LCD (Winstar WH1602A) directions (Newbie)

Hi forum,
I am new to Picaxe (if only you had a penny for everytime you´ve heard that, right?) and I am looking into interphasing a LCD module (Winstar WH1602A datasheet and application notes) to a project I am working on. I have several different picaxes ranging from 08M to 40x1 and can use any for this particular project.
Let me clarify out of respect to you: before posting I´ve read the manual section 3 and searched the forums and despite the huge amount of hits, I haven´t found a basic enough answer. :(

My (first) question is, which of the three types of conection described in the manual fits me best?

1) Serial LCD firmware chip
2) Serial LCD module with onboard firmware chip
3) Direct connection

If I understand this correctly, this LCD module I´ve got is a parallel one and I need an IC to translate the serial output of the Picaxe for a parallel port. So presumably I need an IC that has 1 input and 16 outputs (one for each of the connections on the module)? I also assume that that IC is the FRM010 that I saw in one post.

Can someone please help me with these first steps? Thanks.

Andrés
 

Technical

Technical Support
Staff member
Yes, the FRM010 is exactly what you want if you want to use a serial interface and make your own PCB.

You could buy a serial kit like the AXE033, but then the LCD you already have would be surplus to requirements.
 

russbow

Senior Member
Andre, My preferred option is to use the FRM 010 serial firmware chip.
It is quite versatile and can be driven by any picaxe using the serout command.

The display you suggest is pretty standard and will interface nicely with the FRM

Have a look at at the data sheet
 

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Chavaquiah

Senior Member
Well, I think you will have to be the one who decides which option suits you best... :)

1) That's one easy and relatively cheap solution. You get the FRM010 or similar LCD driver, interface it between the Picaxe and the LCD and can use very simple commands on the Picaxe to drive the display. You can use any Picaxe as a single output pin will be enough.

2) That's easier still. However, since you already have an LCD, why waste money on a second one?

3) It's quite possible to interface a Picaxe (with at least 11 output pins) directly with the LCD. For a graphical LCD (GLCD) it's not a great idea (I know, I just tried) because it requires a lot of speed and memory. But a text only LCD is very easy to drive. It will require, however, a little bit of programming to write a suitable driver, so...
 
Russbow, Chavaquiah and Technical Support: thanks for the support and the datasheet. I´ll look into it and see if I can get it locally. Picaxe has a dealer here (Argentina) who doesn´t return calls or emails. As a matter of fact I had to buy the ones I have from the States.
If I understood it correctly, the FRM010 is a preprogrammed PIC, so I don´t think there is an equivalent I can also ask about, is there? If not, I will have to import that too.
Regardless, thanks! :D
 

Chavaquiah

Senior Member
There are others (search for LCD serial backpack, for instance). But, unless you can get something locally and on the cheap, I wouldn't bother.

If you can spare a Picaxe or if you are working with something bigger than the 08M, it's not very difficult to interface directly to the LCD. If need be, you could use a second Picaxe to act as a serial to parallel interface.

I suggest you have a look here: http://www.hippy.freeserve.co.uk/picaxelc.htm

Shame I hadn't seen that page before (among the many very good articles on Hippy's site).
 

westaust55

Moderator
Russbow, Chavaquiah and Technical Support: thanks for the support and the datasheet. I´ll look into it and see if I can get it locally. Picaxe has a dealer here (Argentina) who doesn´t return calls or emails. As a matter of fact I had to buy the ones I have from the States.
If I understood it correctly, the FRM010 is a preprogrammed PIC, so I don´t think there is an equivalent I can also ask about, is there? If not, I will have to import that too.
Regardless, thanks! :D
Yes, the FRM010 is a proprietary chip produced only by Rev Ed.
therefore you will not find a direct equivalent manufactured by another source.

If purchase of the FRM010 even from the US proves difficult, then have a look on PH Andersons website as he sells a range of PICAXE chips and some LCD interface/backpack modules
http://www.phanderson.com/



look about two-thirds of the way down this pages: http://www.phanderson.com/ordering_1.html
udner the heading Serial to Parallel LCD Kits
 
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zener

Member
Now that I have got my FRM & LCD working together (other than one silly mistake) I would recommend the FRM010 chip as well.
 
