P1S touch screen upgrade?

Very pleased with my new P1S except for the clunky control panel! The rest of the unit is working beautifully!
Does anyone have any experience of the BigTreetech touchscreen?
Is it worth the £50-£60?
Also is it compatible with the firmware upgrades?
My P1S has just updated to 01.09.00.00

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Welcome to the forum!

I’ll answer your questions in order:

  1. Yes, I have them on three P1Ss.

  2. I would say no. You can find them on sale on AliExpress and sometimes BIQU’s own site closer to $45 USD (£33).

  3. If you buy one you’ll have to downgrade to firmware 01.08.01.00. The ones after that use “authorization control”.

When it first came out it was super buggy, they fixed almost all that with firmware updates. One tip, it needs more power than the USB in the P1S/P1P can give it so hook it up to any other USB source to power it.

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Welcome to the forum.

In my opinion you’re better off just using an old phone (free?) and running the Handy on it if you “Need” a touch screen interface at the printer. This also allows you to run the latest firmware.

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I agree with Jon… you won’t have to worry about not updating the firmware. You can control the size of the screen and go as small or as large as you want. The battery life when you take the touch off the cradle is pretty bad, any phone or tablet would be better.

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Thank you PrinterMcgee and JonRaymond for those thoughts. I think you’re right, I didn’t realise that a separate USB feed was needed.
Good idea about using an old phone. Hadn’t thought of that!
Also don’t particularly like the idea of downgrading the firmware especially when it’s all running nicely at the moment :crossed_fingers:
Thanks again

Must change my username to RayRobinson at least I’ve a chance of remembering it🤔

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I have an old Samsung tablet with Handy installed. The tablet was gathering dust in a drawer in my house. Works great.
I agree, the stock touchpad is pretty clunky. If you have a tablet or phone running Android you can download Handy from the Google Play Store and avoid any firmware issues because you stay inside the BL ecosystem.

By staying inside the BL ecosystem you avoid firmware conflicts. Being BL software, it will alert you to needed firmware updates. A quick look at the Amazon page and the description says that the Touch firmware is compatible up to 1.07.00
BL current firmware version is 01.09.00 so the firmware on the Touch is not current.

Read the below quote which is the fine print disavowing any product liablity for updating the printer firmware beyond 01.07 and bricking the Touch.
In a nutshell, you buy a Touch, you are buying an outdated product based on printer firmware alone. They do not even address AMS firmware updates which come via a printer firmware update.

  • 【Compatibility】Panda Touch(V1.0.7) is compatible with Bambu-Lab(=BL) printers firmware versions up until: P1P/S>01.07.00.00, A1/A1 Mini>01.04.00.00, X1C>01.08.02.00, X1E>01.01.02.00. Some features of X1C/X1E may be affected by the authorization mechanism of BL, but you can remain them in Lan-developer mode (Check btt wiki web for details). We will monitor all beta firmwares of BL printers and get you informed via our social channel. Warranty DOES NOT cover function lost by a firmware update.
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Thanks Wsquared58, after other comments yesterday I looked deeper into this and agree about using an old phone or tablet with the Handy app installed. I also noticed in the small print it was mentioned that the touchscreen when unplugged only lasts for 30 minutes before needing charging! The comments have convinced me not to take a backward step with the screen.
Money better spent on filament!
Ray

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Older iPhone is the way to go, most of us have older phone laying around in a drawer. Benefits are latest firmware, skip item, reprints etc. Compared to the X1 the P1s with dedicated iPhone is just as capable from UI/UX point, although the P1s still stares at it jealously sometimes. :joy:

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I’m chipping away at installing Bambu Studio on Linux (Raspberry Pi 4) so I can have Studio functionality at Printer.

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:+1: Another confirmation then :+1:
I’ll charge up my old Huawei P30 pro.
Excuse my “newbieness” about that image. Is that a phone with a printed case and stand. It looks excellent :ok_hand:

Using an old phone and Handy sounds interesting, but I’m not sure that will work if the P1S is in LAN Only mode.

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Yes it is, you can also hang it on the printer if you prefer.

There is a free 3rd party app Bambu Companion for lan mode. It does item skipping and all the other handy features. Join the Bambu Companion beta - TestFlight - Apple

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Ah, thanks, but when I said ‘old phone’, I didn’t mean ‘iPhone’ :wink:

You can buy an old iPhone on FB marketplace for like $40. And Im sure some of your friend or family have one laying around.

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Do you know if it will work with an iPod Touch?

Go to the App Store on your device - search for Bambu Handy - if your device is compatible you will be able to download it.

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Thank you, I did that earlier and pleased to say it’s working fine. I’m just printing out a few small items now. The app seems to do all I need without using the control panel on the printer :+1:

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To answer my unanswered question, the ONLY iPod Touch that could be supported is the 7th generation version since, according to the Apple Beta site, IOS version 14 or later is required.

Too cool! Making any progress with porting Handy to linux?

I personally do not like it. These units are very quirky and constantly goes off line. I also find the different thing you are suppose to be able to control, does not. I keep getting orange warning banners. I personally would avoid it.