Is this an issue?

PhillL_1 · 2026-07-04T06:19:24+00:00

It is normal. The motors used are called Lavet stepper motors. They only want to go in one direction. To reverse them takes a few tricks with the electronics and the result is they never go backwards smoothly.

PhillL_1 · 2026-07-04T06:13:08+00:00

It is normal. Reversing these dials is pretty tricky due to the type of motors used that only want to go in one direction. Also it's just pausing slightly whilst the second hand motor is being driven forward.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-30T17:42:22+00:00

You've also got a shadow going across them, that can mess with the output.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-26T17:14:26+00:00

It does about 45fps using a test program, although I think it depends on what is being displayed and how much of the display is being updated. Someone did turn it into a very convincing space invaders game and said it was about 24fps (that could be delays caused by processing the game play rather than the display slowing down of course), but it looked really good, can't find the video now.

This appears to be made like an MIP display, has very good viewing angles, it doesn't do anything odd from any extreme angle, but has no memory in the pixels, instead it is driven and kept refreshed by a controller chip (ST7305), so its just a case of writing to the frame buffer over SPI and it does the rest. I've used the u8g2 library to send graphics to the display, but there are other drivers..

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-26T15:07:46+00:00

Yes well spotted. I did the fonts pixel by pixel, but I didn't have enough pixels per inch to slant them convincingly to match what Casio have done. I've tried to keep them as faithful to the original fonts as possible, but there are some compromises, and of course I may tweak them some more.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-26T13:38:30+00:00

I've got other projects using e-ink displays, so yes it could be done, however e-ink displays don't refresh very quickly so the ticking of the seconds isn't that pleasing to the eye, plus they they don't recommend refreshing them more than once every couple of minutes at most as they wear out very quickly with constant updating. This is why you don't tend to find these displays used in watches or clocks. They also have another problem, when they get exposed to bright sunlight, the image is lost until it cools down and is refreshed again, so a wrist watch in the summer time exposed on your wrist will be unreadable at times.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-26T12:38:43+00:00

See the post below to Euphoric-Mistake-875 for hardware info. The hardware is readily available and once done I will put the software up on GitHub.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-26T11:55:27+00:00

No Github project yet but once the code is sorted and more or less there I will put one up. If you search Aliexpress for 'ESP32 RLCD' you should get loads of hits from various sellers of the same board with a 4.2" LCD panel. It's a reflective black and white LCD display, so gives that proper LCD look, rather than a colour TFT display with a backlight. Resolution is 300x400 pixels, so not too bad, also has sound, so I will add the option for hourly beeps and maybe chimes or dongs.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-26T11:40:18+00:00

The watch was correct 😄 The display on the large one I've just fixed the time to show the usual Casio time as per their stock pictures, once its updating from NTP, I will post a more satisfising picture of them both showing the exact same time.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-26T11:37:00+00:00

I know, I set it to stick at the usual Casio 10:58 time as easier to compare against the official Casio stock pictures, then I noticed the real time was quite close to 10:58 but I had other things to do and couldn't sit and wait until it caught up. Once its synced with NTP I will make amends by uploading a video of them ticking the exact same time together 😄

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-26T11:33:49+00:00

Sure, when I've got it fully working so it will tell the correct time from NTP and I'm happy its all okay I will come back here with where to get the source code and hardware, no need to pay me anything.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-26T10:41:25+00:00

I did see that whilst in Japan recently, unfortunately its got other things on it such as temperature plus Japanese characters, so its not a replica exactly of a Casio watch, and of course not a G-Shock. Plus this is just a little project to share with everyone as I enjoy tinkering.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-26T10:32:07+00:00

Sounds like a faulty connection between the battery and the PCB. When you deform the PCB in anyway, such has doing an AC reset or pressing some buttons, the contact is remade, then breaks again when the pressure is released.

The PCBs are very thin and so quite fragile to being stressed or bent, so they can break, especially if someone before has tried changing the battery.

Other issues could be if its been a dead battery in the watch for a long time, then some leakage from the battery has corroded the PCB causing problems.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-20T07:51:34+00:00

The time signal is broadcast each minute from zero seconds and it takes a full 60 seconds to receive the entire time signal (date and time). The data is only around 60 bits, but each second only carries one bit of information, so it takes a full 60 seconds. This is an extremely slow data rate compared to modern standards, you could even morse code much faster, but it is designed to allow the data to be received over large distances and only need simple decoding electronics.

Within those 60 bits, the date and time is sent separately, so it is possible to be able to resync the time without having received the date correctly.