Chavaquiah, I have come accross Hippy´s site on other posts yesterday, but for some reason I kept getting an Error 404. I have just tried and it is working now. I look into it carefully. Thanks.

Westaust55 said:
look about two-thirds of the way down this pages: http://www.phanderson.com/ordering_1.html
udner the heading Serial to Parallel LCD Kits
Thank you for bringing this site to my attention. I haven´t heard about it before. I am always on the lookout for better ways to import gadgets into this country "of mine". God knows it isn´t easy!

zener said:
I would recommend the FRM010 chip as well.
Thanks for the input Zener. In this short time I have come to love Picaxe and everything Rev Ed puts out. Seriously love the simplicity and affordability of it all. Gotta love the brits! However the exchange rate from pounds to pesos and the shipping and handling make it difficult. Given an option, I will always go Picaxe.

Thanks, guys!
 
PHAnderson.com said:
I also ship to Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Denmark, South Africa, Austria, Iceland, Greenland, United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden, France, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Luxembourg. The amount is calculated by my PayPal account.

I do not ship to other places such as Africa and South or Central America. Consider using SkyBox in Miami.
Thanks for the tip, Westaust55. However as you can see I am outside of shipping range. (BTW Skybox is more expensive that buying it directly from the UK). I did come across this kit from moderndevice.com and they are brave enough to ship to the outer reaches of space! :p

Anyway, I am currently considering that (given that I am getting myself in the mess of doing another import) I might as well go ahead and also get the AXE121 kit that I was looking into. So I´m shopping around to see who sells both items.
 

manuka

Senior Member
Andrés: If you love the best of British, perhaps consider the ultra-thin 'chip-on-glass' (CoG) "TextStar" LCD offering shown below. Aside from nifty features, it really appeals for it's ability to run on a wide supply voltage (3.5-20V). Many LCD kits (& we also have local offerings here in NZ -pictured),are picky about their need for a 5V supply. Such a supply may not be easy to organise when running a PICAXE from a few AA cells etc. This is not to dismiss the utility of established Hippy/18X/14M/Rev.Ed/PHAnderson serial LCD approaches of course, but the 5V need makes just one more thing to deal with when in the field...

Of course, as this Textstar is so slim & light weight,p&p should be more favourable too- you could probably have one mailed in a (padded) envelope!
 

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Andrés: If you love the best of British...
Hi there, Manuka. Let me put it this way: I have baptized this first project of mine: NIGEL. because it is the most typical British name I could think of. How about that for being fond of Britain?

I have to admit that I do like the Chip-on-glass solution. However I fail to see the relation with Britain. Are you a dealer of CoGs?
 

nfk

Senior Member
Andrés, you will be doubly pleased to hear that I fully approve of the project name!

(I'm the guy that owns Cat's Whisker Technologies - the company that makes the TextStar! :) )

Regards,
Nigel
 
Dear community,
On Friday I´ve received the Serial Firmware chip that I´ve bought from Tech Supplies in the UK. I have started the experiments with the Winstar LCD display of reference and I am still to see some text on the display.
I am on the process of troubleshooting and I was wondering if anyone has experience with these particular displays. If I understand it correctly, on the bottom row, the pinout is in this order:

14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 15 16

Can someone confirm this?

Thanks everyone!

Cheers,
Andrés
 

nick12ab

Senior Member
If I understand it correctly, on the bottom row, the pinout is in this order:

14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 15 16

Can someone confirm this?
That is correct.

Make sure that the contrast control is actually connected (pin 3) otherwise nothing at all will appear. The contrast needs to be around Vdd -4v so if on 3xAA or a 5v regulated supply it should be connected through a variable resistor to Vss (0v) but for 2xAA, you will probably need a negative voltage unless your LCD has that on-board. If the contrast is correctly connected, if Vdd (pin 2), Vss (pin 1) and Vo (pin 3, the contrast pin) are correctly connected, the top row will show filled squares until the LCD is initialized.

ADDED: Considering the cost of the TextStar, you may be better off getting an OLED or VFD which often have more advanced controllers with serial interfacing options.
 
