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Breaktru Forum  |  eCigarette Forum  |  Modding  |  Topic: MCU 4050c
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Offline c1truz

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MCU 4050c
« on: December 14, 2013, 11:51:52 PM »
Just wanted to talk about the mod i started last night.  I'm about 80% through with it.  Ill try to post pics in a few.  Phone is about dead so its got to charge up.


I just bought a cheap project box from radio shack.  Its 4x2x1.  Unfortunatly with that size I only have enough room for 1 IMR 18350.  I looking into getting some of the single cell lipoly batteries and in the process of creating a board in eagle so I can use SOME SMD  components and save a little space. 

Adruno 328 MINI 3.3v 8 mhz board. 

1.3 Inch OLED screen connected by I2C.  Was going to stuff a big ol 16x2 in the box but I don't have the components to convert it to a 3.3v here.  I kinda screwed the box up by cutting the full size of the "SCREEN" out. Instead of the "Viewable size"  Its ok though.  The box costs like 3 bucks.

Microchip MCP41100 digital pot controlled via SPI. 

Panasonic 100uf 10 mOhm caps.

1/4w 1% resistors.

I have everything up and running.  As of now I'm getting 4.0v -6.17v output.  Unfortunatly my hall sensors are also 5v so as of now I do not have a current sensor of any type in it.  Which is not good.  I normally don't change attys much so I'm checking the resistance and putting it in code manually untill I get something ordered. 

Voltage divider setup and calculations to .01 precision for battery charge.   

As far as switches I'm just using some random ones I had laying around.  Gonna order some small tactile switches tomorrow for Vup and Vdown.  Not sure about the fire switch yet.  Something simple,  maybe a tactile also.  Im controlling the fire for now with a 60A n channel mosfet.  My p channel ones havent come in yet. 

Still have coding to do including figuring out what pot position equals what voltage, but I put in a lot of time in the last 24 hours getting this up and running and its time for a break!

« Last Edit: December 15, 2013, 12:14:30 AM by c1truz »

Offline c1truz

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #1 on: December 14, 2013, 11:55:33 PM »
Go ahead and feel free to laugh at the hole I cut for the screen.  I dont have a cutting tool until christmas so.......lol I made my own with 100% kitchen utensils. 

Online Breaktru

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2013, 07:47:34 AM »
Very nice and congratulation on your mcu mod.  :beer-toast: It's exciting building your first mcu mod. I remember my first time.
I learned with an Arduino Pro Mini - 5V/16MHz (ATMEGA328) and built a simple 5v supply that also powered my 5v hall effect sensor.
My first one was large but learned to scale down as I progressed. Rather than dedicating your Arduino board to the mod you can use an ATmega328 chip with the Arduino boot loader installed. It's only like 5 bucks. Or get a blank Atmega328p chip and load your own boot loader. It only needs a few external parts to run as a stand alone mcu and you can upload your code to it via a FT232 USB Breakout board

Offline asdaq

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #3 on: December 15, 2013, 12:02:50 PM »
Nice job! It looks like my Sansa Clip on steroids with that OLED. Any chance of .mp3 and flac support in there?

If you have an extra line in there it would be neat to know what resistance the d-pot is sending to the 4050 for the actual voltage too.

Offline CraigHB

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2013, 01:55:08 PM »
Looks great.  Just getting something working is quite an accomplishment.

Good advice on using the bootloader.  Carrying all that Arduino interface stuff is a big load for something as size sensitive as an e-cig mod.

Next step is to start making your own PCBs using SMD components.  That will get the size down hugely.  It also gets rid of a lot of problems you can run into with electrical noise and parasitic impedance.  Those problems can drive you nuts and it's just better when they don't happen in the first place.

Don't be intimidated by the assembly with SMD stuff.  It's all about the right tools.  With the right soldering station and some magnification it's not a big deal.  For my latest build, I'm going down to 0402 (1005 metric) components.  Those are stinking tiny, but I think I can handle it no problem.  It's all relative.  The 0603 parts seem big now and I was intimidated by those at one point.

Offline c1truz

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2013, 04:05:32 PM »
I've ordered a lot of smd things just waiting on boards to get here now.  I'm just using the whole arduino board because i have it and it fits in what i have.  I'm going to try to accomplish my next one with just the smd 328 processor.  will save a heck of a lot of space but will be a challenge getting it soldered correctly.  The way I look it though.  worst case scenario.  I fry the whole board.  Ive wasted 20 bucks on a lot more stupid things lol. 

