EDE702 where?

[skimask]

However if the length of the wired dont matter then all I really need is 8 wires (including + and -V so it's not as bad as it seems, i was just hoping to use a "standard" type connector like usb with 4 wires and so on.

Depends on how long of a wire you're talking about. If it's not too long, a standard 3 wire stereo headset extension might do the trick (V+, Grnd, Serial Data) and be cheap. Hook it up, and see how fast it'll go before the data starts to get flakey.
Most off-the-shelf serial LCD modules will only go 'so slow', maybe 2400baud. The slower you send serial, the farther you can send it over a regular chunk of wire. So, if you end up building your own module (which is very very easily done by the way), you could, in theory, make it as slow as you need, or get all sorts of complicated (RS drivers, error correction, the whole ball of wax).

Here's a good start on the whole serial LCD backpack thing:
http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/show...erial+backpack

[karenhornby]

if you end up building your own module (which is very very easily done by the way), you could, in theory, make it as slow as you need, or get all sorts of complicated (RS drivers, error correction, the whole ball of wax).

I'll either just use a standard lcd (which I have) and use longer wires and see if it works, or as I'm about to go check the info you suggested I may make my own serial interface (then got to learn how to program/use serial lol)
unless anyone comes up with other ideas.. all welcome
just out of curiousity, how easy is it to use an i2c bus? I see chips on ebay that "aparently" connect direct to a parallel lcd but the input is just i2c ?

[skimask]

I'll either just use a standard lcd (which I have) and use longer wires and see if it works

Probably won't work reliably with any sort of distance between point A and point B.

or as I'm about to go check the info you suggested I may make my own serial interface (then got to learn how to program/use serial lol)

The serial LCD is a piece of cake and the code is right there at that link...some tweaking for your needs and you're in there.

unless anyone comes up with other ideas.. all welcome
just out of curiousity, how easy is it to use an i2c bus? I see chips on ebay that "aparently" connect direct to a parallel lcd but the input is just i2c ?

I2C bus? Not so easy. PBP only 'speaks' I2C Master, not slave, at least not without a lot of effort. An I2C LCD on eBay? Don't think I've seen those yet... Serial...Yes. I2C sounds like more trouble than it's worth.

[karenhornby]

The code is intersting and could easily be "manipulated?" for my needs thanks
The thing I'm struggling with in regards to serial is an actual circuit diagram for a "piggyback board" for the lcd to accept serial output direct from the pic

Forgot to say:
timing's aren't important all it's going to be doing is displaying temperatures from either 2 or 3 ds18B20's
although I'm going to be cheating as such and having each ds18b20 on it's seperate pin as it's too much trouble to try and work out the address of each chip and then how to "talk" to that specific one if they are all on the same pin.
The only problem is obviously it's going to use way more code than nessesary otherwise

[skimask]

The thing I'm struggling with in regards to serial is an actual circuit diagram for a "piggyback board" for the lcd to accept serial output direct from the pic

Nothing special, straight wire for serial from PIC to PIC, maybe an inline 100ohm resistor for protection (no real need for a MAX232 or the like unless you get crazy with distance), straight wires for power and ground...
Past the receiver PIC, it's standard wiring from PIC to LCD.
If you can make a PIC and an LCD work, you can do this easily.
Just try to remember not to shoot yourself in the foot...small steps...get blinky working, get the LCD working, get 2 PICs working, get some serial going between the two, tie it all together.

[karenhornby]

Been looking through old posts, what I'd ideally like to do is "convert?" the LCD module to work as 1wire
The attached circuit looks extremely intersting if it could be made work easily enough (done more research it looks like Melanie, it's one of your circuits?)
now all I have to do is try and figure out how to make shiftout work for an lcd lol

However found this which lookin interesting (circuit taken from one of the posts there) http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=3981
Post 13

TX side - SEROUT directly replaces LCDOUT (pick your serial transmit format, i.e. baud rate, parity, etc)

RX side - SERIN data feeds byte information directly to LCDOUT (again, pick your serial receive format to math the transmit side)

3 wires - power, ground, serial transmit data

I just dont get how it works.

SEROUT is what your sending from the "main pic" obviously but does that assume you have another pic piggybacked to the lcd directly? and if so how does THAT pic know that what comes in on the serin command equates to lcdout?
if so does anyone have a circuit for this? and any code examples around?

[Archangel]

it's THAT simple?
here's a harder question then, say my pic (main pic) wants to tell the "lcdout $fe,c0 "the Temperature is"
the "piggback pic" would simple output to the lcd "lcdout $fe,c0 "the Temperature is"

BUT what would the main pic actually be outputting on it's pin?
if that question makes sense, sorry never was any good at explaining things

Other question (sorry for so many)

Is there a chip such as the ds2408 that could be "piggybacked" onto the lcd module and convert it to 1-Wire® bus?
That would make it worth using the actual proper 1-Wire® bus especially if the lcdout command works the same as parallel lcd

Hi KarenHornby,
1 wire bus is a bit of a misnomer as they take at least 2 and usually 3, and that is all the serial backpack takes. Format your strings like LCDOUT as far as telling the lcd which line and which character to begin at, I usually use 9600 baud, so a typical serout statement;<br>
SEROUT YourPort,T9600,[254,1,"Karen's Project"]
SEROUT YourPort,T9600,[254,192,'This is FUN"]
<br>
YourPort = the pic pin you choose
254 of $FE, 192 or $C0, which is to say, same as in LCDOUT HEX or DEC. this backpack uses HSERIN so you must send data TRUE.

[skimask]

Been looking through old posts, what I'd ideally like to do is "convert?" the LCD module to work as 1wire

You 'could' do that...but the LCD/PIC combo would have to be self-powered obviously.
And...you'd have to figure out a way to be able to detect a logic level change on the receiving end without a ground reference (i.e. how do you know you've got +5v if you don't know what ground is at?). And, yes, there is a relatively easy way to do this.