Replacing OLED screen on an Agilent U1253A Multimeter

[metacollin]

So I have an Agilent U1253A multimeter, the blue kind, the one famously reviewed by Dave himself in one of his videos.  My warranty is long toast.  My OLED screen was always kind of a lemon I think.  It was never very bright, even at the highest setting, nowhere near like the video.  It also burned in some digits, faint but noticeable, the first day I used it.  Anyway, I modified the driver board (warranty of any kind is totally out of the question.  I voided the hell out of it, even if it wasn't expired) so the boost converter put out a couple volts more, and that vastly improved the brightness.  And made it draw more current.  And made the useful life of the OLEDs that much shorter, as they dim over time.

Well, I've reached that time.  The screen is really dim.  I am going to bump the voltage up again, this time to just under the maximum, but it will dim even faster after that, and there is no head room to up the voltage once it's gotten too dim a second time.


Does anyone know if/where a replacement screen might be had? I don't want the actual Agilent board (plus I already asked and they don't sell it to customers, and if they did, it would probably cost a trillion dollars and probably at least one human sacrifice, so might as well just get a new meter at that point), just the display with the ribbon sticking out.  The part printed on it is SSD1303T10, but that sounds like the display controller, not the display.  I am not even sure of the resolution, I think it's 128x64.  Dimensions are 6cm by 3cm.  I would like a screen of the same size and resolution, and definitely needs to use the SD1303 controller, but there is room to bodge something if the pinout is arranged differently, so different pinout is even ok.  Different color, ok.  At this point, I am desperate enough that I might even go with a smaller display, as long as the controller is the same, because I was only able to get this U1253 meter because it was at a great price ($300), open box return, probably cause of the screen.  If anyone has any ideas on the screen, or suggestions, for a replacement of any kind, I'd appreciate it.  Buying a broken meter from someone is also an option, assuming the screen is intact, but I really can't pay much more than $50. 


I can't afford a $450 meter, or a new $500-$550 meter, and couldn't really afford a $300 meter, but I found a way.  But basically my options are fix this meter, or revert back to some shitty $40 meter.  I really don't want to do that,  since $40 meters are the ones that might murder you.

[nanofrog]

Not sure where to get an OLED that will fit (suspect custom part), but I think it might be possible to swap in the LCD screen that's in the U1252B.

FWIW, the P/N for the LCD screen is U1252-39300, and it's not expensive ($17.58).

[metacollin]

nanofrog, thank you so much. I contacted Agilent support about this, and they said they did not sell the screen or screen assembly, that it was not customer replaceable (despite being a pluggable pin header module) and that my only option was to send them the multimeter and pay a repair fee.  So I didn't even know to look.  I am going to try to find the u1253a or b assembly part now that I know it can be done.  Maybe.  Unless all you could find was the lcd screen.

I highly doubt the LCD screen can be swapped in.  The U1252B has a fixed segment LCD display, the U1253A/B have full graphic displays.  But regardless, you've been a big help.  Thanks again!

[nanofrog]

nanofrog, thank you so much. I contacted Agilent support about this, and they said they did not sell the screen or screen assembly, that it was not customer replaceable (despite being a pluggable pin header module) and that my only option was to send them the multimeter and pay a repair fee.  So I didn't even know to look.  I am going to try to find the u1253a or b assembly part now that I know it can be done.  Maybe.  Unless all you could find was the lcd screen.

I highly doubt the LCD screen can be swapped in.  The U1252B has a fixed segment LCD display, the U1253A/B have full graphic displays.  But regardless, you've been a big help.  Thanks again!

Unfortunately, they don't offer the OLED display at all (no P/N listed at all). FWIW, this thread might be of interest.

I know you said it's no longer under warranty, but Agilent might be able to give you a newer LCD version with quite a discount (possibly free, but wouldn't expect it to be zero cost). What I expect they'd do instead of repairing the existing unit. Certainly worth getting a quote.

As per modifying it to accept the LCD screen, it may still be possible. I seem to recall there's 3x boards in it, and the LCD screen assembly (can't recall if the driver circuits are soldered to the back of the screen or on the board it's headers connect to). Worth checking out if you don't get good news from Agilent. Going by the previous link I gave (LCD screen), I'm able to add it to the shopping cart here in the US. Perhaps this isn't possible for those outside of the US/CAN. 

FWIW, I have a U1252B and can open it up and take some pics and/or tell you the IC P/N's used if it helps you.

