economical ways to create a LCD time count down?

economical ways to create a LCD time count down?#16410

By ragrgsby - Sun Jul 30, 2006 5:05 pm

- Sun Jul 30, 2006 5:05 pm #16410

Working on a project that will include a LCD to count down in hr:min:sec

What would be some economical ways to do this?

My first thoughts are to begin experimenting with 16f877a and a 16x2 character lcd. This apporach will look great, but the LCD is about $14, and the 16f877a is about $8, however there are so many examples dealing directly with the D44780 parallel interface chipset, and the 16F877a PIC that it will be a breeze.

Using oshonsoft's Basic Compiler.

#16413

By reklipz - Sun Jul 30, 2006 6:15 pm

- Sun Jul 30, 2006 6:15 pm #16413

You can probably get a free sample of the PIC from Microchip. That is if you have a company or university email address.

Saves you $8, and the shipping is free.

#16430

By brennen - Mon Jul 31, 2006 4:58 am

- Mon Jul 31, 2006 4:58 am #16430

You can find surplus LCDs all over the place for cheap, too. Check Ebay, BGMicro (http://www.bgmicro.com), and EIO (http://www.shopeio.com, this one is my personal favorite).

I ordered a couple of samples from Microchip last week and it's going to take around a month for them to come in. I hope you have better luck with your sampling 8) . Just check out http://sample.microchip.com.

#16445

By reklipz - Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:55 am

- Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:55 am #16445

woah... a month?!

I ordered some pics and got them in 3 days later.

Also, i got some GPIO expanders and some 1Mb I2C EEPROM, which just came in today.

The only things i didnt get were the Ethernet controllers and the LCD Drivers... they're coming in a month.

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