Touch Display Expansion Module

rimai · Post by **rimai** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 12:08 am

Hi Everyone,

I decided to go ahead and finalize the Touch Display Expansion Module.
It's been in the back burner for too long.
It will be a remote screen module that you can add to any Reef Angel system.
The module will have a bigger screen (320x240 pixels), touch panel and micro SD card slot.
1st prototype is due in a few weeks.
In the mean time, I'm going to work on the libraries and user interface.
I'd like to ask everyone to submit your design. How would you like this screen to look like and how should it function?
Here is an idea of how it will look like: http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx25 ... 172302.jpg
Thanks in advance.

Piper · Post by **Piper** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 12:07 pm

Roberto - Any samples from the mfg that we can use for ideas?

DrewPalmer04 · Post by **DrewPalmer04** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 12:32 pm

Regardless the look, I'm pretty excited for a bigger screen!!!

jsclownfish · Post by **jsclownfish** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 12:36 pm

I guess I should have waited on trying to make the arLCD work.

I haven't got much feedback from the EarthLCD folks on this, but maybe the libraries/widgets will improve over time. I'm sure you'll be able to produce a much better expansion module as well.

I think the ability to display tank parameters in a bigger font along with the input ability to control relays, reset ATO timeouts, and trigger feed/water change modes would be great. I'm not sure what the micro SD card slot adds, but it would be cool to have a sleep screen picture that it loads (maybe that would automatically wake if something is a miss).

-Jon

lnevo · Post by **lnevo** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 12:44 pm

For the sd, would be nice for logging data...even a cvs file you could import to excel for some long term data...could probably store a lot of data on a 4 or 8gb card.

rimai · Post by **rimai** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 2:02 pm

We can get creative with design.
Just not that much.
Like the previous screen, we have basic drawing like squares, lines, circles, gradients and text.
We can also draw small bitmaps, but they have to be not so big. They are going to be stored in program memory.
The sd card can store photos to be displayed in RA, as well as save logging data.

Sent from my Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk 2

00Warpig00 · Post by **00Warpig00** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 10:10 pm

When I was reading about the LCD\Touch screen stuff I got the impression that the SD card slot was included with most of them so that the SD card could hold your graphics IE: fancy buttons Icons etc. so that the info on the display could be dressed up nicely without cost of arduino memory. So if your screen design has some small .gif's or jpg's for example that are graphical representations of of something you want loaded on your screen you load the graphic from the SD card to save the arduino memory space. I didnt get too deep into it but it seems this was the intent of the SD card on all the LCD displays.

Nick

DrewPalmer04 · Post by **DrewPalmer04** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 6:42 am

Correct. Depending on the refresh rate some people have to turn off the backlight until the image is loaded then turn it back to create a smooth transition. Not sure which LCD screen Roberto is using but images will be possible off the SD

neuro · Post by **neuro** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 1:41 pm

will this need the expansion module to work? What total costs are we looking at?

lnevo · Post by **lnevo** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:04 pm

Even with images for buttons/logos/etc there should still be room for data logging

DrewPalmer04 · Post by **DrewPalmer04** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:52 pm

Bingo!

civictuner04 · Post by **civictuner04** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 6:15 pm

it would be really cool if through the touch display you could adjust relay and adjust the dimming expansion yet another expansion i will be buying if i can get my current ones to work

dmolton · Post by **dmolton** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:02 am

This is really cool. Glad to see the project has been started back up - very exciting!

One thing I think would be really cool is if the module had an integrated motion sensor so that it lights up when you approach it.

rimai · Post by **rimai** » Fri Feb 01, 2013 9:33 am

This is the one I have right now for your reference on what you could do.

: Touch-Display.jpg (32.42 KiB) Viewed 6886 times

I'm using 2 font sizes.
We have 8x8, 12x12 and Arial Bold 20pt available default.
We can add any font type. It just increases the code size.

dbmet · Post by **dbmet** » Fri Feb 01, 2013 10:27 am

That's very nice looking!!!!

lnevo · Post by **lnevo** » Fri Feb 01, 2013 10:41 am

You might want to consider bitmap fonts and store them on the sd.

aus996 · Post by **aus996** » Fri Feb 01, 2013 6:14 pm

id definitely be interested in one of these when it becomes available

DrewPalmer04 · Post by **DrewPalmer04** » Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:15 pm

Fantastic!

Piper · Post by **Piper** » Fri Feb 01, 2013 8:21 pm

Sign me up for the beta-test group

Some of these have already been mentioned but these are some of the things I'd like to see:

Graphs - grouped and individual stats
Stat history
Export data
Stat - High, Low, Average
Ability to change relay status
Set/Change internal memory
Set/Change custom memory
Incorporate the main RA menus
Easy custom and nested menus for future expansion
Scrub the algae on the glass
Automatically get the frozen fish food out of the freezer, thaw it, and feed the fish

I know the last one is a long shot but thought I'd put it out there to see if you can pull it off anyway.

~Charlie

rimai · Post by **rimai** » Fri Feb 01, 2013 10:50 pm

I got this from Mike.

: LCD Screen1.gif (8.2 KiB) Viewed 6864 times

: LCD Screen.gif (8.6 KiB) Viewed 6864 times

Send in yours

fatman · Post by **fatman** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:42 am

I really like the one above.

carlii · Post by **carlii** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:57 pm

CoulI i request a reliable mounting mechanism? I am using Velcro which isn't very reliable. I would like to mount this outside of my cabinet so it should look really cool.

carlii · Post by **carlii** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:58 pm

Touch buttons should include a feeding mode on the main screen.

Amos Poh · Post by **Amos Poh** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 10:16 pm

This is awesome,

My wish is for aesthetic value for the Display. Will be good if it is simple, slick and elegant

Aluminum body maybe?

Understand cost might be affected but perhaps have a balance for best of both worlds?

Cheers

DrewPalmer04 · Post by **DrewPalmer04** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 6:15 pm

Do you plan to graph temperature history or any spec? I'm coming up short how to do it on my custom build

Smotz · Post by **Smotz** » Thu Apr 11, 2013 9:51 am

This is pretty awesome. Just got my RA yesterday - can't wait to play with it.

Any possible ETA on the screen and possible price range?

brettb · Post by **brettb** » Tue May 21, 2013 10:59 pm

Hows the development on the touch screen expansion going?

rimai · Post by **rimai** » Wed May 22, 2013 7:46 am

I'm about to receive the next revision boards next week, but libraries creation is very slow

brettb · Post by **brettb** » Wed May 22, 2013 8:46 am

cool! as everyone says. Good things never happen quickly in this hobby. Very excited for this expansion

binder · Post by **binder** » Wed May 22, 2013 8:48 am

like rimai said, the library part is slow....too many other things going on at once (like always).

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