SerCD

1
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SerLC v.g
Seriul Inubled LC
,[g[oo6

1 Overview

The SerLD 2. is a simple and cost effec-
tie solntion for interfacing to Liqnid r,stal Dis-
pla,s (LDs) Iased on the HD1180 controller.
The SerLD modnle taLes incoming 9600Ips TTL
leel signals and displa,s those characters on the
LD screen. Onl, three wires - V. CND. and Sig-
nal - are needed to interface to the LD.
Please report t,pos. inaccnracies. and especiall,
nnclear eplanations to ns at
sparLsparLfnn.com. Snggestions for improe-
ments are welcome and greatl, alned.
1.1 Ieutores in Version .g

SerLD 2. has some new featnres that
maLe the SerLD een more powerfnl and eco-
nomical:
New PJ 16J688 ntilizes onIoard JAJT for
greater commnnication accnrac,
AdjnstaIle Iand rates of 2100. 1800. 9600
(defanlt). 11100. 19200 and 88100
Operational IacLspace
Creater processing speed at 8HHz
Jncoming Inffer stores np to 80 characters
LacLlight transistor can handle np to 1A
Pnlse width modnlation of IacLlight allows
direct control of IacLlight Irightness and cnr-
rent consnmption
All snrface monnt design allows a IacLpacL
that is half the size of the original
Jaster Ioot-np time
Loot-np displa, can Ie tnrned on/off ia firm-
ware
Jser definaIle Splash Screen

InterIuce SpeciIicutions

eIuolt commonicutions occor ut
q6oobps with S bits oI dutu, 1 sturt bit, 1
stop bit, und no purity.

The SerLD is controlled nsing actnal AS-
JJ characters. This means that if ,on pass the
ASJJ character r` to the modnle. an r` will Ie
displa,ed on the LD at the net cnrsor position.
There are onl, two eceptions to this. These are
the command characters decimal 21 (0xFE) and
121 (0x7t).

ConIigorution

All settings are stored on onboard EEPRuH
and loaded during power up.
SerCD

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.1 Bucklight

The SerLD 2. Pnlse Width Hodnlates
the IacLlight ia a 1A L)T transistor. This allows
the nser to set 1 of 80 different Irightness settings.
L, sending the special command character 0x7t
(decimal 121) followed I, a nnmIer 128-1. the
IacLlight PWH alne will Ie set. This is hand,
when power consnmption of the nnit mnst Ie mini-
mized. L, redncing the Irightness. the oerall
IacLlight cnrrent consnmption is rednced.

. LC Type Setop

The SerLD 2. firmware inclndes set-
tings to interface to the following t,pes of LDs :
216. 220. 116. and 120.
Jf ,on pnrchased the SerLD soldered to an LD.
it has alread, Ieen confignred to worL with that
specific LD. Yon shonld not hae to confignre
an,thing.
Jf ,on pnrchased the SerLD modnle I, itself. ,on
will hae to tell the modnle what t,pe of LD it is
going to Ie. or is cnrrentl,. attached to.
To control what t,pe of LD the SerLD modnle
is attached to. transmit the special command - 121
(0). Jollow this command with either 8. 1. . or
6. These commands set the LD character width
and nnmIer of lines. These settings are nsed to cor-
rectl, wrap the cnrsor to Leep it within the iew-
aIle screen. The t,pe of LD is saed to JJPJOH
after each change.

. Ixtended LC Communds

The HD1180 LD controller is er, com-
mon. The etended commands for this chip inclnde
Int are not limited to:
Please refer to the HD1180 datasheet for more
information.
lear displa, and set cnrsor position are the two
commands that affect the SerLD the most. L,
sending these commands to the SerLD the cnrsor
position gets changed. This change is tracLed I,
the firmware and cnrsor wrapping is performed
normall,. A cnrsor moe to ontside the iewaIle
area is possiIle and the cnrsor position ariaIle
will Ie npdated accnratel,.



