Screen updates are very slooooooW so you cannot use it as a clock , Calendar fine. Screen updates via the HA integration are text based . No GUI screen updates via a service call
The openEpaper access point however has a very good interface crammed onto an ESP32
Mine is on order. I’m happy I got in before it went out of stock. I got the pre built kit and a mixture of the eInk sized screens.
I’m trying to get familiar with the onboarding experience before I receive the equipment. I can’t find any docs though on what to do with the Mini-AP v3 out of the box.
How do I get it onto my WiFi? Does anyone know if it supports 5GHz WiFi or will it be going on my 2.4GHz dedicated network?
The instructions will be on the AP display when you turn it on. It quite straight forward. The display will ask you to connect to its Wifi (so the AP will create a hotspot at first). Once you do that, you can then go to the webinterface (the address will also be on the display).
In the webinterface you can configure it to connect to your Wifi. Once that is done, reboot the AP and it will be on your wifi.
Then install the HA integration, add the IP of the AP (which will also be displayed on the AP) and you are set to go.
The most difficult part of the whole setup was actually to understand how to get the batteries out of the displays. But the back is just clicked on, so you can just take it off with a bit of force. Oh yeah and have a paperclip or a bit of wire ready. You need to short the battery contacts for it to reboot.
OpenEpaperLink employs IEEE 802.15.4 packets for transport, much like Zigbee. However, OpenEpaperLink is an entirely distinct protocol. The protocol itself is intentionally basic due to the inherent limitations of the tags. These tags possess minimal CPU power, necessitating a conservative use of the radio to extend battery life. In contrast, Zigbee is a considerably more complex protocol, rendering it unsuitable for the capabilities of these tags.
In theory, it’s possible to reflash a ZigBee coordinator with firmware that enables its use in conjunction with a Python script, which would replace the ESP component of the conventional Access Point. However, you will lose the Zigbee functionality of the coordinator.