I love chopping old (and new) items to salvage parts from inside. A few years ago, I got a... something that was used for marine applications. It had a shiny big LCD! I kept it in my vault for later use. That later finally arrived, and is named "Instant cold coffee maker machine". I badly need to use this LCD for my coffee machine, it will make a great interface.
To the workbench
Armed with screwdrivers and wire cutters, i opened the box (which had like a thousand screws) and removed the entrails. I was very careful with this LCD. I turned it around and discovered that the manufacturer is optrex. I wrote down the part number and googled for info.
Meet the "something", probably a sonar or depth meter
I opened it after removing all the water-sealing screwsI removed all the entrails from inside
Isn't this LCD purely awesome? Hope it works
On the backside there are the details.
Made in Japan by Optrex. Nice choice!
Believe it or not, there is absolutely no info about this product! I tried to get in contact with the manufacturer and with other re-sellers, but i got no answer regarding the datasheet whatsoever. This means two things: either i drop it and find another LCD to salvage, or i take it as a challenge. No need to tell you which one i chose.
Very interesting. Thanks for taking time to make these videos. What exactly does your breadboard circuit do in order to shift (scroll) to the next scan line on the LCD ?
@kiranvarma-npeducations which software do you mean? The PIC software? It is very messy and i made it only for testing the LCD. If this is what you want, i can certainly give it to you. But it is not commented.
Is that software shown in video is designed by you, its cool! simply generating binary code for bitmap images and serializing.. to LCD panel via some controller (i think from Philips). Which language that u have used to develop software. Final output in LCD panel is mind blowing, you are genius in both software and hardware part. Really amazing video, really reverse engineering. Thanks for such wonderful project tutorial. I will bookmark your site for my learning benefit
@sdfdsfadsjk But first i will finish my coffee maker for which this LCD is supposed to go. But due to lack of funds, the project will be delayed for a while.
@Annonymois sure there are methods for this, but not by hacking the LCD that way. There are programs for example for PCs and others for telephones to do this, there are also very VERY cheap gadgets (http://www.ebay.com/sch/?_kw=gsm%20spy&_clu=2&_fcid=5&_localstpos=&_sop=15&_stpos=&gbr=1). If i were you, i would start with a simple PC format, and then install a firewall on the PC. Any surveillance program installed would then be erased.
Hi. I saw your YouTube video about reverse engineering an LCD screen. And some posters had said this process is used by hackers in order to spy on people through their computer screens? And I started googling this questions because I perceive I am being watched by people I know. I don't know how. I suspect there is a website where the hackers stream the audio and visuals to the recipients who include friends and so-called family members. They drop subtle hints to me as to the fact they they know what I'm doing by posting comments on YouTube videos I've just watched or they repeat the words I've just spoken by writing it down on my Facebook wall or in my junk email subject line. If you google gang stalking, cause stalking, gas lighting, you will see that there are a lot of people who are experiencing electronic surveillance. It's crazy. I know I saw a real life police show once and they were receiving visual feed from the cell phone of a criminal. I don't know how they did it. But I have been abused by people I know at work and in the last year by my own family because they used to like / love me and now they hate me. My brothers family in particular and my nephew from my sister have been befriended by these cause stalkers and they constantly let me know I'm being watched. They don't admit it but I've heard them talk about private conversations I've had when they were no where near me! It's crazy.
Once again the question is: can I be seen when I'm in my pajamas in front of my PC monitor, iPhone screen, even if the camera is not pointed at me. Just through the screens? Thank-you
At 20 October 2011, 14:11:02 user Tom wrote: [reply @ Tom]
@Tom cool! will you post any images to see what you are making? You can use the forum, or a free image host.
At 20 October 2011, 2:29:47 user Tom wrote: [reply @ Tom]
Kammenos,
I finally got my display working! It's only 160x80 so I can get great refresh rates from a pic... right now the controller is an 18f2455 and i'm using it's internal ram for the display. Currently it only displays a test image that I stored in program memory, but I plan to add a 5x7 font, a gal for timing logic, external serial display ram, and serial character input... then I'll use it for console output on a couple of hacked linux devices. Thanks for all the information!!
Charlie,
Found the spec for your panels on-line. Just making a physical connection to those panels would be very difficult because of the 60+ FPC connector on the stupid thing... unless you have a breakout board in the works? If you can physically connect to it, making a controller is certainly doable. You might need an fpga or something else that's pretty fast to do the more complicated rgb timings.
