I am going to do it, connect up this 40 Pin LCD! No matter what!

Using Arduino Displays
1

Ok, I am going to do it, connect up this 40 Pin LCD!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200424248713?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

I just couldn’t let on the fact that I am about to discard this LCD because I don’t know how to use it.

It’s so complicated!!!

I am going to try to get this LCD to display text if that’s the last thing I do!

Ok…there are 40 pins in this LCD….

I am going to do it the Retarded way.

I am going to directly port my knowledge of 16x2 LCD to this LCD.

Which mean I will only be connecting only 6 pins out of this 40 pins. [I am only using 15% of the pins]

Yes, that’s what retard like me does.

I will be connecting Pin 2 to 5v to Arduino.
Pin 1 to Ground.

There is no Vo, so I have no idea how I am going to do contrast.

There is a RS [Type of Data], I will be connecting that to Arduino Pin 7

There is an R/W, connecting that to ground.

Where the hell is the EN pin ?!!! There is no EN in this LCD, how would be able to tell the LCD when it should be ready to receive data ? How to connect it to Arduino Pin 8 if I don’t know where it is.

I will only be connecting DB 4 to 7 to Arduino Pin

LiquidCrystal lcd(7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12);

Can anyone find the EN Pin for me ?

2

My best guess would be the CS pin :S and good luck! Ive got aa 3.2' LCD that looks like yours except it uses the ssd1289 lcd driver, its damn near impossible to find out how to run this "arduino compatible" lcd lol

3

Based on the datasheets in the downloadable packet from that auction (and the auction itself), there's mention of an HX8347-A driver chip with on-board RAM for the LCD; there's an entire PDF on it (fairly complex), and it looks like it supports SPI, via pins 21-24; you should be able to communicate via those pins using the Arduino and an SPI interface library (and you might need to use some kind of level shifting hardware if it is a 3.3 volt device - didn't look that far). After that, it is just a simple (hah!) understanding of the serial protocol to control the LCD (if someone hasn't already done the heavy lifting). There's probably more than a few other pins you'll need to interface to, but you're you going to really need to study the board and all the datasheets very carefully.

4

These jumpers come in really handy when it comes to connection double rows of male pins to arduino.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/250641028508?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649

You can't plug the double row to a breadboard, you can't plug them directly in to arduino, but these cheap jumpers are next to having a custom made cable. I wish I knew these when I made this thing inside a cardboard box:

Then I didn't have to use that 40-connector 80-wire IDE cable, which gave my much grief.

5

I am definitely getting those jumpers for experimentation.

And thank you cr0sh, I understand that SPI is what [at least from what I heard] every Arduino LCD guy wants.
So that sounds like a good thing....now...I just need to know how to connect this board in the SPI manner so that it can do its SPI...err...thingy...

Any idea ?

6

While I can admire your attitude, given the level of your recent questions this is rather like learning how to put a band aid on a cut and then going straight on to open heart surgery.

However this post might help you:-
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1267448154

Good luck.

7

I am going to do it, connect up this 40 Pin LCD! No matter what!

You may be able to 'connect it up' but I doubt you will get it to work. The LCD in your link is a Graphical LCD whereas the LiquidCrystal library is for Character LCDs. You may have a greater chance of success if you start with a GLCD library.

Don

8

Firstly you can forget SPI. Yes the HX8347-A supports it, but the mode selection pins are not exposed by the PCB it's attached to. It's hardwired to 8080 18-bit parallel mode, though the seller seems to think it's 16-bit which is contradictory to both his own picture and the data sheets. The SPI pins on the 40-pin connector are for the SD card connector that's fixed to the back.

I enjoy buying these type of TFTs on ebay and have got them all to work, but only with an ARM Cortex M3 controller, not an Arduino. To get this to work you are going to have to control DB0-DB17, PSB (looks like CS which you can pull-up along with RD because you don't need them), RW (should be named /WR), /RS and /RESET.

You'll have to bit-bang the timings for the transfers - you'll find those in the datasheet and you'll need to get the commands and delays for the post-reset startup sequence correct or nothing at all will happen. Finally, all the signal levels are 3.3V so you'll need a level-converter and have to take into account its impact on the timings.

It's possible, but really you picked the wrong microcontroller for this job.