Let me know if you need them, and I wish you luck getting this sorted. 

BTW, where are you located?
Setting your country in your user profile helps immensely, especially with posting links (relevant pricing and availability). 

[metacollin]

BTW, where are you located?
Setting your country in your user profile helps immensely, especially with posting links (relevant pricing and availability). 

Whoops, fixed that!

As per modifying it to accept the LCD screen, it may still be possible. I seem to recall there's 3x boards in it, and the LCD screen assembly (can't recall if the driver circuits are soldered to the back of the screen or on the board it's headers connect to). Worth checking out if you don't get good news from Agilent. Going by the previous link I gave (LCD screen), I'm able to add it to the shopping cart here in the US. Perhaps this isn't possible for those outside of the US/CAN. 

FWIW, I have a U1252B and can open it up and take some pics and/or tell you the IC P/N's used if it helps you.

Let me know if you need them, and I wish you luck getting this sorted. 

Yep, got the worst news possible from Agilent - they have completely dropped all support for the U1253A.  They will not repair, replace, to a trade-in discount, or even still provide paid calibration service for the meter.  Basically, I managed to buy the only meter Agilent (Keystone Light or whatever they are called now) has decided to wash its hands of entirely. Nor can you get the U1253B screen except with warranty service on the meter. 

The good news is I actually looked at the SD1303 datasheet.  It has some extra instructions for a shading/grey level look up table, but otherwise it is identical, byte for byte, to the SD1306, used in pretty much all the 128x64 OLED screens I can find.  And beyond that, the SD130x chips are basically just pixel buffers, and all have a 6800 or 8008 parallel interface, as well as an I2C and SPI interface.  I haven't actually checked yet, but I am guessing the U1253A uses one of the parallel interfaces, I base this on the number of pins the display assembly board has plugged into the board below.  So, at least as a emergency ghettobodge, I can probably just, uh, creatively wire and mount one of the readily available 1.3" OLED modules directly to the multimeter, and save for a loss of the left 4 pixel columns (which is fine), I can still use the meter, but it won't be pretty.  That's one option - the other is simply make a little go-between board with a uC on it that will handle house keeping stuff and clock in the data from the multimeter directly to a direct SRAM write mode on a 128x64 graphics LCD...uh...probably glued onto the front. 

There are $35 2.7" (same size as the one in the meter) OLEDs on digitkey, but they use the SSD1325, which, depending on what commands the U1253A is using, could also work as a drop-in replacement, or may not.  I'll have to sniff the bits.  Anyway, for the short term, I am probably going to bodge in a SSD1306 display, and may attempt something more if it seems worth the effort. 

Since it's sending pixels directly, the only way I can think to adapt that to the LCD screen for the 1252 is using some pretty painful brute force pixel checking (are these random bits that only light up if there is a 1 displayed here lit or not? And so on. )  And I'd lose access to a the menu and several other functions that require the graphic display, and I am not sure having a native, perfect fit screen is worth the effort and feature loss, at least for me anyway.

[retiredcaps]

Yep, got the worst news possible from Agilent - they have completely dropped all support for the U1253A.  They will not repair, replace, to a trade-in discount, or even still provide paid calibration service for the meter.

Hmm, then somebody at Agilent should update the website, because according to this screenshot I took, the U1253A is supported until March 2017.  Additionally, there is a text blurb at

http://www.keysight.com/en/pd-1440288-pn-U1253A/handheld-digital-multimeter-45-digit-organic-led-display-oled

Description
Keysight discontinued its Handheld Test Tools in blue.

Last Order date: November 30th, 2011
End of support life: March 1st, 2017

The replacement models are the handheld in orange colour for greater visibility. The replacement model for U1253A is U1253B.

[Ferrie]

As any one know the SSD1306 is good for U1253B OLED replacing? In China TaoBao can source such OLED about 2USD. Thanks

[macboy]

As any one know the SSD1306 is good for U1253B OLED replacing? In China TaoBao can source such OLED about 2USD. Thanks

if it only costs you $2 and a little time, then why not try it and report back here?

[floobydust]

Agilent OLED possibly made by Raystar Optronics
I was buying the displays for a commercial product, the RET012864 but newer models are out now. Display manufacturers obsolete stuff very quickly.

The SED1303 is long obsolete, so that is the problem as I see it.

I would hit up the NewHaven Display forums and see if the newer controllers i.e. SED1306, 1309 are backwards compatible with the 1303. I vaguely recall some doc on that.

