Inkplate 6 screen appears very gray with low contrast

TECHNICAL SUPPORT Inkplate
1

Customer:

I received two Inkplates: the 10" and 6". The screen on the Inkplate 6 is very gray and looks different from the images on the site. Compared to the 10" and to my Kindle e-book reader, it is very dull with no contrast. Did I accidentally receive a defective unit?

Attachment omitted in migration: inkplate.jpg

Originally submitted via the contact form on soldered.com on 26 January 2022. Migrated to the forum for community visibility.

2

Soldered Support:

Your Inkplate 6 likely has an incorrectly set VCOM voltage. This is set automatically and should work out of the box, but it appears the wrong VCOM was applied. VCOM sets the “grayness” of the image.

Did the image remain at the same level of grey after plugging in? If yes, please download the latest Arduino library and use this code: https://github.com/e-radionicacom/Inkplate-Arduino-library/blob/master/examples/Inkplate6/Others/Inkplate_Factory_Programming_VCOM/Inkplate_Factory_Programming_VCOM.ino

This is the code used in production. At each upload, change line 9 to something else between 0 and 255. Do not use the same number twice.

Tweak the VCOM voltage at line 33: vcomVoltage = readVCOM();
VCOM range is from 0.00 to -5.11, so change that line accordingly, for example: vcomVoltage = -2.50;

Test with it for a while until you get the perfect grey color. Don’t forget to change the EEPROM address at each upload at line 9!

3

Customer:

I used the code you sent, but I’m getting this error message: image.h: No such file or directory

Details:
Arduino: 1.8.19 (Mac OS X), Board: “Inkplate 6 (ESP32), Enabled, Huge APP (3MB No OTA), 240MHz (WiFi/BT), 115200, None”

Multiple libraries were found for “WiFiClient.h”
sketch_jan27a:4:19: fatal error: image.h: No such file or directory
Used: /Users/[user]/Library/Arduino15/packages/Croduino_Boards/hardware/Inkplate/1.0.1/libraries/WiFi
Not used: /private/var/folders/l9/x1hy8vvj6lsfttc6xym7_rsc0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/04C59676-0BF5-458E-A86E-943066A311F6/d/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/libraries/WiFi
compilation terminated.
exit status 1
image.h: No such file or directory

4

Soldered Support:

Please download the whole library and use this code from the Arduino IDE menu: File → Examples → InkplateLibrary → Inkplate6 → Others → Inkplate_Factory_Programming_VCOM/Inkplate_Factory_Programming_VCOM.ino

The image.h file will automatically load.