I have obtained a large (200-300) lot of bare LCD Screens (no driver/controller boards). About half of them are 3.8" Sharp LQ038 screens. These were stored loose in a box and many are obviously broken. I would like to do something with these and I am at this point looking for a simple circuit so that I can test them, also possibly a way to turn them into digital photo frames. I am an Electrical Engineer, but it has been a while since I have done detailed component work like this and I have never worked with Color LCD displays before. Can someone direct me to where I can find some circuit designs that I may be able to use?
@Tom its too cool to hear that you are doing fine. I'm waiting for your video to see the results ;)
At 2 August 2011, 18:30:42 user Tom wrote: [reply @ Tom]
Just recently got back to my lcd project... The M signal is to drive the LCD voltages: the col/seg drivers use it to alternate the voltage applied to the cells, otherwise the lifespan is shortened. The pic simply alternates M from high to low every frame.
My lcd is only 160x80, and I've generated a test image with a pic18f2455... I'm only running at 20MHz right now but the refresh rate is good because it's a much smaller screen. Thanks again!!
@vga the problem that i faced with vga is the speed. a 1024x768 @60hz monitor will receive data with a rate of abput 47.2MHz (1024*768*60). Moreover, the signal comes in 3 analog lines, 0 to 0.7 volts. My knowledge is not sufficient to select the proper chips for the job, read and recreate the signal correctly.
At 29 April 2011, 4:30:48 user vga wrote: [reply @ vga]
Can you reverse engineer VGA?
I have 4 identical LCD monitors.
I like to wire them together in one LCD screen.
So from PC will go one vga cable to a box. In this box will be 4 vga outputs for my other 4 screens.
You are very good at debugging (reverse engineering). I like your honesty when you talk about your projects/experiments. You also inspire me to explore some of my broken devices parts. Hang on to the curiosity you have and it will be kind to you in the future I'm sure. Thx for the website.....
So, when I say that this is not very flexible, I mean that you have to do everything by yourself, example: Let's say you want to print a string on the screen.
With your design, you have to take the fonts, calculate the exact position on the screen, take care of the background (and not delete it) and load the image in the external memory.
With a smart controller, like the SED, you just say that you want to output on the screen the specific string. It will take care of it. I will also not delete the background image, so, when you take the letters out, the background will be there.
My first monochrome LCD, like yours, didn't have a smart controlle, I put the LC7981 controller on it and it worked. My second monochrome LCD was this:
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/LCD-101/256-X-128-LCD-PANEL//1.html
I had to do a change there. It's been a long time and I don't remember but here is bottom line: The SED1335 supports a 16 bit address bus and the memory on this LCD is only 8 kBytes. I found an 32 kBytes RAM with the same layout as the 8 kBytes. The difference was that the 8 kBytes RAM had two NC lines in the place of the two extra address lines on the 32 kBytes RAM. So, I replaced the RAM, hardwired the NC pins to the correct SED1335 pins and it worked perfectly :)
@Tom 1. Yes, square wave signal for both
2. i am not sure what these pins do. in my case, the 3 79430 chops have their 3 M pins connected to a strange chip labeled 73101YXA at pin #3. When i began to RE, i could not find any info about this chip. Luckily, i did not have to. If you manage to find something about pin M or this chip, please email me to upload it for others.
At 27 March 2011, 21:10:58 user Tom wrote: [reply @ Tom]
Nice work! You gave me the idea to work on my own 160x80 lcd which has the same common and segment driver. Two questions if you don't mind...
1. you said you connected your pins 2 and 3 (CP for the 79431 and 79401) to your function generator - was this just a square wave connected to both CP inputs?
2. what is the M pin (pin 94 on the 79430 and pin 86 on the 79401) on your lcd connected to? i have a pin on my connector that goes to M on the drivers and i'm not sure what to do with it... the specs say M is an input - "LCD drive output alternating current (AC) signal"
Once I figure those two points out I'll make up some programmable logic to take the place of all the discrete TTL chips. Thanks!!
I got exactly the same lcd optrex dmf 500081n f.fw-2 96z2m1.
They were used in so called "Maas" cofee machine prepaid system.
it came also with the complete controller and keypad.
If needed i can provide the datasheet of the lcd .
The solution you are taking, although very creative, it is not too flexible. You cannot do many things with this design.