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Ok, thanks Nick12ab. I believe my circuit fits your criteria. However I will double check.
Is there a correct (as opposed to wrong) way of initializing the display?

Cheers,
Andrés
 
Progress was made. The LCD is working, and so is the the backlight. I got the entire top row filled up with every dot in every character, which is what nick12ab described as a non-initialized display.

How do I managed to initialize it with the FRM010? Is it automatic? Or does that come from the Picaxe chip? If so, is that code dependent?

Thanks everyone,
Cheers,
Andrés
 

nick12ab

Senior Member
How do I managed to initialize it with the FRM010? Is it automatic? Or does that come from the Picaxe chip? If so, is that code dependent?
The FRM010 automatically initializes it but with direct connection, you need to do it manually. For 8-bit mode direct connection, put this code at the beginning replacing portB with another port if you want to and enable/rs to whatever pins you want. R/W on the LCD is connected straight to Ground/Vss/0v.
Code:
	dirsB = 255
	low RS
	pause 100
	pinsB = %00000001 : pulsout enable,100
	pinsB = %00000010 : pulsout enable,100
	pinsB = %00001100 : pulsout enable,100
	pinsB = %00111000 : pulsout enable,100
then to send an instruction
Code:
	low RS
	pinsB = [instruction]
	pulsout enable,1
and to send data
Code:
	high RS
	pinsB = [data]
	pulsout enable,1
ADDED: An example schematic for interfacing with the 40X2 - change pin connectors to whichever you want to use. Click it to view larger.

The resistor marked RB is for the backlight and not required if it is already provided on the back of the LCD.
 
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The FRM010 automatically initializes it but with direct connection, you need to do it manually. For 8-bit mode direct connection, put this code at the beginning replacing portB with another port if you want to and enable/rs to whatever pins you want. R/W on the LCD is connected straight to Ground/Vss/0v.
Code:
	dirsB = 255
	low RS
	pause 100
	pinsB = %00000001 : pulsout enable,100
	pinsB = %00000010 : pulsout enable,100
	pinsB = %00001100 : pulsout enable,100
	pinsB = %00111000 : pulsout enable,100
then to send an instruction
Code:
	low RS
	pinsB = [instruction]
	pulsout enable,1
and to send data
Code:
	high RS
	pinsB = [data]
	pulsout enable,1
ADDED: An example schematic for interfacing with the 40X2 - change pin connectors to whichever you want to use. Click it to view larger.

The resistor marked RB is for the backlight and not required if it is already provided on the back of the LCD.
Hey nick12ab,
Once again, thanks for the ilustrated response. As you know, I got it working. Here´s some proof: http://youtu.be/Q2xuCCH950k

Big thumbs up!

Andrés
 

nick12ab

Senior Member
Hey nick12ab,
Once again, thanks for the ilustrated response. As you know, I got it working. Here´s some proof: http://youtu.be/Q2xuCCH950k

Big thumbs up!

Andrés
You're welcome.

Oh, one more thing I found out today because I started using an OLED display, the LCD initialisation codes that I gave you earlier WON'T work on a seemingly functionally identical OLED module also from Winstar, so if you want to upgrade to an OLED, this is what you need, otherwise keep what you've already got.
Code:
	pinsB = %00000110 : pulsout enable,400
	pinsB = %00001100 : pulsout enable,400
	pinsB = %00111000 : pulsout enable,400
	pinsB = %00000001 : pulsout enable,400
 
Ok. I´ll keep your last post well at hand for when I get bored with this display and decide to graduate to an OLED one. Thanks!

Cheers,
Andrés
 

nick12ab

Senior Member
Sorry to bump a pretty much finished thread, but in my circuit diagram given earlier, there's an error - the 0v pins of the PICAXE and LCD aren't connected to 0v. Updated schematic below.



The error probably didn't affect anyone as it's instinct to connect 0v to 0v, but it's just to be on the safe side for those using 2xAA+Inverter, and apparently applying the negative voltage without both 3-5v (Vdd) and 0v (Vss/ground) can damage the LCD.
 
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