I’m trying to determine where to start...China, stealing, counterfeit, or junk.
AliExpress is just a means to an end....a really slow boat from China means, but one none the less. The fact is, I can buy all the same “junk” from Amazon and pay 4 times the money. I’ll be honest, all my experiences with AliExpress were really positive.
I got working results with Thorrak’s original Tilt Bridge build recommendation. Now with the LoLin parts, I think everybody that goes that route are going to have repeatable, successful results...and I’ll be sad as I see everyone with their shiny new Tilt Bridge 2.0 builds while I’m stuck with Tilt Bridge 1.0 (which will probably be disowned by the creator and swept under a rug)
While I'm only two drinks in at the moment, I'll bite on all of the above.
China: You hit the nail on the head. Espressif is a Chinese manufacturer, so hey - no escaping that one!
Counterfeit Junk: This actually is a problem. I didn't realize it until
@LBussy pointed out, but the "TTGO" boards I was previously recommending are actually
knockoffs of a "Heltec" design. Normally I'm OK with this - multiple manufacturers of a design makes it more likely that the design survives into the future - but the thing that has frustrated this project is how inconsistent the designs are. If you read the code, I actually have provisions for
four separate board configurations - including a "reference" PCB that I designed
based on Espressif's recommendations.
Of course, in the case of LOLIN, I'd argue they're the progenitors of a lot of these designs - so I'll assume they're exempt from the "counterfeit" designation.
AliExpress: You and I also agree on AliExpress, though I will actually say that I
prefer AliExpress in some cases. For a different project I need some specialty LiPo batteries, and being able to shoot an email off to a manufacturer with the specs I need and then
only order three batteries is
incredibly convenient.
...and finally...
You are
100% correct that I was planning to disown this project the exact moment that TiltBridge 2.0 is released.
Just for you, however, I'll try to backport as many features as possible. I can't promise they'll be tested and working, but the code will be there!
At the moment though, that's one feature: Brewfather support. Everything else is just to get the new hardware working.