Lilliput Question

**patrol** · 12-28-2003, 06:43 AM

Hi All,
I bought a Lilliput touch screen about 3 weeks ago off ebay (I'm in Sydney), it arrived in three days as promised and works well.

I have noticed that under certain weather conditions the touch screen seems to lift of the surface of the screen itself, making the surface not flat and uneven (is this making any sense at all). I am making the asumption here that the touch screen is like a membrane on top of the LCD.

The touch screen does not lose callibration when this happens and works fine I was just wondering if this has happened to anyone else?

By the way in case anyone is interested here is a link to my site that has a few pics of the install, the site is very basic at the moment I will add more details when I get a chance. The car is a GU Nissan Patrol. http://members.iinet.net.au/~supa/car_web/GUPatrol.htm

Thanks

**STIdev** · 12-28-2003, 09:44 AM

The lilliput touchscreen in a thin plastic membrane. I wouldn't worry about it. One of the things I notice is that if you look at it at an angle you can always see that its not perfectly flat. I also have a Xenarc which has a glass touch screen. The lilliput is nice because it doesn't show fingerprints as well as the glass on the Xenarc.

**MikeH** · 12-28-2003, 10:02 AM

Patrol,

Nice job on the install.

A couple of question on the Lilliput.

Have you noticed a lot of glare in bright sunlight? I think the Lilliput touchscreen produces lots of glare, especially at an angle. If you look straight-on, it looks OK. But if you look at an angle (which is how mine is mounted) it's unusable because of glare duing the day.

Also, have you noticed any reduction in brightness after leaving the Lilliput in your car overnight when it's cold? Mine goes almost totally dark. Maybe I have a defective unit. I would be interested if anyone else has had this problem.

**robiewp** · 12-28-2003, 12:12 PM

patrol, I'd be interested in hearing more specifics about your battery monitor. Any writeup for it that imissed?

**patrol** · 12-28-2003, 06:49 PM

Thanks for the feed back STIdev.

Mike,
Even the brightest LCD will not give good results when viewed at an angle in direct sunlight, its just the nature of LCDs. Mine is located in a position that gives me a good viewing angle, this is important.

I have never noticed a reduction in brightness when it is cold, but its the middle of summer here so it hasnt really been that cold, it was 37 degrees C on Christmas day at my place so I cant give much info about cold weather performance, but it seems to handle the heat fine.
Good luck

Robiewp,

Originally Posted by robiewp

patrol, I'd be interested in hearing more specifics about your battery monitor. Any writeup for it that imissed?

Hi Robie,
I use the patrol for some serious 4 wheel driving around Australia into some very remote areas so monitoring the condition of my batteries is very important. I run camping lights and a fridge off the aux battery. Charging of the aux battery is managed by a Rotronics dual battery system. This prevents the main battery from discharging completely.

The monitor is based on a kit sold by a local electronics company called Jaycar Electronics (www.jaycar.com.au) the part number is KA1683. I used two of these kits (one for each battery) and squeezed them into a small box. The monitor simply gives a voltage reading between 11 and 14.5 volts.

The kit is very simple and based around a LM3914 chip. Having both displays together allows me to see when the Rotronics system has switched the AUX battery on to charge, ie if both displyas are at about 14 volts when the engine is running then both batteries are charging. The rotronics system wont allow the AUX battery to charge if it is not happy with the condition of the main battery so if both are charging all is good.

This type of battery management is pretty important when travelling in remote areas.

Hope this help, I can send a schemaitc of the battery monitor if required.
Cheers

**robiewp** · 12-28-2003, 07:01 PM

thanks for the links/information! I've been fixing to put an aux battery connected to all of my non-essential devices in the trunk that is only connected to the rest of the electrical system when the vehicle is running. I can do this with just some relays, but it would be great to have some means of monitoring things. I wounder if i can find a place in the US that supplies that stuff?

**patrol** · 12-28-2003, 07:15 PM

Originally Posted by robiewp

I wounder if i can find a place in the US that supplies that stuff?

Jaycar do ship internationally but I dont know about Rotronics, their website is www.rotronics.com.au. They have contact details if you wish to get hold of them. There are similar dual battery management systems available in the States. Let google do the walking!