total noob and a new member

Super_LFC · Post by **Super_LFC** » October 9th, 2006, 9:16 pm

howdy people nice looking site

been after modding one of these lcds in to my pc but dont know the first thing on what to do hoping someone could help us out i just got 2 of these hoping to so something with them

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0035383982

can they be done if so can someone share us the info

thanks lads

mike

Post by **limbo** » October 9th, 2006, 10:32 pm

It's a HD44780 based LCD module!

The simplest thing you have to do is to connect it on your computer's parallel port: http://lcdsmartie.sourceforge.net/circuits.htm

Find an old parallel cable and cut the printer connector... after that you have to solder the cables following the schematic diagram. power up the LCD and run the LCD smartie using the HD44780 configuration.

Good Luck

Super_LFC · Post by **Super_LFC** » October 9th, 2006, 11:15 pm

thanks man is there anyway to usb these ?

thnaks

mike

Super_LFC · Post by **Super_LFC** » October 10th, 2006, 11:04 am

limbo wrote:It's a HD44780 based LCD module!
The simplest thing you have to do is to connect it on your computer's parallel port: http://lcdsmartie.sourceforge.net/circuits.htm

Find an old parallel cable and cut the printer connector... after that you have to solder the cables following the schematic diagram. power up the LCD and run the LCD smartie using the HD44780 configuration.

Good Luck

which pic do i follow to build this mate

thnaks again

Post by **limbo** » October 10th, 2006, 2:28 pm

The picture I use is this:

For USB or any other serial connection you have to use an interface circuit ising microcontroller of something like that.
browse our hardware discussion and you'll find more than three different projects to use... of course you need some hardware experience for this

Super_LFC · Post by **Super_LFC** » October 12th, 2006, 1:13 am

ok mate thx for that i let you know how im getting on i got some bigger ones on the way too will post them when i get them

thnaks

mike

Super_LFC · Post by **Super_LFC** » October 15th, 2006, 12:44 am

ok i got me lcd any idea whats these one need to hook up to a pc

thnaks dude
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... %3AIT&rd=1

Post by **limbo** » October 15th, 2006, 9:19 am

Super_LFC wrote:ok i got me lcd any idea whats these one need to hook up to a pc

thnaks dude
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... %3AIT&rd=1

This is an 128x64 Graphics LCD Display Module
Graphics LCD's are not officialy supported by the program...

Super_LFC · Post by **Super_LFC** » October 16th, 2006, 6:08 pm

limbo wrote:
Super_LFC wrote:ok i got me lcd any idea whats these one need to hook up to a pc

thnaks dude
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... %3AIT&rd=1
This is an 128x64 Graphics LCD Display Module
Graphics LCD's are not officialy supported by the program...

nuts ok mate thanks anyway

i have to find something i got 4 of these lol

thanks mate

superfly · Post by **superfly** » December 27th, 2006, 10:38 am

Hi,

This site is great and the software is really cool

I'm also very new to doing this and currently have one of those HD44780 LCD screens with model number CM1623-FWT1LW which was pulled out of a network appliance.

Figure 1. the Back of the LCD.

It was connected to the COM port - so i know it was using a serial connection as it was soldered to a very complex looking circuit with a couple of ICs and loads of buttons - you could re-image the appliance, configure IP address & network info, reset Passwords, etc... all from this LCD, and when running, would display CPU usage, MB/s etc...

Figure 2. The pcb that this LCD was pulled from.

i only took off the LCD the rest of the circuit will still work if wired up as it was before...

Figure 3. You can see here where the LCD was soldered to the PCB in Figure 2.

Anyway...

I did some searching and this model comes up as built by FEMA corp - which by the way their website has disappeared since i first started researching a month or so back. (www.femacorp.com) looks like they didn't pay their hosting or something - in any case, back then i was able to download the spec sheet pdf file which although had my model on it, the schematic was for an LCD with all 14 pin holes in one row at the bottom of the LCD

Thing is that the screen i have does not have the pin holes 1-14 in one row at the bottom of the lcd, it has them on the side in a 2x7 configuration.

Figure 4. Configuration of LCD connection Pins.

So i assumed that regardless of placement, the pin numbers still correspond to the designation in the spec sheet and wired it up all the same.

Now the diagram i was using (below)

- unlike yours - did not specifically mention grounding Pins 18-25 and there are no resistors in the diagram and also you can see some other differences in pin assignments.

Now when i wired it all up as per the diagram above, and hooked it up, there was a spark somewhere on the circuit side of LCD and a smell - i think i blew this thing up...
Now i know the voltage was correct as i used a multimeter to measure it and used the correct wires from a MOLEX adapter, so it didn't die due to using 12V source!

