ReefKeeper II display dim-DIY repair???

[fio1022]

I have a ReefKeeper 2 controller that is starting to have weak(dim) display.
Did some research on the Digital Aquatics forum and seems to happen to others as well.
They say It will cost about $40 plus shipping to have it repaired by them plus downtime.
Anyone familiar with this or know if it can be a DIY repair.
Thanks

[n2585722]

If all they want is $40 I wouldn't even try. You might cause more damage by trying.

Danny

[fio1022]

I know, I just don't want the down time.
I was hoping it was a real easy fix.

[customcolor]

mine is like that too...i think its the back light...if it was to bug me enough i would just spend a few extra bucks and buy another used one then send the bad one in get it fixed and then resell the second one when the fixed one comes back.

that way no down time...just it takes time to do it all

[s_kelley]

Oh boy is that what i have to look forward to? ive had mine for about two years and its still going strong.....

[customcolor]

backlights can go out on just about anything...heck i have seen them out on ipod touchs on ebay

[ari5736]

Mine went out also.

[rockstar]

I found this old thread as i have the same problem with the dim display. I was hoping someone had determined a replacement LED display to use. I guess I will open it up and take a look.

I would prefer a DIY repair to reduce downtime. If I have the replacement parts on hand, I could probably repair it in 30 minites or less. IF DA is willing to repair it, and I don't think they still repair this older unit, with repair and shipping it would take a couple of weeks or more.

[fio1022]

Let me know if your able fix.
DA wont fix(not good for future business).
I still use it as a back up controller.
Love my APEX

[rockstar]

I have 2 problems with my RK2, the dim display and the backup battery.

The backup battery is just a CR2032 in the display head. The really stupid thing is that it is soldered in. With so many battery holders used in computers, car remotes, etc., this seems like nothing more than built in obsolescense. The battery is going to die and need to be replaced.

I am trying to find a replacement LCD. I think it is a 16x2 display. If yours is working, feel free to chime in on the characters and rows. There are many displays available with the HD44780 controller.

I have found some displays that I think will work, but the specs show them as being longer. And most displays have the interface pins in a different orientation on the board. Still looking.

BTW, even if I/we do find a suitable replacement display, you will need to unsolder the old board and solder in the new board. Not too hard, but if you've never done any soldering, it's easy to mess up.

[rockstar]

The display sure does look like a LCM1602H-NSW-BBW. I'll have to look at the data sheet and compare the size. And finding one for sale will be a challenge.

[rockstar]

OK, here is an update.

I have determined that the display is a 1602, 2 line 16 character display. The size is 66.5mm x 36.7mm. This is the size of the circuit card. The connection pins are on the lower left. Note that almost all displays you can find are larger, at least 80mm long, and very few have the pins on the lower left. This configuration is very uncommon.

So when I found one I ordered it and waited for it to arrive. I didn't want to take the RK2 apart until I had a replacement display. Mistake. After unsoldering the 16 pins, using a soldering iron and a solder sucker, and removing the old display, when I tried the new one, all I got was solid blocks on all 32 characters. Seems it wasn't being initialized correctly, maybe a different controller.

So checking voltages, the RK2 is supplying 5V. My display is for 3.3V, Oops! So I found a similar 5V display online, but would have to order it and wait. And while the displays aren't all that expensive, you have to add shipping which adds up.

So in my computer stuff, I happened to find a resister. When I attached the resister to the 5V supply, the voltage dropped to 3.3V. Woo hoo ! I find one single resister and it happens to be the right resistance for what I need. I need to head out now and buy that lottery ticket.

So holding everything in place with the resister clipped in line, turned on the RK2, and the display initialized and worked !!!!! Bright as could be. The brightness control also works.

So I am going to go ahead and order the 5V display and try it. If it works, and I fully expect it to work, I will update again and give you the part number and ordering information. It is more economical to order several and pay the shipping charge once, but I did that before, hoping to share the wealth with my RC friends, and now I am stuck with the 3.3V displays. It will be easier to install the new display if you do not have to put the resister in line. And most of you probably don't have this resister lying around anyway. :-)

BTW, the original display is pcmicroproducts USMPC1602A-TMB-JT. I cannot find a data sheet on it, it is no longer on their web site, and as of now, they have not responded to my inquiry for information. In contrast, the vendor I ordered the new displays from has been very responsive and even put me in contact with an engineer.

