BTT Eddy Probe - 100 Hours in.. And not in a good way!

[KrauTech]

Update: Shortly after posting this I dove back into Eddy a little bit. I went through the github issues and spoke with a few people who had attempted to use eddy and I'd like to make a brief update here. Eddy is FINE to use, if you use the same temperatures all the time. If you swap between say PLA and ABS, you will just have to make sure because of the temperature differences, that eddy probes correctly if you're using it to home Z.

If you are just doing bed mesh using eddy, you're golden. My grip is mostly the z-offset side of things and the temperature issues. If you dont have a heated chamber, you're more than likely going to have an excellent time. If you do heat your chamber >60c you MAY or MAY NOT have issues.

 

Hey Everyone,

 

Firstly, I'm fairly new here, but I know my way around, like to believe I have exceptional problem solving skills and I enjoy helping those that're struggling and I know how to help. This is just a collection of my findings and thoughts where it comes to BTT Eddy, and its just my opinion and I'm probably wrong for some things so feel free to fill me in with more details.

I had BTT Eddy in my hands very early the day of release. First things first, went straight to BTT github to get the documentation, nowhere to be found. Alright, weird. I waited, wasnt long but eventually they uploaded.. well something.

BTT I find is notorious for terrible documentation, but this.. this was a MESS.

 

Eddy comes currently in two versions. Eddy Coil and "Eddy". The naming scheme alone, sucks. They both have a coil and only one is USB. Maybe name them as such?

- Eddy USB

- Eddy I2C

- Eddy CAN

 

Anyway, I struggled to work my way through it, at the time there was no information on where the "boot" button was, there was no distinction between instructions for Eddy USB or Eddy "Coil". Made suggestions to BTT which they added thankfully but still not great.

Figured it out on my own regardless after some stuffing around, a couple spelling errors on my behalf but was solved pretty quick.

Immediately encounter issues not limited to:

- Firmware wouldnt flash correctly, youd have to try numerous times before it would work.

- Eddy would Z-Hop.

- Temperature Drift was bogus to work out.

- Z offset wouldnt save, whenever printer restarted youd have to calibrate z height again.

 

The list went on and on. There was no documentation regarding information that was hard coded, meaning if an error appeared you had no idea why. Theres no debugging information at all either. Eventually, its in a semi working state and i managed some prints. Still cant solve the Z offset issue, you need to adjust it whenever the printer resets or hard code the z-height in with gcode, which meant your nozzle could crash if the height changed for whatever reason.. NOT GOOD.

 

Spent a full day trying to help @flyespresso work out why he couldnt get QGL to work with his eddy as well. It produced nothing but bad meshes. Like, HORRIBLE. A teenager riddled with acne would have a smoother mesh.

He eventually gave up went back to TAP and his meshes went back to being perfect, clearly eddy was an issue.

My problems from there only got worse, my chamber temp would sit at around 60c, eddy would range from 80c normally BUT you would see spike to well over 100c, and from there.. Eddy MCU disconnect issues. All the time!! I can get maybe 1 or 2 prints before a D/C. Ive tried to replicate it manually, cant seem to find a trigger. Tested the usb cable etc all seem to be fine. Problem to this day persists. The issue tickets on both my guides github and btt's are piling up with little to no response from BTT. Im not alone in this issue with disconnects now anymore either.

I've tried multiple different mainboards, cables, klipper installations, firmware updates and reflashes, nothing seems to change it.

The next whole week after writing up a HUGE document as a guide for those configuring eddy, the amount of people 15+ that've come to me asking for help with issues is crazy. Some gave up, others just put up with it. Its a mess of a product, im sorry. I just cant recommend it in its current state.

I hope with some firmware changes it can be made better, i really do. Whether or not the hardware also has issues.. i'm not fully sure but it seems like it.

I got a refund from my local store, instantly went and bought x2 cartographers and havent had an issue since. You want my recommendation? Cartographer. The support there is CONSTANTLY in communication with the community. So even if you do encounter something, at the very least you'll get a response and fast!

You can find my guide on github here

 

Anyway,

 

Just my thoughts.

 

Chris
- KrauTech

Edited May 25, 2024 by KrauTech
Added information

[Dirk]

Welcome to the forum @KrauTech and thank you very much for this review of BTT Eddy.