[Ferrie]

Dear macboy,

Yes, that is only 2$ cost, I will do it and report here soon.

Ferrie

[Ferrie]

I has open my 1253B, find out the display is 2.42" OLED.

And, I am checked on China TaoBao which is a old packing OLED SSD1305, the date sheet as attached, the price is RMB70( USD10).

I will try it and let you to soon.

Ferrie

[mcookieman]

Hi Ferrie,

If possible could you take some photos of both sides of the display daughter board?
I ordered similar displays a couple months ago to try it as a replacement, only to find that I had misplaced the daughter board... Since then I have been slowly working on creating a replacement but I have some doubts over where some of the traces go.

I also think that I found the original display (well a display with the original controller) on TaoBao before. I will share the link if I can find it again.

My attempts at tracing the circuit out:
https://puu.sh/x5xlE/2e8f73aad3.jpg
https://puu.sh/x5xnh/7deef8c36e.png

[mcookieman]

Found the listing again.
https://world.taobao.com/item/556241996733.htm

[mcookieman]

Sorry for the triple post..
 
Have you had any luck Ferrie?

[amyk]

Agilent OLED possibly made by Raystar Optronics
I was buying the displays for a commercial product, the RET012864 but newer models are out now. Display manufacturers obsolete stuff very quickly.

The SED1303 is long obsolete, so that is the problem as I see it.

I would hit up the NewHaven Display forums and see if the newer controllers i.e. SED1306, 1309 are backwards compatible with the 1303. I vaguely recall some doc on that.

I haven't looked at OLEDs in detail but from my experience with CSTN/TFT controllers a lot of them use a variation on the same common set of commands. It wouldn't surprise me if these OLED controllers are similar, and some not even manufactured by Solomon are completely compatible. You could try looking at similarly-dimensioned monochrome LCD controllers since the command set would likely have a history inherited from those.

[alexwhittemore]

So has anyone had any luck either with a replacement part or well-out-of-warranty service from Keysight? I've now got a paperweight here as well, and I'm kinda salty about it.

[floobydust]

mcookieman pics shows the Agilent OLED module is a Solomon Systems SSD1303T10
Datasheet SSD1303.pdf

The SSD1303 controller IC is long obsolete, I think SSD1306/SSD1309 replaced it H/W and 31-pins are compatible.
But... this 128 verses 132 segment mapping may be different. I did not dig into that.

Ferrie did not write back to us if a SSD1305 works here. It does not have the internal charge-pump regulator (H/W mod) and possibly different config registers. So I am not optimistic.

[mcookieman]

@alexwhittemore
Keysight does have a replacement display module as a part for the U1253b. I'd assume that this would be compatible with the U1253a but $151 is a bit expense for me to justify trying.

@floobydust
Yep it is a SSD1303 controller. I'm pretty sure that the display I linked in my previous reply is the actual same display that Agilent used, and would work if I still had the daughter-board.

Regarding the internal charge pump of the SSD1303, I don't think this is a problem when using the SSD1305/6/9 since the display daughter-board has its own 12V boost converter and doesn't use the built in charge pump of the display. If I can get a clear scan/photo of both sides of the board to fix up my attempt at tracing the board's pinout I think it may work.

[alexwhittemore]

The response from the parts department was "the assembly for the U1253B looks different, so I can't guarantee compatibility, and the repair plan is to replace the whole unit." They also said, and I quote, "Since the U1253A is obsolete now, it's a throw-away part"

Pretty pissed about that. Especially since I've got a Fluke 8060A here produced in 1981 that works perfectly (okay, I did have to douse the switches in deoxit).

He did give me some part numbers - the manufacturer P/N of the display module itself is RIT Display P19701. Which is also obsolete, probably because it's a POS that lasts 5 years regardless of use.

I think I'm just going to buy a "looks compatible" SSD1309 based display from eBay and hope for the best. $15 repair if it works, 100% paperweight if it doesn't.

[mcookieman]

That's pretty shitty, but at least they gave you the part number of the display. This confirms that the display I linked earlier is actually the same part. Supposedly there is 4000 pieces in stock.. https://world.taobao.com/item/556241996733.htm

When you do try a repair, could you please take a photo of both sides of the daughter board?

[alexwhittemore]

Crap, I was just in the case and didn't bother taking any pictures. That part does look identical though, for all that I can tell by that crappy low res picture. The flex board and controller chip look exactly the same.

