I have installed a BTT (Big Tree Tech) Pi TFT50 screen on my Raspberry Pi 4B and it works as a Klipperscreen to my printer that previously ran Klipper + Mainsail without any display.
The problem I have is that with the screen turned on I can’t connect to my printer via wifi + Mainsail. As soon as I disconnect the screen I can connect to the printer again via wifi + Mainsail.
I have tried removing the Pi from the back of the screen. I have dimmed the display (so it draws less power). And I have even covered the screen with aluminium foil (in case there is electrical interference blocking the wifi signal). None of these tests have allowed me to connect to the printer via wifi with the screen connected.
Apparently this wifi blocking problem happens quite a bit with the BTT Pi TFT50 screen and after contacting “KlipperScreen” software support they confirmed it is more likely a hardware problem and not software related. I have also tried asking the question to Big Tree Tech a few times but without any reply.
So I am now considering buying either a Pi Foundation Pi TFT - 7" Touchscreen or a Waveshare 5" Low-Power DSI IPS Touch Display from Core Electronics and hoping this will solve the issue. Assuming the BTT touch screen is at fault.
Is anyone familar with this wifi blocking issue and would either of the above new screens be likely to fix the problem?
I’m not familiar with your particular issue, but if you’ve contacted the software creators and they think it’s hardware, I’d say it’d be safe to say it’s BTT at fault. I have worked with Klipper before, but tend to just use Fluidd on my phone or desktop PC when jogging the printer around at the start of a print.
Several guides have been created by our team that use both DSI screens and WiFi, so short of some obscure combination of software messing this up, I’d be confident an official screen works.
Hi Andrew
Can you physically separate the screen from the WiFi module. If it is screening the signal this may have an effect. The fact you can use WiFi with the screen disconnected might not mean much if you are physically disconnecting the signal and power. Disconnected, the screen just becomes a bit of material floating around in mid air. Connected establishes the common ground connection and any screening or shielding might be more evident. Wrapping the screen in aluminium foil will only improve the screening if anything.
Interference is another matter. I don’t know what sort of signals are likely to be generated within the screen and getting out and you are not likely to find out in any published material. It is possible that if another screen is OK there may be nothing wrong with the BTT unit just that the 2 screens do things a bit differently. Without a good sniffer antenna and spectrum analyser or something like that it is difficult for the home constructor to define what some of these causes are. It is often difficult even if you have some of this gear.
Radio Frequency is sometimes a black art, particularly when it comes to interference.
Cheers Bob
Thanks for your replies James & Bob. I have tried physically separating the screen from the Pi/Wifi module but as soon as I connect the screen to the Pi with the ribbon cable my wifi is blocked. Remove the ribbon cable and wifi works perfectly.
To be honest I am a bit lost in the technicalities as I am a novice with Raspberry Pi’s and the software to drive these bits.
As the next step I will try an official screen. To me it is worth it if it solves the wifi connection issue I am having with the BTT screen.
Hi Andrew
I don’t know much about the innards of RPi but i don’t suppose you have a conflict with GPIO pins or something have you. That would certainly do it.
Cheers Bob
