Inkplate 6COLOR setup for Home Assistant and displaying courier information

Soldered_Bot · May 16, 2024, 9:44am

Customer:

I’m looking at the Inkplate 6COLOR display with enclosure to use by my door to provide information for couriers and deliveries. I’m comfortable with home automation and currently use Home Assistant. How would I set up the panel and what software could I use to update it?

Originally submitted via email support on 16 May 2024. Migrated to the forum for community visibility.

Soldered_Bot · May 16, 2024, 11:15am

Soldered Support:

ESPHome support exists for Inkplate 6, 10 and 6PLUS, maintained by the community. To use ESPHome with Inkplate 6COLOR, you would need to write the implementation yourself, though this should be straightforward since the Inkplate library is fully open source.

Alternatively, you can write a sketch using the Arduino IDE. Inkplate is Arduino compatible and comes with a feature-rich library: GitHub - SolderedElectronics/Inkplate-Arduino-library: Inkplate family Arduino library. The easiest way to add e-paper to your project. · GitHub

The library includes many examples for getting and displaying data from online sources. This example shows how to perform an HTTP GET request and display the data:

github.com/SolderedElectronics/Inkplate-Arduino-library

examples/Inkplate6COLOR/Advanced/WEB_WiFi/Inkplate6COLOR_HTTP_Request/Inkplate6COLOR_HTTP_Request.ino

master

/**
 **************************************************
 * @file        Inkplate6COLOR_HTTP_Request.ino
 * @brief       Connects Inkplate 6COLOR to Wi-Fi, performs an HTTP GET request,
 *              and displays the received HTML response.
 *
 * @details     This example demonstrates a complete basic Wi-Fi + HTTP workflow
 *              on Inkplate 6COLOR. The sketch first scans for nearby wireless
 *              networks and shows a short list of detected SSIDs with signal
 *              information. It then connects to the configured Wi-Fi network,
 *              performs a plain HTTP GET request to a web page, retrieves the
 *              server response as text, and prints that response directly on
 *              the e-paper display.
 *
 *              This example is intended to demonstrate network connectivity and
 *              basic web requests only. It does not parse HTML, extract data,
 *              or render web pages visually. The raw response body is simply
 *              displayed as text, which is useful for testing connectivity or
 *              understanding how to fetch remote content before adding parsing
 *              logic.

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You could use this as a basis for your project: host changeable data on the internet (or on your local network if Inkplate is connected to your home WiFi), then periodically check that data and update the display when it changes. The device can enter deep sleep between updates to minimize power consumption, which is useful if you want to run it on a battery.

Examples for deep sleep and web images are available here:

github.com/SolderedElectronics/Inkplate-Arduino-library

examples/Inkplate6COLOR/Advanced/WEB_WiFi/Inkplate6COLOR_Show_Pictures_From_Web/Inkplate6COLOR_Show_Pictures_From_Web.ino

master

/**
 **************************************************
 * @file        Inkplate6COLOR_Show_Pictures_From_Web.ino
 * @brief       Downloads and displays image files from the web on Inkplate
 *              6COLOR over Wi-Fi.
 *
 * @details     This example demonstrates how to connect Inkplate 6COLOR to a
 *              Wi-Fi network, download image files from remote URLs, and render
 *              them on the e-paper display. It shows multiple web image
 *              workflows using the Inkplate image loader, including 1-bit BMP,
 *              multi-bit BMP, and JPEG files fetched directly over HTTP/HTTPS.
 *
 *              The sketch first connects to Wi-Fi, then attempts to load and
 *              display several remote images in sequence. It demonstrates the
 *              use of optional image-processing parameters: invert helps when
 *              source bitmaps have reversed black/white polarity, and dither can
 *              improve visual conversion for some images at the cost of
 *              additional processing.
 *
 *              Web image examples are convenient for connected dashboards,

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For getting started, check the quick start guide: Inkplate Get Started Page — Inkplate docs documentation

Soldered_Bot · May 16, 2024, 2:08pm

Customer:

I’ve ordered one and will try to get it working. I found a video online of someone using the colour board with ESPHome.

Soldered_Bot · May 17, 2024, 7:29am

Soldered Support:

Check the video description or any information the author provided about how to use it with ESPHome. We’re here to help with any issues you run into with the board and our examples.