Dasduino CONNECTPLUS SPI communication not working on GPIO 23 and 18

TECHNICAL SUPPORT NULA Development Boards
1

Customer:

I’m using the Dasduino CONNECTPLUS (ESP32-WROVER-E) development board and trying to establish SPI communication to connect a TFT display (ILI9486, SPI variant).

Unfortunately, I’ve encountered a problem: when I connect the display to the GPIO pins designated for SPI (e.g. GPIO 23 – MOSI and GPIO 18 – SCK) and run a test program that sends data via SPI, there is no voltage or activity on these pins (neither pulses nor DC voltage).

I’ve also tried using alternative GPIO pins (e.g. GPIO 21 and 22), but still no result – the pins remain at 0V during operation.

The code otherwise executes normally (Serial messages display correctly), but SPI communication appears to not be active at all.

I would appreciate any information or advice.

Original message (Croatian)

koristim razvojnu pločicu Dasduino CONNECTPLUS (ESP32-WROVER-E) i pokušavam uspostaviti SPI komunikaciju za povezivanje s TFT ekranom (ILI9486, SPI varijanta).

Nažalost, naišla sam na problem: kada na GPIO pinove predviđene za SPI (npr. GPIO 23 – MOSI i GPIO 18 – SCK) spojim ekran i pokrenem testni program koji šalje podatke putem SPI-a, ne pojavljuje se nikakav napon ili aktivnost na tim pinovima (ni impulsi, ni istosmjerni napon).

Također sam pokušala koristiti alternativne GPIO pinove (npr. GPIO 21 i 22), ali i dalje bez rezultata – pinovi ostaju na 0V tijekom rada.

Kod se inače izvršava normalno (Serial poruke se prikazuju ispravno), ali SPI komunikacija kao da uopće nije aktivna.

Bila bih vam zahvalna na bilo kakvoj informaciji ili savjetu.

Srdačno,

[name removed]

Originally submitted via email support on 21 August 2025. Migrated to the forum for community visibility.

2

Soldered Support:

Pins 23 and 18 (MOSI, CLK) are by default VSPI pins on the ESP32 WROVER-E. Let’s try establishing communication over the VSPI bus in the code. Here’s an example of how to establish communication, with the Slave Select pin set to output (assuming that the Data/Command and RST pins are also properly connected and set to pinMode OUTPUT):

#include <SPI.h>

#define MOSI 23
#define MISO 19
#define SCK 18
#define SS 5

SPIClass vspi(VSPI); // VSPI on ESP32
vspi.begin(SCK, MISO, MOSI, SS); // Initialize VSPI via default pins

pinMode(SS, OUTPUT); // Set Slave Select (Chip Select) pin to output

In our use of the CONNECTPLUS with our Arduino board definition for it, we have used the VSPI pins. Hope this helps!

Original message (Croatian)

hvala na upitu, ovdje smo da pomognemo :slight_smile:

Pinovi 23, 18 (MOSI, CLK) su po defaultu VSPI pinovi na ESP32 WROVER-E. Možemo li probati u kodu uspostaviti komunikaciju preko VSPI bus-a. Šaljem primjer dolje kako bi se uspostavila komunikacija, Slave Select pin se postavlja na output (pretpostavljajuci da su Data/Command i RST pin također dobro spojeni i također postavljeni na pinMode OUTPUT)_

#include

#define MOSI 23
#define MISO 19
#define SCK 18
#define SS 5

SPIClass vspi(VSPI); // VSPI na ESP32
vspi.begin(SCK, MISO, MOSI, SS); // Inicijalizacija VSPI preko defaultnih pinova

pinMode(SS, OUTPUT); // Postaviti Slave Select(Chip Select) pin na output
U našem korištenju našeg CONNECTPLUS-a s našim arduino board definitionom za nj, mi smo koristili VSPI pinove. Nadam se da ovo pomaže!