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Topic starter
2023-07-29 7:57 pm
It does not appear in the search engine, so here are a few notes on it.
What is it - an ESP32 with e-paper display in watch format. Silly price from PiHut.
I've not had success with e-paper and this appeared to work so I bought one.
It is a big lump of watch with stunning display and 4 tactile buttons. Comes with a watch strap but I had thought it might be more useful as an IOT terminal/controller.
The supplied and programmed software is the biggest lump of ESP code I have ever seen - It's a watch with battery monitor, pedometer, temp and weather which it gets via a menu to search and choose your WiFi router. It seems to take forever to compile and upload and I failed to get it to work under Arduino 1.8 so have to come to terms with Arduino 2 which works fine.
Regretfully it does not have GPS.
To get my head round the board I ripped apart the supplied software to leave just the menu system and the clock screen which I simplified to get to terms with the display. It now compiles quickly and uploads equally quickly. It runs about a week on it's tiny lithium cell.
Here it sits, amazing display, waiting for me to think of something to do with it,
rommudoh reacted
2023-07-29 8:54 pm
This is actually pretty cool, although it's been decades since I wore a watch.
I just checked Mouser, but it's out of stock, same with Pi Hut. When it's back I might pick one up and play with it, I'm thinking that it might make a cool custom remote control for a robot or IoT app.
Thanks for pointing it out!
😎
Bill
"Never trust a computer you can’t throw out a window." — Steve Wozniak
Inst-Tech reacted
Topic starter
2023-07-30 3:27 pm
This is actually pretty cool
Thanks for pointing it out!
😎
Bill
My pleasure, it really is a solid piece of kit with good switches and a useful battery life as controlled by their demo software that seems to do the compromise of sleep/awaken quickly, very well, the menu button is instant wake up.
The screen is unprotected but I've seen a link to buy one for about $2.00.
2023-08-02 1:11 pm
@hilldweller That is super cool! I'll have to check it out. I am currently working a project where I am trying to build one from scratch : https://forum.dronebotworkshop.com/esp32-esp8266/esp32-digital-watch-status/#post-41738
Keep me in the loop!
Fish
Topic starter
2023-08-02 1:55 pm
@hilldweller I am currently working a project where I am trying to build one from scratch
That is pretty amazing today, common when I was young, last century. When I've been trying to engage with my grand kids the problem is always whatever I could do is out there already ten or a hundred times better. Pressing a button and an LED lights up, even if the button is on a phone and the LED is across the room, it's nothing. Once Pacman was amazing, now kids expect full 3D rendering.
One area that does impress them, a little, is WS8212 LED strings, big and bold. This Watchy could well be remote controlling some this Christmas ( or, today, this end of the year holiday ).
That second video is a magnificent effort, very similar to Watchy but not a patch on the e-paper display which makes it usable, an OLED display will have such a limited battery life.
Good luck with your project.
Brian.
2023-08-08 7:13 pm
@hilldweller I really love that watchy display. What library(s) are available for that? To be honest, battery life was one of the main drivers in my design. Even though an oled, I am pretty sure I can get 2 weeks between charges with a 600mAh battery. However, I think with that epaper display....mamacita!
This post was modified 1 year ago by Fishbone
Topic starter
2023-08-08 8:03 pm
@fishbone What library(s) are available for that?
https://watchy.sqfmi.com/docs/getting-started
https://github.com/sqfmi/Watchy/tree/master/examples/WatchFaces
I used the huge 7_SEG sketch that was on the watch as standard, then simplified it to get my head round it.
I have now lost track of when I last charged it, it's been showing battery empty for a week and I guess about a week before that showing decreasing battery. With the e-paper I can just wait 'till the time stops updating, then it's flat.
Topic starter
2023-08-13 12:53 pm
It happened today - screen stopped updating. That's a very long battery life.
The downside. I put it on charge and it then displayed bad date and time.
I reset the time and date and it showed the correct time and date with a shadow of the setting screen, so on minimal voltage the screen cannot update fully. However an hour later all is back to normal with a "clean" display.
At least I now have a logged charge time/date.