LinkPi encoder family

Playground Hardware
#487

I don't think there's an issue with buying from AliExpress. I mean, they're all generally coming from the same region of China.

As long as it's a reputable AliExpress seller, you should be fine. They have pretty strong buyer protections, plus PP on top of that. I don't think anyone's selling knockoff LinkPi's. :joy:

I just happened to see that I could save $70.00 on an ENC5-V2 if I bought it on AliExpress because of a sale they were having. The shipping time also seems to be a lot quicker with this particular seller.

2 Likes
#488

I'm not denigrating other sellers of the same product who may have a good price (I just chose Amazon in case I need to do a return); I'm just lambasting myself for buying an inferior product while trying to save money!

2 Likes
#489

I 100% agree. Amazon is great with returns.
And 100%, I bought off-brand encoders also, and they were terrible. This is like totally the brand to buy and they actually support them really well. If anyone happens to see the link I shared, the ENC5-V2 is really cheap right now from that particular seller.

I actually inquired about when it would ship and they were very responsive, so I'm feeling quite good about the sale.

3 Likes
#490

Does anyone know a way to disable the LED lights, and maybe turn the screen off, on these guys?

#491

Maybe here?

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#492

How does one go about contacting them for support? I have seen the online users guide, but do they have a support webpage also? Phone? email? blog? chat?

#493

it looks like they have a way to contact them over WhatsApp. I heard of people talking to someone named Charles.

#494

weird, I have 2 linkpi's and 1 shows the gear and 1 doesn't. I was looking for this on the 2nd box. they have same firmware, so I assume/hope the old factory reset fixes this. (i'll try later)

while looking for the answer I did pay more attention to this info, and found the EDID setting i'd been looking for.

https://github.com/matiaspl/LinkPi-ENCx?tab=readme-ov-file#interesting-internal-pages-not-linked

#495

Thanks! I'm going to reach out to them about my USB flash and crash. I just found this link:

#496

Oh, that's awesome! Maybe they'll help you or at least give you some advice? Maybe even replace the unit? I don't know how long the warranty is on these guys.

#497

Yeah, I don't have that gear, either. There's a literal missing nav-item in that spot:

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#498

It's possible it's one of those things that was added in a firmware update where you have to do a full flash to get it. That's the only thing I can think of.

There's a new development mode in the hidden fac.php menu, and the only way to access it is to do a full flash.

#499

both my fac pages look identical and don't see a developer mode. also I don't recall doing the full flash (with usb right?) I seem to remember that to get the oled option a reset triggered by the front panel was the trick. :man_shrugging:

#500

According to the release notes, you have to do a full flash to get the development mode.

It's also very hard to get out of. It took me like 15 minutes to figure out how to get out of there.

#501

I think the warranty is 12 months. I've had this unit for about 20 months. So, I'm not expecting a replacement. However,
I'd love to get some guidance on how to resurrect this device.

#502

@jsfullam sounds like a multi-meter & magnifying glass situation. :face_with_monocle:

@babsonnexus
I've done the full flash twice, once with just the impact updates, and once with all updates in a row. still no little gear to change the OLED
strange how I have it on one but not the other. :weary:

#503

That may be a bit out of my league. :mag: :thinking: I was thinking more along the line of a hammer :hammer: and wastebasket :wastebasket: approach.

#504

@jsfullam
If you do decide it is really going in the trash...Send it to me so I can experiment on it. I am more than happy to send you money for the shipping. :slightly_smiling_face: :slightly_smiling_face:

#505

I'll keep that in mind if I can't get it back up and running. I haven't quite given up on it yet. I have been in touch with customer support and they have offered to walk me through a repair process using a USB to TTL UART adapter, or send the device to their engineers for reprogramming.

#506

That is kind of what i was thinking, the TTL UART thing.
Please document the step-by-step what they have you do and post it here for all of us. 🫶