LCDInfo.com

Hi,

I'm having some trouble soldering the lcd's connector so I can connect it to my PC (and later try to control it using a PIC). I have two displays which are almost identical. One from a Nokia 3210 and one from a 5110 (I think).

On http://serdisplib.sourceforge.net/ser/pcd8544.html it seems like the easiest thing in the world, but in reality it's really tiny and the connector on the LCD itself is made of "elastomer", so there is nothing to solder directly onto. Even if I could solder on it, it's way too small to attach wires to. On that page the author just happened to have something he called "flex cable". I have no idea what it's called in my language (Swedish). And even if I knew that, what are the chances I would be able to get a flex cable with exacly nine metal rails spaced exacly as on the display?

It seems many people have succeeded with this and I'm quite a starter with electronics and soldering, so I was wondering if you who have done this have any tips for me to get it to work?

Thank you for answers!

hi,

as i am the author of that page, some words about it:

no-one says that it's an easy thing :)
you'll need the right tools for all that stuff like a soldering needle and solder with tiny diameter. and a dremel or a comparable tool helps quite a lot!

ad flex cable: i've found a fitting one in an old powerbook (powerbook 160 or so).
or you may try to reuse the circuit board of the cell-phone and drill tiny holes to into it where you solder wires to the reused pins (note: before connecting the display-module check the whole thing for short-wires!) or draw a ciruit board on your own (using an edding pencil). i made some circuit boards free-handed with great success!

all three methods will require more or less soldering and/or electronic skills. in my opinion method 1 is the simpliest one.

/wolfgang

After a lot of work and after aquiring new cables I finally connected the circuit as I think it should be on a breadboard. But it doesn't work! I've tried many diffrent setups now and I've been fiddling with the settings in lcdinfo with no success. I'm becoming afraid of that I've broken the LCD. Is there any way that I can make a simple check to see if it's still alive? Like connect power to some pins to see a test screen or something like that?

Not really that I know of. As you need to send a command to the display to turn it on.

But these are not so complicated so if you have a correctly wired decent quality wiring job done then the display should work.