Oh.  my charger board is supposed to be in today.  So I will try to tackle some SMD today.   A few 0805 leds, resistors and a thermistor and a few 1206 caps.  Im excited to try it though.   :thumbsup:

Offline CraigHB

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #6 on: December 16, 2013, 06:36:59 PM »
You might want to practice on some cheap parts before doing any of the more expensive ones.  Even with those fine pin pitches on the MCU chips, there's pretty much nothing you can't fix with some desoldering braid.  I have tons of that stuff because I use the crap out of it.

I don't think I've ever once destroyed a part with heat from soldering.  That's why it's critical to use a station with adjustable temp.  You absolutely need those high end tips they take and you need them to be the right temperature, 600F is usually what I work with.  Shine up the tip with a wipe and a re-tin often. 

One trick that really helps is to use a flux pen.  If you lay down some liquid flux, it thickens up after a few minutes and helps hold the part in place.  In fact, I use my flux pen a *lot*.  You can't use too much of the stuff and it makes a huge difference.  Kester #186 is my recommend for that.  Just clean the PCB with pure isopropyl alcohol when your done soldering.  I use a flux brush and it cleans right up.

http://www.hmcelectronics.com/product/Kester-Solder/186FP

Offline c1truz

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #7 on: December 17, 2013, 08:36:25 AM »
Well I successfully(almost) have the charging board done.  The leds(0805), resistors(0805), thermistor(0805) and capacitors(1206) were not hard at all.  The charger chip itself was a little more challenging.  It is a MSOP 10 package(MCP73833-FCI/UN ).  It wasn't too bad with some desolder braid and a little patience.   The reason its only almost done is the fact the USPS has had my usb connectors "Out for delivery" for 2 days now.  My luck they are lost.   I did solder a positive and negative to where the usb connector goes and it seems to be working correctly but I will try it out when/if i get the connectors in. 

It isn't the prettiest soldering job ive seen but It works and I'm quite proud that I got the MSOP-10 on there.  When I first saw it I said to myself "What have you gotten yourself into" but all in all it was easy compared to what I imagined. 


Craig ive never tried the flux pens.  I do however have a bottle of flux and a dripper bottle(ejuice bottle with the needle point on the end).  That I use.  Do you like the pens better than just a bottle?  I was thinking that the pen would move the parts around so I got the bottle instead.   

Also do you or anyone else have any tips on using the braid.  Took me quite a while to get the pin jumpers off with it.  Maybe my technique isn't right  lol. 

Online Breaktru

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #8 on: December 17, 2013, 09:00:26 AM »
Nice going c1. Too bad about the USB conn. It's a crazy time of the year for USPS.

When I use the braid, I crank up the heat temp setting a little bit. The braid absorbs heat so the normal soldering temp doesn't do it for me.

Offline c1truz

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #9 on: December 17, 2013, 10:54:13 AM »
Ya seemed as though it only half heated the solder and "deformed it" instead of melting it. Ill crank it up and see what it does.  Ill also keep working and practicing with it.  Got 2 more boards to practice with :)

Offline CraigHB

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #10 on: December 17, 2013, 03:18:28 PM »
Somtimes it helps if there's just a little bit of solder already melted on the braid to help conduct the heat.  When I trim  off the used lengths, I always leave a little saturated bit on the end. 

The bottle and brush flux can do the job, but I find the pen works well for me.  I lay down the flux before placing the part on the board.  Once I have a couple of the part's pins soldered, I use the pen over all the pins at that point.

Oh, one note on rosin flux, it has a shelf life of two years (it's a natural substance made from tree sap).  If that stuff you have is really old you need to replace it anyway.  Same for rosin core solder.  You can store overstock in the freezer to lengthen the shelf life.


« Last Edit: December 17, 2013, 03:33:18 PM by CraigHB »

Offline c1truz

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #11 on: December 17, 2013, 08:40:06 PM »
Charger chip looks bridged in the pic but only the top 2 on each side are.  Red is on if the charge current is good.  Blue is charge.  Green is charged.  Red only is also a fault weather it be temp or other fault.  Im gonna be removing red when I get this in a mod and read the high low value via code instead.  We will see!

Offline c1truz

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #12 on: December 26, 2013, 04:27:21 PM »
Well I finally got this put together.  Tact switches dont match but is all radio shack had and didnt feel like ordering any right now.  Im also too lazy to put the last 2 screws in.  Still testing etc etc. 

