Hi all Arduino fans,
I would like to ask your ideas and justifications for the project that I am planning currently.
There is a system that I would like to control remotely. This system (let's call it System X) includes 3 on board buttons and a LCD (16x2) Display. Remote controlling means basically "to have an access to the these 3 buttons and LCD screen" but this board is placed in an inappropriate position. So I can not manipulate easily. If I can get the controls approximately 1 meter away from the board, that would fulfill my expectations..
However I do not have the deep info regarding the System X SW and HW so I can not change code etc. I thought maybe I can physically cut or copy all the signals to/from LCD and to/from buttons and connect them to another Arduino. From that Arduino, by using the serial comm. I can transfer this to Arduino2 board which I will keep next to me. I will include an LCD and 3 buttons on it too. In that way I think I can copy all the signals and transfer them to the Arduino2 board and manipulate the system.
What would be your approaches and reviews?
How did you get to 6 wires for the LCD display? Does it have that many wires? What type of display is it? Make at least a picture of that device or provide a link to a website showing it and preferably give more information about it. The buttons usually are not that big of a problem, in the worst case you can use relays to simulate a push.
Do you want the read the lcd display and copy that on another lcd display ?
That is not possible without extra hardware and it will be very hard to do in software.
osuzer:
If I can get the controls approximately 1 meter away from the board, that would fulfill my expectations..
I would look to replace the local direct connection between the controller and the buttons + display with longer wired connections. If you're working in an electrically noisy environment, use shielded wiring and use the shield to ground the remote enclosure. Trying to intercept, transmit and reproduce all those electrical signals would be a much harder problem.
Thank you everybody for your answers and helpful instructions;
pylon:
How did you get to 6 wires for the LCD display? Does it have that many wires? What type of display is it? Make at least a picture of that device or provide a link to a website showing it and preferably give more information about it. The buttons usually are not that big of a problem, in the worst case you can use relays to simulate a push.
Pylon;
It is a basic HHD44780 16x2 LCD. 4 of the wires are data wires, 2 of them are Enable and Reset. R/W pin is connected to the ground. For the buttons I also thought the same. Relay or transistor would be fine i think.
Caltoa:
Do you want the read the lcd display and copy that on another lcd display ?
That is not possible without extra hardware and it will be very hard to do in software.
Caltoa;
Yes, we can sum it up like that, but also the buttons as I stated above. Why do you think so? Can you give a little bit more info?
I was thinking to connect the 6 pins of LCD1 to PORTB of arduino and connect the LCD2 pins to PORTC for example. Then just constinuously read the PORTB with Arduino Port Manipulation Commands and send them via Serial.
osuzer:
If I can get the controls approximately 1 meter away from the board, that would fulfill my expectations..
PeterH:
I would look to replace the local direct connection between the controller and the buttons + display with longer wired connections. If you're working in an electrically noisy environment, use shielded wiring and use the shield to ground the remote enclosure. Trying to intercept, transmit and reproduce all those electrical signals would be a much harder problem.
PeterH;
That is also a nice idea, but I should use serial connection.. Connecting 9-10 wires parallely is not so nice..
The switches are pretty much a no-brainer but the PCD is harder. However I think you can do this without any hardware.
The data is valid on the falling edge of E right? Run E to an Arduino interrupt pin and have the ISR read the four data bits. If you have nothing else to do you could poll the E signal as you say.
Depending on your comms link speed you may have to buffer the reading but that's simple to do.
Another idea.
If you don't need to pass the reset signal you have 8 inputs, just loop reading them and send a byte when they change. If you do need reset send two bytes.
I was thinking to connect the 6 pins of LCD1 to PORTB of arduino and connect the LCD2 pins to PORTC for example. Then just constinuously read the PORTB with Arduino Port Manipulation Commands and send them via Serial.
You have to have quite a fast serial connection for this to work. Have you checked the speed the display gets updated? How fast are the signals changing on the LCD pins? If the controlling processor is about as fast as the ATmega in the Arduino you might get problems with that setup. You probably have to buffer the output lines for some time and send them in a slower fashion to the remote Arduino.
For one meter of distance I think Peter's solution will be the most reliable one and the easiest to establish (probably also the cheapest).
