Raspberry Pi 7" Touch Screen Assembly Guide

Before we assemble the touch screen, we need to make sure that our Raspberry Pi has the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS, and that all the software is up to date.

Hook up your Pi to a monitor, plug in your keyboard and mouse and boot your Pi into Raspberry Pi OS. Once booted up, open a new Terminal window and type the following commands, hitting enter after each one:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt full-upgrade

After we have updated the Pi, safely shut it down, unplug everything and put it to one side.

Building the touch screen

As we will be working on the back of the screen, and the screen will be facing a table, we recommend you leave the protective film on until assembly is complete. It's also wise to place the screen on something soft and clean like a microfibre cloth.

Here is everything that you should have, out of the box:

Start by connecting the large ribbon cable from the screen to the connector on the underside of the controller board. You will need to carefully undo the clamp before inserting the cable. Make sure to press the clamp in to secure the ribbon in place.

Note: this is sometimes already connected depending on our current supplier.

Now turn the controller board over, and connect the small ribbon cable from the screen to the board. Same principle as above, undo the clamp, insert cable, press clamp closed to secure ribbon in place.

Using the 4 standoffs provided, secure the controller board to the screen

Using the white ribbon cable supplied, connect one end to the controller board, making sure that this end has the blue tab facing down, towards the board (the opposite end, the end not being attached to the controller board, should have the blue tab facing up, so you can see it):

Now connect only the Red and Black jumper wires, that were supplied to the controller board.

• Red – 5V
• Black – GND

You will see green and yellow wires in the images below - these are no longer required.

Mount the Raspberry Pi on top of the 4 standoffs:

Connect the white ribbon to the Raspberry Pi’s Display port

Now connect the jumper wires to the Pi. Again, only the black and red wires are required.

• Red – Pin 2
• Black – Pin 6

Now it’s time to power it all. Plug an official Raspberry Pi power supply into the controller board (the controller board will power your Pi via the jumper wires) and away you go!).