As for the CR2032 battery, it is spot welded using a 3 pin tab setup. I have gently twisted the dead battery out. I would not recommend soldering in a new battery. Heat from a soldering iron has been known to make these batteries explode. I may look for a battery socket and solder the socket to the tabs which I still have remaining on the circuit card. But I did find directions online on how to build your own spot welder from an old microwave. But that's for another day. I still can't believe DA put in a CR2032 battery in a way that it couldn't be easily replaced. Shame on them.

So, even though DA refuses to service your RK2 and wants you to buy a new controller, it can be repaired.

[fio1022]

You sure did alot of homework on this.I wasnt going to bother but after seeing all the work you put into this,I might Give it a try.

[rockstar]

I received the 5V display yesterday. My initial attempt, consisting of holding the display against the header pins, showed that it works, but I was not happy with the contrast. I got a lightly colored solid block with the characters showing darker through the background. Hmmm. Contrast problem I think.

It turns out that when I tested the 3.3V display, when I first went to use the resister on the power lead, I bent the wrong header pin initially. ( Note that I have a header on the display so that I do not damage the RK2 header) So when I successfully tested it, I had the resister on the power lead (pin 2) and the contrast lead (pin 3) was not connected at all. And it worked beautifully. The disconnected contrast pin was by accident.

So now with the 5V display, I made sure not to connect the contrast lead (pin 3) and the display works great ! Once I solder everything, I will update with pictures. It will be really nice to have this RK2 fully functional again.

Also when cleaning the garage this weekend, I found an old laptop system board that I replaced years ago. There is a battery socket on it that I will try to use to hold the backup battery. This will make battery replacement in the future very easy.

[rockstar]

The compatible display that I found is a Newhaven Display model NHD-0216HZ-FL-YBW-C. This display is the same size and pin orientation that will fit the Reefkeeper 2. You have to leave pin 3 disconnected. I removed the pin from the header. This display is available from several sources, but I ordered directly from Newhaven Display.

If the attachment works, I will show pictures of the inside of the Reefkeeper 2 head unit. The front of the RK2 has the display soldered on to a 16 pin header. You will need to remove the solder form the top of the display. A soldering iron and a solder sucker will easily do it.

The back of the RK2 shows that the CR2032 battery is a 3 tab version with the tabs soldered directly to the circuit card. This limits the time keeping of th RK2 to the life of the battery unless you use an external UPS.

[rockstar]

Here are pictures of the RK2 circuit card with the display removed and the CR2032 battery removed.

[redfishblewfish]

Rockstar, thanks for this DIY. Well, where are the final pictures?….did it work?


I have two RK-2’s and the one was sent to DA early in 2012 for a display change, and they told me to get it there quick because they only had a few display screens left, and they weren’t going to re-stock. So I’ve got to believe they are now all gone, and DA no longer will do this fix. So again, thanks!

Now I’m not an electronic person, but do all DIY projects, and I’m more than willing to give this a shot…..if you help me out a bit more. I apologize if these questions are juvenile. You mention a 16 pin header and I notice on NewHavenDisplay website (for the display (http://www.newhavendisplay.com/nhd0216hzflybwc-p-280.html)), that they supply a header unattached and attached. Should I order the display with this header or do you just use the one that is already in the Reefkeeper?

I also see that this one display you reference is yellow/green. The ones I have now are blue/white. Is there a reason you went with the yellow/green display?

I’ve heard the LED DIY folks talk about “pre-tinning.” Do I have to do that as well?

Any special solder? I’m an old fart and have leftover solder from Heath Kits from the 60’s. Would that work?

Again, thanks for posting this DIY fix….good stuff.

[Addiction2SPS]

I would like to do this mod as well. Would appreciate some more info or an update if the display is still working for you

[rockstar]

Yes, the Newhaven display works wonderfully ! Once I fixed it, I had to leave on a business trip and put the RK2 back on the tank without taking pictures. I will get you some pictures soon, but I'm working on Icecap ballasts now.

