
ESP8266 ePaper WiFi Display Kit Runs for Months on a Charge - okket
https://blog.tindie.com/2017/12/esp8266-epaper-display/
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stevekemp
I'm currently awaiting the delivery of a 400x300 epaper module from aliexpress
which I'm hoping to use as a display that updates daily with google calendar
entries, the local weather, and similar things.

I don't have a solid use for it, but I'm looking forward to experimenting as
I'm surprised how inexpensive these things have become - the item I ordered is
~€25.

I'll be using a Wemos mini D1 to drive it, and I'd also expect a long life-
span between charges. (Though waking up and using the WiFi is always the
heavy-weight part of these devices.)

~~~
LaurensBER
Do you have a link to the item? Or atleast a name + type number.

Why did you choose that specific display? A quick Google search shows that
driving an e-inkt display can be challenging. Have you checked how hard that
particular item is to drive?

Thanks! I can think of so many cool things I would love to build for ~€30,- :)

~~~
m-p-3
I'm not sure I want to get involved in that (at my office) since I already
deal with enough equipment already, but I think something cool would be to
make a small ePaper like display for conference room in front of each door,
and display the upcoming meetings that are booked.

Of course people could look directly on the calendar through their phone or
computer, but sometimes a quick glance when you're near is all it takes.

~~~
woolvalley
In facebook and a whole bunch of other tech companies they use android tablets
/ iPads for exactly that.

There is even a company that has an app that manages that for you, but I
forgot what it was called.

~~~
Marazan
Robin

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reacharavindh
I'd love to put together a small E-paper display that I can stick on the door
showing where I am or if I'm free/busy.

3" display is enough for my need.

Small LiPo battery works for my need.

I can spend a few hours learning to program this thing with Arduino IDE or
whichever tool is needed with a little bit of Internet handholding.

But, >$50(incl shipping) kits don't give me the value I look for. Why are they
so expensive?

I'd happily buy a pre-made setup of (controller+LiPo battery+e-paper display)
easy to program device if the price is < $30.

~~~
kees99
I guess it's only matter of time before somebody will start offering
supermarket e-pricetags to hobbyist:

[https://theworklife.com/graham-miln/2013/12/17/e-ink-
price-t...](https://theworklife.com/graham-miln/2013/12/17/e-ink-price-tags/)

~~~
reacharavindh
Yeah. Those would be super useful as general purpose displays. I found
something on Alibaba without much technical info about.

Hopefully someone gets the idea and mass produces it.

[https://m.alibaba.com/product/60250435288/Supermarket-esl-
di...](https://m.alibaba.com/product/60250435288/Supermarket-esl-digital-
shelf-display-label.html?s=p&spm=a2706.7843667.1998817009.9.xm8Qql)

~~~
splitbrain
yeah, I wish there was an easy DIY way to program those

~~~
sigstoat
order enough of them and i expect you could get one of the sellers to give you
specs. they just use 433MHz; shouldn't be too hard to talk to them once you
know what to send.

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scroot
All displays should be e-ink. It's crazy to stare at a backlit screen all day.

~~~
squarefoot
Backlit displays hurt our eyes because most apps often use full white
backgrounds without taking into account the much bigger surface (that is,
light) our eyes is exposed to by doing so, which is roughly double compared to
say 10 years ago. That can be corrected by choosing darker themes, but good
luck convincing most people to do that.

E-Ink technology needs a lot more time to become a viable option for monitors.

~~~
scardine
In the office most programmers and designers use dark themes, but in fact they
are more straining than light themes because your eyes do more work adjusting
for seeing little bright things in the dark than for seeing little dark things
in the light - I guess in the end it is a matter of taste.

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pingec
Great idea although too pricey for what you get IMHO. I'll stick to hacking
Kindles for now.

~~~
mosselman
This sounds interesting. Could you shed some light in what hacking a kindle
entails? Could I hook up my micro controller to the kindle and use the kindles
display? Could I add gpio ports to the kindle and use it as a micro
controller?

