cheaper large instrument displays - mast mount

Continuing (as I expect are many others) to watch with admiration and respect!
This really has great momentum and a sense of "getting there".

Well done to those few who are doing all the work.

ps Is this now officially the longest (ie most posted) post on the forum?
 
ShaunG said:
I also added the mosfet to control the backlight and happy to say that it is all working..
Click to expand...

For those of a Seatalk disposition I will add some stuff that handles Seatalk lamp brightness messages so the display will change brightness when the light level is changed on any other Seatalk instrument on the network. The NMEA types will just have to watch in green eyed envy. :)
 
I did use the mosfet you suggested Angus, works perfect...

We may not have the most posts on th whole forum but it seems we are leading the pbo posts....long long way behind drift a thread in the lounge though...we're pretty far up the views list too


Feeling rather jealous of seatalk network backlight control:D
 
Hi Angus

I have seatalk on my boat, so delighted to know that the display will be controlled by the bus.
Ready to build the seatalk interface !!! And the RF side of things(gulp)

All the best

Tom
 
Last edited:
Tom_Brewis said:
Hi Angus

I have seatalk on my boat, so delighted to know that the display will be controlled by the bus.
Ready to build the seatalk interface !!! And the RF side of things(gulp)

All the best

Tom
Click to expand...

Connecting the RF module is easy - 8 pins, 2 are power (3.3V important) and ground, and 6 data lines that are connected straight to port pins. They use the small row of pins along the bottom of the Disco board that don't fit into a breadboard, so it's either solder, or get a hand wire-wrap tool from EBay for £10 and some wire wrap wire from RS (i.e. 209-4849).

At the other end you need a 18F26K22 processor, a PICKit2 flashing tool (clone from EBay cheapest), a LED and 100 ohm resistor, a 3.3V regulator for now as the PICKit2 2 software can output voltage to 5V and that will destroy your RF module, breadboard and wires.

I hope to get the remote control working on the 16F882 as it's cheaper, but not done that yet.

RF reception works on the display side every time after power up, some of the time when debugging, and never after pressing the board's reset button. I've not got to the bottom of this problem, so for now for debugging the local buttons remain.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
For those of a Seatalk disposition I will add some stuff that handles Seatalk lamp brightness messages so the display will change brightness when the light level is changed on any other Seatalk instrument on the network. The NMEA types will just have to watch in green eyed envy. :)
Click to expand...

WOOHOO !!
 
AngusMcDoon said:
For those of a Seatalk disposition I will add some stuff that handles Seatalk lamp brightness messages so the display will change brightness when the light level is changed on any other Seatalk instrument on the network. The NMEA types will just have to watch in green eyed envy. :)
Click to expand...

I'd like to see the code for that, I'm thinking of doing it on another project. You may also like to consider an external feed of the lighting circuit that will turn the SeaTalk lamps on and off. I'm always leaving mine on, as they don't go of with the other instruments.

Are you still using the SeaTalk circuit on Thomas's web site? I did mention that I have come up with a version that is closer to the actual specification, hopefully!
 
nigelmercier said:
Are you still using the SeaTalk circuit on Thomas's web site? I did mention that I have come up with a version that is closer to the actual specification, hopefully!
Click to expand...

I'm using the circuit on Thomas Knauf's website in a different application, but would be interested to see your improvements. Got a link? (Sorry...did search back in the last 100 or so of your posts but must have missed it)
 
nigelmercier said:
I'd like to see the code for that, I'm thinking of doing it on another project. You may also like to consider an external feed of the lighting circuit that will turn the SeaTalk lamps on and off. I'm always leaving mine on, as they don't go of with the other instruments.

Are you still using the SeaTalk circuit on Thomas's web site? I did mention that I have come up with a version that is closer to the actual specification, hopefully!
Click to expand...

Which bit of code do you want to see? In the Seatalk parser it is...

else if(seatalk_messages[1]==SEATALK_LAMPS)
{
lamps=(seatalk_messages[3])/4;
handler(SEATALK_LAMPS);
}

where SEATALK_LAMPS is #define SEATALK_LAMPS 0x30

The handler does this...

case SEATALK_LAMPS:
backlight_set_level(lamps*33);
break;

and backlight_set_level this, although this is processor specific stuff...

void backlight_set_level(uint8_t percent)
{
TIM_TimeBaseInitTypeDef TIM_TimeBaseStructure;
TIM_OCInitTypeDef TIM_OCInitStructure;

TIM_TimeBaseStructure.TIM_Period=BACKLIGHT_PWM_PERIOD;
TIM_TimeBaseStructure.TIM_Prescaler=0;
TIM_TimeBaseStructure.TIM_ClockDivision=0;
TIM_TimeBaseStructure.TIM_CounterMode=TIM_CounterMode_Up;
TIM_TimeBaseInit(TIM3, &TIM_TimeBaseStructure);
TIM_OCInitStructure.TIM_OCMode=TIM_OCMode_PWM1;
TIM_OCInitStructure.TIM_OCPolarity=TIM_OCPolarity_High;
TIM_OCInitStructure.TIM_OutputState=TIM_OutputState_Enable;
TIM_OCInitStructure.TIM_Pulse=percent*BACKLIGHT_PWM_PERIOD/100;
TIM_OC3Init(TIM3, &TIM_OCInitStructure);
TIM_OC3PreloadConfig(TIM3, TIM_OCPreload_Enable);
TIM_ARRPreloadConfig(TIM3, ENABLE);
TIM_Cmd(TIM3, ENABLE);
}

The Seatalk soft uart is too long to post here but I'll email it to you if you are interested, although I've probably sent you the PIC one before, and it's basically the same.

Not updated the Seatalk interface hardware yet, Thomas' seems to work ok.
 
laika said:
I'm using the circuit on Thomas Knauf's website in a different application, but would be interested to see your improvements. Got a link? (Sorry...did search back in the last 100 or so of your posts but must have missed it)
Click to expand...

The circuit is below, some resistor values are under review. Do bear in mind that I don't normally do discrete, so any suggestions are welcome.

SeaTalkIO.png


It is based on Thomas Knauf's website, but with values that are closer to the actual SeaTalk circuits below, albeit without the fast pull-up transistor.

ST-IO.png


To "Angus", thanks for code.
 
Last edited:
Hi Angus

I have received the PIC link and board, and I am waiting for the RF modules this may take a while as they are on a slow boat from China.
Please may I have the code to make this bit work, so I can start playing with it.

Happy Christmas to one and all

Tom
 
Not entirely thread drift :D

For those of you intending to tinker further, but determined to keep with higher tech processors ;), there is a new ARM3 based Arduino board out.

http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardDue

The ability to connect to the outside world easily, a wide community of fellow tinkerers and quite a wide range of hardware add-ons, may make it more attractive for exploring new designs. Lots faster than any existing Arduino processors.
I've one on it's way (from China), but it will be into January before it appears I think !
Probably won't get to play with it on Boxing day after all:D
 
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