Project: Reality Bytes

[The boy 4rm oz]

Even better than it already was

I agree, can't wait for that side panel to be completed.

[dfigravity]

Thanks Maleficus, and thanks for the +rep



Thanks TEAMIKKE, I am going to wire in a VGA connection, should get a better picture that way than with S-video. I have got the pin-out diagrams, just need to get a new tip for my soldering iron now as its a very small area to work on.



Thanks jbdnsn, much appreciated.

First off I wanted to add my +rep to everyone else's...this is a beautiful mod...like the others said, clean, simple and smooth. It really is an inspiring mod man, great work! Secondly, where did you find the pin-out diagrams for that screen? Thanks!!

[Xperiment]

Even better than it already was

Thanks TEAMIKKE

Very clean.

I hate it, you've made me realise how messy my loop really is :p

+rep for the sweet work and tidyness.

Thanks Scotty, and thanks for the +rep

First off I wanted to add my +rep to everyone else's...this is a beautiful mod...like the others said, clean, simple and smooth. It really is an inspiring mod man, great work! Secondly, where did you find the pin-out diagrams for that screen? Thanks!!

Thanks dfigravity, I got the pinout diagram Here

I agree, can't wait for that side panel to be completed.

Thanks The boy 4rm oz.

[Xperiment]

Update: LCD Screen

Hey Guys,

Only a small update I'm afraid, Maplins seem to think 24hour delivery means "will take over a week" . So I am still waiting on parts to get this screen up and running.

I have made a start on the wiring however.

Here is the adapter that came with the screen for the video/sound output:

As you can see from the picture its a very small area to work in, and knowing the limits of my soldering skills I decided to mod the wires that connect to the adapter instead of soldering wires onto it.

Here is the connector to mod:

There are 10 wires in total, I only need 6 of them to connect via VGA. So I cut into these and lengthened them with some thin wire so they will run from the screen to the output on my graphics card. Each wire is numbered to correspond to the pin on the VGA connector:

Then this end will connect to the screen:

Now here are the wires connected to the screen:

And finally here they are braided:

I also made a quick connector for the screen power. Just a molex connector running to a toggle switch. This will then connect to a small circuit to drop the 12v to 7.5v.

Hopefully Maplins will pull their finger out over the next few days so I can connect the power to the screen and wire up the VGA connector. Then we should have a working LCD.

Thanks For Reading

[The boy 4rm oz]

OOOHH update lol. I hate waiting for parts. Great progress.

[Xperiment]

Update: LCD Screen

Some good news, my order from Maplins finally turned up today, However when I opened it and started checking off all the bits and pieces I noticed they had not included the last page of items

The parts they left off aren't urgent but its still very frustrating, and now I have been told they will be with me in 3-5days !?!?!?! pfff

But anyway the modding must go on. The only missing part that will cause a bit a problem is the stripboard, so for now please enjoy some Ghetto electronics ......

Powering the screen: Ghetto Testing

A big thanks to 'xmastree' for coming up with the circuit diagram to allow me to reduce the standard 12v supply from the PSU to the needed 7.5v for the screen. Original Thread

This is what I will be working to:

I will be testing this circuit on two outputs, the first of which is a set of two 12" cathode tubes. The thinking behind this being that they were the highest wattage 12v item I had to hand.

Below you can see the 'Ghetto' arrangement used to test:

So after connecting everything and switching it on I used a multimeter to measure the voltage being supplied to the cathodes (from the outputs on the circuit diagram).

This gave a result of 7.88v.

A good result and well within the range the screen can cope with.

Next I used a simple 120mm fan, again connected Ghetto stylee:

The voltage reading for this test seemed to be less stable, moving from 6.90v upto 7.65v. I left it running for around 3 minutes and it did level out at around 7.30v, again a perfect supply for the screen.

I am very happy with the results and quite confident that the circuit works the way it is meant to. However not being that knowledgeable of all things electronics I wont connect it to the screen just yet, I will run a few more tests first.

If anyone can see anything I have done wrong here, please point it out to me, you may just save my screen

I have done a little video of the 2 tests hoping this will highlight any problems:

I now have my 15 way D-Sub connector (VGA) so tonight will be able to solder this to the video inputs on the screen, an update on this to follow.

But that's it for now, as always thanks for reading

[The boy 4rm oz]

Getting closer and closer to seeing this screen up and running.

[billygoat333]

wow this looks really really good. I wanna use that ps1 screen in my car for my car pc if i ever have money to that. +rep for an awesome mod

[xmastree]

Looking good so far. If the power seems unstable, it might be an idea to put a capacitor across the output to smooth things a little. Got any dead electronics lying around?

[jdbnsn]

I didn't realize it but imagispire actually made two custom headers for you so I added the other one to the first post. You can pic one and remove the other or use both if you want.