Any idea how I order from there shipped to the USandA? I have an irrational fear of non-roman alphabets   

[mcookieman]

All good, I'm happy to wait.

The part number in the title is the same as well, P19701.
For ordering from taobao in the USA the easiest way is probably through an agent who will do the purchasing and shipping for you. If you know someone who can read a bit of Chinese they can order it and ship it to a reshipper in China who will then ship it to you. I've used Yoybuy for reshipping before and they've been alright. I think they have a agent service as well. Obviously the agent service will be more expensive then the reshipping service.

[alexwhittemore]

I'm trying to order through yoybuy, but the confirmation email to set up my account can't seem to make it through

[mcookieman]

If it doesn't come through there are lots of other places that offer taobao agent services. I think Bhiner was pretty popular when I looked up how to buy from Taobao a while back.

[ultrasmurf]

Someone succesfully repaired the oled display.. unfortunately no information on who can supply the display...
http://new.mash.webclient6.de/index.php/bauen/sonstiges/47-agilentu1252
Or maybe google translate removed those information...

I have just recently acquired a U1253B with dead display as well, and am looking forward to the possible replacement display

RS component has a similar display http://sg.rs-online.com/web/p/oled-displays/6686118/ should be a desolder and solder to u1253x job.
But it doesn't solve the SSD1303 obsolete issue.

Just finished a read up on the ssd1303 vs ssd1309 command (U1253B is using 8080 MCU mode based on the trace), and some command that is not supported by 1309 :
82 : color bank brightness
91 : look up table for color bank current drive
92 : color bank (1-16)
93 : color bank (17-32)
AD : Activate/deactivate DC DC converter
B8-BF : GDDRAM start page address (SSD1309 only addres B0-B7 while SSD1303 address B0-BF)
D8 : Area color mode
DB : Vcom deselect level, on 1309 last 2 digit is ignored

since the display is mono, most of the command that is not supported by 1309 should not be a concern, except B8-BF....  and to some extend DB.

[mcookieman]

I've linked a source for the original displays from TaoBao earlier.

I'm not too sure that the display from RS will physically fit because the original is 2.4" not 2.7"

[ultrasmurf]

link for the smaller 2.53" http://sg.rs-online.com/web/p/oled-displays/6686127/

I ordered ssd1309 to see whether it will plug to the unit, link to the unit I purchased : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Yellow-Color-2-42-2-42inch-OLED-Display-Module-128x64-SSD1309-Display-Screen-SPI-IIC-Communicate/32817410235.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.7fE4vT

Now just need to be patient for the next 1 or 2 months waiting for it to reach me.

The taobao unit seems like it is a direct replacement. I just wanted to see if 1309 will also fit... 

[mcookieman]

Fair enough, I also ordered a couple 1309 (or was it 1306) displays originally but I haven't been able to test it because I lost the daughter board .

Keep us posted when you get them.

[ultrasmurf]

So how do you use it without the daughterboard ? Stack in on top of paper to ensure it doesnt get blown off ? 

[mcookieman]

I don't . I'll a photo next time I attempt to get it to work. I've got a 2mm to 2.54mm adaptor which lets me insert wires to connect to a breadboard on which I have a level shifter which then connects to a display that I have broken out the pins on. This didn't work because I think I've got a mistake in my traceout of the daughterboard pcb, which is why I've been asking for photos of both sides so I can check where I went wrong in my guesses.

[ultrasmurf]

You still need the high res pic ? I thought you already have it since you post the tracing picture. My phone camera can't get a better picture than what you posted, very difficult to see the trace. I'll try grabbing my better cam tomorrow and take a picture.
What display are you trying to concoct ?

[mcookieman]

Thanks ultrasmurf,

I can make do with the current quality (as in my tracing picture), but my problem is that I don't have the other side of the board so I had to make some guesses. If I can get a photo of the other side (with the original display removed) then that would help me a lot. I'm in no hurry for the pics so if you take them when you try the swap that would be great. I won't be able to have another crack at it for a month or two anyway.

I just checked and it was a ssd1309 2.4" display that I was trying to make work with no luck.

[ultrasmurf]

  there goes my 20 bux....

Any reason why you dont just desolder the old oled display and replace them with the 2.4" display with ssd1309 ? From what I see they are pin compatible to U1253x display ( the different one were not connected to anything anyway...)

[mcookieman]

That was my plan.
This is what happened .

1. Desoldered display from daugherboard (black pcb)
2. Ordered new displays (ssd1309)
3. Displays arrived, was keen to solder it in.
4. Couldn't find where I left the daughterboard.. I suspect it accidentally got knocked into my bin.

[alexwhittemore]

Well, I submitted an order with Yoybuy for a few of the OEM parts cookieman linked. I'll let you all know how surgery goes when they arrive in a few weeks.

EDIT: And the taobao order was cancelled. Apparently, even though they show stock of nearly 4k units, they're "out."

[ultrasmurf]

High res picture of the daughter board.

Let me know if it doesnt show up. apparently the previous attempt require my login to google photo before it shows  up....

[max-bit]

Hi
Can you upload pics of the display itself?
and pict front view of the display and its dimensions?

[alexwhittemore]

High res picture of the daughter board.

Let me know if it doesnt show up. apparently the previous attempt require my login to google photo before it shows  up....

What are those wires you've got there?

[ultrasmurf]

Those wires are the supply voltage for the ssd1303... just making sure that I don't have dead display because the supply is not there...

max-bit: a couple of post above already cover the correct spec for the display, and even the oem for the display.

[tooki]

Someone succesfully repaired the oled display.. unfortunately no information on who can supply the display...
http://new.mash.webclient6.de/index.php/bauen/sonstiges/47-agilentu1252
Or maybe google translate removed those information...

A quick google search for “BL12864G site:.de” (that being the part number from the photo, and a restriction to German websites) showed this as the second hit:

http://www.lcdstore.de/OLED-Modul-128x64-Punkte-monochrom

[mcookieman]

Thanks ultrasmurf for the photos! They will be very helpful,  I can already see that I have indeed made some mistakes in my original trace out.
I won't have the time to have another go at prototyping the circuit for 1~2 weeks but I'll keep everyone updated when I do.

[ultrasmurf]

Superb finding... Will get from the site if shipping is not too expensive and my 1309 display replacement is not compatible.. looks like my ordered display is coming in 2 weeks time, hopefully I will have time to quickly test it and update you guys here...

A quick google search for “BL12864G site:.de” (that being the part number from the photo, and a restriction to German websites) showed this as the second hit:

http://www.lcdstore.de/OLED-Modul-128x64-Punkte-monochrom

[bitseeker]

I have a U1252B, but am interested to see how the OLED replacement/upgrade goes on the 3. It'd be great if a newer model display with better performance can work.

[nanofrog]

I have a U1252B, but am interested to see how the OLED replacement/upgrade goes on the 3. It'd be great if a newer model display with better performance can work.

The 1252B isn't easily upgradable as there's a 3rd board for the OLED models. Board #2 is different as well between the two different display types regarding the display driver chip IIRC.

That said, you're better off with the U1252B's LCD display anyway (mine's 8 or nine years old, no broken display yet). Backlight is very nice, and it has improved battery life (~9hrs vs. ~36hrs for the LCD version per the specs).

The OLED might give you ~5 yrs of service if you're lucky.

And regarding battery life, I keep 8.4V, 300mAh rechargeable NiMH batteries ready to go. Not only are they convenient, but they're less expensive in the long run as well. One last tidbit, the battery life spec on the U1252 is based on a 7.2V unit, so an 8.4V unit will extend your battery life as well.

[bitseeker]

Sorry that the wording seemed to have caused confusion. I'm not seeking to change my 1252. I bought it specifically for the LCD screen. Rather, I'm just curious to see if those who have a 1253 are able to find a workable replacement for their OLED screens.

I only mentioned the model I have so folks won't wonder why I'm not upgrading my meter.

[nanofrog]

Sorry that the wording seemed to have caused confusion. I'm not seeking to change my 1252. I bought it specifically for the LCD screen. Rather, I'm just curious to see if those who have a 1253 are able to find a workable replacement for their OLED screens.

I only mentioned the model I have so folks won't wonder why I'm not upgrading my meter.

Ah, got it. 

FWIW, I suspect they'll succeed. 

[bitseeker]

Right on. I hope so.

[mcookieman]

PROGRESS!

I've got the SSD1309 display working! it is mirrored unfortunately though.

Thanks @ultrasmurf again for the clear photo of the pcb back.

[mcookieman]

Here's the updated tracing of the daughterboard.
PNG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5067bhw816b5n8f/tracesv2.png?dl=0
Gimp file with layers.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/s82wpumngsjzx98/tracesv2.xcf?dl=0

[bitseeker]

I've got the SSD1309 display working! it is mirrored unfortunately though.

No worries, just put a mirror on the bench.

[mcookieman]

I might actually do that
Being able to see the display means that I can now turn off the auto power off and use it as a logging meter!

[ultrasmurf]

Hmmm didnt see this coming. I would expect that it should be at worst a garbled display, but if it works it should work correctly. Since the display is folded I expect the MCU in U1253x to send command to swap the row for correct orientation, but leave the column as is.

There is a command to swap column, A0/A1 would have corrected it, but it get reset with every power on sequence. I'm not familiar with OLED display, but would it be possible to peel off the reflective backing and swap them around ?

BTW what was the IC on the breadboard ? Level shifter ?

PROGRESS!

I've got the SSD1309 display working! it is mirrored unfortunately though.

Thanks @ultrasmurf again for the clear photo of the pcb back.

[mcookieman]

The problem is that the original display and the display I have (which is actually a ssd1305 not a ssd1309...) have the segment columns physically reversed. I've found another ssd1303 display on Taobao and have ordered a couple, hopefully those will have the columns the right way.  https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.85.b98e9bbJkz4mD&id=530522975134&ns=1&abbucket=15#detail

I don't think it's possible to peel the back off and flip it

The IC is a level shifter, 74LVX4245MTC , same as the original.

[eddiea6987]

Ahh this thread is great! my piece of crap agilent oled is also hitting the dirt. I hope you get it working and perhaps give a quick rundown of how to fix it and part suppliers.

[eddiea6987]

I am a bit confused, is the original display  ssd1305 or ssd1309or ssd1303? because i have found them all on ebay and would like to know which one to get.

[nanofrog]

I am a bit confused, is the original display  ssd1305 or ssd1309or ssd1303? because i have found them all on ebay and would like to know which one to get.

SSD1303 is the original OLED display (has the correct pin-out).

Find an agent for Taobao and order some from the above link (example that speaks English and takes PayPal). 

[ultrasmurf]

Got my display using ssd1309, similar result with mcookieman. Display is mirrored, which lead me to wonder if the original agilent display was indeed mirrored, and replacing it with normal available display results in mirrored image. There is a command available to mirror the image, but will need to hack into the mcu to always set this during start up. Will need anyone familiar with firmware updating to see if it is possible to insert this command to the startup sequence of the dmm (or if we can find the command to flip image being sent to the display controller during startup then we need to stop it from reaching the controller)

So, for whoever trying to get this up and running without much hacking, you will need the original ssd1303T10 display, possibly from the following supplier as found by tooki : http://www.lcdstore.de/OLED-Modul-128x64-Punkte-monochrom
(there is at least 1 example on the web having done successful replacement using module similar to one in the link)

[ultrasmurf]

Looking at the construction of ssd1309 vs 1306 display that i have, it seems clear why we have mirrored display. The ssd1309 chip on most display i've seen being sold are flipped compared to the ssd1306 chip in the original display. And the trace in the ribbon connector showed how much they go through the trouble to have the same pin out as 1306. I dont understand why they cant just put the chip the right way... pin out is already compatible with 1306...

[tooki]

I thought the original was SSD1303?

[nanofrog]

I thought the original was SSD1303?

So did I. 

[mcookieman]

I only just realised that you have the orange u1253b version. Is there any reason why you didn't just order the replacement part from Keysight?
@alexwhittemore I think this confirms that the part available from Keysight is compatible with the u1253a. ultrasmurf's photos look exactly the same as the u1253a display module.


The displays I've ordered off taobao seem to have gone missing, supposedly they've arrived at the reshipping address but I've gotten no notifcations. Will update when I find out what's happened to them.

[ultrasmurf]

My mistake... yes... 1309 vs 1303 not 1306. The newer 1309 1306 1305 that I can see were all flipped compared to 1303, and then the trace on the ribbon cable were crossed to get compatible pin out to the 1303, but the other side where they interface with the display were not flipped.... so we have a mirrored display. Found a few 1309 that doesn't look like they are flipped, but the screen size were only 1".

I did not order the replacement display because it will cost me ~USD120 to get one from keysight. I'd rather try to get something else and see it's durability rather than going back to original display that has been reported to have issues. Hacking the firmware looks more than what I can chew... So most likely I'll insert an atmega and a multiplexer to send a flipping command to the display before returning the dataline back to the nec mcu.

I thought the original was SSD1303?

So did I. 

[tooki]

What about the vendor in Germany??

