Project by Jamie239740; Arduino E-Paper Clock

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I have just shared a new project: “Arduino E-Paper Clock”



This project started with a desire to have a modern digital clock that would use the natural light of the room for illumination. This means the screen is always the right brightness, looking like paper rather than a traditional screen. By using an E…

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Hey @Jamie239740

Welcome to the forum! That’s an awesome little clock, and a great use of the E-Paper hat. :slight_smile:

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Hello Jamie.
Your clock looks great. I don’t see how to access the files behind your project. You mention Github but can you give a more specific link, please?
John

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Sorry John, it seems like the link must’ve been accidentally left out of the published version. Here’s the link: https://github.com/JamieK0/E-paper-Clock

Both the CAD models and code (under the E-paper_Clock folder) are included.

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Nifty!

… How much scope is there for mucking around with the font and layout, with the libraries you’ve used?

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The u8g2 library has a heap of available fonts.

The main limitation is the Arduino Nano that is used. It doesn’t have enough memory to store a full font file, so the “u8g2_font_logisoso50_tn” font is used as it only contains numbers. It can be replaced with any other number only fonts indicated by the “_tn” suffix from the u8g2 font library. In the code anywhere where it contains u8g2Fonts.setFont should be updated to use the new font you’d like.

If you use a different microcontroller with more memory you may be able to use all the available fonts.

Also layouts can be adjusted by changing the x and y values where it says u8g2Fonts.setCursor(x, y) in the code to adjust the positioning of the time. The size of the time can be adjusted by using a different font with a different height. Like u8g2_font_logisoso30_tn instead of u8g2_font_logisoso50_tn.

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In case the old link does not redirect, here’s the new one:
https://github.com/JamieKyriacou/E-paper-Clock

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According to the Waveshare display data-sheet, it guarantees only 1000000 display updates. If you do it once per minute this would ware off its resource in about 2 years. Can you please address this?

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From my understanding the stated 1000000 is for full refreshes which only happens each hour. The number of partial refreshes the display can do isn’t given as it depends on a lot of variables (like how much of the screen is updating).

My e-paper clock has been running straight for over 2 years with no issues or signs of degradation.

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Hi @Setge304483 and welcome to the forums,

While I can’t address Jamie’s project specifically, I have built something similar in the past, and I can say two points:

  • The 100,000 refresh is more what Waveshare promises their device is capable of rather than a hard rule. You would just be pushing it outside manufacturer specifications at that point. Epaper screens are surprisingly versatile and you can push them well past what manufacturers are comfortable stating that their product can do.
  • Partial Refreshes work very differently on epaper screens than full refreshes, seeing as they don’t have to wipe the screen with white then black then white to get a crisp image. Technically Waveshare insist that you need to do a Full Refresh every 10 or so partial refreshes, but clearly that’s not an issue for @Jamie239740 if his has gone past two years on one full refresh an hour.
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