal and the sensors interrupts are not connected.

Posted: 21 Nov 2024
Updated: