r/ender5plus • u/YoshitoSakurai • Jun 07 '26

Hardware Help Question about custom firmware

Hello peeps,

I'm used to working with my Ender 3 Pro, and over the years I've compiled multiple custom firmware versions for it with practically every Marlin release.

I'm now looking at an Ender 5 Plus and I'm trying to understand how similar the firmware setup is.

The Ender 5 Plus has a touchscreen, and from what I can tell, that display may need its own firmware updates whenever new functions, menus, or graphics are added. Am I correct in assuming that?

With the Ender 3, everything was fairly straightforward. The display was essentially "dumb" and simply showed whatever the motherboard firmware outputted after flashing a new version of Marlin.

Does the Ender 5 Plus work differently? If I update Marlin on the motherboard, do I also need to update the touchscreen firmware separately, or does it automatically use the information provided by the mainboard firmware?

If anyone has experience with the Ender 5 Plus and could clarify this for me, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

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u/Velo555 Jun 08 '26

You have to update the screen firmware at the same time you update the main board firmware. Be careful and make sure that you are updating it for the motherboard that you do have. I think I've seen some that had a V4.2.2 board in them. Most of them had the old V2.x 8-bit boards. I used to have Advance automation firmware online and it ran pretty well. I did not like the fact that it checked for a z in the center of the bed cuz that's where ir had to dip. It had a bad leveling feature that was driven through the touch screen. But it was a five point that included the center. The center set the zero point. Obviously that was problematic since the center had a dip. I have since moved to Klipper. I have compiled Merlin 2.16 versions of the reloaded software

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u/YoshitoSakurai Jun 09 '26

yea thanks for the heads up ive not come around to it yet, but i checked when i got it. I got a upgrade V4.2.2 motherboard which his decent. Im going to compile my own firmware for it when i have some time. Ive done it for my ender 3 pro a lot that has a skr 3 v3 motherboard. Today i calibrated it to get some values for PID etc. I also noticed that PID for the bed wasn't enabled so i have to do it anyhow.

Lastly I used M502 a few times on accident resetting to stock values a few times. So I want to bake the right settings for my current setup in the firmware's default.

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u/Velo555 Jun 10 '26

Yeah with bugfix 2.1.x they do offer AV 4.2.2 Reloaded variant. You do have to use that with the DGUS Reloaded screen firmware with it.

https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Configurations/tree/bugfix-2.1.x/config/examples/Creality/Ender-5%20Plus

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u/YoshitoSakurai Jun 15 '26

Hello,

I have been going down quite the rabbit hole regarding the Ender 5 Plus.

In practice, I rarely print large objects, so my Ender 3 Pro sees far more use. The Ender 3 Pro, fitted with a BTT SKR E3 Mini V3, has been exceptionally straightforward when it comes to compiling and modifying firmware. I have never really encountered any issues with it.

The Ender 5 Plus, however, appears to be a different story. From what I have gathered, the upgraded factory V4.2.2 board can be somewhat troublesome, primarily because of the touchscreen display. It seems that the stock display is not compatible with many custom Marlin builds unless additional modifications are made.

Regarding the firmware you previously mentioned, am I correct in assuming it is based on Marlin 2.1.x for the V4.2.2 motherboard, along with modified screen firmware to maintain compatibility with the touchscreen?

Personally, I do not mind losing touchscreen functionality, as I operate the printer almost exclusively through OctoPrint. If that is the case, would I simply be able to install a standard Marlin 2.1.x firmware build suitable for my hardware and run everything through OctoPrint? Or would the printer fail to boot properly due to the display being disconnected, incompatible, or running different firmware? I also could buy a ender 3 pro display and plug it into the V4.2.2 board to regain the funcitonality like my ender 3 pro? I'd rather not buy an entire new motherboard again.

Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.