Bangle.beep(); not working

I have just published an update about this: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gfw/banglejs-the-hackable-smart-watch/posts/2792722

Short version: we've been screwed by the manufacturer. Looks like the vast majority of watches don't have a speaker in. However you can still get sound using the vibration motor as a speaker.

For instance uploading this:

require("Storage").write('.boot2',`Bangle.beep = function (time, freq) {
  return new Promise(function(resolve) {
    if ((0|freq)<=0) freq=4000;
    if ((0|time)<=0) time=200;
    if (time>5000) time=5000;
    analogWrite(D13,0.1,{freq:freq});
    setTimeout(function() {
      digitalWrite(D13,0);
      resolve();
    }, time);
  });
};`);

And restarting (long-press BTN3) will replace the beep function with one that uses the vibration motor. Not as loud but it'll still work ok.

@Gordon I saw that people have already been starting to say this in the Kickstarter comments, but here are my 2 cents as well: Keep my part of the refund if you can get one. With all this extra troubles I'm sure you can use it better than me.

Doesn't work in mine either. Didn't open it up but I assume it's missing here as well.
Tested the snippet you came up with: First, it's incredible that you came up with a solution in minutes :) It's definitely more silent than the piezo in the beta watch.

If the beta watches (should) have piezo buzzers, maybe a thread for swapping them with non-piezo watches for those of us who don't have a noisemaking use case? I'd be happy to drop my beta in the mail for someone who really needed to test that, and just swap it for their non-buzzer model.

I don't care about a refund either, i can live without sound and/or put a piezo disc in there myself, should be fun!

I don't need a refund either 👍

Me too :-(
No need for a refund. @Gordon - your time is best spent elsewhere, continuing to do great work on this fantastic project!

I don't need a refund either. Keep the refund, if ever you get some.

If you update Bootloader and Settings now you'll find that the 'Beep' option in Settings gives the option of Piezo or Vibrate (it defaults to Vibrate). When you change setting it'll give you a test tone, so if you have a device with a Piezo you can see, and you can also see the difference.

I added the option because actually in a lot of cases you might want to use the Vibration motor as a speaker and then have the piezo pins available for adding some external components.

So I got my Bangle today. And well.... I LOVE IT!
Also: Beep did not work when it arrived, after updating the settings and switching to vibrate it works, indicating piezo is missing for me as well. Go get a juicy refund from the manufacturer and keep my share please!

Same from my side, I do not want a refund.
Its not your fault, and last not least, in times like this we have serious problems.
Nobody should waste time for peanuts like a refund.

The same here! I opened the clock and there is no piezo speaker. I do not need a refund. But are there any limitations to the resistance of the piezo speaker? I found speakers with resistance from 200 up to 1500 Ohms.

Hi all,

I got these:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121926838371

I figured I would need a 25mm diameter one but couldn't easily get one so went for the 27mm. It is a bit big but does still fit in the case.

The volume wasn't too bad with the back of the case off but it is very quiet once reassembled. TBH I'm not sure it's worth the effort, especially when you think most smart watches only have a buzzer anyhow.

Still, it's an easy fix for those that want to.

Looks like that one is rated up to 16 V, which could explain why it's quiet since the original apparently is at 3 V...

Thanks for the tip.

Hi All. My bangle arrived on Wednesday and I've finally put aside the time to play with it properly. Unfortunately I have the same issue with no beep being produced. I'll open it up later on to have a look inside. No need for a refund. I have a colleague in China who supplies vision systems for ensuring parts are assembled correctly, happy to have them put together a quote for the plant!

No beep here either, but no need for a refund.

I'll give the fix above a whirl.

Thanks everyone! The piezo itself is pretty quiet even when it was installed by the factory. I think the issue is it's not directly coupled to the casing - if you look at the old digital watches the piezo is basically glued onto the backplate.

I reckon if we can find a smaller piezo sounder that can actually be stuck to the back casing there might be a real improvement in volume

I can get a hold of a 12mm diameter element, 0.22mm thick. Is that small enough?

Yes. I just measured and it looks like there's about 11.5mm free on the back of the case, so I imagine you could sand 0.5mm off the edge of the piezo pretty easily

Excellent. As soon as I receive my watch I'll give that a go (the package arrived in my country yesterday, so shouldn't be too long now).

Having read the updates about the missing piezo speaker, I was not surprised about my Bangle not beeping, and didn't care much either. However I opened the watch to fix a sticking out part of the rubber seal - and now the piezo is coming to life! Though I did really nothing to the internals of the watch.
So it might also be the case for you that a missing beep does not necessarily mean the piezo isn't there - maybe it is just not properly installed.

Great! And sorry to hear about the rubber seal - looks like they really didn't perform any QC at all :(

Same to me. I have no piezo. And the rubber wasn't properly installed. Thank god, I haven't tried swimming.
Nevertheless, I paid more than 100 Euro (incl. shipment), so I'm really disappointed. Because I needed the speaker for my app.
Now, I changed the setting of "Beep" to "vibrate" in the settings but nothing changes. Bangle().buzz(); makes it buzz, but with Bangle.beep(); absolutely nothing happens. No buzz and of course no beep.

1 Attachment

Hi Ingo,

Sorry about that. Looks like you ordered from the shop, so I would have emailed you to tell you about the problem and give you a chance to cancel and get a full refund?

The lack of beep when the settings are set to Beep:vibrate is extremely strange though. When you're cycling through them in Settings, do you get no sound at all when you set it to 'vibrate'?