A neat little sample kit has arrived: it’s a Linear Tech TimerBlox set.
What have we got here?
Part of the week: LTC699x TimerBlox
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Monthly Archives: August 2012
First product for sale- Sharp Memory LCD breakout
I have a few of the LCD breakout boards available for sale.
Schematic diagram is here .
Note: the header is included but not soldered, to make life easier in case you need to run wires to the board instead. Sharp LCD is not included. You can get the 5V version (LS013B4DN02) from Mouser. Part number is 852-LS013B4DN02. The boards were tested with Arduino Uno driving the LCD directly with 5V IO. That seems to be fine for the display according to the Sharp Datasheet.
First solder the header or wires as needed, then attach the display using a small piece of double sided tape and connect the flex. See my previous post for pictures on how a fully assembled board should look like, and this post for testing details
Connections for Arduino :
| Breakout pin | Arduino pin | Breakout Pin | Arduino Pin |
| 1 SCLK | 13 | 6 EXTMODE | 4 |
| 2 SI | 11 | 7 GND | GND |
| 3 SCS | 12 | 8 VCC | 5V |
| 4 EXTCOMIN | 3 | ||
| 5 DISP | 2 |
Shipping is via USPS First Class Mail. Items in stock usually ship the next business day ARO. Allow a week or so for delivery in the US
Testing Sharp LCD breakout board
Sure, there is not much to test there- two connectors and a few caps. But the idea was to make the breakout so I can play with the display and see what I can design it in. For a while I stared at the datasheet, figuring out what it needs to be driven, then on a whim went to Google for an existing driver library for it. A library by craftycoder came up. It is based on Adafruit’s Arduino GFX library and includes an example that was more than enough to test the display. So I dug out my Arduino Uno and set things up:
Breadboard, Arduino Uno, uCurrent from EEVblog and a DMM.
Part of the week: NSI450xx family of CCR from OnSemi
This week’s find is a NSI450xx/NSI500xx family of parts from On Semiconductor. It’s a two terminal constant current regulator (CCR) offered in SOD-123,SOT-223 , SMB, SMC and all the way to DPAK cases. The device can handle 45V surges and regulates current to 15-350 mA depending on the individual part number. This makes it very convenient to insert into LED strings and have them stay in regulation and constant brightness with variable input voltage. Continue reading
Sharp Memory LCD breakout- boards arrived
My boards from OSH arrived a while back, so here are some pictures. The next step is getting the code running to test the display, though I may try feeding it some serial goodness from Bus Pirate as a test. So far it appears that the first test run of DipTrace tools and OSH Park service went pretty well!
Bare boards from OSH Park, in their requisite color! Both sides look pretty good.
Innolux BT156GW01 TFT LCD Panel teardown
I’ve always wanted to see what the latest LCD panels look like inside, and such a chance just presented itself. I got my hands on a broken 15.6″ panel, used in many laptops these days. This particuar one had DP/N number on it, so I assume it was used in a Dell. Let us see how much we can learn looking at the design with limited access to device datasheets.
Innolux BT156GW
Elenco Resistor Substitution Box RS-500- quick teardown
Bought this thing on Amazon for $25, figuring it’s not a calibrated decade box, but it’s also 1/10 of the price of more professional pieces of gear. Overall look and fit is reasonable until one looks inside the unit.
Philips 8E26A60 LED bulb teardown
Today’s teardown subject is a Philips 8E26A60 LED bulb. (An 8W 450 Lumens 2700K version) These appeared briefly at Home Depot and were replaced by the next generation “yellow tri-blade designs”. I liked the more conventional look of them, and a very nice omnidirectional light pattern, so I bought several. Three are still going strong, but one suddenly became significantly dimmer:
Inserted into one fixture for comparison
With only a year into the six year warranty, Philips was nice enough to replace it. Naturally we now have a teardown subject! Continue reading