TPY2KWS6

iTrader: (1)

I was thinking messing around with an LCD to have it display when specific fuctions are being utilized. For instance if I had nitrous when I armed the nitrous it would display text that said nitrous armed. I really dont understand how they are programmed or what hardware is involved but I would love to learn about it. I figured it wouldnt be anything fancy I would just use a relay to trigger a reference when a specific operation was performed; my question is what would I need after the reference and what is used to program lcds?


Thanks

Tom

Vax

iTrader: (1)

LCD's dont do anything more than display, so if oyu wanted it to show something like ntrous armed, you'd need something sending that info to the LCD.

it's no different than a desktop monitor.

TPY2KWS6

iTrader: (1)

What would be used to send that information to the display........is it some sort of logic circuit. I guess really the question I have is where do I start and what will I need?

GPz1100

I wonder if this can all be done using a simple microcontroller.

I know that parallax basic stamp devices can drive a display almost directly using only 3 wires (serialized data).

Radio shack sells a microcontroller training station for ~$80.

A display module would be harder to come by, but i think they're sold on ebay all the time. You then would need some kind of enclosure to put all this into.

THe microcontroller itself is programmed using the serial port of a pc (there are still computers with serial ports no?)

Check out http://www.seetron.com/slcds.htm . I've used the second one down in a project for my senior design class.

Luna

iTrader: (6)

crazypc.com has some cool VFD LCD displays that will hook up to a computer and im pretty sure they will say whatever you want them to, this doesnt exactly apply to what you want to do but it might be a good place to start

zorrander

You would need some sort of controller to control the on/off bits on the LCD display... you can get controllers from various online companies, but they are not cheap. The least expensive option is using a PC to drive it, but you will run into interesting challenges when trying to link the nitrous system to the computer. I'm not saying it's impossible... but not a simple project...

Vax

iTrader: (1)

actually not, you could buy a laptop and plug it in like you would an autotap, only run the laptop video LCD vga connections to the LCD you have in the dash.

it's not terribly difficult, PC is the easiest way

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

No, that won't work. The PC output is for a minimum of 640x480 to an all-points-addressable display. I assume the type of LCD he's trying to use is an 8-segment unit like on a calculator so that he can display text and numbers (no graphics). It would be very difficult to adapt the normal PC VGA output to that type of display. Even with an all-points-addressable LCD you would still have far too much information being sent unless the display could handle full VGA resolution (or better).

A PC could be used as a substitute for a logic circuit but output would not be through the normal video port.