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Greg's Tinker Town

1,772 orders since Jan 06, 2019

Ottawa, ON, Canada

Ships from Canada.

Custom Work Available

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Overall Rating:

Review Breakdown

5
59 4
46 3
4 2
0 1
0

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Average Ratings

Product: (4.93)

Documentation: (4.59)

Shipping: (4.72)

Communication: (4.85)

All Reviews

Jarad | July 29, 2020

Pick Three: Simple, Inexpensive, Easy to Use

For alarmbuddy

This board is about as simple as it gets: ESP32 strapped to an AC-DC converter and some terminal strips. And that's exactly I wanted. The developer has done a great job of communicating quickly and clearly, is open to suggestions, and seems to have a real passion for his projects. The documentation is a little sparse, but I expect it's because the developer has a target audience in mind that knows how to read schematics, PCB layouts, program an ESP32 and use ESPHome.

I recommend this board to anyone who has used ESP32 before and has some basic electronics knowledge.

How could this board be better? I've discussed a few of these with the developer:
- Power input modules, instead of fixed. Modules should support 16-24VAC like most alarm systems use, but also have a 12VDC option. Possibly even a battery backup module.
- Power output modules for accessories: Since this product is intended to replace the brains of a security system, it should have power output available for accessories. In my system, that's 12VDC.
- u.Fl connector for external antenna. Many security system enclosures are made of steel. It would be better to be able to position the antenna for the ESP32 outside of the enclosure in those instances.
- Power indicator LED. I was left wondering many times, after applying power, whether the thing was on. Just something small and not very bright is fine.

All that being said, the items above are more of a wishlist, rather than a requirement. The board, as it stands, works well for my purposes.

Thank you for making this!

Kevin | July 27, 2020

An ace upgrade to the Ikea desks

For Megadesk

I ordered two of these, and received them last week. I have two different ages of Bekant desk, and although initially one of them had a hiccup the creator helped me through it and it turned out there was already a way to fix it (I needed to switch into a "variant" mode for the newer desk). Apart from this, the trickiest bit was getting the top off the original controller housing; after watching a YouTube video I realised I had to prize it open from the back of the box, not the front or the side like I was trying.

All in all, a fantastic upgrade to the desk; thanks for making it Greg!

Dan | April 13, 2020

Awesome!

For Megadesk

Shipped to the UK in around 2 weeks which was great.

As others have mentioned, opening the button enclosure is really painful - pretty much destroyed the top of mine (not that it matters, it’s hidden anyway, and it pretty much sits back in it’s place). Here’s some pictures I took of the process: https://imgur.com/a/zSRsihY. Score & cut through a section with a Stanley knife, then use a small screwdriver to get a hole, then a larger screwdriver to “pop” it up - most of it will pop apart, if any is stuck use your knife and screwdriver to pry the other side too.

Other than that, installation was a breeze - just disconnect the old board, connect the new one & the new cable.

I had some initial power-on issues where the board worked (and beeped) and recognised button presses, but the table never moved. Tried power cycling a few times, no difference. Tried the original board... nothing. Disconnected everything, reconnected again and both boards started working. Not sure exactly what happened, but seems fine now.

And it works perfectly. Thanks! :)

Jeff | April 10, 2020

Works exactly as described, perfect!

For Megadesk

After a few years the controller board in my Ikea desk died. This replacement board worked perfectly, even better than the original!
Thank you for designing and making this board. It brought my dead desk back to life.

Linfeng | March 26, 2020

Fantastic! Please read along if you are stuck

For Megadesk

I have a **lager** BEKANT desk and here goes how I set it up:
0. Prep: I stuck the small gray box rather tight to the bottom of the table (as instructed by IKEA's manual) and a slot screwdriver pops the cap off directly. The adhesives kept the back-plastic on the table, making it easy to clip things back together when I am done.
1. Use the OEM control module to lower the table to the lowest position (keeping the table at the highest hight ended up with no wiggle room at all for the MegaDesk module. Not sure why.)
2. Swap out the modules and connect the cables. For my BEKANT desk, I ended up connecting to the three-pin-hole at the back. Initially, the OEM control module is connected to the slot in the front, leaving the one at the back for the extension cable beneath the table running from the left to the right.
3. Press the UP button 16 times to toggle the value for "idle status". There should be a do-ri-me tone that repeats twice.

If you are stuck and need further graphic instructions, please create an issue on the official Github repo and mention my Github username: llinfeng.

Lastly, many thanks to Greg who revived my 4-year-old BEKANT desk!

Johannes | Feb. 19, 2020

Great product

For Megadesk

Using it on the largest Bekant. Needed to toggle the firmware support for it and after everything is working as expected. This was a huge improvement to the usability of the desk.

