eInk display permanent vertical lines!

[762spr]

I recently got a 1.54" eInk display for a simple project to display sensor data and update every 3 seconds. After some programming I got everything working and as I was watching it, about to take a picture, I noticed a vertical line appear on one of the refresh cycles... I hoped it would go away but it stays during the refresh cycles. Now there are about 20 lines!!! they are inverse of the rest of the screen. When the screen is updated the lines are still visible but they fade out to about 50%

What could have caused this? Did I just get a bad unit? If the unit is bad, is there any kind of warranty/exchange for these? I don't want to just buy another screen and have it do the same thing!

[adafruit_support_carter]

Inlining photos for reference.

1227181531b_800.jpg (186.17 KiB) Viewed 1738 times

1227181531a_800.jpg (202.25 KiB) Viewed 1738 times

1227181531_800.jpg (199.05 KiB) Viewed 1738 times

[adafruit_support_carter]

Check your soldering just to make sure it's not that. Doesn't seem related, but worth making sure. The one pin I can see that looks like it needs some work is SDCS. That's the SD card chip select pin, which you probably aren't even using. But check all the others and reflow them as needed.
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-gui ... -joint-5-2

[762spr]

Solder connections are good. The unused holes still have some solder in them from when I had the header installed for testing. I can also gently wiggle the wires as it is updating with no effect. To clarify, the lines don't change between screen updates (every 3 seconds in my case) or even through board restarts. They WILL occasionally change position, however I can't seem to trace it to a specific event.

[adafruit_support_carter]

OK, let's make sure it's not possibly software related. How are you programming the display? What programming language? And what's the board being used to drive the display?

[762spr]

Genuine Arduino nano board. Programmed in the arduino IDE with adafruit libraries for the display and GFX functions. I can post some code when I get home, but it is all basic print functions and then the display refresh call. The lines are also always present even during the refresh flashes so I don't think it is code related, unless there is a bug in the library.

[adafruit2]

762, how long was his running for?

[762spr]

At the time the lines developed, it was pretty fresh out of the box. I installed the header for an initial test, then I removed the header and hardwired it to the assembly. I spent about 2 hours writing code to get it displaying the values from the BME board and most of that was tweaking UI elements. During that time the board would refresh approximately every 3-5 seconds unless the sketch was uploading. Not sure how that translates to overall runtime.

It LOOKS like a damaged LCD would, although I'm not sure if a eInk looks the same as an LCD display when physically damaged. That would be my assumption, but I was simply holding it in one hand and getting my phone ready to take a picture in the other when the first line showed up. No physical trauma involved.

[adafruit2]

ok these displays are only meant to be updated once a minute - 2-3 seconds can damage em!
we can replace it, but adjust your code please :) email support@adafruit for a new one

[762spr]

OK wow I knew they had a slow refresh time but didn't realize it was supposed to be a whole minute! I will adjust my code, fortunately this thing doesn't need to update often. Thank you!

[adafruit2]

there was a warning on the guide, now there are multiple warnings in red text

[woodchucks]

Mine is acting a bit strange with the example code EPDtest and graphics test. It appears to reset fine but the final triangles no longer appear as fine lines, but with some large blocks in them. Is that part of what the problem has looked like?

[adafruit2]

we'd have to see pix to see what you mean