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NewHaven RGB Backlit 16x2 LCD Display — Parallax Forums

NewHaven RGB Backlit 16x2 LCD Display

Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
edited 2011-08-21 14:35 in General Discussion
I just got this 2 line x 16 character NewHaven LCD display from Jameco.

It has an RGB LED backlight and can be driven by serial TTL RS232, I2C or SPI.

The RGB LED is NOT controlled by communicating commands to the module - you just control it through four separate pins.

You can use PWM to obtain various colors or just use resistors for a static color combination.

You can see flickering in this video when using PWM to cycle colors but it really isn't noticeable to the human eye...

Also the Blue color is darker and bluer than it appears in the video.


Jameco link

Comments

  • Don MDon M Posts: 1,653
    edited 2011-08-12 13:45
    Ron- your video is marked private.

    I have used several different displays from New Haven. They seem to be pretty reliable. They have an office just an hour and a half away from me.
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2011-08-12 13:47
    Don M wrote: »
    Ron- your video is marked private.

    Sorry, I meant to make it "unlisted" - should work now...
  • piguy101piguy101 Posts: 248
    edited 2011-08-13 06:09
    So what's the price of the LCD display?
  • GadgetmanGadgetman Posts: 2,436
    edited 2011-08-13 06:20
    $23.95 for one, discounts starts at 5+ units, it seems, from Jameco's website.
    (Checked the link posted just above the video)

    Cool stuff!
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2011-08-13 06:46
    I wish the module was designed to control the RGB backlight via the serial interface and allow PWM signals for each color.

    I am currently driving it with a BS2 Stamp.
    To avoid issues with the 20ma per pin limitation (and 40ma total) I created a little board with 2N2222 transistors and resistors to handle the RGB LED.

    attachment.php?attachmentid=83988


    RGB driver.jpg
    RGB driver.jpg
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  • John A. ZoidbergJohn A. Zoidberg Posts: 514
    edited 2011-08-13 07:19
    These displays looks really like the things in the 70s. The smooth changing colour thing.

    I remembered JVC has those little micro hi-fis which have displays just like these ones. Best of all, you can select the style of the changing of colours. Pretty funky!

    However, can't find any of those in SE Asia. Hope they stock a bit on that one though. :)
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2011-08-13 08:33
    John A. Zoidberg wrote: »
    These displays looks really like the things in the 70s. The smooth changing colour thing.

    I remembered JVC has those little micro hi-fis which have displays just like these ones. Best of all, you can select the style of the changing of colours. Pretty funky!

    However, can't find any of those in SE Asia. Hope they stock a bit on that one though. :)

    NewHaven also makes an RGB display where the font color is RGB with a black background

    http://www.newhavendisplay.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=329&products_id=2649

    NewHaven RGB.jpg
    NewHaven RGB.jpg
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  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2011-08-13 09:57
    I can't really comment on those particular displays, but have not been impressed with the negative type displays that I have used (light type on dark background). I have a Newhaven blue on black display and the brightness is pretty poor in my opinion. I also have a red on black I got from Sparkfun, it's not very bright either. They always look better in the photos than they do in real life. The only ones I've tried that I like are the white on blue, but in that case the background actually gives off a lot of light.
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2011-08-13 10:02
    RDL2004 wrote: »
    I can't really comment on those particular displays, but have not been impressed with the negative type displays that I have used (light type on dark background). I have a Newhaven blue on black display and the brightness is pretty poor in my opinion. I also have a red on black I got from Sparkfun, it's not very bright either. They always look better in the photos than they do in real life. The only ones I've tried that I like are the white on blue, but in that case the background actually gives off a lot of light.

    I have three of the SparkFun white on black serial displays and I really like them.
    I usually set the brightness down a bit.
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2011-08-13 10:26
    It's not that bad. I guess my expectations were a little too high.

    edit: and it does look better in this photo than in real life :)
    LCDs.jpg
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  • HollyMinkowskiHollyMinkowski Posts: 1,398
    edited 2011-08-19 18:23
    I wonder if you could hack those 3.00 USD ebay
    2 line LCD displays to be RGB?

    If you look at the end it appears that there are 2 wires
    going to an LED embedded in epoxy? What if you drilled
    that out and hot glued a 20 cent RGB LED in there?

    Maybe worth trying....
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,259
    edited 2011-08-19 18:44
    Serial is the only way to fly, even if they cost 10X more. I bought two of those cheap TOPWAY LCD parallel LCD displays off Ebay before I realized how many IO lines it takes to drive a parallel display. They are doomed to stay in my possession forever. Too good to throw away, too much of a PITA to ever actually use.

    Don't we all have parts like that? What's YOURS?
  • HollyMinkowskiHollyMinkowski Posts: 1,398
    edited 2011-08-19 18:49
    I dead bug wire a tiny88 onto the back to create an
    easier to use display...you can drive the display using
    a single Prop pin once you make it a smart display.
    total cost less than 5.00 USD

    These would make a nice moneymaker for someone
    who wanted to resell them on ebay. They are ugly
    when viewed from behind but work great. I2C, one wire,
    rs232..whatever you want to code for, or all of them.