I read a lot of frustration between the lines more than in the lines. Your guide is the only one I have seen to date which should move BTT to consider paying you for such a great write up for their new product. Clearly in which they have failed.

I was thinking it was part of their marketing to keep everything around Eddy vague. But this clearly shows they are apparently incapable of doing it themselves. Probably because they have no idea what they produced or are selling. Part of which can be seen by the fact that the functioning (or dysfunctioning as you describe it here) relies fully on the unreliable beta code from klipper developers and code custom written by the canboot developer arksine.

Clearly not a product that can be compared to Cartographer or to Beacon. Even though they priced it competitively.

[TitusADuxass]

@KrauTech Thank you for the comprehensive Installation Guide.

I will be using it when I get the Eddy.

[KrauTech]

4 minutes ago, Dirk said:

Welcome to the forum @KrauTech and thank you very much for this review of BTT Eddy.

I read a lot of frustration between the lines more than in the lines. Your guide is the only one I have seen to date which should move BTT to consider paying you for such a great write up for their new product. Clearly in which they have failed.

I was thinking it was part of their marketing to keep everything around Eddy vague. But this clearly shows they are apparently incapable of doing it themselves. Probably because they have no idea what they produced or are selling. Part of which can be seen by the fact that the functioning (or dysfunctioning as you describe it here) relies fully on the unreliable beta code from klipper developers and code custom written by the canboot developer arksine.

Clearly not a product that can be compared to Cartographer or to Beacon. Even though they priced it competitively.

I think a bit part thats grinded a few people is that it was even marketed towards vorons, yet most of the people are having issues when it comes to QGL. Go figure. It does seem like its relying on the implementations of others especially arksine and Kevin O'Connor quickly looking at the updated klippy files BTT is relying on.

The fact main klipper hasnt implemented these changes for eddy probe just goes to show how incomplete they are, forcing users to have to use BTT's fork of klipper is just a bad step and will cause other issues. The pricing is great, and if they can fix the issues, it'll be a great product.

4 minutes ago, TitusADuxass said:

@KrauTech Thank you for the comprehensive Installation Guide.

I will be using it when I get the Eddy.

No worries and thank you! I also submitted it here as a guide as well, although github will be kept more up to date as changes and things come through. Although I'm not using eddy anymore, I will periodically test it to see where its at.

[Fionoob]

 

My first post here.

I share the same frustration as you, friend.

I bought the Eddy USB and wasted 3 days trying every way to get it to work consistently.

In the end I gave up and went back to the microprobe.

[iz3man]

@KrauTech Thanks for the writeup. W/o it I would not have been able to use EDDY at all. BTT's manual at the time I received it was a joke.

I did not UPGRADE the firmware of it yet, and after reading your post I don't expect it to change anything.

Z-Offset is wrong EVERY time the print is restarted and has to be re-adjusted. Temperature calibration is a MESS and due to the process completely inaccurate. The paper test is done at say 45°C and then moves over to eddy calibration by the time this is done temperature has raised another 2°C already. So you got a paper test at 45°C and the eddy test for 47°C.

Other than that the probe gives inaccurate readings at some spots and I'm not sure that the correct mesh data is even used.

Cartographer was not easy to install as I had to do all the I2C/Canbus stuff as well, but once it was done it was COMPLETELY SPOT ON. EVERY SINGLE TIME.

[KrauTech]

8 hours ago, iz3man said:

@KrauTech Thanks for the writeup. W/o it I would not have been able to use EDDY at all. BTT's manual at the time I received it was a joke.

I did not UPGRADE the firmware of it yet, and after reading your post I don't expect it to change anything.

Z-Offset is wrong EVERY time the print is restarted and has to be re-adjusted. Temperature calibration is a MESS and due to the process completely inaccurate. The paper test is done at say 45°C and then moves over to eddy calibration by the time this is done temperature has raised another 2°C already. So you got a paper test at 45°C and the eddy test for 47°C.

Other than that the probe gives inaccurate readings at some spots and I'm not sure that the correct mesh data is even used.

Cartographer was not easy to install as I had to do all the I2C/Canbus stuff as well, but once it was done it was COMPLETELY SPOT ON. EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Yeah it's been nothing short of a disaster. I don't know of anyone still using eddy anymore. It's just not worth the headaches.

