ELEKTOR FORUMS

ESR / C Meter
Elektor Electronics September 2005
Article ref. http://www.elektor-electronics.co.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=27&year=2005&month=9&art=52895&PN=On

FAQ (frequently asked questions)

1. My LCD has 16 connections, but the connector and flatcable have only 14. What to do?
The connection of the LCD to the ESR/C Meter board is often not properly understood, hence a detailed description is given below.
The LCD supplied has 16 connections, of which two are intended for the backlight. Because of its high current consumption, the backlight is not used in our circuit, leaving 14 connections that have to be wired up. On the LCD module that comes with our kit, the two outer right terminals are for the backlight. The third terminal from the right is pin no. 1 which as to go to pin no. 1 of connector K1 on the board. The leftmost terminal is pin no. 14 which evidently goes to pin 14 of K1.
Our kit comes with a length of 14-way flatcable, a 14-way SIL header and a 14-way SIL plug. The flatcable has to be soldered directly onto the LCD module board. For the sake of completeness we should mention that no connections should be made to the two rightmost terminals marked ‘A’ and ‘K’. The 14-way SIL header goes to position K1 on the board, taking care to insert its pins 1 through 14 correctly, i.e., leaving pins 15 and 16 free. Cut the flatcable to the required length and solder the 14-way SIL connector to the wire ends. Next, the LCD module may be connected to the board.
The LCD may then be secured to the enclosure front panel, allowing the enclosure to be opened and closed without problems with the LCD connections. The LCD has to be mounted a little lower than connector K1.

2. My LCD will not fit into the case, what to do?
You have probably mounted the LCD directly onto the connector, this causes the module to end up too high. See FAQ 1 for a suggested method of connecting and mounting the LCD.

3. My ESR/C Meter does not work
This may have several causes, of which the most frequently encountered and/or reported are listed below (list to be extended and updated)

- Incorrect contents of PIC16F84 micro supplied. Unfortunately a number of these have been programmed with a wrong oscillator configuration word (‘low clock’ instead of ‘high clock’ frequency) and shipped with our kits. Faulty PIC micros may be returned to our Elektor Electronics, att. J. Visser / Software Service, Regus Brentford, 1000 Great West Road, Brentford TW8 9HH, UK, for a free replacement. Please include copies of original invoice and packing slip. Only original ESS-labelled PICs are accepted.

5. I would like to program my own micros for the project. What are the PIC config settings?

In addition to a hex file with the executable program a PIC also needs a set of configuration codes. These codes may be contained in the hex file, however PIC programmers deal with them in different ways. Here are the settings:

040259-41 PIC16F877:
Code Protection________________Off
In-Circuit Debugger____________Disable
FLASH Program Write____________Enable
Data EE Memory Code Protection_Off
Low Voltage Programming________Disable
Brown Out Reset________________Enable
Power-Up Timer_________________Enable
Watchdog Timer_________________Enable
Oscillator_____________________HighSpeed oscillator

Configuration word is 3F72.

040259-42 PIC16F84:
Program Memory Code Protection_Off
Power-Up Timer_________________Enable
Watchdog Timer_________________Disable
Oscillator_____________________HighSpeed Oscillator

Configuration word is 3FF2.