    Oh, and there is flash left over that you can store macro
    text strings into....saves space on your uC flash or eeprom.
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2011-08-19 19:00
    erco wrote: »
    Serial is the only way to fly, even if they cost 10X more. I bought two of those cheap TOPWAY LCD parallel LCD displays off Ebay before I realized how many IO lines it takes to drive a parallel display. They are doomed to stay in my possession forever. Too good to throw away, too much of a PITA to ever actually use.

    Don't we all have parts like that? What's YOURS?

    Some "Serial" displays are SPI and not RS232 - I really like the RS232.

    NewHaven and Seetron are also selling OLED displays (parallel or SPI): http://www.newhavendisplay.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=119_576
    Seetron OLED RS232: http://www.seetron.com/glo416.html
  • Don MDon M Posts: 1,653
    edited 2011-08-20 06:38
    I used a New Haven OLED in my recent project.

    Front 1.png
    Front 1.png
    1024 x 768 - 1M
  • Tom CTom C Posts: 461
    edited 2011-08-20 06:48
    erco,
    Here is a link to a reasonably priced serial to parallel module to drive the parallel LCD displays: http://www.wulfden.org/TheShoppe/k107/about.shtml
    Regards,
    TCIII
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2011-08-20 06:58
    Don M wrote: »
    I used a New Haven OLED in my recent project.

    Don,
    Looks good! How does it compare to LCD displays in terms of sharpness and viewing angle? I guess OLED displays don't need a backlight...
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2011-08-20 07:02
    I don't use anything but the K107. You can actually buy the programmed chip alone directly from Prof. Anderson.

    @ Don M Nice looking box.

    I don't think I'll be happy with anything less than a VFD, but I cringe at the price.
    I've heard the OLED type displays suffer from "burn-in" problems. I think I'll try one though just to see for myself because that one looks good.
  • bomberbomber Posts: 297
    edited 2011-08-20 09:16
    I am SO getting one of these!!!!!
    By the way, would you mind posting your code?
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2011-08-20 09:46
    bomber wrote: »
    I am SO getting one of these!!!!!
    By the way, would you mind posting your code?

    I have attached some BS2 demo code. I use the little transistor driver card pictured above to drive the RGB LED backlight.

    I created an enclosure a for the display and driver card

    Here is the RL6015 project box at DigiKey and the Hammond Mfg link

    attachment.php?attachmentid=84281

    LCD display.jpg
    LCD display.jpg
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    zip
    zip
    NewHavenLCD.zip
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  • Don MDon M Posts: 1,653
    edited 2011-08-21 12:16
    Ron- The quality of viewing on an OLED is so much better than an LCD. Very bright and sharp. I have heard of the limited lifetime of OLED displays (don't know how long "limited" is) but the application I installed one on is not on all day every day. Should last a long time.

    I had considered a 2x20 VFD as they are bright and sharp as well but I chose the OLED because it can run on 3.3 volts. VFD's will also wear over time. One could implement a "screen saver" time-out function in their code to help alleviate this.

    BTW- I tried the K107 kit from Wulfden. Be careful as it did not work properly with a 2x20 VFD display and the New Haven OLED displays I had. It will not address the second line at all. I know that Mr. Andersons chips were made to work with the HD44780 protocol but these displays wouldn't work with it. The literature for the displays does not specifically mention that they are fully HD44780 compatible BUT these displays DO both work fine with the Parallax serial back-pack taken from one of their serial displays and they also work in direct parallel mode with HD44780 spin objects from the OBEX without any modification. I have sent a VFD to Brian Riley for analysis but am still waiting to hear his conclusion.
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2011-08-21 14:31
    HollyMinkowski wrote: »
    I dead bug wire a tiny88 onto the back to create an
    easier to use display...you can drive the display using
    a single Prop pin once you make it a smart display.

    @Holly

    I sent you a PM with some questions about tinyAVR chips...

    Thanks,
    Ron
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2011-08-21 14:35
    Don M wrote: »
    Ron- The quality of viewing on an OLED is so much better than an LCD. Very bright and sharp. I have heard of the limited lifetime of OLED displays (don't know how long "limited" is) but the application I installed one on is not on all day every day. Should last a long time.

    I had considered a 2x20 VFD as they are bright and sharp as well but I chose the OLED because it can run on 3.3 volts. VFD's will also wear over time. One could implement a "screen saver" time-out function in their code to help alleviate this.

    BTW- I tried the K107 kit from Wulfden. Be careful as it did not work properly with a 2x20 VFD display and the New Haven OLED displays I had. It will not address the second line at all. I know that Mr. Andersons chips were made to work with the HD44780 protocol but these displays wouldn't work with it. The literature for the displays does not specifically mention that they are fully HD44780 compatible BUT these displays DO both work fine with the Parallax serial back-pack taken from one of their serial displays and they also work in direct parallel mode with HD44780 spin objects from the OBEX without any modification. I have sent a VFD to Brian Riley for analysis but am still waiting to hear his conclusion.

    Don,
    Thanks for the info - Did you try SPI mode?
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