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Topic: got mine today. (Read 5422 times) previous topic - next topic

got mine today.

I had my twatch turn up today.

after a bit of searching i found a power supply. gives 7.8v when plugged into the twatch. I thought it might be a little high bit it seems to cope with it ok.
I did a few temp measurements. the regultors started to get warm. the 1117 seemed to top out at 50 deg c. with the 7805 sitting at 33 deg c so not to bad.
what worried my more is the fact that the pic seems to run pretty hot. it was also at 50 deg c. Im not sure if that is normal but it seemed hot to me. i confirmed that the 1117 was outputting 3.3v so its not overvolted.

As with the others i found that the backlight really needs to be on for it to be usable. is there a precompiled firmware that has the backlight on?

next thing to to work out what to do with it :)

Re: got mine today.

Reply #1 –
I'm waiting for mine to get here with the Seeed LCD, then I'll release a few firmwares to go with it.
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Re: got mine today.

Reply #2 –
I don't think 7.8v as an input should be thought of as high, both the 7805 and 1117 can take much more as an input... the 1117 is likely to get a little warm as you go past 9V though.

If you want to try to lower the temperature of the 1117 then you could try connecting the input to the 7805, then it only has to drop 1.3V. The minimum Vin for the 1117 is 4.75V so it should work. Clearly this will make the 7805 run a little hotter but I wouldn't have thought it'd be too much more.

All of microchip's ethernet controllers run pretty warm, so Im not suprised the pic hits 50 deg c... I'll start worrying about it when I can fry an egg on it ;) lol

Still waiting for mine to turn up... hopefully not too much longer to wait! :D

Re: got mine today.

Reply #3 –
well its been running now for about 5 hours with the backlight on.
the temps are pretty much the same with only the 7804 rising slightly due to the extra load of the backlight to 38 deg c.

not sure if the lcd is just slow of if something else is wrong but the scrolling isnt to great.
Its almost like the line is cleared and then redisplayed. it might just be the lcd screen itself taking its time to redraw.

Re: got mine today.

Reply #4 –
With so many types of LCDs, and many using specialized drive circuits, I thought it was best to have the backlight off by default in the shipped firmware. My test LCD was a cheap eBay LCD that didn't really need the backlight, but it sounds like the Seeed screen does.

Here's an update with the backlight on at start:
http://whereisian.com/forum/index.php?topic=141.0

I probably won't have a #twatch with Seeed's screen until the end of the week, so the firmware hasn't been tested. I worry that it might cause a bounce that resets the LCD.

I'll check the scrolling too. The LCD refresh timing is really conservative because my cheap eBay LCD didn't like to be driven fast in an open drain configuration. Maybe we can decrease the delay for the Seeed LCD. I've never worked with the type of LCD Seeed used, I'm not sure how fast they can be driven or refreshed. It might be better to scroll the text using LCD commands instead of a complete refresh.
Got a question? Please ask in the forum for the fastest answers.

Re: got mine today.

Reply #5 –
Got mine yesterday, but took until today before I had a suitable power supply. (I've got about 20 of those stupid wall warts, but not one that was suitable. Radio Shack to the rescue.)

Yes, the Seeed LCD absolutely needs the backlight turned on. The only clue I had that the thing was working at all was the ethernet light. Then I found and fiddled with the contrast setting until the letters appeared as slightly lighter black on a black background. It's a pretty sensitive setting; there's only about an eighth of a turn where you can see anything. That was enough though. Then I saw the IP address, and was able to use the Hercules utility to send the "backlight on" command.

Re: got mine today.

Reply #6 –
Hello to this community.

I'm Limbo from LCD Smartie program and I very hapy to announce that yesterday got my #TWatch.
Right now I'm making the first tests using LCD Smartie and VSPE free under windows XP.

Re: got mine today.

Reply #7 –
hi limbo,

good to see someone from the lcd smartie is onboard with the twatch.

now we if we can find someone to make a .dll for the twatch so that it can communicate direct from lcd smartie i for one would be very greatfull.

Re: got mine today.

Reply #8 –
Hi..

Got my #twatch a few days ago, and I finally set it up.

Hooked it up with LCD Smartie via VSPE running XP. Now I'm just waiting for my missing screws for the acrylic frame. Also updated to newest firmware with backlight and everything is running sweetly.

Re: got mine today.

Reply #9 –
Looking great. I'm sorry the screws were missing, I hope you get them soon.
Got a question? Please ask in the forum for the fastest answers.

Re: got mine today.

Reply #10 –
I dont think the frames come with screws. I bought 2 frames and neither had screws. The holes drilled in my frames were M2.5 whereas the holes in my old frame (and the LCD itself) are M3...
 

Re: got mine today.

Reply #11 –
Mine came with mounting screws. Carfully check the packign as it was a small plastic bag with the small screws and standoffs in it. very easy to get lost in the bubble wrap.

here is a pic. showing the screw, standoff and the nut is on the back. i would guess they are M2 screws

Re: got mine today.

Reply #12 –
Luckily the box my frames came is still sitting on my desk, unfortunately there's definately no bag, screws, nuts, or standoffs in my package:( There was only the 2 frames, a seeed card and a small bit of bubblewrap in the bottom of the box:(

Not to worry though, I'll go buy some tomorrow:)

Re: got mine today.

Reply #13 –
[quote author="Scorpia"]
hi limbo,

good to see someone from the lcd smartie is onboard with the twatch.

now we if we can find someone to make a .dll for the twatch so that it can communicate direct from lcd smartie i for one would be very greatfull.
[/quote]

Direct communication is essential!
Let me check the possibilities... with LCD Smartie developers :)

Re: got mine today.

Reply #14 –
I got mine a few weeks ago..  Sending data from by boiler to the #twatch + RSS feeds.  Made a nice frame $6.00 (walmart).  Its a double frame glued together on a plate holder.