PIC Serial Backpack II

[pasan]

I correct it. Now its working properly . Sorry for my mess

Thanks for ur help

[mattcro]

Hey Pasan, good to hear you have the LCD working now! (partly my fault for using confusing/inconsistent symbols in the schematic)

Does it all work correctly with the 16x2 LCD? The startup message won't all be visible, but apart from that I think it should work fine in Smartie. Have fun!

[pasan]

Hey Pasan, good to hear you have the LCD working now! (partly my fault for using confusing/inconsistent symbols in the schematic)

Does it all work correctly with the 16x2 LCD? The startup message won't all be visible, but apart from that I think it should work fine in Smartie. Have fun!

Yep. Its working fine with 16X2 LCD. I hope to use it for my mp3 player.

[lucas_siglo21]

well, it is working perfectly, i can finally stop using the parallel port
i am using this combined with a usb to serial converter. i am feeding it via usb, so my lcd is fully usb now.







here is the pcb if you want it:
http://lucassiglo21.googlepages.com/backpack.pcb
it can be opened with expresspcb

bye

[mattcro]

Very nice! Are you planning to have any buttons? If not, you might have to tie the button inputs high, preferably through 10k resistors like in the schematic. You should also have some power supply smoothing capacitors, probably 100uF and 100nF, on the 5V supply. You may find it works fine without these extras though.

[lucas_siglo21]

no, i'm not using buttons, but it works without the pullup resistors.
there is a capacitor in the power supply, in the first picture, the right one.
it's 10uf

bye

[mattcro]

Ah yes, I see the power supply cap now. Well, I hope it works well for you. I still have my LCD running on my PC, used nearly every day since mid-2006 and still doing the job. The only thing I have updated is Smartie itself.

[lucas_siglo21]

well, i am testing it with an equalizer, it works perfect!, well done.

[mattcro]

Do you mean the Winamp (or similar) spectrum analyser display? Yes, I figured that 19200baud was fast enough for this and it seemed to work well for me, although I don't use the spectrum display (just track info).

[lucas_siglo21]

yes, the winamp's one

[donatasss]

What software do you use?? Lcd smartie? If yes, then what .dll do you use?


Thanks.

[mattcro]

Software is LCD Smartie (of course!) and the driver is Smartie's built-in Matrix Orbital driver matrix.dll

[donatasss]

Thank you so MUCH!!

[donatasss]

One more question. I choose matrix.dll and it says "Failed to open device: DLL Intialize error: TESTDRIVER.DLL Exception: The handle is invalid" Does it mean that the circuit isn't connected or that i don't have the .dll file?


Thanks.

[mattcro]

Were you previously using the test driver? If so, it might have been configured to use a COM port that is not physically present on your system.

You will get the same error message for MATRIX.DLL too if you try to activate the driver and the startup parameters refer to a COM port number that is not available. The "handle" is the system's way of referring to a COM port.

The default startup parameters are COM1,9600. You need to find out which COM port your display is connected to (use the Device Manager in Windows) and change the startup parameters to match. For example, I have a USB-RS232 adapter that appears as COM5, so for my LCD backpack I would set the startup parameters to COM5,19200.

[donatasss]

Thanks.

[donatasss]

Hello again,

I have conected it all, but your wrote text doesn't disapear. Maybe I programmed Pic16F628 wrong? I don't use any buttons. Maybe i need them to start lcd smartie? In Lcd smartie i use matrix.dll , usb-RS232 adapter that appears on COM4 and 19200bauds. I use 2x16 lcd indicator.



Best regards,
D

[mattcro]

Did you build the circuit as shown in my schematic diagram? Try adjusting the contrast potentiometer until you can just see solid blocks or text on the display. If you don't have the contrast set right, you will either see nothing at all or solid blocks. The PIC sends a startup welcome message to the display when you power it up. You will only see some of this message on a 2x16 LCD but it should work OK.

Double-check the LCD wiring. Some LCDs have a different pinout, so you should check on your datasheet, and use the pin names rather than numbers.

How did you program the PIC? The required fuse settings are contained in the HEX file, but some programmer software does not use these settings and you must set the fuses manually. The fuse settings are shown in the C source code file:

Internal MCLR (use MCLR pin as I/O)
Internal RC osc with I/O on RA6/RA7 (4 Mhz)
Power-up reset timer ON
Brown-out ON
Watchdog OFF
Low-voltage programming DISABLED
other fuses OFF/DISABLED

Hope that helps!

[donatasss]

I checked all, everything is alright. Can you write down what i need to set like in this picture. http://www.microautomate.com/pics/icprog.png (Osc, Code P., fuses) I'll check the pcb and schematics again.

Thanks much for the help.

Best Regards,
D

[mattcro]

Wow, it's ages since I used ICProg and I couldn't remember how the settings work...

ICProg should automatically pick the correct config out of the HEX file.

In case it doesn't, these are the settings:

Oscillator: IntRC I/O
Code Protect: OFF

Fuses:
WDT unchecked
PWRT checked
MCLR unchecked
BODEN checked
LVP unchecked (I think this suits JDM programmed. You'll have to check. I've only used the Tait programmer)
CPD unchecked

The config word should be reported as 3F50h

[necoinside]

hey guys, after few years, i've problem too. my lcd gives junky chars and i've checked everything ok. startup message ok too but when started lcdsmartie, it mixes.. i'm using 4x20 blue white and its all ok with lpt..

[necoinside]

i found my problem..
i've use bluetooth ttl and it works with 9600bauds as stock. so if u programme its chip, u can make anything else and i've upgraded to 19200baud and my 4x20 blue lcd works wirelessly..

[lucas_siglo21]

nice!