Last Updated on February 26, 2024 by pg@petergamma.org
We have reported about the issues of OpenBCI made in China previously here:
- The issues hardware developer Jenelson found and reported about it in the www.openbci.com forum (issues with the communcation between WIFI shield and Cyton):
- Peter Gamma from www.petergamma.org thought that Jenelson could eventually be a demo maker who works for Texas Instruments who tested OpenBCI made in China.
- Jenelson wrote is a very experienced hardware developer, if we remember correctly with about 10 years of experience.
- Jenelson seem to have made extensive tests with OpenBCI made in China.
- He tested an OpenBCI Cyton module with a WIFI shield.
- But he had issues with the communcation with OpenBCI Cyton and the WFI shield.
- Stellarpower who tested OpenBCI in China had not these issues.
- Stellarpower just took his modules apart completely and then has rebuilt it again, and after that it worked.
- Jenelson gave at this point up. but wrote that we eventually would continue his tests later on.
- Jenelson also wrote that he does not know about the return policies of OpenBCI in China
- We sah one offer for OpenBCI in China with a life-time warranty. But this is gone, it was only a limited offer.
Ebay
- on eBay OpenBCI made In China offer 30 days returns. Buyer pays return shipping.
On Aliexpress it says:
- You will receive a refund if the item arrives late or not as described.
- The buyers protection of Aliexpress can be found here:
https://www.aliexpress.com/p/buyerprotection/index.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.0.0.22bdw4ovw4oveh
- We did not study all of this in detai, but it says in case of a faulty product, shipping back is taken over by the Aliexpress shop
- So the conditions to buy OpenBCI made in China on Aliexpress seem to be a bit better than on eBay.
- Jenelson seem not to have ordered countless OpenBCI modules until he have found the one that he tested, since he did not know about these return polities.
- If he had send it back multiple times, would he not knew about this?
- The issue Jenelson had was not an issue Stellarpower had. Stellarpower took is module appart and then the conncection between OpenBCI Cyton and WIFI worked.
- This processs of testing seems to be very time consuming also for experienced testers. But if we are interested on the long term in low-cost high-quality EEG products it is eventally worth it.
- Jenelson did not reveive support in the www.openbci.com forum for his OpenBCI made in China product
- Supporters there ask where the OpenBCI product are bought. And they only support products from www.openbci.com
2. Issues OpenBCI made in China tester Stellarpower found (issues with WIFI shield)
https://openbci.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/3502/cyton-wifi-packet-loss-noise-issues/p1
- We suppose also Stellarpower could be a demo maker from Texas Instruments who tested OpenBCI made in China.
- He did not have the issues Jenelson had.
- Stellarpower had issues with packet loss and cyclic noise spiking.
- Stellarpower did not receive support in the www.openbci.com forum which would have resolved his issues.
But the issues Stellarpower had with the WIFI shield are known and there are instructions how to solve them, as for instance here:
- According to the little experience of Peter Gamma from www.petergamma.org it should be possible to get OpenBCI made in China to work. There is no problem left for which there was no solution offered.
- Neurosity Crown hardware A.J. Keller managed to get the WIFI shield to work. It is part of Neurosity
- OpenBCI Galea developer Russomano got the OpenBCI Wifi shield to work, it is part of the OpenBCI Galea
- According to Fieldtrip developer Robert Oostenveld Associate Principal Investigator at Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour in Nijmegen, the Netherlands:
«This is not to say that I am complaining about the Cyton: it is not expensive, it is open hardware and source and it is possible with all open information to debug everything. However, I had expected or hoped that by now (after 9 years of its initial release) there would have been a version 2 of the Cyton board with improved usability. For me it felt that I was spending more time trying to debug than doing EEG, hence I moved on to other systems: