Going integrated!

A problem with the v0.1.3 PCBs is the misalignment of the Remote PCB mounting holes and the attached LCD. I have made a small 'adapter' out of some scrap fiberglass panel, and repositioned the holes in V0.2.x of the PCBs.   However, over the last week I have been playing with the idea of a redesign which directly talks to the LCD module, as opposed to via the PIC based 'back pack' of the current approach.

Here is a snapshot of the revised design which uses an Amtel CPU to receive the I2C commands, monitor the key-buttons, as well as drive the LCD.  There are plunty of Arduino modules out there to use as building blocks, for the LCD, the keypads, and the I2C in Slave Mode.

Notice how it is just a bit larger then the LCD itself

I have ordered a PCB via Batch-PCB, and the parts from Mouser.  Will take over a month for them all to come in, and I expect to be playing with this over the summer.  Until then, will be just using the current 'Back Pack' v0.1.3 PCB and design.

But, this could be yet another fun project!