 

Yeah cartographer was a little harder on my end as soldering to the sb2209 pins was a little finicky been so small, but the normal way is easier for most. Atleast with cartographer you have options and not just one model or the other, you can swap and change between USB and canbus with a simple firmware change.

 

I don't know what BTT were even thinking, if they ever were.

[Don1970]

Hrm odd I had no issues with setting up calibrating temp drift, etc.  Usb eddy.  Been working fine.

One thing to note there can be no other packages installed that deal with bed leveling (bed mesh configs) kamp, etc.  Must be commented out etc.

 

[KrauTech]

17 minutes ago, Don1970 said:

Hrm odd I had no issues with setting up calibrating temp drift, etc.  Usb eddy.  Been working fine.

One thing to note there can be no other packages installed that deal with bed leveling (bed mesh configs) kamp, etc.  Must be commented out etc.

Yeah we figured that out pretty quickly, even BTT knomi interferes.

 

If you aren't having issues, you will sooner or later. Setting up is fine, it's the issues that come later.

[Don1970]

25 minutes ago, KrauTech said:

Yeah we figured that out pretty quickly, even BTT knomi interferes.

If you aren't having issues, you will sooner or later. Setting up is fine, it's the issues that come later.

We will see, that is hard to quantify its just too new of a setup, I am running two of them in two completely different setups, one on  V2.4 (testing) and no problems after about a few long abs prints, heat so far has not been too bad.  However you have to compensate for the temps based on the use.  The other is on a heavily modded SV06 so temps will never be an issue there as its open.

I do question how well it will handle temps going forward as its $20 compared to like $65+ competitors like the Beacon probe.  Oddly enough there is plenty of room if you need to pop a small heatsink on the controller (I have tons of those little Pi ones) and vent at the top of the case if need be.

80-90C is very high but I think it can be mitigated, and I do not think the case is needed imo. 

[KrauTech]

4 minutes ago, Don1970 said:

We will see, that is hard to quantify its just too new of a setup, I am running two of them in two completely different setups, one on  V2.4 (testing) and no problems after about a few long abs prints, heat so far has not been too bad.  However you have to compensate for the temps based on the use.  The other is on a heavily modded SV06 so temps will never be an issue there as its open.

I do question how well it will handle temps going forward as its $20 compared to like $65+ competitors like the Beacon probe.  Oddly enough there is plenty of room if you need to pop a small heatsink on the controller (I have tons of those little Pi ones) and vent at the top of the case if need be.

80-90C is very high but I think it can be mitigated, and I do not think the case is needed imo. 

I mean that's all well and good but we shouldn't have to be modifying products just so they work as advertised lol.

 

BTT will obviously come out with a revision which is fine, but in its current state there's too many issues

From the VERY small few that've had success, there's atleast 20-25 people who I've directly spoken to who have given up and that numbers climbing.

 

I did alright 100-150 hours of prints with Eddy and I lost alot of them to disconnects which I'd guess is from Eddy dropping connection from heat.

 

BTT said eddy should be fine to around 80c however when I frequently see eddy at 100-110 in a 60c chamber it's bound to go bad and I feel for anyone who needs hotter than that.

 

I am glad people are having success like yourself, they have a potentially good product at an amazing price point, but it feels like corners were cut and a product was released way too early.

[iz3man]

We'll see. Hopefully it will improve with new firmware. Right now I'm getting reasonable results by keeping a high enough margin from the bed limits and doing a 10x10 mesh bicubic.

[First Layer]

I flat gave up. I could not get the posted config to work. I tried several different things, asked FB for help, etc. Not worth it. I love BTT products and have a ton of them, a full army of little ducks, but this is half baked. I should not have ordered a V1, but I had a Cartograhper and one time, very tired, I made a mistake and let the smoke out, totally my fault and should not have been working on it a 3am. But, I wanted to get back running again and the Eddy would get here faster. Live and learn. 

[Don1970]

Can you post you cfg (printer.cfg)? 

 

[KrauTech]

2 hours ago, Don1970 said:

Can you post you cfg (printer.cfg)? 