What I would suggest, after of course you finish with the current design, is to put a SED1335 controller hooked up in there. The controller is so easy to play with, you will find so many drivers in C or assembly.
And if you want to re-invent the wheel (I assume you want, we engineers are the same yes?) then you can write them yourself!
You can buy the SED1335 on a board if you like
http://www.shopeio.com/inventory/details.asp?id=773&x=Seiko%20LCDC-1330-32A
Jonathan you know what? your idea has a strong base, and i will certainly give it a shot! i think it will work. thank you for reading posting this comment!
I think the 16F1934 can do it without extra hardware, using the MSSP and sacrificing four I/O lines.
You can have a 32MHz INTOSC (8MHz with 4x PLL; see section 5.2.2.6 of the 16F1934 data sheet). You can also use the MSSP to fetch bytes from the external memory for you at one bit per CPU cycle while sending the previous byte to the LCD, or get display data from internal program memory or even RAM instead.
Instead of 11*80 instructions to display a line, try 14*40 or less, something like:
; send one line to LCD
; RD[7..4] LCD data, RD[3..0] N/C, RB0 -DCLK
; setup FSR1L/H and dotcnt (6)
do_dots:
MOVF INDF1,W ;1 (2 for PM, try MOVIW for internal mem)
INCF FSR1L ; 1 (remove for SSPBUF)
MOVWF tmp70,F ;1 store byte
MOVWF PORTD,F ;1 output high nybble
BCF PORTB,0 ;1 strobe
BSF PORTB,0 ;1 unstrobe
SWAPF tmp70,W ;1 read low nybble
MOVWF PORTD,F ;1 output
BCF PORTB,0 ;1 strobe
BSF PORTB,0 ;1 unstrobe
DECFSZ dotcnt ;1 next byte
GOTO do_dots ;2
FSR1 could point to SSPBUF (which can easily keep up), linear RAM, or program memory (+1 cycle per 8 bits). If using RAM, save one cycle by removing the write to tmp70 and changing SWAPF INDF1,W. If using internal memory, try the MOVIW INDF1++ instruction instead of the MOVF/INCF pair to save 1 cycle.
At 138000 cycles per frame (worst case rounded up), you can maintain a ~58Hz refresh rate at 32MHz with no extra hardware.
Of more interest is that with small changes you can store tiles in program memory for easy character display. It is slightly slower, but can (barely) achieve 50Hz screen refresh with a fully tile-based screen layout. For example, code to choose among 64 tiles, 16x16 pixels in size (2kword program memory), might look like:
; draw 16 lines with tiles
; set FSR0 to tile index base
; set FSR1H to tile bitmap base, must be 256-byte aligned
MOVLW 10h
MOVWF linecnt
do_lines:
MOVLW 80h ;1
ADDWF lineoffset ;1
BTFSC STATUS,Z ;1
INCF FSR1H ;1
MOVLW 14h ;1
MOVWF dotcnt ;1
do_dots:
MOVIW INDF0++ ;1 (2 for PM)
ANDLW 3Fh ;1 just for safety, can be eliminated
IORWF lineoffset,W ;1
MOVWF FSR1L ;1
; [MOVF INDF1,W... essentially the old inner loop, twice...
; but instead of INCF FSR1L, do BSF FSR1L,6 to get 2nd byte]
DECFSZ dotcnt
GOTO do_dots
ADDFSR FSR1,-20 ;1 correct tile index ptr for next scan
; [strobe LCLK...]
DECFSZ linecnt
GOTO do_lines
You get the idea.
At 15 February 2011, 15:06:29 user Luke wrote: [reply @ Luke]
Was a Raymarine fathom-meter, from the resolution of the screen seems also provide a kind of graphic for the bottom view.
it's around 2003 product, made by 3 different board: sounder, main pbc with "CPU" and LCD driver
At the end, this article will reveal the raw power of the combinational circuits over the sequential circuits. The video will be uploaded within a couple of hours. I will finish this page tomorrow.
At 24 December 2010, 19:05:32 user Luis wrote: [reply @ Luis]
Simply Awsome, all this to the conclusion that pic is not enough, very educative. Always is a pleaasure read your articles
Home
Projects
Experiments
Circuits
Theory
BLOG
PIC Tutorials
Time for Science
Contact
Forum
RSS
Reddit this
HOT in heaven!
NEW in heaven!
