Pimoroni Tufty 2040 - Programmable Badge 2.4"

Tufty 2040 is a LCD version of Badger 2040! In a nutshell, Pimoroni combined a RP2040 microcontroller with a nice, crisp LCD screen to make a snazzy, colourful programmable badge - perfect for identifying/expressing yourself at cybernetic conferences, illicit undersea research facilities or dodgy space station bars.

Don't limit yourself to hanging it round your neck though, use it as a sleek display/control panel for sensor readouts, a photo frame for digitally generated art or for making/playing small games. Perhaps you could even have a crack at making it play Doom?

Tufty comes fully loaded with a quintet of buttons so you can easily change what's displayed on the screen, a slot so you can clip it onto a lanyard and a light sensing phototransistor, which can be used to adjust the brightness of the screen automatically. On the back, you'll find a ✨majestic cyberpunk squirrel✨, a battery connector (with a nice wide input voltage) and the usual RP2040 old chestnuts - boot and power on/off buttons and a Qw/ST connector for attaching breakouts.

Notes

• Measurements: 65.2mm x 52.7mm x 9.6mm (L x W x H, including connectors). The mounting holes are M2 and 2.9mm in from each edge. The corner radius is 3mm.
• We've designed Tufty 2040 to be accommodating about input voltage (3V - 5.5V), so it's possible to use a variety of different batteries and battery packs. We'd recommend using a 3x AAA battery pack which should give you maximum juice whilst still fitting behind Tufty nicely.
• A 2x AAA battery pack will only work well if you use non-rechargeable batteries - the voltage from 2 rechargeable (NiMH) batteries (2.4V) is just not enough for the screen.
• Tuftys are hungrier than Badgers! Power consumption is around 80mA for the screen (at full brightness) and 20mA for the RP2040 - so 100 mA total. Tufty has a toggle power on / off button (instead of a reset button) to make it easy to turn it off to preserve power, and setting the backlight to dim/turn off automatically will also make your batteries last much longer.
• Alternatively, you can plug a LiPo/LiIon battery into the battery connector, with the following caveats. Please only consider this if the person wearing the badge is an adult and knows what they're doing with LiPos!
  • A solid enclosure or backplate to protect the battery from damage whilst being worn is a very good idea 
  • There's no battery protection included on Tufty 2040, so you should only use it with LiPo batteries that include internal protection
  • Unlike some of our other boards, Tufty 2040 doesn't have battery charging circuitry onboard. You'll need an external LiPo charger to charge the battery