I have been trying to debug a problem with my Inkplate 10 devices that appears to be a hardware issue.
Both of my Inkplate 10 units run identical code that wakes up every 20 minutes and updates the display. The battery typically lasts 2-3 months with this setup.
However, randomly, one device drains the entire battery in several hours. This happens unpredictably - sometimes after several weeks of normal operation, sometimes after several days. The timing is inconsistent.
I purchased two additional identical devices to help debug. One of these also exhibited the same rapid drain problem.
My original Inkplate 10 from August 2023 has never had this issue, even after updating to the same code as the newer devices.
What is causing this?
Originally submitted via email support on 12 March 2025. Migrated to the forum for community visibility.
The issue appears to be related to a bad batch of the TPS65186 e-paper power supply chip. This problem is not apparent during normal usage but manifests under heavy deep sleep usage. In affected units, the chip refuses to enter sleep mode with standard sleep code.
We are pursuing two potential solutions:
We can work with an Inkplate 10 device where we can replicate the issue and attempt to modify the driver to force the TPS65186 into sleep mode using alternative methods. A hardware revision may also be able to address this more effectively.
If driver modifications prove impossible due to the chips being partially faulty, we would need to replace affected devices with units from a new batch. This would require extensive testing to verify functionality before replacement.
We are interested in working with the homeplate community to provide fixes for these hardware issues and improve documentation.