This is a placeholder topic for “Waveshare 2.13inch E-Paper Module for Raspberry Pi Pico 250x122 (Black/White)” comments.
Small form factor display for your Raspberry Pi Pico.
Read moreHi, I had a quick question about this E-Ink display; I do not have any experience using these in projects, so I apologise if my wording is a little strange!
I am planning to build a DIY chess clock, and feel like the aesthetic of an E-Ink display such as this one is unlike anything I have seen before in a chess clock which is what makes it quite an appealing option for me.
However, I have used e-readers before and know that there is a slight delay in refresh time between turning pages, for example. I am wondering if this E-Ink display is able to function viably as a clock, i.e. will it be able to update the screen once per second? I have not found a conclusive answer online, so thought I would ask here. Thanks for you help!
Ezra
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Hey Ezra! Good to see ya back mate.
From the docs :
Display time: In the image buffer, starting from the point (Xstart, Ystart) as the left-top corner, display a segment of time. You can choose from an ASCII visual character library, font foreground color, and font background color. This is designed for convenient testing of partial refresh. Since the time required for partial refresh is 0.3 seconds, the overall refresh takes less than 1 second, including data transmission, achieving a refresh rate of 1 second.
For e-paper, The search term you are looking for is ‘refresh rate’. (unlike led displays which, as you know, prefer ‘frame rate’) 
Looks like you’ll be able to display minutes and seconds, but not milliseconds.
Good news!
The DGT2010, which is the kind of thing you would see at an official over the board tournament, has internal millisecond precision BUT only displays minutes and seconds on the screen (traditionally).
So, if your planning on using this for casual over the board blitz, rapid and classical games I think you’ve got a winner.
Might not handle bullet chess because, when time is everything, milliseconds and immediate feedback are important. Bullet chess (typically less than 2 mins per player without increment), can come down to the wire. I’ve seen .23 of a second left on a clock. (Those guys play online anyway).
Sounds fun.
I’d love to see it when it’s done.
Pix 
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Hey @Ezra224017,
@Pixmusix has hit the nail on the head with this one. It should work just fine for second-level display precision. We offer quite a few different sizes of these displays which shouldn’t widely differ refresh-rate wise.
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Pix you legend!! Thanks for the detailed response. Not being able to display milliseconds isn’t a big issue, as my main application for this will be classical and rapid time controls. In the future, I’m also hoping to develop a system which lets multiple of these clocks be connected and feed their data to a centralised web interface which could help keep track of multiple chess games in a tournament, for instance. I know this technology already exists, however I am aiming to create this system in a cost-effective way that may be more viable for local chess clubs perhaps.
Because a Raspberry Pi Zero W will likely be the brains for this chess clock, another future idea could be a board recognition program (that does not require a special magnetised board or pieces which is the case with FIDE tournaments) that shows the board real-time along with the clock’s data, and would allow spectators to follow multiple games in smaller tournaments. I’ll also probably work on a 3D printed casing for the electronics to make the replication process easier.
@Zach thanks as well for the information 
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