Setup:
Rpi 3b+
2.5a power supply
Latest Raspbian image push of buster
Using tutorial from Pimoroni for Phat.
Phat seems to update inconsistently or not at all. Running script will work, try it again 10 minutes later and nothing. Try it an hour later, it works. Try 3 minutes later, it works/doesn’t, I can’t seem to nail down any particular reason behind it. Can someone assist me in troubleshooting?
Thanks!!
Was working, or you just set it all up?
Inky firmly attached to the GPIO pins?
Make sure its not shorting out on the underside against your Pi’s heat sink.
It is a new setup.
First test out of the box seemed to work. Then iffy.
Checked that it’s seated firmly, not touching heat sink or other bits.
Just curious what the Pi is bolted too? What is under it etc?
I don’t own an inky, just so you know. Just running through the basic what might be wrong stuff.
It’s on a standard case, plastic
Ok, its not that then.
I have to state the obvious, you do know those displays take 3 seconds or so to refresh the image.
I say this because I have seen the odd person buy one thinking it works like a regular display and refreshes the image instantly. Not realizing they are more of a static display that you occasionally update.
When it doesn’t work does anything happen, any change on screen?
So For testing purposes I have a cron job running every 5 minutes.
It updates sporadically. Example. I’ll leave and come back in a hour, I can see that it updated 25m ago. But not in the last 5? I can’t tell if it updated every 5 until that time or if it only updated once. I’ve seen it update 3x in a row and then nothing for 30 minutes, then update again.
I’m no expert on this stuff, but maybe the cron job is failing?
Does the screen fail when you manually change the image?
Yep. Manual does nothing most of the time. Randomly seemingly, manually will work.
Ok, its likely not a cron issue then. I don’t know what the issue is though?
Do I need to add tags to this to get more help involved? Thanks for your input so far!
FYI - I have an Inky What too, and it updates on demand. Is there something different about the pHat??
You can contact Pimoroni directly via e-mail, there is a contact us link on the shop page.
https://shop.pimoroni.com/pages/contact-us
Put a link to this thread in that e-mail to show that you did try the forum first.
Thanks Alpha. Will do!
