Poorman’s OLED test jig

During last (Chinese) year end shopping frenzy I grabbed some OLED display panels, hoping to boost the presentation of my projects.  The panel model is UG-2864ASGGG14, made by “WiseChip Semiconductor Inc.” in Taiwan. Unlike typical LCD modules with complete interface board and 0.1 inch pitch pin headers,  this is a bare panel comes with only the glass and flex PCB connectors. 

I made an inquiry on Dangerous Prototypes forum asking for an ideas about how to make a test jig for the panel. Less than a hour later I received a replay from matseng. He suggested me to use pogopins to make a jig. And Ian also showed me a photo of test jig he bought from Shenzhen. And then started my journey to make a poorman’s version of test jig.

I defined the specification of the jig as:

1. As minimalism as possible.
2. Can plug into breadboard.
3. Incorporate all necessary circuitries for the panel including 13V VCC supply.

I used to jump into making stuffs without much planning, and it resulted in tons of junks under my collection. So this time I try to design everything first. Thanks to the Chinese new year holiday I had a luxury of time to spare. And here comes my final design.

With proper 3D sketching I’m able to design the PCB with precise hole positions. The schematic basically contains a DC-DC boost controller (based on LT1930, story later), some passive components and pin headers. To save space I try use surface mount components this time, hence it poses higher demand for MF70 pcb milling.

I also cut two acrylics, one for the base (left) and the other the guide (right) for solder pogo pins.

With the guide I’m able to solder the pogo pins straight.

Assemble everything together, the pogo pins seems nicely fit onto the gold contacts of the OLED panel

The panel uses SSD1305 controller. It is similar to the commonly seen SSD1306 but with some additional functions (I will update these in future blog). As for now, I simply modify on top of Adafruit’s SSD1306 Arduino library.

And IT JUST WORKS.

P.S.

About LT1930: My initial choice of DC-DC boost converter was LT1613. The reason why it was choosen is that I found a taobao.com dealer sells LT1613 at RMB2 (<$0.3) per piece. I though it was a bargain and grabbed 10 pieces from him. They come in cutting tapes like original. But And not surprisingly it does not work. I admit I only tried 2 of them but the failure rate is already 20%. After much despair I ordered some LT1930 from proper channel. Supposedly it is pin-to-pin compatible with LT1613. Finally it works. Phew!