Arduino with DS3231 and ST7735 color TFT

This topic shows how to build a real time clock with temperature monitor using Arduino, DS3231 RTC and ST7735R (ST7735S) 1.8″ color TFT display.

Building this project with Arduino is so easy, in the circuit there are two pushbuttons to set the time as well as the date, time, date and temperature are displayed on 1.8″ (128 x 160) TFT screen with ST7735 controller.

arduino ds3231 real time clock st7735 color tft

Previously, I made some projects with Arduino and DS3231, links are below:
Arduino and DS3231 real time clock
Arduino real time clock with alarm and temperature monitor using DS3231
Arduino + DS3231 RTC with alarms, temperature monitor & remote control

And the link below shows a simple interfacing example of the Arduino and the ST7735 TFT:
Arduino ST7735 1.8″ TFT display example

Components Required:
To build this project we need the following components.

  • Arduino board
  • DS3231 board
  • ST7735R (ST7735S) TFT screen
  • 5 x 1K ohm resistor
  • 2 x push button
  • 3V coin cell battery
  • Breadboard
  • Jumper wires

Arduino with DS3231 RTC and ST7735 TFT circuit:
Project circuit schematic diagram is shown below.

Arduino with DS3231 and ST7735S TFT circuit

(All grounded terminals are connected together)

In the circuit there are 2 push buttons (B1 & B2) connected to Arduino pins 7 and 6 respectively, the two push buttons are used to set time and date parameters (minutes, hours, day of the week, date, month and year). Button B1 selects the parameter and B2 increments the selected parameter.

Arduino with DS3231 RTC and ST7735 TFT code:
We need 2 libraries (Adafruit_ST7735 and Adafruit_GFX) from Adafruit industries in order to compile the Arduino code below, these libraries can be downloaded from the link below:
Download

Place both libraries in Arduino IDE libraries folder.

Arduino with DS3231 RTC and ST7735 videos:
The first video shows a hardware circuit of the project.

and the video below shows the simulation of the circuit using Proteus:

Proteus simulation file download:
Proteus simulation file can be downloaded from the link below, use it with version 8.6 or higher.
Download

2 thoughts on “Arduino with DS3231 and ST7735 color TFT”

  1. This code does not run on Proteus. It requires that pin 11 SDA be defined as TFT_RST… Here is what I changed.

    // For the breakout, you can use any 2 or 3 pins
    // These pins will also work for the 1.8″ TFT shield
    #define TFT_CS 9
    #define TFT_RST 11 // you can also connect this to the Arduino reset
    // in which case, set this #define pin to 0!
    #define TFT_DC 10

    Adafruit_ST7735 tft = Adafruit_ST7735(TFT_CS, TFT_DC, TFT_RST); //NOTE THAT THIS CODE HAD TO BE REPAIRED ITS REQUIRES THAT THE TFT_RST BE DEFINED to run on newer versions of proteus
    //Adafruit_ST7735 tft = Adafruit_ST7735(TFT_CS, TFT_DC);

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