Since I want to use the respeaker lite with I2S on a raspberry, I soldered the included pin header on the device.
First it worked, but after resolder some pins, I only got static in the recording (playback still works).
When I speak very loud into the microphone, I can hear my voice when playback the recording. Also sometimes the LED is turned on (in USB mode, bright white or just a single color).
I thought okay maybe I broke the mic because of cleaning up the soldering flux with isopropyl alcohol or using to much heat, I ordered a new one, I was very careful with the new one, but at the end, the same problem.
A week ago I ordered a new one, got it this week and this time I haven’t used any liquid to clean the very few soldering flux I used, been careful not to put to much heat onto the device and when I was done, it was working - until today where I noticed I couldn’t flash the respeaker anymore.
I thought I clean up the last leftovers of soldering flux between the contacts (without any liquid) and suddenly I’ve got the same issue…
3 of 4 Respeaker lite I own, are broken and not usable anymore, the one which is working, is in use for 2 months now, but I am afraid to do a firmware update or anything else to avoid breaking the last one too…
I’ve attached a 5 second recording were I speak loud “test 1,2,3” from 20 cm away. test.zip (298,9 KB)
What could be the issue? Are the 100€ I’ve spent for nothing now? What can we do to fix the problem?
Hi there, can you post a picture ?
I have two new units ,I’ll be soldering the S3’s myself, i had a similar experience, initially when i had a socket on one unit.(temporary)
Sometimes it works and others a click & pop then static., reseating it and repowering always brings it back.
I would advise resoldering it. Are you using paste?, you should melts faster better for smaller parts too. Roll solder requires a high start to melt so, burn up is easier if your not carrful , the plated thru holes don’t like direct heat on the side of the traces. On all the seeed boards.
Turn temp down , use paste. And look close…
You’ll get it. I do this every day and even I had to learn this , YMMV
Yes for the first unit I also thought maybe it was to much heat and / or some paste got into the mic which destroyed them.
For the next unit I was much more careful, reduced the heat and made sure the paste is only on the solder points.
It was working for some days I guess, but it also stops.
It was working good and I could play a lot with it but after I decided to clean up the rest of the paste, it stopped working too, what a bad decision…
So right now, I only got one unit running for 2-3 months now and I’m really afraid of touching it
I also think I just have to reset it someway but I have absolutely no clue how to do it… How do you reset them? I guess you are using an ESP to do it?
Here are 2 of my respeakers, where I soldered the included GPIO header on it.
@Ray2024@PJ_Glasso Have you guys had success with the Respeaker Lite on Raspberry Pi over I2S? I’m looking to buy one for direct I2S connection to a Raspberry Pi Zero also. But with all the issues @Ray2024 has been having it seems there might be issues?
Any feedback would be much appreciated.
I had success over I2S but I think the critical part is soldering. I’ve got my next device last week and after soldering carefully and without to much heat, it was directly working.
And to summarize my journey with this device:
I think the first device broke because I just tested to much not knowing how to get it working and at some point, the problem appeared were it didn’t worked anymore even with USB firmware (the problem with static noise).
With the second one if I remember right, I continue to experiment and at some point I’ve got it working but it bricked too.
The third device, I only soldered the pins and build it into my project and its still working for 3 months now.
With the fourth device I first had the problem were I couldn’t update it anymore (but it was still working over I2S), then I just cleaned the pins a bit and after it, the problem with static noise appeared again.
After a lot of playing with the raspberry and sending commands over I2C, shorting the reset pins etc, hoping to revive the device, I totally bricked, its dead now.
The fifth device I ordered and received last week, is still working and I builded into my project and acting as an voice satellite.
So I think it’s worth buying it but don’t play to much with the pin header.
Thanks for the feedback guys. Crazy how sensitive the ReSpeaker seems to be. @Ray2024 great idea capturing the details in a git repo. Just for clarity what raspberry pi model were you using and what OS?
I currently have the Respeaker 2-Mics PI HAT but it is only 1W speaker out and I am looking for higher speaker amplification, hence looking at the Lite version with 5W.
If I have any further success I will be sure to let you know to add to the repo. FYI the overlay for the Respeaker 2-mics Pi HAT is here which is referenced from the getting started guide. But I’m not sure if the Lite version uses the same codecs etc.The Respeaker 2-mics PI HAT has quite a large range of audio settings in the alsamixer config so not sure if these are brought through from the overlay or what. Here is the asound conf if uses.
For extra info it looks like the Lite version has a more advance audio chipset i.e the XMOS XU316, which by the sounds of it “provides interference cancellation, echo cancellation, and noise suppression”. Have you experimented with this or is it on by default? I assume you need to configure this over I2C
Thanks.
[P.S] I had to remove the links in this post as it wouldn’t let me include them.
I am using the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W with Raspberry OS lite 32 Bit (Bookworm).
Yes, this is a huge advantage with the 5W amp on the Respeaker lite, it’s more then enough power for a voice applications (even for music).
Not sure if the 2 Mic hat overlay will work, I think the Respeaker lite is working different related to the internal clock, but I can be wrong.
Yes the XU316 is a great audio processor, this is what makes the Respeaker such a nice device.
The echo cancellation is working great, it is suppressing a lot of sound what comes out of the device itself, this means I can easily interrupt the audio with a voice command.
And its working by default, you don’t need to configure anything.
@Ray2024 FYI my ReSpeaker Lite finally arrived. I connected it up as per you info on github and it worked straight away. Appreciate you sharing this info thanks. I will be playing some more with this and can share any feedback I have.
Specifically I am interested in some more control of the sound via the alsamixer. The config you shared doesn’t seem to seperate the playback and capture volumes, i.e when I change one it changes the other also. So I will investigate that further. Does yours do this also?
Have you had continued success with your unit?
No I don’t have the problem, playback and capture get controlled separately and I use the same config.
It is a bit confusing that Master and Capture are list under “Playback” and also in the “Capture” tab but they do control the volume per mixer.
Alsa config can be a bit tricky but if you make some progress, let us know.
PJ 
PJ 