UK - LCD suppliers

[smeagol]

I thought I'd start a topic to detail where you can get LCD's, especially in the UK as we get ripped off so much with high prices.

I just bought two 4 x 20 with blue LED backlight for ?15.00 total including postage. A bit better than the ?30 or ?40 Maplin charge for a single unit.

Bought from: (I have no links with this seller and I can't guarantee that you will receive the same service, I'm just reporting my experience with the seller.)

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQf ... tyQ5fstore

Delivery was in 5 days nd he ahs responded to questions quickly. The units I received are YM2004A, not the ones pictured, but they work fine. Pinout for the backlight needed to be swapped around from the info given so pin 16 is backlight +ve and pin 15 is backlight -ve. the first circuit on the LCD Smartie website works fine, just swap pin 15 & 16.

If anyone else wants to add to this topic to help others source good priced working units then feel free.

[limbo]

Yeah ebay can save you money

http://www.lansley.co.uk/forum/phpBB2/v ... =1451#1451

http://www.lansley.co.uk/forum/phpBB2/v ... .php?t=155

[mattcro]

I got my green LED backlit 4x20 STN from Maplin, mainly because I can just walk into the shop and pick one up. These use the Samsung KS0066 controller (HD44780 compatible) and are made by Display Elektronik GmbH. ?24.99 for the 4x20, which isn't cheap compared to ebay stores and the like, but a darn sight cheaper than other major electronics retailers like RS, Farnell and Rapid Electronics. Conrad UK has a similarly priced 4x20 module. Digikey UK also has a range of LCD modules (made by Optrex and Varitronix??) which I believe are cheaper.

All rather more expensive than the Rainbow City ebay store. I see they have a link to LCD Smartie!

The YM2004A modules use the Samsung KS0066U controller (HD44780 compatible) and I assume they have the English/Japanese (maybe Chinese??) character set. Info courtesy of Google: http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... safe%3Doff

Incidentally, what were the import duties for the Rainbow City products (if any)?

Matt

[smeagol]

No import duty charged.

[jaffamuffin]

Hi

I'm in the UK and been looking for LCDs for a while now but they all seem so voerpriced. Anyway after thinking more about an in car MP3 player and seeing this plugin: http://www.markuszehnder.ch/projects/lc ... /index.php

It seems ideal for in car with LCD screen for disaply.

But I found a few links to people supplying them but still, seems quite pricy for anything larger than 16x2 (could post links if required)

but On Farnell uk website they seem to have a bunch of reasnably priced units, like this one for example:
http://uk.farnell.com/everbouquet/mc200 ... dp/1220439

'everbouquet mc2004e-syl' -- Am I to assume that ANY 16 pin parallel interface lcd display is HD77480 compatible? (if i am to go by wiki it seems that's the case)

They also have similar farily priced 4x40 and 2x40 units.

I really begrudge paying like 80-90 UKP for something that seems to cost 40$ in the states.


Also, the parallax.com 4x20 display is available for ?30 elsewhere and for a couple of pound a RS232 PC connectino can be made to interface it with a PC. Same thing: is ANY LCD with a PC RS232 (not TTL) interface jsut the same thing from the point of view of any software that uses an LCD screen on the com port? e.g. that plugin i mentioned above.

help!


any more details needed just reply.. cheers

[caesar]

I'd buy a HD44780 compatible parallel connection display from ebay, best prices for lcds.

HD44780 compatible is a must if you want to interface easy.

Different serial displays have different protocols, so you are on your own with them (you can get them to work with LCDSmartie's test driver).

[jaffamuffin]

yes thanks. For some reason I couldn't find them on ebay the other day. But I looked again and found some 40 char and 20x4 char and got 5 displays for less than ?30. So bargain. :)_ !