Bucklight Brightness
Vuloe Brightness
1S OII
1qo qo% On
1go ,% On
1gS Not Vulid
1g, Iolly On
Hqq,So Communds
Cleur ispluy 0x01
Move corsor right one 0x14
Move corsor leIt one 0x10
Scroll right 0x1t
Scroll leIt 0x18
Torn visoul displuy on 0x0t
Torn visoul displuy oII 0x08
Lnderline corsor on 0x0E
Lnderline corsor oII 0x0t
Blinking box corsor on 0x0D
Blinking box corsor oII 0x0t
Set corsor position 0x80 +
LC Type
o Churucters Wide 8
16 Churucters Wide 1
q Lines
Lines 6
SerCD

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The iewaIle area cnrsor positions are as follows
for almost all HD1180 Iased LDs:
To perform a cnrsor moe. a series of steps mnst
occnr:
1. Yon will need to determine the correct decimal
position to moe to. Jor eample. the iewaIle
position three on the second line of a 16 char-
acter displa, is 66.
2. Set Iit (the highest Iit) of that decimal nnm-
Ier to 1`. Position 66 - 128 = 191.
8. Now transmit the special character 21 to tell
the SerLD ,on want to send a command.
1. Jinall,. transmit the nnmIer 191. The cnrsor
is now sitting in the third position of the sec-
ond line.

.q Splush Screen

The SerLD 2. displa,s a splash screen
I, defanlt. This splash screen (SparLfnn.com
SerLD 2`) erifies that the nnit is powered.
worLing correctl,. and that the connection to the
LD is correct.
The splash screen is displa,ed for 00ms
dnring Ioot-np and ma, Ie tnrned off if desired.
A new addition to the V2. firmware is the
aIilit, for the nser to set their own splash screen (2
lines). To do this. jnst set np the top 2 lines as ,on
wonld liLe them to appear. then send special char-
acter 121 followed I, control~j to sae it to
memor,. To test. jnst c,cle power.
To disaIle the splash screen. send the
special command` 0x7t (decimal 121) to the nnit
followed I, decimal 9. Jer, time this command is
sent to the nnit. the Splash Screen Displa, option
will toggle. That is. if the splash screen is cnrrentl,
Ieing displa,ed. sending the 0x7t 0x09 command
will disaIle the splash screen dnring the net Ioot.
Sending the 0x7t 0x09 command again will enaIle
the splash screen.

.q Chunging the Buod Rute

The Serial LD V2. defanlts to 9600
Iand. Int can Ie set to a ariet, of Iand rates. To
change the Iand rate. first enter the special com-
mand character 121. then:
2100 Iand. enter control~L
1800 Iand. enter control~l
9600 Iand. enter control~m
11100 Iand. enter control~n
19200 Iand. enter control~o
88100 Iand. enter control~p

Jf the Serial LD gets into an nnLnown
state. or ,on otherwise can`t commnnicate with it
at the Iand rate to which it is set. enter
control~r at 9600 Iand while the splash screen
is actie and the nnit will reset to 9600 Iand.


16 Churucter ispluys
Line Nomber Viewuble Corsor Positions
1 o-1g
6q-,q
16-1
q So-qg
o Churucter ispluys
Line Nomber Viewuble Corsor Position
1 o-1q
6q-S
o-q
q Sq-1o
SerCD
q
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q Hurdwure

q.1 Vcc und Corrent ruw

The SerLD 2. shonld onl, Ie powered
I, V D. Higher than .V will canse damage to
the PJ. LD. and IacLlight (if attached).
The SerLD nses 8mA with the IacLlight tnrned
off and -60mA with the IacLlight actiated.

q. Contrust Control

The SerLD 2. comes eqnipped with a
10L potentiometer to control the contrast of the
LD. This is set I, dnring assemIl, and testing
Int ma, need correcting for ,onr specific LD
modnle. Temperatnre and snppl, oltage can ef-
fect the contrast of the LD.

q. Hi-Corrent Control Pin

The SerLD 2. nses a general pnrpose.
1000mA NPN transistor to control the LacLlight.
Jf ,on pnrchased the SerLD modnle. ,on ma, nse
this pin as a general pnrpose. high power control
pin. Jf ,on issne the IacLlight on/off command to
the SerLD. pin 1 (net to the last pin) will tnrn
on/off. Pin 16 (last pin aIoe www.sparLfnn.com`)
is connected to gronnd.