SainSmart 3.2-Inch SSD1289 Touch Screen With SD Slot for Arduino Raspberry Pi

When I purchased this display I only had an Arduino uno to test with so I checked around and got a library that worked with the uno, the only thing it used up all the pins on the uno for the "display part" if you need touch screen and SD card you'll need more pins, but that's ok just needed to test it and it worked great will definitely buy some more.

I received the units right on schedule with no problems. Unfortunately my priorities got shifted and I have not had time to use or test the units. I'm anxious to do so . Thanks for your interest and if I have any questions I'll be certain to contact youHarry Myers

Over the past year, I've ordered 47 of these SainSmart LCD displays. For a while, they had a good thing going, but in the Autumn of 2015, they changed their manufacturing and have utterly messed up this device. The first six that I ordered in the Summer of 2015 worked perfectly. But of the 41 devices that I've ordered after the change, 40% have failed right out of the box... 6 won't power up at all, 4 have screen flicker, 2 the touch doesn't work, 1 the LCD pixels were misaligned and 1 had a cracked screen. What happened? Besides utter lack of quality control (these displays were obviously never tested), SainSmart changed the LCD screen hardware. Instead of using the LCD screen that would fit properly on the TFT_320QVT PCB (see pictures), they chose a slightly thinner, narrower LCD screen that normally fits the TFT_320QDT PCB. (notice the one letter difference). The problem is that the new screen DOES NOT FIT properly into the pin holes on the PCB and has a nasty habit of falling off (see pics). They obviously realized this at the factory, and rather than re-ordering the correct screens, they just tried to force them to stay on with double sided tape. But that hasn't worked well. Many of my screens had fallen off by the time I received them! But because I own a business that uses these things and I didn't know at the time that I could find alternative suppliers for this part, my work-around was to glue them into the best position possible using a hot glue gun. What a pain! Moral of the story: Don't order any of these from SainSmart LCDs until they have accepted they have screwed this up and fixed this problem. I suspect they will comment on this review once that has happened and I'll make modifications to this review to let you know when the problem is fixed. Until then, BUYER BEWARE. And, any other SainSmart product that includes this 3.2" is very likely going to include this same problem - including the shield + LCD and Mega2560 + shield + LCD. That all said, when this thing works, it works really well. I am satisfied with resolution and the touch is responsive. I use it in the product that our company sells. Just don't get it from Sainsmart - for now. There are alternative suppliers.A couple final technical notes:* The SD slot will not work with any SDHC cards. And no, you can't reformat a larger SDHC card down to 2GB and get it to work. Won't work. You can however get a 2GB or 4GB SD Card (not SDHC) and it'll work fine. You may see some documentation suggesting a 2GB limitation, but it's really 4GB as long as you don't use a SDHC card. Did I mention, do not use SDHC? If you need to understand the difference, google "SD vs SDHC".* The screen IC driver comes in two flavors out there: SSD1289 and ILI9341. They both work, but the software configuration is slightly different. So, either use one or the other - or expect to somehow auto-detect which one connect to your Mega2560 (not possible directly) and then code for both possibilities. As far as I can tell, the SSD1289 is being phased out for the now more common ILI9341. I've ordered this device from a number of sites, but unfortunately they often list the item as SSD1289, but it arrives as a ILI9341. If you are new to this, my advice is to go with the ILI9341 driver. The UTFT library was updated in the Summer of 2016 to accommodate this newer driver. Another reason to pass on this Sainsmart device is that it uses the SSD1289 driver. How can you tell the difference? The model for SSD1289 is TFT_320QVT and the model for ILI9341 is TFT_320QVT_9341. Unfortunately, ads for these devices often have the wrong model number displayed!

I received the display to use with my Digilent ChipKit Mega32 Arduino compatible controller. Since the ChipKit is a 3.3V device, no level conversion is needed. I found henning karlsen libraries (UTFT) and proceeded to make all the connections. I loaded an example sketch, made changes to the device model (ITC32S) and set the control pins correctly for the ChipKit. The display worked great. Next, I hooked up the touchscreen and used the touch library (UTOUCH) and the SD card using the standard Arduino SD library. Absolutely no problems.

I have had the following issues with this board:1) The photo listed with this item shows the board as branded by 'Sainsmart' which is why I purchased it to get an apples to apples better price on the same product. What I received was not branded, so finding manufacturer support for the product goes from very difficult to nearly impossible although the product is pin to pin compatible with the Sainsmart model2) The screen arrived scratched. (I decided to evaluate the product anyway to ensure that it met my needs before deciding to return for an exchange, or just outright return. Read further). It arrived simply wrapped in bubble wrap and taped. No anti-static bag, etc.3) After also purchasing the matching shield for this screen, I have now been informed by Sainsmart that the touch screen and SD capabilities cannot be used at the same time as the TFT display because Arduino UNO doesn't have enough pins to support all of it. In actuality, the video chip on the board is perfectly capable of operating in a lower pin mode if only the board and shield were setup properly to do so. They are not, making this item totally useless for an Arduino UNO (might as well get just a plain TFT LCD with no touch or SD card in this case). The markings on the shield that mention 'touch screen' and 'SD card' are deceiving.I will be returning both this touch screen and the shieldEdit: As it turns out, after investigating this with an expert, the issue is that the screen is unnecessarily hard-wired to only allow 16-bit parallel communication for the TFT screen. The chips themselves are capable of 8 bit or SPI but these modes are not accessible based on the product's form factor and wiring. It may be possible to switch this to 8 bit parallel by desoldering a resistor from the ribbon cable and then resoldering it in the vacant spot next to it. Warning: this requires a very high level of soldering skill and it may be very easy to inadvertently burn through the ribbon while attempting to do so. The pins to enable SPI for the TFT communication are simply inaccessible due to the permanent nature of how the LCD is glued together.

No documentation provided with the purchase which made it very hard to use at first. I have found a list of the pins for the lcd as well as the shield(if u bought it), follow the link -http://sainsmart.com/skin/frontend/base/default/document/3_2%20inch%20TFT%20with%20SD%20and%20Touch%20Quickstart.pdf

NO es lo que ofrece en cuanto a la conectividad (falta el cable)Se necesitan adecuaciones.Perdí tiempo.Funciona bien.

Overall i like it. It works well but the need for an extra adapter board kinda sucks and waste more space in a project.It Works and works wellWas here fast.I sure wish the person delivering things would knock on the door instead of sending me a picture of the package at my door via email.

I have no clue how this works with the raspi1B, nor the raspi2. The raspi group changed the pins so I can't even use this without another adapter, I assume- but then will still need to somehow install it's drivers. If you know what you're doing, go ahead and purchase. If you're new, don't -as this doesn't come with any instructions and google results speak in terms I don't get.

It works. there are examples and libraries on www.henningkarlsen.comYou should really buy the shield that goes with this screen as well if you plan to use it with an arduino because it is not a simple task to interface it otherwise.I find the viewing angle to be mediocre but I can't complain too much at the price.

Don't buy this without the adapter shield unless you have time on your hands. Wiring requires some effort and Googling but is doable for someone who has basic experience (ie attention to detail and has wired complex circuits successfully). Works fine once you get all the nasty work done. I bought it because it was cheap and I wanted to try out a display with an Arduino Mega.