Opening the enclosure was as difficult as described in the other reviews. I didn't succeed in doing it without minor damage. Maybe some detailed pictures about how to do it would be helpful. Shipping was a bit expensive, too.

Daniel | Dec. 23, 2019

Anyone who owns a Bekant needs this!

For Megadesk

This little device is amazing! Just a couple screws and prying off a cover got me functionality that should have existed in this desk to begin with! Took 10 minutes to install and I was off to the races.

Dudley | Aug. 27, 2019

Why doesn't Bekant include this in their design?

For Megadesk

Installed the Megadesk today. Nice design, easy to use. I expect I will now use my desk much more than in the past. I have five preset heights. Thanks for engineering this nifty hack that Bekant should have included from the start. Be advised: as the instructions state, using a utility knife to score along the seams will help pry the back off the plastic case. I then used a small electronics screwdriver to pry from the corners nearest the front of the case.

James | July 9, 2019

Missing link for Ikea sit/stand desk!

For Megadesk

This is exactly what I was looking for, and once setup, exceeded my expectations! 5 stars all around.

I bought the unit with a cable. Shipping was very quick (with tracking), follow-up and communication was excellent. As others have said, getting into the grey box was VERY challenging and I finally decided to go for it - and that's what it took. Also, would help to know what is where inside as you start working on it - that's what kept me from using a Dremel. However, once I replaced the old board (had to program for Bekant - even the small one) it worked a charm. I'm a little OCD so got a quick response on how to wipe the memory settings (hold the down button while plugging in - erases Bekant setup also) as I didn't get them "quite" right the first time and now have the perfect sitting and standing positions memorized (2 & 3).

Highly recommended! This completed the Ikea desk for me.

Fabian | March 12, 2019

Great mod

For Megadesk

The opening of the grey plastic enclosure was very difficult. I finally cut open the top cover (hidden below the table when installed) and only then managed to insert a screw driver and pry open the joints around the edge.

The controller didn't work right away. I had to toggle the firmware by Recalling Memory 16 (pushing down 16 times) twice (back and forth). Now all works fine.

Jean-Francois | Feb. 19, 2019

Great thing, great guy, 10/10 would recommend.

For Megadesk

I did had some issues because the pre-flashed firmware that was bad, but the seller was very nice and helpful and helped me sort it out.

Patrick | Feb. 18, 2019

Exactly What I Would Have Made Myself

For Megadesk

I've been wanting a replacement controller for this desk that had presets since I bought it. It was a project that was always on my "[probably never going] to do" list, so I'm glad someone else beat me to it.

I just got this installed ~15 minutes ago. Everything works exactly as described. I got the fully assembled version plus the fully assembled cable. Once I managed to get the plastics open it all went into place very easily. The extra cable was clearly marked with polarity, so that was easy to get right and the ribbon cable could only fit on way. The lid kinda snapped back into place (it's held against the desk anyway so it's not going anywhere). I screwed it back on and plugged it in and it just worked.

The "UI" is very intuitive. Although I don't know that you're *really* going to want to be pressing the button 10+ times to get higher preset numbers. That doesn't really affect me since I only need 2, "sitting" and "standing".

Getting the plastics open was quite a chore. A little bit more direction than "pry it apart" would have been helpful. So, a couple notes: I wasn't able to pry just at the seam to get it open. If you look at the seller's pictures, you can see he cut out a notch from the rear side. I ended up cutting a square out of a corner of the top with a hobby knife so the hole would be completely hidden when reassembled. It looks to me like it was sonic welded together along the whole outer seam as well as some of the internal supports, so I don't think you'll be able to get it apart without some opening. Luckily it's not a very strong bond, so you can get the top off as a single piece if you're careful.

In the end the only slight issue I have is that recalling the presets doesn't seem to take into account the momentum of the travel. That means that you'll end up just a bit higher or lower than where you stored the preset. However that's a trivial thing to work around, you just need to move it a bit lower or higher than where you really want it when you first set your presets. Not really a big deal and totally something that could be fixed in FW.
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Response from Greg's Tinker Town | Feb. 18, 2019
Thanks Patrick! I do have an issue open on GitHub to get the memory a bit more precise based on the deceleration of the desk. I didn't want to rush this and ship out a bunch of units with buggy code. I've been running this code on my desk for 6 months give or take, so I was fairly confident it wouldn't cause any issues.

I will try to do a video on the disassembly. I broke off a notch so I could fit some debugging cables out of the case when I was reverse engineering the thing. I got tired of it being taped to my desk :)
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