Banglejs 1 LCD screen glitch

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  • Hi,

    I have a banglejs v1 since 4 yours. It woked like a charm. I preface that i used it for swimming (now I saw that it isn't suitable for swimming), and i've made an app for the trainings. It always worked, i loved it.
    Today the screen started glithing, I attach some photos. I know it's my fault.
    If it's a problem of the screen, is it possible to replace it?

    Thanks


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  • Hi, sorry to hear about your Bangle... Were you swimming in salt water?

    I'd start off by unscrewing the rear cover and checking inside (https://www.espruino.com/Bangle.js+Disassembly) if it's damp I'd take the inner 'puck' out of it and put the puck somewhere warm and dry for a few days to make sure it's totally dried out.

    It may be after that it starts working again after that. If not, the LCD is held on by a connector that you can pop off (although you have to dismantle the 'puck' a bit to get to it) - but you could take that off and reseat it and see if that helps.

    Otherwise if the LCD itself is broken I'm afraid there's not that much to be done. We did have a bunch of replacement LCDs, but the last set of Bangles we got from the manufacturer were in a terrible state and we had to replace the LCDs on many of them, so we used up our stock.

    I believe we do still have some of the complete inner Bangle.js units, but with LCDs that had uneven backlighting that we felt we couldn't sell. So we could supply one of those to you - the LCD wouldn't be perfect but it'd be a lot better than what you have there!

    But the ideal thing would be if it dried out and started working again!

  • Thank you for the reply.
    No, I was in the swimming pool, so chlorine not salt :)
    I disassmbled the Bangle, but it's dry inside. Consider that i used it in the swimming pool tuesday, so 2 days ago. Now I leave the internal puck in a dry place for 2 days and see what happens.

  • If you can find some sign of water ingress and drying it out is not enough maybe rinsing in distilled water to remove minerals is worth a try.

  • Ok I waited 4 days but the screen isn't working.

    I disassembled the puck in the bangle. I'm trying to pop off the connector, but I cannot remove it (it seems that if I apply more force than I break it). Do I have to pull the connector?

    Next I will try to rinse the bangle in distilled water..


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  • I just tried one here and the connector should come off pretty easily - you just want to pull up with a fingernail on the silver bit.

    But if it's not coming off easily it's possible that there has been some corrosion in that connector and it's causing it to stick on (in which case if you can fix that, maybe it'll sort out the display).

    But it's hard to know what to suggest - you could try applying some electrical contact cleaner or maybe even penetrating oil (which you could then take off after with some isopropyl alcohol)?

  • Ok, I figured out how to remove it. And then I put it back.
    At least now the glitch changed. :)

    I'll try to rinse it in distilled water and see what happens.

    Thank you


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    • Image.jpeg
  • I tried with distilled water, but nothing to do.
    You were saying that "we do still have some of the complete inner Bangle.js units, but with LCDs that had uneven backlighting that we felt we couldn't sell. So we could supply one of those to you - the LCD wouldn't be perfect but it'd be a lot better than what you have there!"

    Please let me know how much could it cost.

    But before it, if I'll get another banglejs v1, I'll use it for swimming. Is there a possibility to seal it for swimming? I saw another post in which they where using epoxy glue to seal the bangle, but it was v2.

  • Ok, I've just dug a working one out. I'm not 100% sure on the battery - without the case/back on it I have to hold the cable on, but with power applied it definitely boots and the LCD doesn't seem to have noticeable issues at a quick glance.

    Does £10 plus postage work for you?

    On the waterproofing front, you can try making sure you grease around the button holes - as long as the rear seal was on correctly that's the only other potential point of water ingress.

    We do have spare case fronts (just not the backs) so I could send you one of them and you could pull the buttons out and glue up the holes, and then as it sounds like you have your own software you could use the accelerometer/touchscreen to control the app instead?

  • Hi,

    problem is I have to use the buttons. At first I tried using the touchscreen but in water it wasn't working well.
    Thanks for the support, but I think I'll try another device, because I use it principally for swimming.

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Banglejs 1 LCD screen glitch

Posted by Avatar for user132054 @user132054

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