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #13 on: December 26, 2013, 05:19:01 PM »
Nice going  :rockin smiley:
Great job c1truz  :beer-toast:

Offline jeandbean

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #14 on: December 26, 2013, 05:27:22 PM »
Very cool  ;cheers; Me likes

Offline c1truz

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #15 on: December 28, 2013, 09:17:47 PM »
Thanks!  It was more work than I thought but rewarding in the end.  Im planning my next 2 out a lot better and in a month or 2 plan to have a custom boost and a buck that go together a little better than this one did. 

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #16 on: December 28, 2013, 09:50:13 PM »
I like the larger font for the voltage on the display. What is that a 6 or 7 line display? what about the wattage, amperage and resistance.

Did you make the pcb for the charging circuit or is it a kit?

Offline c1truz

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #17 on: December 28, 2013, 10:20:07 PM »
I didnt ever get the current sense in there.  So no wattage etc.  I have a few other boards im waiting on and thats one reason I didn't add it.  I have  A boost circuit and a breakout for the 12A ge buck module at the fab now.  The charger is for the boost circuit I designed.  Gonna use a single lipo cell in it.   

 The display is an adafruit 128x64 oled.  I can get 8 lines on there but i think im going to stick with character displays because of costs. 

Charger circuit I made.  Got it made at oshpark like craig suggested.  I think it cost 3 bucks for 3 boards.  Once I get my boost circuit tested and it actually works im going to intergrate it onto the boost circuit and get a single board made. 

For the ge module.  Im going to test it and see if its any good and if I can actually figure out the pmbus stuff.  If I can and I like it im planning on making that board with the 328p and all intergrated on the same board.   

So I have a lot of testing to do.  Will prob be a while before I have another mod.  I will make post on both when I actually get my boards in and get started. 

Offline c1truz

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #18 on: December 28, 2013, 10:27:59 PM »
Random thought of the day.  Batteries really kill the size of a mod.  Especially a 2 cell mod. 

Online Breaktru

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #19 on: December 29, 2013, 08:19:44 AM »
Random thought of the day.  Batteries really kill the size of a mod.  Especially a 2 cell mod. 

Yup!

Maybe when the Aliens revisit the Earth they will show our scientist the secret of nano battery power instead of how to make a Pyramid.
« Last Edit: December 29, 2013, 01:47:33 PM by Breaktru »

Offline CraigHB

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #20 on: December 29, 2013, 01:42:49 PM »
I like the character displays as well, but mainly because they're really easy to program.  Saves a ton of program memory that way.  Depends though, if you're using a canned libray and programming in C it's really not a big deal to use a graphic display, but you need a lot more program memory.  I usually use assembly, the old school in me.  I've done graphic displays in assembly before, but it's very tedious to write the driver. 

The current state of battery tech is actually pretty amazing.  Some of these modern 18650 cells are good for over 10 Watt-hours which is a lot of power in such a small package.  However, we use a lot of power for an e-cig so it's never enough.  Even if the energy density was double that, we'd still wish we had smaller batteries.

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #21 on: December 29, 2013, 01:53:43 PM »
On my Nokia display I used the character display for my startup screen which is in the canned library. But for the main screen I needed the six lines to show all the reading with out having to press for another screen view.

Offline c1truz

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #22 on: December 29, 2013, 02:31:32 PM »
What is bad with that oled is the fact that just using the libraries took up 10kb of memory.  Then 4 for the bootloader.  Thats almost half the program memory there.

My little secret for my next mod is a simple 16x2.  With voltage, wattage, amps and resistance on screen.  Instead of cramming Battery level on there im going to use a rgb lcd and fade the colors from green(full) to blue to red for low batt.  So ill still have visual battery level.  May use a little more battery with 2 backlights on but its only on for 10 secs at a time.  My plans anyway..may change if I dont like it. 

Offline CraigHB

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #23 on: December 29, 2013, 05:30:02 PM »
Yeah you do give up some features going with a character display.  Though in terms of delivering information there's really no difference there.  For our purposes, you can fit everything you want to convey in 16x2.  You give up the option of any variance in text size or color or the ability to do something like a bar graph for battery capacity.

In terms of display types, I really like the FSTN ones over the others.  The OLED types look really nice and look more modern, but they're not sunlight readable.  For most devices it's not an issue, but an e-cig is something that is often used outside in direct sunlight.  The first mod I did used an LED numeric display and the first time I tried to read it outdoors, I was unhappy to find I couldn't read the display.  After that I decided I would only use sunlight readable displays.

Offline miskol

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #24 on: June 19, 2014, 04:57:33 AM »
Hi guys,

since there is discussion about OLED and also 4050 + MCU here, hope its okay for me to ask here (sorry if its not suitable).

i just received my breakout board to test the OLED that i'm using (same with Breaktru's OLED for DNA12 + MCU). i used the OLED for my previous design for boost circuit, i've chosen the wrong level translator (4054), so when the PCB received, i had to tinker some connections so that 4050 could be used on the PCB, i gave up.

so i fabricated a breakout board to confirm the connections. Breaktru FYI, i'm not sure if yours is the same with me, the Adafruit board uses old OLED design, the manufacturer's latest OLED design is different, it makes the connection easier because they put necessary components for the OLED on top of the flex cable.



i got it working, but the problem is after a few seconds, it would turn off. if i resolder the connections on the FPC, the OLED would function again and after few seconds it turns off again. what do u guys think the problem is?

i did it few times, it repeats as such. i soldered a new set of board, the same thing.
« Last Edit: June 19, 2014, 05:03:32 AM by miskol »

Offline c1truz

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #25 on: June 19, 2014, 08:10:00 AM »
From that picture I don't see any capacitors.  I know you said they have components on the cable but ALL oleds ive seen need external charge pump capacitors.   It would also help if you had a data sheet for the oled YOU are using. 

for example:

http://www.buydisplay.com/download/interfacing/ER-OLED0.91-1_Interfacing.pdf  The top one uses charge pump capacitors to get the voltage up to whats needed.  The bottom one does not BUT it uses 7.25v in.  We don't have a constant 7.25v in on the mods me make. 

Offline miskol

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #26 on: June 19, 2014, 01:09:17 PM »
that's the beauty of their latest OLED design, no external components needed, the Vcc is generated by an internal DC/DC. i've asked the manufacturer of the problem, will share if they response.

bottom board, note the required OLED components on the flex, while the capacitors on the board is the smoothing capacitors for 3.3v and the 4050 IC.


please refer here the datasheet: https://www.crystalfontz.com/products/document/3118/CFAL12832D-B_Preliminary_Datasheet.pdf

Offline c1truz

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #27 on: June 19, 2014, 01:17:56 PM »
Nice.  Never seen them like that but its pretty cool.  Let us know whats going on with them.  And thats for sharing the datasheet.

Offline Claviger

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #28 on: June 19, 2014, 03:15:08 PM »
The OLED turning off issue. I have seen at least two cases where it was a problem with code not hardware. Maybe try disabling most of your script and adding it one section a time and see if there isn't a problem area. 

Offline miskol

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #29 on: June 19, 2014, 07:57:18 PM »
The OLED turning off issue. I have seen at least two cases where it was a problem with code not hardware. Maybe try disabling most of your script and adding it one section a time and see if there isn't a problem area.

TQ for your suggestion, but i think we can say that the code is working fine because there is no problem with the OLED on this Adafruit's commercial breakout board that i have. also the OLED on my hardware will work fine again for a short while only when i resolder the FPC connections.



Offline CraigHB

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #30 on: June 20, 2014, 07:08:16 AM »
Still might be a timing issue if you're not dealing with the exact same display controller between the two OLEDs.  I've not often had trouble getting displays to play nice with the MCU, but when I have had problems, it's always been timing.

If the one from Adafruit is working and the one from Crystalfontz is not, there has to be some difference there, maybe not the display controller, but some difference somewhere.

Sounds like you've ruled out any connector issues, but when breadboarding displays I've had them blank out like that due to a flakey connection.  Though I've never had a problem with an FPC connector, they've always been pretty reliable for me. 

You tried two different builds, yeah?  Did you also use two different displays or the same one on both boards?.  It's actually pretty rare to get bad parts, but it does happen.  If you've only tried one display, you've not ruled that out.

One thing I do when I have trouble is slow the bus speed way down and use more liberal timings.  That way I can rule out any bus issues, like too fast or too noisy.  The lower the frequency, the better the tolerance for noise.  Then I run up the frequency and tighten up the timings to see what the display can handle to make sure I use a reasonable margin.  I tend to use SPI or I2C to minimize the pin count.  Serial displays take more time to load so I usually try to run them pretty fast.  4 bit parallel is faster and you can run the bus slower, but it has more overhead.

Well, hope you find the problem easily.  Sometimes it can be difficult to track down issues like that, but surprisingly, I've not had that much trouble getting displays to interface properly.