[mcookieman]

@ultrasmurf
Fair enough, I think it would be a fairly staightforward fpga project to do that as well. I might give that a go if I the taobao displays don't work.

Speaking of the taobao displays they are now on the way from China to me, I expect to have them in hand in a couple weeks, will keep you all posted on how they go.

[alexwhittemore]

Got my display using ssd1309, similar result with mcookieman.

Interesting - I just slapped in this SSD1309 display I got on eBay a few weeks ago, and got nothing at all. Verified the meter was working with the buzzer in continuity mode. Back to normal function once I pulled that off and put the original back on (you know, normal being can't barely see it).
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-42-12864-OLED-Display-Module-128x64-SSD1309-Display-Screen-2-42inch-STM32/391868798461?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=660857088898&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

I only just realised that you have the orange u1253b version. Is there any reason why you didn't just order the replacement part from Keysight?
@alexwhittemore I think this confirms that the part available from Keysight is compatible with the u1253a. ultrasmurf's photos look exactly the same as the u1253a display module.

The displays I've ordered off taobao seem to have gone missing, supposedly they've arrived at the reshipping address but I've gotten no notifcations. Will update when I find out what's happened to them.

I just looked at my display module to compare, and sure enough, they're nearly identical besides a couple of obvious BOM changes (mine has black tantalums, the B board has orange ones, but same values). My part number is U1253-66504-36-0848-8618, which has changed, and which is presumably why the support rep said he wasn't certain they're the same.

Cool that I can safely order the new part. But I'm not sure I want to spend $120 every few years until they finally deprecate that PN as well 

I'll hold off until you try one of the taobao modules, $15 is a lot more palatable. But I had such poor luck last time I tried to get one...

Edit: since I've got a bunch of credit in yoybuy from the last failed order, I just ordered a few of the same modules. 4 of them are still wildly cheaper than even one OEM replacement, so if they work, I'll have a few spares.

[ultrasmurf]

If that display doesnt show anything, then there could be something really changed in your revision (power line swapped etc..).  The SSD1303T10 share the exact same pin out as the normally available 1309 in the net, I assume including yours as it looks like it has the same ribbon cable swapping the line around. The only difference is the connection to the display itself after the 1309. Or maybe your ebay display is a dud....

[alexwhittemore]

Or maybe your ebay display is a dud....

Anything is possible. Unfortunately, it seems I've also lifted some pads, if you can call it that, on the original display. So now I'm completely display-less

[eddiea6987]

So, for whoever trying to get this up and running without much hacking, you will need the original ssd1303T10 display, possibly from the following supplier as found by tooki : http://www.lcdstore.de/OLED-Modul-128x64-Punkte-monochrom
(there is at least 1 example on the web having done successful replacement using module similar to one in the link)

I googled the part number displayed at that link and I got a lot more hits of places that have it but no one wants to ship to the U.S , Alibaba has some with a minimum quantity of 2000 pieces
I emailed the lcdstore to see if they will ship me some

[alexwhittemore]

Yoybuy keeps refunding my purchases because they're suddenly "out of stock" even though taobao shows crazy assloads of stock 

[mcookieman]

Hmm that's not a good sign :/
My order (using yoybuy as a reshipping service) has left China, hopefully when they turn up it'll be the right displays. My chinese isn't good enough to actually tell what exactly I ordered...

If they are the SSD1303 displays and they do work I'm happy to organise a small group buy for anyone who needs them. Shipping from Aus will be pricey though.

[alexwhittemore]

Hmm that's not a good sign :/
My order (using yoybuy as a reshipping service) has left China, hopefully when they turn up it'll be the right displays. My chinese isn't good enough to actually tell what exactly I ordered...

If they are the SSD1303 displays and they do work I'm happy to organise a small group buy for anyone who needs them. Shipping from Aus will be pricey though.

You're talking about the display you linked in reply #52 up there right? That's what I tried (unsuccessfully) to order

I just realized, I have a friend in Shenzen right now... maybe I can get him to scour the market.

[eddiea6987]

http://www.lcdstore.de/epages/17406888.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/17406888/Products/BL12864G

Are telling me they can ship me a screen for $40
$31 for the screen itself and 9 shipping.
I think it might be worth it, and then try to sell this meter

[alexwhittemore]

http://www.lcdstore.de/epages/17406888.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/17406888/Products/BL12864G

Are telling me they can ship me a screen for $40
$31 for the screen itself and 9 shipping.
I think it might be worth it, and then try to sell this meter

$9 shipping from Germany to the USA? What a steal!

