Motu Ultralite Display Brightness

[Maquesi]

Same dark display here on Ultralite mk3 Hybrid

Bought Displaytech 162D-CC-BC-3LP but still not able to make it work (blue backlight is OK but nothing displayed)

Im trying to associate the motherboard pins to the display pins according to both LCD manuals :

- Displaytech LCD : https://docs-emea.rs-online.com/webdocs ... 55e63d.pdf
- Genuine LCD : http://www.beyond-tek.com/Private/Files ... 601875.pdf

Home made simplified schematic : https://ibb.co/0F13f4X

- db0-7 : the 8 data bus lines, which perform read/write of data
- Vss,Vdd : Voltage supply pins
- R/W : Pin writing/reading to/from - LCD
- RS : Pin selects registers between Instruction Register and Data Register
- E : "Enabling" pin; when this pin is set to logical low, the LCD does not care what is happening with R/W, RS, and the data bus lines; when this pin is set to logical high, the - LCD is processing the incoming data
- Vo : Pin for LCD contrast
- A : backlight LED+
- K : backlight LED-

Edit : apparently MkIII displays are different to other ones (serial VS parallel connection). I will try to find a solution and will let you know.

[mvagz704]

Yesterday i connected a LED to the backlight free pin-holes, but i did not see any difference (probably beacause the led wasn't "high-brightness")..
Oh well...
Waiting for a display to arrive from a Chinese manufacturer (buydisplay.com). I hope it will work.
I will keep you all informed when i install it.

[mvagz704]

update:
i received the lcd modules from China (buydisplay.com). I bought 2 of them and they came nicely packed.
Today i finally replaced the LCD of my Ultralite MK1. I used the module with black background and white characters (the other one i bought was white with black characters). I followed Valden's very instructional video (THANK YOU) to get the 5 Volt power supply the module needed (it was rated at 5v from the manufacturer). Of course i placed the module behind the display board (it is a little thicker than the Tianma), but it fitted like a glove.
Boy, what a difference!! Now my MOTU has the brightest screen in my whole studio!
Thank you Valden for your video and posts, and i hope that this info will be useful to others. In my opinion, this manufacturer (buydisplay.com is NOT a reseller but a manufacturer) has the best and cheapest solution for our Motus. Of course i had to patient for a month for the package to arrive in Greece from China, but the result made me very happy..

[FadGadget]

Mvagz704, that's great!

Do you have an exact part number or an eBay link to the display you got? I have tried a few different displays and the Ultralite seems to be quite fussy about which displays work. I got an OLED display to partly work but the characters get scrambled. And two different LCDs I have tried won't initialise and work at all. The timing of the display data is apparently critical here.

Any pointers to the exact display model would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks!

[mvagz704]

FadGadget, i posted also in my blog :
https://synthnitz.blogspot.com/2019/06/ ... epair.html

The modules i purchased are:
1) white characters with black background (which i installed):
https://www.buydisplay.com/default/3v-5 ... e-on-black
2) black characters on white background :
https://www.buydisplay.com/default/16x2 ... k-on-white

Just keep in mind that i chose 5V supply for those, and i followed valden's instructional video to power the lcd, but there is an option for 3,3v power supply if you want, so you use the stock power connector of the MOTU.

Of course you can choose other colour combinations, even the stock green on black background. I was impressed particularly with the company's customer service. Even though i only purchased 13 bucks worth of products, they responded immediately to my emails.
Take a look around their site, they specialize in all kinds of displays, they also have OLED types.
Hope this helps.

[FadGadget]

Thank you!

Unfortunately, one on the displays I have tried installing is *exactly* the one you had success with. I only get one line of solid block characters, so something else must be faulty in my Ultralite. I have tried powering it from the connector and also a 5V point on the pcb but no change.

Oh well, I think I have to give up on the display. Audio and MIDI works so I guess I'll just have to fly blind.

[mvagz704]

i am in no way electronics savvy, all information i gather from the web.
But what i would do is try to check some simple things first:
1) Check your connector from the MOTU PCB to the display: is it correctly installed? pin 1 is on the bottom
2) Check the male pins soldered on the display if they are all ok (any cold joints..)
3) Check the grey ribbon cable soldered on the PCB of the display, which then goes to the MOTU pcb male connector
4) Check with a multimeter the voltage from the MOTU PCB (where it says 5v): is it 5v ?
5) Any capacitors are bad maybe?

Question: the solid block characters showed when you put this exact module, or did it happen with all display modules you've tried?

Either something is wrong with the MOTU (which only a qualified technician would know or the MOTU technical support ppl) or maybe the display module is faulty (this happens with new stuff some times...)

[FadGadget]

I eventually found the fault! Everything looked fine, but one small SMD pulldown resistor connected to Pin5 in the Ultralite was dead (read open with multimeter).
I replaced it and now every display I have works. I ended up installing the white-on-black version.

Many many thanks for all your help!

[mvagz704]

Actually, you have found the problem yourself! i didn't help a bit!
I am very glad you got it to work as it should. I know the feeling!
Now you have more than one display to play with!
Keep on playing music!!

[mvagz704]

by the way, can you post a photo of your ultralite with the new display, so we all can admire?

[FadGadget]

Sure! It's quite hard to get a good photo of the entire interface due to the display brightness...





In reality the display looks very nice and not at all distracting.
Background is almost completely black and the characters are white and easy to read.

[mvagz704]

That's perfect, man! i had the same photoshoot problem with mine too, when i replaced the display!
Enjoy your new Ultralite !!
Thanks for the photo.

[mvagz704]

btw, i can't find out how to post a photo of my ultralite, too...
i can only attach a url where the image resides. Do you you know how to do this? Thanks

[FadGadget]

I had to use a service for external hosting. In my case ImgBB. A bit fiddly but works.

[mvagz704]

Ok! Thanks. Here it goes.. here is my MOTU: