CoyoteBoy

I'm a newbie here, so I've spent forever searching the posts for pics non-graphic displays using mxplay or equiv. I cant find any, and I've not prepared a presentation for tomorrow morning so I thought I'd try to save some time.....

I'm about to buy an alphanumeric, the smaller the better really (reasons of security - i.e. parking the car in Liverpool, England - 2 head units, 1 amp, 1 large sub and 3 windows later I learn my lesson ) but I do want a decent output from it. I'd like at least track name, artist and time.

I'm looking at 20x2's and 20x4s (easy to hide in a peugeot 205) - would the x2 be sufficient? Anyone got any photos of each type so I can see the readout? I'm planning on using it connected to a p166mmx. I'll be purchasing from Farnell (UK) unless anyone knows of cheaper?

the 20x4 runs on either a KS0065b or ks0063b driver - the 20x2 runs on the ks00066. Any known problems?

How easy is it to backlight the units with a normal set of LEDs if they arent already backlit??

Also, last question for now.....
is 8ft of cable (boot to dash, roughly) too long for a parallel, would the serial be better? If so can mxplay route to the serial too?

Cheers for any help,
James

MP3Car.com

 

Charliey

20x4 would be much easier to display information, with a 20x2 you could see the nessesiary info, but nothing else.

8' should be ok, for a parallel cable.

__________________
Project AutoBoxen: Coming along, almost ready to hook up in the car.
Celeron 500, 192mb ram, 8gb hdd, other stuff.
'91 Mazda 626: Its free, so ill use it.

CoyoteBoy

Excellent, thanks for that. I'll get the x4, only its not backlit. Are the screens easily backlit if I have some tiny surface mount LEDs?? Do you need diffuser or similar?

I'll check farnell to see if they have anything like backlighting kits - it should be easy electronically, just not craftsman-wise

Thanks again,
James

Charliey

Yeah, its a pretty small space inbetween the lcd screen and the pcb. It might be possible, depending on how its designed, but im not sure. I know they make backlit ones, you should check around to see if you can find one thats backlit.

You can buy backlit ones from http://www.matrixorbital.com/ and http://www.crystalfontz.com/

__________________
Project AutoBoxen: Coming along, almost ready to hook up in the car.
Celeron 500, 192mb ram, 8gb hdd, other stuff.
'91 Mazda 626: Its free, so ill use it.

CoyoteBoy

cool, I've tracked down an awesome inverted backlit LCD....eio.com or oei or some combination of vowels. I've not ordered it yet but its a sweet looking 20x4 on a 44780 controller - hope they dont hit me with a massive shipping bill from us to uk!

That one should clear all my worries - the correct controller and backlit. And I've found a great piece of dash that can be anhialated to fit it in inside a draw - cool hiding place

Anyone from the UK here thats experienced these vowel-happy sellers?

James

MP3Car.com