I chose the green/yellow display because I could not find a blue display that matched the pin layout, size, etc. The OEM display manufacturer never did respond to my inquiry. I am sure they have no interest in helping if you are not ordering 100s or 1000s of displays.

You do not need to order the header. I used one just for testing purposes to determine if it would work and what pins to connect. You will only need to remove one pin from the existing header as I mentioned before, otherwise the contrast is off.

I also used a low profile battery holder for the backup battery. You need a low profile holder so it will fit nicely inside the case. I went to a local PC repair shop and look at their dead motherboards and found one that had a low profile battery holder. Digikey also has them.

If you don't want to solder in a battery holder, you can still replace the battery. You can gently twist out the old battery, leaving the leads on the board. My local Batteries Plus has a spot welder and were willing to weld it if I bought their battery, although I don't think they had ever used their spot welder before. I guess it would have been a novelty for them to actually use it.

[ganjero]

Any updates/pictures of this working?

[xtm]

Thanks for the DIY! I will order the LCD and try it myself and post back once I'm done. In the meantime, how's yours holding up? Still bright? Any pics of it working?

thanks

[rockstar]

I actually took down the tank that was using the RK2. I'll pull it out of it's box and fire it up and get a picture in the next few days. That will be a good test of the backup battery, although I'm not sure I used a new battery when I installed the battery holder.

[kac01]

My RK2 had a weak display. Bought the part for 11.50 plus shipping. Installed new display and works like new. Thanks rockstar for the help.

[xtm]

Thanks for the info. Can you please take a pic of the new display? thanks

[xtm]

Thanks for the info. Can you please take a pic of the new display? thanks

Sure, no problem. I'll just post the entire procedure so everyone can see. I followed rockstar's procedure including the exclusion of pin3 and it worked perfectly.

Here's the display from NewHaven. About $18 shipped:

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2910/14287050742_bfa450bc54_b.jpg

I just pulled out the headunit from the power strip, the whole system shuts down and I get to work on the controller. No need to unplug each device from the powerstrip - just leave them as-is.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3683/14265921816_f168b1a0ca_b.jpg

Remove the 4 screws from the side of the headunit:

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5278/14265923356_557f24366f_b.jpg

Remove the 2 screws that hold the circuit board to the chassis:

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5499/14102417920_4b3e4ccab8_b.jpg

The entire LCD is being held by those 16 pins. You need to desolder each one:

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2904/14287057672_5376f4f97e_b.jpg

Now I have desoldered thousands of components in my lifetime, but this one so far is the hardest and most difficult to take out... like it's soldered on BOTH sides! I had to destroy the old display to get it out:

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2928/14102505867_409abf6000_b.jpg

Here is the mainboard after I took out the LCD module. The desoldering process took most of the time, about an hour! Per rockstar's instructions, I didn't connect pin3 and on this pic you will see that it's bent down:

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3758/14309239973_0c09526222_b.jpg

So I put in the new LCD and soldered all the pins (sans pin3)

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5579/14102512297_f427f318fe_b.jpg

Here is the final result. Awesome, I like it even better than the blue one, which can be hard to read sometimes. Thanks again to rockstar for the guide! The dimmer works too! This is at 100%

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3676/14102381599_b880456324_b.jpg

... and this is at 25% brightness

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2907/14309246663_5bb637dfc9_b.jpg


I thought about wiring a switch so I can turn the display on and off, like when I'm not working on the tank, I can turn it off to increase the LCD life and I won't have to go through this again. Or maybe just buy 5 spare LCD's so I can use the RKII for the rest of my life. lol

[rockstar]

OK, since a couple of folks have recently repaired their RK2, I pulled mine out of the closet. I took down the tank that was using the RK2 so it is probably time to sell it. Having the low profile battery socket is great. I didn't have a CR2032, but found a blister pack of CR2025. These also fit the socket and the RK2 is working beautifully.

Here are some current pictures showing the new display and the battery socket. The side picture without the cover shows that the low profile socket fits within the case beautifully.

Also, I used a solder sucker and the original display came off very cleanly.

[moondoggy4]

Very cool thanks for the thread and tips, I have the Reef Keeper I, nice little controller, GLWS of your II.

