Skip to content

CrowPanel 1.46inch-HMI ESPHome Course Series

1. Course Overview

This series is designed for learners using ESPHome, LVGL, and a round rotary display for the first time. It uses the CrowPanel 1.46inch-HMI ESP32 Rotary Display 360×360 IPS Round Touch Knob Screen as the sole experimental hardware. The courses are based on ESPHome 2026.7.4 and ESPHome Device Builder 1.9.2, with each YAML file corresponding to an independent lesson.

The courses are organized in the sequence of “display first, input second, and integrated interaction last.” Learners will progressively verify the LCD power supply and display pipeline, the rotary backlight control pipeline, and the complete interaction among the background image, LVGL gauge, touch coordinates, and rotary backlight control.

2. Software and Hardware Baseline

  • Hardware: CrowPanel 1.46inch-HMI ESP32 Rotary Display with a 360×360 IPS round touchscreen and rotary knob.
  • MCU: ESP32-S3.
  • Flash: 16 MB.
  • PSRAM: Octal, 80 MHz.
  • Development framework: ESP-IDF, managed by ESPHome.
  • ESPHome: 2026.7.4.
  • ESPHome Device Builder: 1.9.2.
  • Display bus: SPI, 40 MHz.
  • Touch controller: CST816, I2C address 0x15.

3. Course Structure

Lesson Corresponding Code Core Task Acceptance Criteria
Lesson01 Install the ESPHome environment
Lesson02 rotary-screen-146-display.yaml Initialize the round display and create a basic LVGL page Hello World! appears in the center on a white background
Lesson03 146-adjust-screen-brightness.yaml Read rotary knob input and adjust the PWM backlight Each step changes the brightness by 5%, with the displayed percentage synchronized with the brightness
Lesson04 146-lvgl-interface.yaml Integrate a background image, brightness arc, rotary knob, and touch logging Turning the knob changes the arc and backlight, while touch events output coordinates

4. General Preparation

  1. Connect the CrowPanel to your computer using a USB cable that supports data transfer.
  2. Prepare a computer or Home Assistant environment that can access ESPHome Device Builder.
  3. Create a private secrets.yaml file in the ESPHome configuration directory:
wifi_ssid: "YOUR_WIFI_SSID"
wifi_password: "YOUR_WIFI_PASSWORD"
  1. Do not publish actual Wi-Fi, API, OTA, or fallback hotspot passwords to a public repository. The instructional code retains the official example configuration structure; regenerate the credentials or replace them with private variables before publishing.
  2. A network connection is required when compiling with Google Fonts for the first time.

5. Official Resources

First, complete Lesson01 to install the ESPHome environment. Next, complete Lesson02 to confirm that the power supply, backlight, SPI, and LCD initialization are working correctly. Then proceed to Lesson03 so that rotary knob issues can be troubleshot separately from display issues. Finally, complete Lesson04 to verify touch input, image assets, and the integrated LVGL interface. If the basic behavior from the previous lesson is not working correctly, proceeding directly to the next lesson is not recommended.