forum.pistar.uk

w7efs wrote: ↑Fri Feb 22, 2019 4:31 pm Thanks for the feedback, my concern in dimming the remote OLED is merely longevity. Replacing the OLED when visiting the remote site requires some disassembly and soldering that we might might not have time for. Having installed a hostapd on the RPi3 wifi, it's a simple matter to use a tablet to enable the OLED on site when needed.

May I add a thought to the origin of the "concern";

The HS is working in a "remote site"...

Does it really need to have an OLED for nobody looking at it??

EA3BIL wrote:

w7efs wrote: ↑Fri Feb 22, 2019 4:31 pm Thanks for the feedback, my concern in dimming the remote OLED is merely longevity. Replacing the OLED when visiting the remote site requires some disassembly and soldering that we might might not have time for. Having installed a hostapd on the RPi3 wifi, it's a simple matter to use a tablet to enable the OLED on site when needed.

May I add a thought to the origin of the "concern";

The HS is working in a "remote site"...

Does it really need to have an OLED for nobody looking at it??

Reply #8 above already asks that question.
And reply #9 answers it.

Andrew M1DNS, (Mod)

EA3BIL wrote: ↑Fri May 31, 2019 3:52 pm Does it really need to have an OLED for nobody looking at it??

Only when a "nobody" or plural is/are visiting the 3-hour remote site for equipment diagnostics. How does EA3BIL determine when a Motorola GM300 receiver is correctly registering *your* D-Star, DMR or YSF signals? The OLED states such information as an elementary-level diagnostic, along with the log files. When its display gets depleted due to longevity, it wastes everyones valuable time with a soldered replacement.

I use 12ctools to control the OLED over SSH
(If not installed yet use: $ sudo apt-get install i2c-tools)

Switch OLED ON:
$ /usr/sbin/i2cset -y 1 0x3c 0x00 0xAF

Switch OLED OFF:
$ /usr/sbin/i2cset -y 1 0x3c 0x00 0xAE

OLED STATUS:
$ /usr/sbin/i2cget -y 1 0x3c 0x00

this returns the current status of the OLED:
0,96" OLED (ssd1306 type): 0x43=OFF 0x03=ON
1,50" OLED (ssd1327 type): 0x41=OFF 0x01=ON

Good luck and 73's

Excellent, thank you.

w7efs wrote: ↑Fri Feb 22, 2019 4:31 pm Thanks for the feedback, my concern in dimming the remote OLED is merely longevity. Replacing the OLED when visiting the remote site requires some disassembly and soldering that we might might not have time for.

I have a friend who has a repeater installed on a windy hilltop. It's no fun to have to replace a component up there in the middle of winter when the wind chill factor makes fingers clumsy very quickly!

Have you thought about changing the configuration so that you could just solder a wired connector to a new OLED in the comfort of your shop, and then just unplug the old one and plug in a new one at the site with no soldering? Or perhaps switch to a Nextion connected via USB?

The LEDs on my Hat are extremely bright, and although drawing on them with a black felt tip pen sounds a good idea, a dark transparent covering fitted over them or in the aperture of the lid is not so permanent (pardon the pun). I suspect that the LEDs are a fixed brightness due to the current limiting on the PCB, or is there a setting in software/firmware to adjust there brightness?