Monitor From Old Laptop Display

The last day I got a Raspberry Pi. Honestly I'm noobe to Raspberry Pi. But I already know we need a monitor to work with Raspberry Pi. I just download the OS for RPI and then extracted to a Micro SD card using it's tool. That all things we'll discuss on another day. The prime thing is we need a monitor. So the first option is to buy a new monitor. In second thought, it's spoon feeding. Right?. I don't wanna be like that.

Let's do in a different way. No time to waste. Let's start.................

1. LCD From old laptop.

2. LVDS cable (for laptop display).

3. TS56U11.2 (Universal LCD Controller).

4. 12V 2A Adaptor.

I just go to a PC Service shop and got two LCD panels of laptop. One of it is branded. And there is a text on behind the display "Lines on Display". I assumed that the customer replaced that LCD display because of lines.

The two LCDs are 15.6 displays. At the same time you can use any LCD for this purpose. Be careful about the backlight. New 40 pin LCD have backlight connection through the LVDS. But older LCD have external connection. So for that type of LCD need additional backlight driver. But I don't have additional backlight drive so i just choose two 40 pin LCD.

Next we need a Universal LCD Controller. It receive through VGA / HDMI / RCA or any other input methods and process the signal then drive the display. This is the main part of our work. I brought TS56U11.2 Universal LCD Controller. It's Chinese made and the PCB have poor quality. It comes with a remote control , an array of push buttons and IR receiver module. The pushbutton console and IR receiver module are in same PCB. But we can break it into two pieces for mounding. We also get a cable to connect pushbutton console and IR receiver module to the mainboard.

Universal LCD controllers are many types. The input options and functions, cost are depend on the model of board. TS56U11.2 Universal LCD Controller cost me about Rs 650/- and its about $ 8.90 USD. I brought it from a nearby component shop. But from online sites it'll costs some more.

LVDS is the abbreviation of Low-voltage differential signaling, or LVDS, also known as TIA/EIA-644. We need a LVDS cable here. LVDS cables are soo many types. First time I'm really confused about the LVDS connection.

So I just download the datasheet of the LCD(We'll discuss later) and understand that we need a6 Bit Single channel 40 pin LVDS cable.40 pin because of we have a 40 pin LCD. So I just brought that LVDS cable too. It's cost me much higher price compared to the board. It's Rs 350/- about $4.79 USD .

As per the specification of Universal LCD Controller TS56U11.2 we need a 12V 2 Ampere DC power supply. I didn't brought it because I already have one. So I just look into scraps (storage space for rarely used components). Finally got it from a little bit search. I test it with multimeter and a sample load. It is perfectly working.

We collect all components. So we can start building.

Before connecting we need to match the LVDS to the board side and display side.

LVDS matching is not a big deal. There is two connectors in main board end of the LVDS cable. Big one is for signal and small is for back light. You can find the LVDS header on TS56U11.2. This is two row header. Each row have 15 pins. Total of 30 pins. The big connector connect to this header. But you can observe that some of the pins are excess. Some pins are outside of the connector. You may confuse at this point. Honestly me too.

Ok. Let's figure out this. LVDS pin matching is relevant at this situation.

First look at the backside of you LCD. You can find the model number of the LCD. Just search this mode number on the internet. And download the datasheet. The first part of the datasheet you can see the LCD voltage. In my case it is 3.3V. In main board you can see a jumper. This is voltage selection jumper. In default it was selected on 12V. If I connect this to my LCD and power up definitely it'll fry my LCD. I just changed it to 3.3V.

Next important thing in datasheet is resolution. We'll discuss it later. Ok after this you can see the pinout of the LCD. That is total of 40 pins.

The important thing is no need to connect this 40 pins to Universal LCD Controller Board. We only connect some important pins.

In the most cases no need to change change the pin order. But we need to verify that if you have any doubt.

Lets take a look at the LVDS pins at the Universal LCD Controller Board.

Vcc * * Vcc

N/C * * N/C

GND * * N/C

LVA0- * * LVA 0+

LVA 1- * * LVA 1+

LVA 2- * * LVA 2+

GND * * GND

LVAC- * * LVAC+

LVA 3- * * LVA 3+

LVB0- * * LVB0+

LVB1- * * LV1+

LVB2- * * LVB2+

GND * * GND

LVAC- * * LVAC+

LVB3- * * LVB3+

Don't panic about this pin names. Your LCD pin names may different from this names. Then how to match?..

