Serial boards

[AtomSoft]

Hey guys just wanted to inform you all that i will be starting several small projects which will include full source and schematics on serial boards.

For example:

2x16 LCD Serial Board
Nokia 7110 LCD Serial Board
5x7 LED Matrix Serial Board With expansion options (gonna be tuff but fun!)

I will also try to create VB6 Code to control all these items and show how a product can be made with a friendly user interface and have the user enter data for storage into eeprom for storage and usage from the PC to PIC.

Hopefully this will help a ton of users....

If there are any other boards anyone wants to suggest be my guest. I will be will to buy parts and learn and help out. (just nothing huge ok)

Also which do you think i should do first?

 

[Mr RB]

You can already buy serial controlled 2x16 LCD modules.

I think the Nokia one might sell ok if you sell it with the display and the Nokia connector is not too fussy.

The 5x7 driver is cool, if you could put a couple of 5x7 on the board and make the PCB end stackable seamlessly (so they can be joined to make large scrolling text display) and put the serial in/out and pwr pins on both sides of the PCB in a way they can be very easily soldered together (they should only need 3 pins on each side of the PCB??).

Unlimited size 5x7 display controlled from just 1 serial pin would be a winner I think.

 

[AtomSoft]

Its not to sell. I want to make it and offer it for free here with all documentation and stuff.

 

[AtomSoft]

The 5x7 seems like a fun one I think a lot of people would gain more from that. Im sure it would be easy to make ...

I might need help with effects tho. I just mainly know scrolling and displaying text. If users can add to the code afterward it would be really great.

ill start on this tonight or tomorrow morning. Ill draw up some designs and try some out to see if i can get something neat to life.

 

[Mr RB]

Sorry I misunderstood. You said "products" so I assumed you were going to sell stuff.

With the 5x7 thing, would it have an onboard PIC/micro? I guess it would have to unless you use serial buffer chips and dedicated matrix chips.

Assuming it has 2 5x7 displays, it could have 3 modes;
1. serial input 2 ascii characters, then display them
2. serial input a vertical byte (7 pixels) on the far right or far left
3. scroll all data right/left 1 pixel

So they could be joined together and used just as a fast ascii display (like a clock etc) or you could load them with any data then easily scroll the whole display.

I'm not sure how you would address them, either make each module numbered (solder jumpers?) or just shift the serial right through in a smart format, so when you scroll one module left a pixel it sends out its leftmost byte automatcially...

 

[AtomSoft]

ok im in proteus and im wiring this up in the simulation and i had a great! idea on how to have it up to 9 boards expansion and 4 lines. So you can make a huge
9x(5x7)x4 line but would require multiple pics.


multiple Pics would be::::
9x5 rows = 45 leds in 1 row
4x(7 led column) = 28 leds in 1 column
thats 1260 leds controlled by 2-4 pics on 1 serial line.


So i want to make a simple 1 line for starters I will allow for upto 8-9 led blocks thats

40-45 leds in a row
and 7 leds in a column

40x7 = 280 LEDs for 8 bricks
45x7 = 315 LEDs for 9 bricks

This will be controlled via UART. Since i will be scanning left to right only 7 leds max are on at 1 time. Thats a max of about .010 (10mA) each led so thats .07 (70mA) if on for long time. Remember since its multiplexed we are going to be showing the leds on/off for a certain time. Assuming about half or less we can expect a drop to around 35mA for the whole thing. This not only saves power but it also makes control easier.

Anyway im off to begin coding and writing ideas. If anyone has any code that they want to share that is related to this, post it... ill be updating this a few times a day since im a busy man now lol