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I got my hands on three of these HD44780A00 controlled 4x40 LCD's, these LCD's are though quite big measuring 28*9cm! The problem is that the wireing on the LCD's are done in a quite strange way... and they have some kind of a powerthing on the back of the boards.

The question is: do anyone have experience of similar boards? These would be quite nice to get in use, for what use, I don't know yet

Some pictures of the boards can be found @ http://sam.aqua-web.org/LCD/

Suomi osuus:
Jos joku Turussa on hyvä kolvin kanssa ja halukas kolvaamaan noihin näyttöihin piuhat oikeille paikoille niin saa mielusti ojentaa auttavaa kättä

Samoin kelpaa apu tuon ongelmatapauksen kanssa > http://www.skippari.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=761

Aha 4x40. Interesting one you have. What modelnumber/brand is it?
It looks pre-wired for LPT port with onboard power for LCD and EL backlight.
Are there any input connections on that little power-PCB? I can't see any, or is it drawing power from the LPT port

Seems like it is taking the power from the LPT-port and doing something with the power obtained from the LPT to fit the backlight (?) Yesterday I tried to connect it with this wireing directrly to the LPT-port of my computer but nothing happend... The software I used was CrystalControl.

On the small power-PCB there is not any connection but there are 2 adjusters for contrast and backlight. On this picture you can se these adjusters (small blue square thingies with white centers). From the LPT-cable/the 15pin connector on the board there are 3 wires connected to the power-PCB.

As my soldering skills = 0, I'd be glad to get some help with these LCD's. As said the screens are huge, mesuring 28*9cm, so fitting them at the front of a computer is out of the question. The best solution would probably be to fit them outside the comp, in a own boxing...

Yes the connector seems to fit parallel port but I doubt it would be meant for that kind use. Probably it's just the same connector but the connections are different.
The highvoltage part seems to be for the backlight. There might also be contrast adjustment on that pcb.

It's difficult to say more without having the display in my hands as I can't make any measurements and compare things to datasheets.

If you'd like to give one to me I can try to make it work. I can't give 100% quarantie that I will succeed but I don't see why it wouldn't work after some work with it. If you're interested in this we could talk about the details by email.