Recent content by MearCat

I have been working with various PICAXE chips for a few years now and have usually been programming them while in place on-board, or using a home-built programmer (on an experimenters board using multiple ZIF sockets) but it had been bugging me for a while that I couldn't find an all-in-one...

I use a 20x4 character LCD module for some testing but for while I've been curious to why the rate at which it clears the display is so slow. (I am currently using a 08M and a Phanderson #117 serial chip). When I send a clear command to the LCD, the text fades out over a period of around...

On my breadboard, I set up a Phanderson.com #117 serial LCD chip (2400 Baud) last night with a HD44780 4x20 LCD and 08M and set up a simple initial test as below, but kept getting the LCD displaying wierd characters, eg. Row1-12345678901234 100Row2-012345678901 Rw3-012345678901234...

Well it took just over 12 weeks on backorder, but I finally had the Winstar OLED arrive today. The first thing that struck me is how thin the display "housing" is compared to backlit LED displays. The OLED display itself is a only ~4.5mm thick :) and the whole thing (board, rear mounted...

I have been playing with various PICAXE chips for a few years now and have usually been programming them while in place on-board, or using a home-built programmer (on an experimenters board using multiple ZIF sockets). It's been bugging me for a while that I couldn't find an all-in-one board...

USB DL cable & BAT85/180R requirements I have a homemade DB9 Serial >> 3.5mm Stereo plug download cable for my project and have a BAT85 Schottky diode and 180R resistor on the circuit board as an "Enhanced Serial Download Circuit". I will be upgrading to the AXE027 USB download cable thanks...

I watched a YouTube video last night where someone was downloading a program and while the program was being downloaded, a LED was turned on and once the download was complete, it turned off. How was this done? Is it as simple as certain pins go high when downloading?

I've been waiting for a company to eventually release a character LCD but using OLED and have just found that Winstar have done it - See http://www.winstar.com.tw/products_detail.php?CID=45&lang=en I love the clean look of OLED over backlit LCD. However can I assume that Phandersons #107...

I have a 28X1 chip which drives a serial LCD (via Andersons #118 chip) but I want to wait a short while (around 10 secs) after bootup until the LCD actually has power applied to it. The LCD power source is the same 5V as the PICAXE and I was thinking of using a 5V mini relay which is switched...

I've got a circuit (w/ 28X1) which use a 0-5V voltage input from my cars' ECU (but the 28X1 is powered from a separate circuit in the car) and when I power off the uC with a manual switch, the car engine cuts out. I think there is some kind of feedback getting to the ECU which it doesn't like...

I ordered a VDrive2 with high hopes of testing some datalogging but was surprised and annoyed to find the unit pins and connector cable uses a pitch of 2mm (0.08"). Every electronic component I've ever bought has a pitch of 2.54" (0.1") and I found out that even the Vdrive1 used it. Why the...

In my program (using 28X1), I am writing 8 numbers to an 16x2 LCD, but to make the numbers align correctly, I also test for the length of each string and send a space here or there to the LCD before writing the number value. I have tested the time it takes to do this and am using up to 24 SEROUT...

I am reading/writing from 2 EEPROMs. I write one EEPROM until it's full, then move to the next EEPROM. But in the middle of a bunch of writes, I do a couple of reads, then contiunue writing. Does the i2cslave commands have to be run before EVERY writei2c and/or readi2c command, or can I just...

I'm working with a DS1307 real time clock and each time I change my program, I have to change the date & time values in the writei2c command to set the current time. It's starting to annoy me having to do this repeatedly. I will eventually get a 3V backup battery & holder to connect to the...

I've done a good search through for the manuals and the forum archives (I love the new vBulletin format) and found and heap of info on interfacing with 7 segment displays, however this is my dillema : I have 2 x 7 segment displays and want to display "HI", "LO' or a number on them, but also...