Take a second look on pin names. This is actually 2 channel LVDS connection but we need only single channel. You can divide this to two sections A and B. A is the first channel and B is the second channel. you can see 0-,0+ , 1-,1+ , 2-,2+ and so on. Both channel have different 0- and 0+ and others. So just only concentrate to this numbers. We only take first channel. No need of B channel.

Pin Matching

Take a multimeter and set it to continuity checking mode.

From datasheet of LCD , on panel side pin 1 must be Vcc. So I touch the pin 1 with one terminal of multimeter. and other end to Vcc pin of LVDS at the mainboard side. Like this verify all pins.

I verify all pins and observed that all pin are in correct order.

Then why we do this? why waste a lot of time?..

In this case it is matched. But when you using a large LCD or LCD from a TV that will not match. So at that time you need to change the pins manually.

Next connect the LVDS on panel side. Be careful. Don't break the connecter. Then connect the other end to the main board. When connecting this look at the arrows one in board and other in cable. Connect the cable like both arrows in one side.

Then connect the backlight connector to the red header on mainboard.

Next connect the cable to the Push button console and IR Receiver module. Then other end to the main board.

After this connect the power connector from 12V adaptor to the mainboard.

Power on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Press the power on button on the IR Remote.

Nothing in Screen ?

power LED is Green now. Don't be sad. Not completed.

Continue reading........................

We know Universal LCD Controller Board can use with a wide variety of LCDs. So we need to set the resolution of our screen manually. Otherwise you can't do nothing.

First we need to know the resolution of our LCD. It can find from datasheet of LCD. We have two methods to set the resolution.

Method - 1

This is done with a small software. Just search on your browser "TS56U11.2 firmware". Then you can see a lot of websites listed the firmware. Go to any of the site and download the correct firmware. Which means I have an LCD with resolution of 1024x768. So I download file named "VS.56U11.2_1024x768". After download extract it to a USB drive. Turn off the power of Universal LCD Controller Board and plug the USB to Universal LCD Controller Board. You can see the LED is blinking with two colour. When it is steady the program is updated successfully. Then turn off the main board and remove the USB again turn on the main board.

Method - 2

The second method is simple. After turning on the power button from IR remote, press input button and a key combination.

Universal Remote

Resolution Key combination

1366x768 input,2,0,0,8,1

1024x768 input,2,0,0,8,2

1280x1024 input,2,0,0,8,3

1440x900 input,2,0,0,8,4

1600x900 input,2,0,0,8,5

1680x1050 input,2,0,0,8,6

1920x1080 input,2,0,0,8,7

LG , Samsung , Sony, Philips Remote

Resolution Key combination

1366x768 input,3,1,1,8,1

1024x768 input,3,1,1,8,2

1280x1024 input,3,1,1,8,3

1440x900 input,3,1,1,8,4

1600x900 input,3,1,1,8,5

1680x1050 input,3,1,1,8,6

1920x1080 input,3,1,1,8,7

if you didn't know your remote's vendor just try the both codes.

Now you can see a blue screen.

After this I connect an HDMI cable from laptop to the Main board. But I feel something bad. Because the pictures are blurry. I didn't expect that. After some searches in internet I found the reason for that. The board is defaultly set for 2 Channel LCD. But we have single channel LVDS.

So I just take "Service Menu". To take Service Menu press "Menu" button and press 1,1,4,7 from the IR remote.

After taking service menu go to "Panel adjust" and set the Ti-map as "6Bit Ti=1". This is because I'm using 6Bit single channel connection. Now the picture is very clear.

I have a LCD with lines. The lines are on the left side of the display. When we using this as PC monitor this will annoy me. So I mirrored the panel from Service Menu>Panel adjust > Panel Mirror> On

After the testing I made some clamps on the walls and fix it to my wall near to my service table.

If you have a 3D printer you can make an awesome case fore it. I don't have it , So I just mounded it to wall and secured the board with foam sheets.

I hope my experience will help to your projects.

Read my other projects in hackster here

Email: akshayjoseph666@gmail.com

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