The SLCD-3 is designed to be based on a popular serial LCD driver IC, created by Maryland EE professor Peter Anderson. It is the display unit for an associated controller. The controller may be anything from a single board to a special purpose microcontroller to a PC, depending on the application. This controller is responsible for what you see on the LCD screen.

The SLCD-3 provides a simple command structure to allow text to be displayed on the screen. Text fonts are built in, and use standard ASCII mapping. Provision is made for up to 8 user-defined characters.

On a non-USB version, the serial UART interface is TTL. That is, the idle state is a TTL logic one, or near +5VDC. This is often termed non-inverting or true. This provides direct compatibility with the UART associated with a PIC, 8051, 68HCxx, Z80, SerOut on a Basic Stamp, and Com3 on a BX24. The board rate is fixed at 9600. Virtually any application can support 9600 baud.

The SLCD-3 is compatible with any industrial standard HD44780 Character LCD with a single row connection. The software configuration includes support for many LCD geometries: 2×16, 2×20, 2×24, 2×40, 4×16 and 4×20.

The SLCD-3 is capable of variable backlight intensity. The backlight current is controlled by a MOSFET. The maximum backlight intensity is controlled with a series limiting resistor. Also, the contrast can be adjusted through a potentiometer.

The SLCD-3 provides a 64 character buffer. However, to avoid framing errors, it is suggested the user initially provide a one millisecond delay between each character.

The SLCD-3 provides an on-board buzzer for 50 ms beeping.

A source of +5 VDC with a minimum current of 20 mA is required for this unit.

Note: This kit is the non-USB version, and will require a processor to communicate with the board.

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