Electronics

This is my SHARP six inch color TFT LCD screen. It accepts NTSC composite video input and is truly amazing. I will post picture of the screen up and running soon. I put the screen in my '92 GMC Sonoma as a Rear View Mirror/ Television. Actually, i accomplished the television part, however i haven't gotten around to mouting a camera on the back yet. If you have made it to any of the big car shows this year you will find almost the exact same screen mounted on every "luxury" vehicle which boasts GPS and other goodies. This web page is a tutorial/ reference page to anyone who wants to build this screen as cheap as possible and still do it right.

Screen:
Fist of all the screen doesen't come plug and play. It needs -8V, 5V, 12V(for the inverters), and ground to function. The screen itself looks great and works well with it's internal factory settings, however you may want to be able to change them. This has proven very usefull in my experience because at night the screen can be blindingly bright. To change these settings all you need is a few resistors and pots and then you are good to go. I have integrated all of these into one board design and layout.

Power Supply and Control Board:
The board is made to run off of a vehicles current electrical system. This is probably the cheapest way one would be able to build a power supply even if they are not planning on putting it in a vehicle. The pin assignments to the screen are as follows:

6: GROUND
8: GROUND
10: +5 V
11: COMPOSITE VIDEO SIGNAL
12: BRIGHTNESS
13: CONTRAST
14: COLOR
15: TINT
16: -8V
20: GROUND

All other pins on the 20-pin connector do not need to be connected. Pin 7 is a video source select, however it automatically defaults to Composit NTSC video and therefore does not need to be connected. I definately recomend buying the connector kit from EIO if you purchase a screen. The physical shape is a strange size and is very small. This makes it difficult to connect to the screen without the proper equiptment. You can solder directly to the screen PCB if you wish, however that gets a little tough. There are solder pads accessable right next to the connector. They are very small and would take a delicate touch and some fine equiptment to tackle. If you follow these schematics and vary them to fit your needs you will have no problem whatsoever. the parts cost aproxiamtely $10 to $15 total. Also it is needed to pick up an Inverter for the back lighting. A good place to check out is JAMECO electronics for this. Make sure that they have a dual output Inverter. It is easy to pick out the wrong one, and there are two tubes in the back of this screen.
--*WARNING* - the backlighting is HIGH VOLTAGE --
It can kill you, so be carefull and don't touch it when you have it on!!

Parts List for Power Supply and Control Board:

Part Quantity
555 timer 1
7908 -8 V regulator 1
7805 5 V regulator 1
220 uF cap 3
0.047 uF cap 2
1K resistor 2
3.3K Resistor 1
33K Resistor 2
82K Resistor 1
22K Resistor 1
58K " 1
22K " 2
47K " 1
39K " 1
-Resistors may be substituted by similar (close aproximations) without any adverse affect.--
100K pot 4
diode 3
25V verister 1
SPST relay 1
4 poe dip switch 1
perf board or experimenter bread board--

there are more picture and information attached to the "board pictures" link below.

Other fun stuff: I have to congratulate Sony on their Mobile ES system out. I bought one and it was absolutely the best investment i ever made. The sound was great and they offer a TV Tuner module that allows you to use the headunit (radio controls) to operate the television. The screen is TTL (digital video) and therefore supports overlays of information. The TV station, Name and Volume apear on the screen. When a CD or the Radio is playing it also can displays the station name or nickname, and will show small animations. i.e a revolving CD.



Introduction to the SHARP LCD Screen This is my SHARP six inch color TFT LCD screen. It accepts NTSC composite video input and is truly amazing. I will post picture of the screen up and running soon. I put the screen in my '92 GMC Sonoma as a Rear View Mirror/ Television. Actually, i accomplished the television part, however i haven't gotten around to mouting a camera on the back yet. If you have made it to any of the big car shows this year you will find almost the exact same screen mounted on every "luxury" vehicle which boasts GPS and other goodies. This web page is a tutorial/ reference page to anyone who wants to build this screen as cheap as possible and still do it right. Screen: Fist of all the screen doesen't come plug and play. It needs -8V, 5V, 12V(for the inverters), and ground to function. The screen itself looks great and works well with it's internal factory settings, however you may want to be able to change them. This has proven very usefull in my experience because at night the screen can be blindingly bright. To change these settings all you need is a few resistors and pots and then you are good to go. I have integrated all of these into one board design and layout. Power Supply and Control Board: The board is made to run off of a vehicles current electrical system. This is probably the cheapest way one would be able to build a power supply even if they are not planning on putting it in a vehicle. The pin assignments to the screen are as follows: 6: GROUND 8: GROUND 10: +5 V 11: COMPOSITE VIDEO SIGNAL 12: BRIGHTNESS 13: CONTRAST 14: COLOR 15: TINT 16: -8V 20: GROUND All other pins on the 20-pin connector do not need to be connected. Pin 7 is a video source select, however it automatically defaults to Composit NTSC video and therefore does not need to be connected. I definately recomend buying the connector kit from EIO if you purchase a screen. The physical shape is a strange size and is very small. This makes it difficult to connect to the screen without the proper equiptment. You can solder directly to the screen PCB if you wish, however that gets a little tough. There are solder pads accessable right next to the connector. They are very small and would take a delicate touch and some fine equiptment to tackle. If you follow these schematics and vary them to fit your needs you will have no problem whatsoever. the parts cost aproxiamtely $10 to $15 total. Also it is needed to pick up an Inverter for the back lighting. A good place to check out is JAMECO electronics for this. Make sure that they have a dual output Inverter. It is easy to pick out the wrong one, and there are two tubes in the back of this screen. --WARNING - the backlighting is HIGH VOLTAGE -- It can kill you, so be carefull and don't touch it when you have it on!! Parts List for Power Supply and Control Board: Part Quantity 555 timer 1 7908 -8 V regulator 1 7805 5 V regulator 1 220 uF cap 3 0.047 uF cap 2 1K resistor 2 3.3K Resistor 1 33K Resistor 2 82K Resistor 1 22K Resistor 1 58K " 1 22K " 2 47K " 1 39K " 1 -Resistors may be substituted by similar (close aproximations) without any adverse affect.-- 100K pot 4 diode 3 25V verister 1 SPST relay 1 4 poe dip switch 1 perf board or experimenter bread board-- there are more picture and information attached to the "board pictures" link below. Other fun stuff: I have to congratulate Sony on their Mobile ES system out. I bought one and it was absolutely the best investment i ever made. The sound was great and they offer a TV Tuner module that allows you to use the headunit (radio controls) to operate the television. The screen is TTL (digital video) and therefore supports overlays of information. The TV station, Name and Volume apear on the screen. When a CD or the Radio is playing it also can displays the station name or nickname, and will show small animations. i.e a revolving CD.


Board schematics Back