Once more real life has intervened to slow down this escapade.
I have considered giving up, but the faulty chip costs only ~£1.80 compared to the £180 cost of the original e-reader (the person that gave it to me bought it in 2017).
Just to avoid confusion, there are three different models of chip available:
Code:
PART NUMBER PACKAGE BODY SIZE (NOM) MARKING ( | = newline)
TPS65185 RGZ (48) 7.00 mm × 7.00 mm E INK | TPS65185
RSL (48) 6.00 mm × 6.00 mm TPS | 65185 <------
TPS651851 RSL (48) 6.00 mm × 6.00 mm TPS | 651851
The Aura H2O has the chip marked on the second row.
The next problem is finding a supplier.
EBay does have some vendors in China offering them, however it was unclear to me whether the part they claimed was actually what they would send as the pictures did not match the description. In addition the delivery times were long and not all free postage.
The mainstream component suppliers (e.g Mouser, Farnell etc) need an account and some have a minimum order size plus delivery charges.
I was pointed to LCSC, an asian supplier, which had the exact item I need and reasonable delivery time plus delivery charges no higher than from more local suppliers. I decided to go with these as I wanted to get some other bits and also wished to test out their service,
The parts are winging or bobbing their way to me as I write, so the next set of updates will follow as soon as they arrive and I attempt to fit them.