Need help selecting graphical LCD and controller

Marq87gt

New member
Hey guys......

My name is Marq and I am new to LCD's. I have a few questions for you about selecting a LCD for my application. I am wanting to replace the gauges in my car with two LCD's and plan on running them with a Atmega2560 micro-controller. I am planning on copying a similar kit that is currently available (http://lcdash.wikispaces.com/) but plan on running two LCD's as I said before and would like to use larger LCD's than they did.

I am currently trying to decide which LCD/controller I should get
option 1: RA-8835 Controller
http://www.newhavendisplay.com/inde...ategory_id=95/home_id=60/mode=prod/prd270.htm
option 2: RA-8835 Controller
http://www.crystalfontz.com/product/CFAG320240C0-FMI-TZ.html
option 3: S1D13700 Controller
http://www.crystalfontz.com/product/CFAG320240K-TMI-TZ.html

Questions:
How important is the viewing angle? Option 1 is the only LCD I could find with a 12 O'clock viewing angle. Because of its placement in the car I will always be looking down on the screens.

I am wanting to use as much code as I can from the LCDash project but they currently use a 240x128 LCD with the T6963 controller. When picking a new controller for the larger LCD should I worry about which controller I pick (meaning should I try to get on as similar as possible to the T6963)?

According to the documentation here are some of the differences I found between the two controllers:
S1D3700 has 2 bits per pixel grayscale, Busy bit accessible through a physical pin, and has a wider operating voltage range.
Which controller would you suggest getting? Will having the grayscale be that much of an advantage? I am only planning on displaying numbers, letters and gauges.

What about the back lighting? Which type works better in the sunlight.... LED or CCFL?

Anything else I should consider when picking a LCD? What about other LCD's.... do you know of a better one that would fit my application?

Thanks for your help,
-Marq
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Here are some partial answers/opinions.
How important is the viewing angle? Option 1 is the only LCD I could find with a 12 O'clock viewing angle. Because of its placement in the car I will always be looking down on the screens.
I believe this is a non-issue, as you could mount any display up-side-down, and flip the image, either by setting register values, or in your drawing routines.
S1D3700 has 2 bits per pixel grayscale ... Will having the grayscale be that much of an advantage? I am only planning on displaying numbers, letters and gauges.
It might be useful, but it would complicate your code quite a bit.
What about the back lighting? Which type works better in the sunlight.... LED or CCFL?
LED.
 

Marq87gt

New member
cosmicvoid....... thanks for the quick reply.

Anyone have the ribbon cable part number? What about the connector that will hook the ribbon cable to my PCB?
 
For which display? I'll take a guess that you mean the "320240K". The specs and data sheet don't say, but it looks to me like a 20 pin, 1mm pitch, flat flex connector.

You could go to Digikey.com, and do searches for "flat flex jumper" and "flat flex connector". There are hundreds of choices. The connectors will be surface mount, which makes it hard for DIYers to use.

Maybe CF Tech has some recommendations.
 

CF Tech

Administrator
For the cable, a digi-key search is probably the best path.

On the issue of sunlight readability, a positive (transflective) display (dark characters on a light background) will get more readable with more light.
 

Marq87gt

New member
I have been searching Crystalfontz webpage and could not find any positive transflective 320x240 display. Do you have to special order them?
 
Here's a suggestion for CFA: since you have introduced display models with only a ZIF flat flex cable connector, it might be a good idea to offer an accessory board that has a matching connector fanned out to a thru-hole pad grid, like a 2 row 0.1" header footprint, to give users a way to do hand wiring or convert to common ribbon cable.
 

CF Tech

Administrator
We have done that in-house for a few new displays. We will have to think about it as a product. What we rather hope to do is have more of the demo boards, especially for the ZIF/FFC style displays.
 
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