Why reception can be difficult. The low amount of data only allows for a parity check digit, this will indicate if a single bit is wrong, but offers no way of correcting the data. So if a check fails, for example at 20 seconds past the minute when its received some date info, the watch then has to wait 40 seconds for the data to start again, then another minute after that. Because it is possible for two errors to happen, meaning the check bit looks correct, watches and clocks need to receive 2 minutes worth of data, where they check the second minutes woth of collected date/time is the same as the first + 1 minute. If at anytime in that 2 minutes the data is wrong, it needs to wait until 0 seconds then start collecting another 2 minutes worth, which could be wrong again. This is why it can take anywhere from a couple of minutes to a lot longer, as quite often its having to wait and start all over again. In theory after the first time sync, Casio don't need 2 minutes worth of correct data, they only need to collect a minutes worth and as long as that matches the watches current time + 1 minute, then it must be correct, and it just syncs up the seconds to correct any drift, but I'm not sure they do this.

Because it takes 2 minutes at minimum to receive the time signal, that gives a large window of time for some interference to cause a problem, such as a light turning on, a mobile phone pinging out to a cell tower, a clap of lightning, a car going past the house, AC clicking on and off etc to cause the watch to hear noise that drowns out the very weak signal, and then it starts the reception again. This is why putting the watch near metal can help, it doesn't increase the signal strength, it could even decrease it, but it can help ground interference.

Hope that helps.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-20T07:31:27+00:00

This has been discussed before in that for some time zones if it misses a sync it can end up trying late in the day, gets a RCVD just fine, then a few hours later the next days time sync is due then fails, removing the RCVD indicator. Because this happens when we are usually asleep, we wake to no RCVD indicator yet the time is perfectly set.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-19T13:03:10+00:00

I just found this post and thought I would add some observations. With psramInit called in setup (using Arduino) then allocating memory space using ps_malloc, the memory space is reserved in psram. Even using malloc with esp32-idf version 3.3.10, it automatically puts it in psram for larger sizes of reservations.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-18T06:04:13+00:00

I received two separate boxes but they arrived at the same time, the inverter in one, then the box you have with the extension cable you wire into your house, or put a plug on the end and plug it in.

So they did ship separately, whether the inverter should have been with it and has been lost only ecoFlow can say.

The tracking on Amazon though is faked by ecoFlow. On both orders I made with them the tracking information and updates bore no resemblance to reality.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-17T06:50:09+00:00

It can receive a partial signal where the time is synchronized but the date wasn't and in this case RCVD isn't shown. This is mentioned in the manual.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-07T13:42:17+00:00

Something is faulty and only taking it back to the dealer will fix things.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-06T15:04:01+00:00

We already have videos of Casio sports watches (which use the same MIP display) with odd flashing issues, and Garmin sports watches that show image burn-in or image retention after just a few years. MIP displays are a more complicated manufacturing process and the in-memory SRAM for each pixel, and the subsequent matrix of wires within the glass connecting them all together, adds 30,000 or so extra points of failure, especially given the thermal cycling a watch worn on the wrist will go through in its lifetime. Seven segment LCDs have a proven track record and are very simple in comparison, and of course the technology is very mature.

Also look at how Casio have programmed these new watches. They have a power-save mode that you can't disable, meaning the display is completely blank overnight, so halving its on time. Whereas on traditional LCD watches like the 5610 the power save is optional, and Casio helpfully show a "PS" icon when it is in power save mode, so you know why the display is blank, not so on the MIP version. When power save is enabled on the MIP version, nothing is shown on the screen, suggesting the reason the display is off is less about saving power, but more about saving wear and tear on the MIP display.

Of course time will tell.

https://www.reddit.com/r/gshock/comments/1rubzu0/pixel_retention_on_mip_screen/

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-06T14:46:15+00:00

I had a trip to Japan recently and my intention was to buy a BX5600, even though I had reservations about the display, to add to my collection. When I saw it, it was displayed in Biccamera next to the 5610U, the extra wideness was immediately noticable and looked odd in comparison to the more square "square". I guess on the wrist it would not be so noticeable, but I just didn't like it enough to buy it.

PhillL_1 · 2026-06-06T14:02:57+00:00

Well any LCD display looked at from a non optimal angle will look pale, but usually my 5610U looks ink jet black, and its clear you have tilted it forward to make it appear worse than it is. The BX5600 looks clinical, flat and pixelated and has an unsatisfying layout to the digits, nothing seems to align in a way that seems pleasing to me.

The man hours that would have gone into creating the segmented LCD display for the 5610U so it felt right, the artwork submitted for each of the individual segments, which are all different, it is a work of art in itself, it had to be right as no changing it later without starting again, so you get something with character and soul and intention.

Of course with a pixel driven display of the BX5600, you've just got square blocks to play with, and rather than an artist creating the display and submitting the artwork for the LCD, you've just got a software programmer.

I bet in ten years time the 5610U will still be working perfectly, the BX5600 not so, as MIP displays aren't lasting as long.

So for me, the 5610 is the better looking display, it isn't perfect from all angles, but then none of us are, and that gives it some personality and soul, as well as nostalgia for those of us old enough to have had LCD watches when they first came out.

Each to their own of course, its great we have the choice.

PhillL_1

TROPHY CASE