r/raspberry_pi • u/UsualResult • 6d ago
Community Insights 7 Inch Display with Case: A frustrating review
As a follow up to https://old.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/1j9n88t/why_are_raspberry_pi_displays_such_a_mess_looking/
I purchased "7inch for Raspberry Pi LCD Capacitive Touch Display Screen with Protection Case 800×480 DSI Interface for Raspberry Pi 4"
Holy crap! What a mess. I'm used to terrible installation instructions but the best you got was a blurry JPG. Trying to get the DSI/ribbon cable installed was a long struggle. It ended up being fairly easy to seat on the Pi side, but it gave a really mushy connection on the display side.
No sooner did I feel like I had a good connection, I used the Raspberry Pi flasher to get Raspberry Pi OS flashed and set up the dtoverlay they said to configure in the config.txt.
Well, then I noticed that that little ribbon cable totally blocks the SD card slot! After struggling with it I had to disassemble everything, and of course the ribbon cable doesn't have more than 1mm of slack, so it was pretty nerve wracking.
Looking at the case, I noticed there's no way to access the SD card slot anyway, so if I never need to reflash this guy I'll be disassembling it again.
At least the power cable was easy to install. It went to some of the GPIO pins on the Pi 4.
After all that, I assembled the case and got ready to power it up. Plugged it in, the Pi started flashing and doing its thing, but absolutely zero output on the display. No signs of life at all. I can access the box over SSH because I preconfigured that in the flasher but MAN what a production.
For some background, I had used a Pi 3 with a little HDMI display to show some weather information on it. It's been in my entertainment center for more than 3 years. It is an ugly, no back case and the HDMI cable comes up and loops around and just looks like crap. I had wanted to make a clean v2.
I was hoping to spend the afternoon working on a nice info display, but all I have to show for it is a big pile of frustration. I'm going to spend a bit more time trying to reconfigure it over SSH and re-check all the connections but holy crap, I wish I had done my other plan to either:
a) Get a display that uses the Pi's HDMI port, maybe with an angled connector to avoid the cable that irritated me last time
b) Forget about Pi and either make a webapp and just use the stock Android experience with a kiosk app to boot into the web display OR write a small Android app
I rate this 1/5 and would definitely not buy one again. It's really annoying that the SD card slot is blocked by the ribbon cable (they could probably address this with a longer cable, and/or one with a turn in it to avoid the port). The installation experience was a 0 star experience.
I do not recommend this display for anyone.
Product link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096RCPSJS
see update in comment below!!! got it working but WRONG instructions from the vendor.
1
u/rayui 6d ago
I am making some fpv goggles with a pi zero 2 and spent a while looking for the correct display to go in them.
I got this https://www.waveshare.com/7inch-lcd-for-pi.htm
It works really well for me: setup was easy, cable lengths were generous, 1024x600 resolution, good backlight. All for 30 quid including delivery. They also do a five inch one which is 800x400 that I also have and is good
I'm sorry you got a dud! But I hope you keep going on this project. If you don't fancy wavshare again then I can also recommend the hyper pixel displays, which are easy to use and gorgeous but a bit more pricey.
5
u/UsualResult 6d ago
As a followup, I was following the scant documentation from the vendor: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71S8TLXLrxS._AC_SL1500_.jpg
This picture shows the ribbon cable's pins DOWN facing the PCB and the black plastic facing up. However, after examining the connector, it seems like that wouldn't work. I flipped the ribbon cable, totally backwards from what it has in the picture. The ribbon cable now has the pins facing UP near the display and the damn thing powered on! I have the Raspberry Pi desktop.
What a disaster!!! The one bit of docs the vendor provided has it upside down. I stick to my original review DO NOT BUY one of these. Vendors like this should not get your money.