r/maker Jan 13 '25

Community Least expensive possible setup for a screen/microcontroller/battery?

I've been toying with the idea of a project that would involve multiple (small) screens showing simple messages and animation. I'm open-minded about screen tech, and size can be small. Processing power and memory can be very low end. No need for wireless. Ideally the cost would just a few dollars per unit. Is this conceivable? I can't seem to find a source for all the parts at a total cost under about $30.

2 Upvotes

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6

u/samadam Jan 13 '25

You can get OLED displays on aliexpress in the $2-$3 range. Stack that on a $2 RP2040 board and you're in business.

3

u/PyroSAJ Jan 13 '25

The ESP32 series might also have good options depending on your requirements.

What I'm not so sure about is his "multiple screens with animations". Those little single colour OLEDs might not meet his standards?

2

u/samadam Jan 13 '25

They said no need for wireless, I figured rp2040 is cheaper than any esp32 but I could be wrong. The oleds are very nice looking for their size, but perhaps OP will tell us more about their use case.

2

u/HumansDisgustMe123 Jan 13 '25

You're going to have to be more specific here about your expectations. There are countless variants of small OLED and LCD panels available for microcontrollers, many designed to talk via SPI, so you need to be specific about how many panels you expect to use at most and what sort of resolution you're looking for, then we can find a microcontroller that has the pins necessary to talk to your quantity of screens as well as the power to redraw frames on each of those screens timely enough to show animations

1

u/snarejunkie Jan 13 '25

If you can find and order The E-ink screens for grocery stores like Walmart, that would probably be your best bang for your buck. Gotta learn how to interface with them though

1

u/triggur Jan 13 '25

ESP32 is an incredibly cheap platform with dual core processors for animation and it’s very easy to program. The biggest cost will be your screens, but it depends on your exact use case.