[redfishblewfish]

I'm resurrecting this post because one of my old RK2 needed a new display. First off, thank you for posting this information....very beneficial. I've ordered and recieved the new display from New Haven Display, and I've done the unsoldering, but am now waiting for a low profile battery holder before continueing.

Here's what I found beneficial. First off I used a soldering iron with a thin pin-point tip. This made the unsoldering fairly clean...and took about 20 - 25 minutes. Solder sucking was new for me and took a little playing around to finally figure out that the best way was to liquify the solder and then very quickly pull away the iron and place the mouth of the sucker right on the solder and pull the trigger.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/psh54/ReefKeeper%20II%20Fix/IMG_0919_zpslzb5qfxk.jpg

Once the display was off, I did the same unsoldering of the three battery prongs.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/psh54/ReefKeeper%20II%20Fix/IMG_0922_zpsadmdldbh.jpg (http://s419.photobucket.com/user/psh54/media/ReefKeeper%20II%20Fix/IMG_0922_zpsadmdldbh.jpg.html)

And here is where I am right now. It took me a bit of searching to find the battery holder to fit in that tight space. You only have a quarter of an inch. Anyway I eventually found them at Digikey.....Low Profile Holder CR2032, Part No. LP2032SM-JJ-GCT-ND.

http://media.digikey.com/Photos/Memory%20Protection%20Photos/LP2032SM-JJ-GTR.JPG

Just waiting for these to show up to finish this up.

The last thing I'm struggling with is which pins I want to disable. This post, Rockstar recommends disabling pin 3....which would result in the display defaulting to full brightness. ANOTHER POST (http://http://thereeferslounge.com/smf/index.php?topic=7658.0) recommends disabling pins 2 and 11....which I beleive will allow normal dimming of the display. So I'm not sure which of these two I'll do. I have time to think about this while I wait for the battery holders to show up.

[rockstar]

I no longer have the RK2, but from what I remember pin 3 was for contrast and the Newhaven display did not support that pin. The dimming feature still worked.

For the low profile battery holder, I went to a computer repair place and got a dead system board, picking one with the low profile holder. Cost was $0.00

[redfishblewfish]

Rockstar, thanks for the response. I'm leaning towards disabling pin 3....that's a known that works.

As far as the battery holder....I searched....and being an Amazon Prime person couldn't find a low profile on Prime. I've just been notified that the four low profile holders I ordered from Digikey have been shipped. Four holders with shipping, about six dollars. Still can't complain.

[rockstar]

I actually called an engineer at Newhaven and he confirmed not to use pin 3. Newhaven was very helpful.

That's not a bad deal on the low profile battery holders.

The RK2 is still a nice controller with these two mods, just can't expand the number of outlets.

[kac01]

Yes pin 3. Mine is still going strong.

[PhreeBYrd]

Rockstar, thanks for the response. I'm leaning towards disabling pin 3....that's a known that works.

As far as the battery holder....I searched....and being an Amazon Prime person couldn't find a low profile on Prime. I've just been notified that the four low profile holders I ordered from Digikey have been shipped. Four holders with shipping, about six dollars. Still can't complain.

I'm wondering how this worked out. Following what I learned in this thread, I just changed out the original displays in my two (9 and 10 years old) RK2's and the new displays from Newhaven are awesome.

I have good soldering skills, but I'm no electronics wiz. I used copper solder wick material (Chem-Wick) rather than a solder pump to desolder the display, which worked extremely well. I just clipped off pin 3 at the top of the insulator (I won't ever use it again), and once the new display was soldered in, it worked perfectly. Brightness works at 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%, and it's very easy to read even at 25% brightness. Night mode changes the brightness just as before.

I had planned to change the batteries and install battery holders same as Redfishblewfish, and got the same holders from DigiKey; but when it came to doing it, I decided it wasn't worth the trouble, considering that I would have to bend up and solder in leads to the board to make the holders work -- and the location of the holder contacts are much different from the board locations, making those leads pretty convoluted. The RK2 maintains all of the programming and settings anyway -- as far as I know, it's only the time of day that the battery maintains during a power outage.

I'm curious if Redfishblewfish or anybody else has installed those battery holders from DigiKey, and how that all worked out. I still have 3 of them and 2 new unused batteries. :)