T-Echo stopped working
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Moshe Braner
May 5, 2026, 3:24:59 PMMay 5
to SoftRF_community
I have a T-Echo here I use just for testing. It is a few years old and is on loan from a friend. Recently the battery voltage (as reported by SoftRF) seemed to decline fast while operating and not being charged. Today it declined faster than ever, and SoftRF said (on the e-paper display) "low battery" and shut down. Plugged it in to USB power and it rebooted, but a bit later it stopped responding at all. The display shows the last thing that was written to it, the LED closer to the display does not light up, and the buttons don't do anything. (The other LED lights if USB power is connected.) Opened it up and found that the board is getting normal voltage from the battery. Disconnected the battery and reconnected and no change. What is wrong then?
Moshe Braner
May 6, 2026, 12:14:58 PMMay 6
to SoftRF_community
Regarding the dead T-Echo, I removed the battery again and measured
its voltage with a digital meter and it was only about 3.3V - whether
open-circuit or connected to a 100-ohm load. Charged it slowly to
4.2V. In the process of disconnecting the JST plug from the socket on
the board, which was much harder to do than expected, the red wire
pulled out of the connector, even though I did not pull on the wire.
Maybe it was a loose connection for a while, with some resistance.
How it behaved, before it died, was reporting 4.6V when connected to
USB power, dropping to 3.8V almost immediately when disconnected, and
lower than that over a short running period. Just before it "died"
SoftRF did a low-voltage shutdown as it reached about 3.4V.
So I thought that the resistance in the connector caused the voltage
to seem high to the controller in the T-Echo while it was charging the
battery, thus it never actually fully charged it? I have the right
connector on hand, so soldered the battery leads to a new connector.
Inserted into T-Echo. 4.2V appears on the board end of the
connection. But no change. No sign of life, other than the power LED
if USB power is connected. No response to either button. No response
to double-reset. No "port" showing up on connected PC. Any hope for
this T-Echo?
its voltage with a digital meter and it was only about 3.3V - whether
open-circuit or connected to a 100-ohm load. Charged it slowly to
4.2V. In the process of disconnecting the JST plug from the socket on
the board, which was much harder to do than expected, the red wire
pulled out of the connector, even though I did not pull on the wire.
Maybe it was a loose connection for a while, with some resistance.
How it behaved, before it died, was reporting 4.6V when connected to
USB power, dropping to 3.8V almost immediately when disconnected, and
lower than that over a short running period. Just before it "died"
SoftRF did a low-voltage shutdown as it reached about 3.4V.
So I thought that the resistance in the connector caused the voltage
to seem high to the controller in the T-Echo while it was charging the
battery, thus it never actually fully charged it? I have the right
connector on hand, so soldered the battery leads to a new connector.
Inserted into T-Echo. 4.2V appears on the board end of the
connection. But no change. No sign of life, other than the power LED
if USB power is connected. No response to either button. No response
to double-reset. No "port" showing up on connected PC. Any hope for
this T-Echo?
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