New Products Versions – Summer ’21
Crystalfontz works hard to ensure our products are available for the long haul. On this theme, the past few months we have released numerous products that are direct replacements for parts that had an EOL component or other change. Most of our customers are likely familiar with the on going disruption in the electronics and manufacturing industry. The related chip and glass shortages have caused some products to need a refresh.
New Versions
Crystalfontz policy states that any change to form, fit, or function requires a new part number. Thus, while many of these displays are extremely similar to the part they’re replacing, slight appearance differences, initialization code changes, or another similar change require a new part number.
For instance, with our 1.54 inch yellow OLED, a material availability change caused us to update the OLED to newer materials. The new material allows for a much brighter display (up to 850 nits) but requires an initialization change from the previous version of the display to lower the brightness to match the original part. Read more about this change in the PCN. This display is also available as a full development kit.
For part changes that necessitate a part number change, we increment either the letter or number after the numbers that indicate the resolution. When the glass provider changed for our legacy part CFAG160128E-STI-TZ changed, we updated the part number to CFAG160128E1-STI-TZ. The new part number indicates that the part is a revision to an existing part and will require only minor changes to incorporate to existing designs.
Similarly, ePaper technology is rapidly changing. As such, many of the ePaper part numbers have incremented. Again, these changes usually only require minor changes and offer better reliability, refresh time, or availability. Recently, we’ve updated our 2.13″ ePaper display and kits, and our 4.2″ ePaper display and kits.
If you have any questions about these changes, feel free to reach out to our support team at support@crystalfontz.com.
Accessories
We’ve also been expanding our selection of accessories to make bringing up displays as easy as possible.
LCD Contrast Kit: DEVKIT001
This development kit allows for quick prototyping for LCD displays that require external Vo adjustment. The kit includes a potentiometer, breadboard, wires, and headers.
Micro SD Card and Breakout
Our most recent product release is a 4GB uSD card and a uSD card breakout board. When demonstrating the power of our displays, we often use the extra storage provided by a uSD card. Many microcontrollers have limited storage space, so adding storage space is crucial for displaying large images or demonstrating the wide variety of capabilities.
Contact Us
If you have any questions, we can be reached at support@crystalfontz.com, we also provide chat and telephone support Monday through Friday during our open hours.
We love to hear about your projects! Find us around the web (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Forum) and let us know what you’re working on.
Kelsey is an engineer at Crystalfontz. She graduated from Gonzaga University with a BS in Electrical Engineering. Kelsey’s roles at Crystalfontz include customer support, documentation, product demonstrations, and design.
What our customers say about Kelsey:
“As a new user to the world of LCD electronics, Kelsey has been a Godsend in providing the hand-holding I needed to get my project up and running despite my own efforts at fouling things up! :-)” – Owen M
“Kelsey got me through changing code for a new LCD in only two short emails.” – Phillip V
“The agent that I talked with (Kelsey), is technically sound and she knows what she is doing. The support is what made my job easier to get started with the different display technologies. Thank you!” – Vatsal S