You can find my CFG here

https://github.com/krautech/vyper-m8p-ebb42

[KrauTech]

2 hours ago, First Layer said:

I flat gave up. I could not get the posted config to work. I tried several different things, asked FB for help, etc. Not worth it. I love BTT products and have a ton of them, a full army of little ducks, but this is half baked. I should not have ordered a V1, but I had a Cartograhper and one time, very tired, I made a mistake and let the smoke out, totally my fault and should not have been working on it a 3am. But, I wanted to get back running again and the Eddy would get here faster. Live and learn. 

Yeah that's rough.

The price point of eddy is a major advantage. I plugged in cartographer and it just works however.

It'll get there with some maturity but definitely not in its current state.

[First Layer]

On 5/28/2024 at 3:34 PM, KrauTech said:

Yeah that's rough.

The price point of eddy is a major advantage. I plugged in cartographer and it just works however.

It'll get there with some maturity but definitely not in its current state.

I still have it, and when I get the desire to dig into it again, I will try again. But for right now the Chaotic Labs Tap V2 is working just fine. I was going to put it on my Trident, but for now I will use something else. I may use Tap on that too. 

[silentrunning]

I installed USB Eddy on a Ender 3 pro a few days ago. Followed to the letter the instructions - including installing the BTT version of Klipper that the instructions mention which turned out to be essential for fast scanning - and have had zero issues. I use a traditional end stop on all 3 axis. It been running like an absolute dream so far. Majorly impressed with it. No enclosure here so temps never get that high, Eddy never goes above about 36c. 

[KrauTech]

@silentrunning

 

Yeah BTT have since incorporated my guide as their main instructions.

 

It's mostly the z-homing which obviously you're not using eddy for on your ender if you've got hardware endstops.

Eddy will more than likely run fine until you use it in an enclosure. Which kinda defeats the purpose seeing as it was advertised as a voron "drop in replacement"

 

I'm glad it's working for some atleast

Edited May 30, 2024 by KrauTech

[KrauTech]

17 days after my initial GitHub issue was written, BTT replied saying they've passed it onto their engineer.. 17d after that they say "the engineer is working on a solution"

 

Sigh.

[asahigr]

So the V1 is not recommended to be used even for mesh bed leveling in a V2.4 with enclosure..? (already bought one..)

[KrauTech]

1 hour ago, asahigr said:

So the V1 is not recommended to be used even for mesh bed leveling in a V2.4 with enclosure..? (already bought one..)

You can bed mesh with it, if you can get it working. Most people cant.

 

Get your money back and buy cartographer or beacon

[asahigr]

On 6/18/2024 at 1:59 PM, KrauTech said:

You can bed mesh with it, if you can get it working. Most people cant.

Get your money back and buy cartographer or beacon

to be honest, the omron inductive probe that was included in the kit works fine so far..i wrapped it with a couple of loops kapton tape to protect it from heat and i let the bed soak a while before doing QGL 2-3 times before printing. I get tolerance something like 0.0012 on QGL and on mesh 0.01 or less..i think that's pretty good.. 

Edited June 20, 2024 by asahigr

[Hun73rdk]

I can say after trying the Eddy USB its not worth it i could get mine to QGL a couple of times that was it then it started to report Z as -97 and big numbers i can only say for not it seems like we paid for Alpha test the probe is not working right and after a destroyed PEI plate and no more QGL luck i am going back to tap i can say.
Most of the instructions even even KrauTech guide i had not luck following it the PROBE_EDDY_CURRENT_CALIBRATE CHIP=btt_eddy just gave me an error then then Z was set to 275.000 wrote in 274.000 and the gantry moved and the PROBE_EDDY_CURRENT_CALIBRATE CHIP=btt_eddy worked.
I have sensorless homing and it does not look like Eddy like that at all.

So i say don't buy waste of money. They did to little test the boot button is in a place where you cant easy get to it on a voron that it is marked for.
there guide is lackluster and does not really help people get the probe working.

 

23.10
probe at 300.000,25.000 is z=-98.330000
23.10
probe at 300.000,275.000 is z=-97.246250
23.10
probe at 50.000,275.000 is z=-97.362500
23.10
probe at 50.000,25.000 is z=-64.219195

 

Edited June 30, 2024 by Hun73rdk

[TitusADuxass]

10 hours ago, Hun73rdk said:

there guide is lackluster and does not really help people get the probe working.

 

BTT's guides are always lacklustre, their equipment is reasonable priced but.....