Offline CraigHB

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #31 on: June 20, 2014, 07:45:42 AM »
One other thing I thought of.  That Crystalfontz display supports I2C or SPI.  if you're using I2C, that bus type requires pull-up resistors on the data and clock lines.  SPI does not.  So, the Adafruit display may have those pull-ups on the board where the Crystalfontz display would not.  If using I2C, that could be a source of trouble for you.  SPI can operate with pull-ups or pull-downs or neither, I2C must have pull-ups.

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #32 on: June 20, 2014, 09:19:51 AM »
If in fact that Craig's suggestion is not related to your choice of I2C or SPI.............

It sounds like something I experienced using a Nokia 5110 display. The design flaw is the displays contact points on the back of the display. In your case it's the FPC connector. My problem would temporarily be remedied when applying pressure to the contact point and reinitializing. In your case it's re-soldering the connector.
It's probably a poor design of the FPC meshing up w/ the ribbon cable.

Offline miskol

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #33 on: June 20, 2014, 01:08:29 PM »
If the one from Adafruit is working and the one from Crystalfontz is not, there has to be some difference there, maybe not the display controller, but some difference somewhere.

You tried two different builds, yeah?  Did you also use two different displays or the same one on both boards?.  It's actually pretty rare to get bad parts, but it does happen.  If you've only tried one display, you've not ruled that out.

both have same display controller SSD1306, it is built in with the OLED. the difference is the OLED itself, the Adafruit's version have the old OLED version which requires external components, the one i bought directly with Crystalfontz is the latest OLED version which doesnt require any external components.

i used different displays, yeah possibly bad OLED. i bought two, the other is still MIA...

Offline miskol

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #34 on: June 20, 2014, 01:34:30 PM »
If in fact that Craig's suggestion is not related to your choice of I2C or SPI.............

It sounds like something I experienced using a Nokia 5110 display. The design flaw is the displays contact points on the back of the display. In your case it's the FPC connector. My problem would temporarily be remedied when applying pressure to the contact point and reinitializing. In your case it's re-soldering the connector.
It's probably a poor design of the FPC meshing up w/ the ribbon cable.

i'm using SPI configuration.

we'll see what the manufacturer's say on the problem, as a last resort i think we can confirm if the OLED has bad connection or not by direct soldering the OLED on the board.

Offline CraigHB

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #35 on: June 20, 2014, 07:11:41 PM »
SPI is more tolerant than I2C to issues like noisy lines or poor connectivity.  It's because I2C uses open drain where SPI uses CMOS.  SPI is also typically slower than I2C so again making it more tolerant to layout issues.  Using SPI is a good thing in terms of troubleshooting.   

It's not a likely cause, but you really need to rule out a bad display.  There have been a couple times where I've run around in circles for a while assuming a part was operating to spec when it was not.

Well again, I hope you find the problem easily. 

Offline miskol

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #36 on: June 21, 2014, 10:30:13 AM »
It's not a likely cause, but you really need to rule out a bad display.  There have been a couple times where I've run around in circles for a while assuming a part was operating to spec when it was not.

Well again, I hope you find the problem easily.

hehe noted Craig, it will be the priority now, will find the missing extra OLED i have for a few days, if still cant find, i will order new OLEDs,  :thankyou:

Offline miskol

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #37 on: June 24, 2014, 01:38:06 PM »
after many days of scouring for OLED and also while in the process cleaning my workplace a bit, i finally found the spare OLED!! unfortunately the problem still occurs...  raged:

still no response from the manufacturer also...

Offline miskol

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #38 on: June 28, 2014, 04:28:57 PM »
very sorry guys, apparently it is software related... the SPI speed is too high.

i reduced the SPI speed, added programming to loop images and it is working nicely :thumbsup:

i'm sure that by at least playing with ADC to read analog input values and show it real-time on the OLED will make me very happy, unfortunately that will take some time since currently i dont have the PIC library to easily do that on this OLED.

oh what a relief!!

http://youtu.be/q2laaime6Wo

The OLED turning off issue. I have seen at least two cases where it was a problem with code not hardware. Maybe try disabling most of your script and adding it one section a time and see if there isn't a problem area.

Clavinger, seems like your suggestion was right. it makes sense also, since the Adafruit's OLED is working nicely with the same code but not on my own breakout board. their translator IC is HC4050M while i'm using CD4050B, most probably the IC is a fairly slow device.

Thanks for all your help .
« Last Edit: June 28, 2014, 05:50:31 PM by miskol »

Offline CraigHB

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Re: MCU 4050c
« Reply #39 on: June 29, 2014, 03:50:14 AM »
Glad you go it worked out.  All the times I've had problems with displays it's always been timing in code, so there you have it :)

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