CFAH1602D-YTI-ET questions

[thoffman1986]

I amd working with this LCD character display for a class project and was wondering if it was possible to test this LCD manually without a microcontroller. whatever i have tried thus far has not worked and is causing me to worry about the product itself. Any help would greatly be appreciated.

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[cosmicvoid]

There is no way to test LCD displays without using a control cpu. You have to have some way to send initialization commands and data to display. Without that, you will only get a row of black cells upon power-up, which doesn't prove the display is capable of working.

 

[CF Tech]

I know of one fellow who used a dip switch and a bounceless pushbutton on E to initialize a display . . . .

He had more patience than me

So in short, cosmic is right, you need a microcontroller.

We do have the EDP if you just want to test a character display:

http://www.crystalfontz.com/products/product.phtml?product_id=1158

 

[thoffman1986]

Thanks, It helps to know that it probably will work with a microcontroller, i'll just keep working to get the MC running so i can test it asap

Thanks again for the info

 

[CF Tech]

Make sure Vo is at about 1v

 

[thoffman1986]

what should the resistance be from that to ground? or should I just leave it out?

 

[CF Tech]

Typically you would use a 10k pot between Vcc and GND, with the wiper connected to Vo. Set it to about 1v for starters.

You could also use a filtered PWM or DAC. You have to pull Vo down, IIRC it sources 1 to 2 mA.