LCD display remains empty

[mat janssen]

Whe you read the book that came with your version of picbasic you will see that some declarations must be made for the LCD.
In the declartions the display driver will know how much pins and where the pins come from.
like this:

	        DEFINE	LCD_DREG PORTB
		DEFINE	LCD_DBIT 0
		DEFINE	LCD_RSREG PORTB
		DEFINE 	LCD_RSBIT 4
		DEFINE	LCD_EREG PORTB
		DEFINE	LCD_EBIT 5	
		DEFINE	LCD_BITS 4
		DEFINE	LCD_LINES 2
		DEFINE	LCD_COMMANDUS 2000
		DEFINE	LCD_DATAUS 50

[selbstdual]

I thought this was only necessary if you do not use the standard setup....

I tried and it did not change anything. So.

I got this:

   Define OSC 20
        DEFINE	LCD_DREG PORTB
		DEFINE	LCD_DBIT 0
		DEFINE	LCD_RSREG PORTB
		DEFINE 	LCD_RSBIT 4
		DEFINE	LCD_EREG PORTB
		DEFINE	LCD_EBIT 5	
		DEFINE	LCD_BITS 4
		DEFINE	LCD_LINES 2
		DEFINE	LCD_COMMANDUS 2000
		DEFINE	LCD_DATAUS 50
    
Go:    
    LCDOUT "Geez"
    Sleep 100
    GOTO Go

[mat janssen]

Let us see how you connected everything from the chip to the display.
Try to adjust the background voltage, may be that is the problem!
Put a pause of 1 sec. between the declaration and your programm. Maybe the display was not yet setup.

[selbstdual]

I have not told you yet that the LCD's functionality is not proven. I was given it by someone in a waste utilization for free.

How do I figure out whether it works or not? I was able to make the lcd's points show(two rows, all matrices black). What can I conclude from that?

[Dave]

selbstdual, If you can see all black pixels then it sounds like the contrast is set too high. How do you have the contrast circuit setup? It should be at minimum a 5k pot between VCC and ground with the center wiper connected to the contrast input pin.

Dave Purola,
N8NTA

[selbstdual]

Dave, does seeing the matrices mean that the display is working at all?

[Kamikaze47]

Try adding these 2 things:

   Define OSC 20
        DEFINE	LCD_DREG PORTB
		DEFINE	LCD_DBIT 0
		DEFINE	LCD_RSREG PORTB
		DEFINE 	LCD_RSBIT 4
		DEFINE	LCD_EREG PORTB
		DEFINE	LCD_EBIT 5	
		DEFINE	LCD_BITS 4
		DEFINE	LCD_LINES 2
		DEFINE	LCD_COMMANDUS 2000
		DEFINE	LCD_DATAUS 50

                PAUSE 100
    
Go:    
    LCDOUT $FE,1,$FE,2,"Geez"
    Sleep 100
    GOTO Go