However if i leave it connected, the backlight works and sometimes the LCD displays full box patterns...

Also, those black things on the back, they look like a portion of a sphere run very very hot sometimes and at other times they are not hot?

I have not used soldering - rather i opted for a jumpered solution, since the pin configuration lends itself rather nicely to a bunch of jumpers.

Figure 5. I used Jumpers instead of soldering directly to the LCD board.

My Questions:

If i don't ground the pins 18-25 - what will happen (i didn't do this, so I'm thinking it may have been why this thing fizzled).

What is the purpose of the BC547 transistor - i have never seen it in any other schematic - i didn't use one, could this be a problem?

One other thing i'd like to ask here, if i had kept everything intact and tried to use the same setup on my machine - would your software work with this LCD and Controller setup?

Figure 6. The back of the PCB from which the LCD was removed.

Figure 7. Big chip on the back of PCB.

Figure 8. Little chip on the back of PCB.

Thanks

superfly · Post by **superfly** » December 27th, 2006, 9:09 pm

Just doing some more work on this, i managed to figure out where the spark and smell came from!!

if you look back in Figure1. in the previous post, just above the upsidedown 1602B you will be able to see a discoloured rail groing through the R9 and R6, that has peeled off just a few minutes ago...

however the continuity buzzer still sounds when i test between the two points that this rail joins together??

Is this LCD dead or what?

Laters...

superfly · Post by **superfly** » December 28th, 2006, 7:14 pm

don't answer all at once now guys...

_X7JAY7X_ · Post by **_X7JAY7X_** » December 29th, 2006, 12:07 am

Well the first thing I noticed in your schmatic is no resistor on the backlight. Does this have an LED backlight? If so you will most likely need a current limiting resistor otherwise the backlight might burn up. I do see a resistor called RL on the back. Is the backlight terminals going through this resistor?

The transistor in the schematic is for backlight control through smartie. It is not necessary but nice.

The trace that burned up looks like its coming from +5v or GND. This tells me that something has shorted out and is pulling too much current. Where does that trace go to on the other side?

superfly · Post by **superfly** » December 29th, 2006, 4:27 am

How do i know if it is an LED backlight? (is there another type that is installed in LCDs?)

_X7JAY7X_ wrote:The trace that burned up looks like its coming from +5v or GND. This tells me that something has shorted out and is pulling too much current. Where does that trace go to on the other side?

On the other side, there is nothing there just the LCD, should the RL be connected to + or - ? i dont have those black and red wires mixed up do i?

on your schematic it shows the resistor connected to the negative.

also, is it a must that i ground pins 18-25? what is the reason for this?

you have shown a number of resistors - does the wattage of the resistor play a huge factor - i could only find 1/2W resistors in the electronics shop near me.

Thanks very much for your help & guidance.
Happy New Year!

_X7JAY7X_ · Post by **_X7JAY7X_** » December 29th, 2006, 5:49 am

There is also an EL backlight which requires a inverter. I missed it before but your PCB has A (anode) and K (cathode) for LEDs printed on the back, but is the backlight there?

I wasnt saying that the resistor on the PCB should be attached to the backlight but I was wondering if it was. If it did then you dont need and external current limiting resistor.

That trace goes under the lcd so you cant see where it terminates at? It most likely goes to the contacts for the LCD. Whithout knowing for sure its hard to say why its burned up.

The 18-25 on the parallel port are the ground. Are you pulling ground from the computers power supply or a different source? If your pulling from a different source you need to connect them. If your pulling from the computers power supply you may not need to but to be safe you should.

Resistor wattage depends on how much current you are trying to pass through it. The formula for watts is P =V*I, where p is power in watts, v is voltage and i is current. Its better to go overboard on the resistor then under.

superfly · Post by **superfly** » December 31st, 2006, 11:18 am

_X7JAY7X_ wrote:There is also an EL backlight which requires a inverter. I missed it before but your PCB has A (anode) and K (cathode) for LEDs printed on the back, but is the backlight there?

This is the backlight, i soldered them there after testing that they indeed activate the backlight, and they do go through that limiting resistor RL.

_X7JAY7X_ wrote:That trace goes under the lcd so you cant see where it terminates at? It most likely goes to the contacts for the LCD. Whithout knowing for sure its hard to say why its burned up.

Yeah, i cant see where it goes, but i think the screen is truly dead to be honest, i'm gonna buy one this time off ebay and test it again - good thing they're not expensive...

Thanks alot mate.