~~~
maxkrieger
Check out using the Kindle as a raspberry pi display:

[http://ponnuki.net/2012/09/kindleberry-
pi/](http://ponnuki.net/2012/09/kindleberry-pi/)

[https://maxogden.com/kindleberry-
wireless.html](https://maxogden.com/kindleberry-wireless.html)

~~~
mosselman
Thanks for the links, this looks very cool!

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otakucode
I have been waiting for several years for color eInk displays to come about. I
am fine with a refresh rate of even something like multiple seconds. Thus far
the only thing I have found are companies in China that are willing to fix a
single image on a color eInk display (no idea what the point is if the image
can't be changed, but that is my understanding) before shipping. I haven't
went hunting within the past year or so though.. anyone know if there's been
any progress on that front?

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kachurovskiy
You can get 128X64 OLED on AliExpress for 3$. Mine draws 2.2mA to show 6
letters, 3mA for 12 letters.

It can be controlled with e.g. ATTINY85 (1$) which can e.g. set the text/image
to display and go into deep sleep in beetween sreen updates where it draws
almost nothing (< 0.01mA).

2800mAh battery featured in this video will last this setup for more than a
month of continuous operation. If you turn the display off e.g. when the
lights are off it can last several months.

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Jaruzel
I've got an old Sony eReader - before I throw it in the bin, is it possible to
re-use the display? Do all eInk displays use the same protocol?

~~~
ComputerGuru
eInk is a technology on the physical level, has nothing to do with the
digital/microelectronic component. So, in a word, no.

~~~
Doxin
AFAIK There's really only one manufacturer of eink displays, so there's a good
chance the physical interface is the same as other eink displays.

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pwaai
I was hyperventilating as I read this as ESP8266 runs for months on a charge
but still ePaper is a great move on a path to finding self sustainable
internet connected (w/ extending wifi possibly falling back on 3g) devices in
the wild.

Has anybody done experiments to see if you can power esp8266 with solar cells
with portable battery? We are in for some truly exciting applications.

~~~
cwt137
Here is a weather station powered by a ESP8266 using solar power:
[http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-Powered-WiFi-
Weather-S...](http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-Powered-WiFi-Weather-
Station/)

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mrob
How is this better than something using a Sharp Memory LCD, or similar low
power reflective LCD with built in memory?

The power consumption of the LCD is slightly higher, but total power use is
dominated by the wifi. It will still run for months and the refresh rate is
much better.

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zitterbewegung
Would an epaper hardware wallet for bitcoin make sense ? Or does the display
technology matter ?

~~~
Fnoord
It wouldn't be the most important aspect of such a hardware wallet (maybe
TEMPEST is a consideration?). These wallets (Trezor and Ledger Nano S)
generally get their power via microUSB connection, and they're not on a lot
like a wall mounted weather app would be basically 24/7 on. The Ledger Nano S
uses OLED according to themselves [1]. If there's a way they draw less power,
that is welcome if the source is say a laptop. There's also the Ledger Blue
which uses a (larger) color touchscreen and rechargable battery. For the price
of almost _4_ Ledger Nano S.

[1]
[https://www.ledgerwallet.com/products](https://www.ledgerwallet.com/products)

~~~
zitterbewegung
Do Oled screens degrade faster than epaper?

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tucosan
If one could add a touchscreen, this would be perfect for home automation.

~~~
Fnoord
If you look on the bottom right it says "refresh". Not sure why it says that,
but its suggestive that it can be refreshed physically somehow.

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DangerousPie
Presumably those three circular things below the display are buttons? So not a
touchscreen, but you could navigate menus with up/down + enter.

~~~
Willamin
The left button is used to put the ESP8266 into flash mode for updating the
firmware, the right button is used to reset the device, effectively pulling it
out of deep sleep to refresh the content on the screen, and the center button
is wired to a GPIO pin that isn't used. You would only be able to use the
single button for input. I don't see any other GPIO pins exposed, so it'd be
tough to add extra buttons.

The ESP8266 has over a dozen GPIO pins, but any hobby kit like the ESP01,
ESP12E, or ESP32 might not expose all of the pins. I can't tell which ESP
module this board has on it, but if they're exposed you could solder an extra
few buttons. They'll be really small solder points, though.

