How to get a display replacement for Pixl.js

[curiosumcoder]

Hi Espruino friends.

Sudenly the display for my Pixl.js started to becomes dimmed, until it it got to shows nothing.

I tried some things like: cleaning connection with the board, increasing the contrast (it works for some time).

But now the display is always blank. I can connect to Pixl.js and interact with Espruino, and other features on the devide, but no display.

I saw on the forum Gordon, says the display is: JHD12864-G176BSW. Where i can buy it?

Thanks!

[gfwilliams]

Hi - sorry to hear it's broken. I'm not aware of anyone selling the displays separately (although Pimoroni use a non-backlight version on some boards they sell), but I have some here, and I'd be happy to sell you one for £3 + postage.

However before you do that, please can you check your 3.3v voltage rail on the Pixl with a volt meter? If the display contrast is going it could be an issue with the voltage, rather than with the display itself - and if it's the voltage being wrong then a new display won't help you.

[curiosumcoder]

Hi,

Thanks for the quick reply and the suggestion. I measured the 3.3v rail with a multimeter, both between the top of the CR2032 and the USB socket shell, and on the 3.3V/GND header pins:

• On CR2032 battery: 3.07V
• On USB power: 3.28V

I also tried adjusting the contrast with Pixl.setContrast() and sometimes did, sometimes not.

The matter is that tinkering on the display, i accidentally broke the securiting piece of the display connector to the board (i little black secure part). Shame on me :-(

Excluding this, the rest of the board works ok. Admire your work with Espruino.

Thanks again for your help.

Best regards.

[gfwilliams]

Thanks for checking that! Well that all looks ok voltage-wise.

It's up to you, but I feel like if the display is still showing stuff, but just the contrast is wrong then there's a big chance it's that connection from the LCD to the PCB rather than the display itself. There are some capacitors on the PCB that let it get the correct voltages, and if they're not connected properly then I can imagine that would cause the bad contrast.

The connector is a "10pin 1mm pitch fpc connector" - I'm assuming you're not in the UK so it's probably easier if you try and find something local to you on eBay/aliexpress/amazon. You may be able to find a connector that looks exactly the same and actually ping the black plastic bit out of the new connector and push it into the old one - or you could try and resolder it - but that's fiddly and if you got the display too hot while trying to solder the connector, that could cause more harm than good

[curiosumcoder]

Yes, I'm outside UK. I think I can get the part you mention to do the repair.

Thank you for your answer.