PC controlled E-Paper price tag custom firmware flashing How-to

This video will show you a step by step guide on getting from an old E-Paper Price tag to a Zigbee controlled graphic display with just about 3 parts.

It allows you to upload a unique image to each of the E-Paper displays via Zigbee without any hardware modification and just the custom firmware

URLS:

Thinks you need:
- The old E-Paper price tag itself
- CC2531 Zigbee USB Stick
- ESP32 or other Arduino board
- Pogo pins, as mentioned in the ZBS_Flasher repo

Dmitrys firmware blog:

[BlacksmithGen]

Hey Aaron, just wanted to ask if you'd come across the hanshow nebular esl, I got given a few as e-waste. The case is cosmetically damaged but the tag seems functional, but the internals seem different than the hanshow tag you've got a video on.

[NormZockt]

Looks really cool! I would love to see some meeting room shedule / CALDAV sync in the future with this technology. Then I would try to build it myself. Keep it up ;)

[DarkHX]

Have you thought about building a big e-paper screen made out of these tiny price tags? Awesome work btw!

[AnotherByteData]

Very nice Aaron! Keep doing these nice tutorials! BR, Alan

[Metalnb]

Thanks Aaron. Many people will be grateful also 👍

[tomteiter]

Pretty good tutorial! I already printed the jig, and will assemble the flasher soon. Is the CC2531 firmware the unmodified TIMAC firmware that danielcucera describes in his project?

[ohuf]

Awesome video, Aaron!!
It seems the current version of the Flasher already preserves the original MAC address of the display. I didn't need to do the readi / writei thing for the info page.

[mavamaarten]

Thanks for this elaborate video explanation! Unfortunately I seem to be kinda stuck. When I flash my display (which looks exactly like yours), I simply don't get anything on my display afterwards. It doesn't seem to boot or doesn't update the screen at all, whereas on your screen you can see the barcodes, the mac address and "associate ready". I shorted + to - as well to get it to reboot, but nothing happens. Any tips?

[johndomville]

Thanks for the great how to video. Assembling the parts and will give it a try.

[johndomville]

I know your docking station is sized for the particular epaper display you are using. But is the STL file available so I can use it for a starting point for modification of my own type of display?

[JohnDoe-h]

Great job! Respect! I have several Stellar-L3N@ E31A board HS_EL5102_9M_61_01 and Stellar-S3TN@ E31A board HS_EL5101_M5_60_04 price tags. They are probably suitable for flashing according to your project. The second (smallest) is exactly like yours. Flash them with firmware?
I also have several Stellar-XXXL3N@ E31A on a CC2640R2F chip. Is your firmware not suitable for this?

[notsonominal]

This is so neat; now I need to source some of these displays!

[asraelvudogel]

Awesome! Good work and thanks for the detailed explaination. Did you manged to get something in red color on the displays? Is it just to use red paint in Paint or is it more complicated? 😀

[hav]

Hi. Thank you. What price tags would be suitable?

[allatsakis]

Awesome Aaron like every time thankyou

[TeamPaladium]

Hallo, finde ich interessant. Kannst du mir dein exaktes e paper shelf price tag Modell und Hersteller nennen? Finde nirgendwo exakt so eins. Danke sehr.

[azmo_]

Where and how can I get those price tags as cheap as possible (living in Germany)

[theoriginal]

very cool projekt, can this be integrated into zigbee2mqtt to make it useable in a smarthome?

[djlorenz]

Is the CC firmware just a default flashing firmware for the zigbee usb sticks? I have a zigbee usb adaptor already flashes to work with Zigbee2MQTT on home assistant and I was hoping not having to buy another one

[ohuf]

Any hints for a good font to use on the displays? Whenever I use Arial or MS Sans Serif in Affinity and export it to PNG, I get a text with fuzzy lines and edges instead of the crispy, clear font I'm used to from ePaper Displays.