any know the topway LMB162AFC??

[buddhabadboy]

Hello all,
I have the topway LMB162AFC, and here's the info on it:

http://www.topwaydisplay.com/Pub/Drawin ... tline).pdf

could anyone tell me if its the same as the HD44780?

I'm noticing a few differences, like
Pin #2 VDD, and not VCC

and when I tried to follow this setup:

http://icehw.net/article.php?id=104

all I get is blue background and the first row of characters (all white), and not the 2nd row.
Sooo obviously something is up: and I set the port to EPP as suggested..

any suggestions?

[caesar]

Hi and welcome to the forums!

Your display is HD44780 compatible, but it is not certain how much compatible.

There are two possible notations for the +5V pins: Vdd or Vcc, and for -5V pins: Vss or GND; it depends on who wrote the datasheet.

You most probably got it right, getting white bars on the first row means that the display is correctly powered.

Now if you want to use it with LCDSmartie, i suggest you use



The main differences are:

1. The potentiometer to change contrast on pin Vo. This can be left just connected to ground for maximum contrast.

2. RW pin connected to LPT 14. If I remember correctly Smartie needs this. (you have it now connected to ground)

3.LPT 17 to transistor, cand change the intensity of the backlight, but you can in your case just connect the backlight directly to +5v, if you don't need that feature.

[buddhabadboy]

Hello Caesar,

Thanks so much for your help!
I looked at your diagram, and noticed its basically the same.
Once I got this up and working, I'll be interested in adjusting the contrast and so forth (thats something i'll have to read up on later).

BUT, right now, I'm just trying to figure out how to troubleshoot this.
I did what you suggested: nothing happens.
I get the back light lit, and the white squares on the first row (like before) but no data showing up.

I verified all the wires are connected (tester).
I verified that my parallel port is working in EPP mode, and hooked it up to a printer and it worked fine

So, i'm thinking a few things:
#1 try and figure out if the Vdd/Vcc is the issue.. whatever those symbols mean...lol
#2 figure out if I have something configured wrongly in the lcdsmartie program..

any suggestions?

[buddhabadboy]

Ok, so now I know what I did wrong...
(RTFM)

http://forums.lcdsmartie.org/viewtopic.php?t=1064

so now I have it working.

but I'd still like to know how to do the contrast and all.
what is the device? can you point me out to what these things look like?

Thanks!

--edit--
seems i'm answering my own questions for a change.

but I still have one question. Can anyone suggest a good potentiometer?

thanks!

[caesar]

The contrast for the blue/white displays is best if the pin is connected to ground, so you can leave that alone so you won't need a potentiometer.

Why break something that works fine?