Do it and let us know if it works. If it works, let us know how to do the same

[mcookieman]

Minor update:
The displays finally arrived and they do have the SSD1303 controller. Unfortunately I didn't get anything on the display when I turned everything on. I suspect my soldering is the issue as I've reused the same breakout board and I didn't have any solder wick to make everything nice and level so it was quite difficult to solder on.

I have two so I will try again with the other one on a new breakout board on the weekend...

[macboy]

Minor update:
The displays finally arrived and they do have the SSD1303 controller. Unfortunately I didn't get anything on the display when I turned everything on. I suspect my soldering is the issue as I've reused the same breakout board and I didn't have any solder wick to make everything nice and level so it was quite difficult to solder on.

I have two so I will try again with the other one on a new breakout board on the weekend...

You can try some stranded wire (the finer the strands, the better) in place of proper wick. If you have liquid flux then use a little of that to help the process.

[alexwhittemore]

Minor update:
The displays finally arrived and they do have the SSD1303 controller. Unfortunately I didn't get anything on the display when I turned everything on. I suspect my soldering is the issue as I've reused the same breakout board and I didn't have any solder wick to make everything nice and level so it was quite difficult to solder on.

I have two so I will try again with the other one on a new breakout board on the weekend...

Well that's exciting 

[eddiea6987]

Well it done!

The tricky part was desoldering the new screen from its pcb because that ribbon is fragile!! And i was not aware of how those things are actually shaped with a gap in the middle.
Good thing I went to desolder the old screen first and messed it up bad. So i was extremely careful with the new one..

I have a picture here simulating, with the hacked up ribbon, how i desoldered the new screens ribbon.
I just heated up a section and gently pulled it off with a blade.

[eddiea6987]

sorry for the lack of details but i typed up that last post so many times and kept getting errors about my pictures being too big.
So ill split it up here are pics of the new screen and the company i got it from.

[eddiea6987]

On a side note, my meter stops charging before its fully charged and I have read on the agilent site that there is a firmware update to fix that but I do not have the
USB adapter for the back of the meter if anyone wants to let me use it, I would pay shipping both ways. Im in florida.

[alexwhittemore]

Well it done!

The tricky part was desoldering the new screen from its pcb because that ribbon is fragile!! And i was not aware of how those things are actually shaped with a gap in the middle.
Good thing I went to desolder the old screen first and messed it up bad. So i was extremely careful with the new one..

I have a picture here simulating, with the hacked up ribbon, how i desoldered the new screens ribbon.
I just heated up a section and gently pulled it off with a blade.

Hey, great news! Now... how do I go about getting one of those displays shipped to California?

Happy to loan you my USB cable - feel free to DM me. But 1) I have the older version that Prolific deliberately kneecapped in Win 10, which requires some trickery to deal with. And the new (orange) version seems to be $33 from Agilent, which isn't wildly worse than the $15 round trip shipping it'll cost to send to you (https://www.keysight.com/en/pd-2314431-pn-U1173B/handheld-digital-multimeter-pc-connectivity-cable?cc=US&lc=eng). Of course, if you'll never use it again...

[eddiea6987]

oh I had no idea it was that cheap, then in that case I might as well get it from keysight, I looked on ebay and saw some well over 100 bucks.
I emailed the LCDStore website someone linked above, they eventually replied and agreed to send me a unit. They asked for money to
be transferred to their bank account, after which I told them I prefered paypal for my own security since they are easier to deal with when getting scammed
they accepted and gave me their paypal

"a payment through paypal is possible to paypal@LC-Design.de
1 piece BL12864G   31,00 USD
Shipment via registered letter   9,00 USD
Payment through PayPal   3,00 USD
SUM  43,00 USD"

their email is  order@lc-design.de

[boborich]

I think I have some good news for you, well, maybe it is too late. Never mind, here you go: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.18.4707da385slyfU&id=556241996733&ns=1&abbucket=19#detail

The OLED module is manufactured by a TW company and someone in CHINA is selling it on Taobao. It cost around 100RMB(including shipping within CHINA), which is about $16 USD.

This will save a lot of 1273 and 125x.

[alexwhittemore]

I think I have some good news for you, well, maybe it is too late. Never mind, here you go: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.18.4707da385slyfU&id=556241996733&ns=1&abbucket=19#detail

The OLED module is manufactured by a TW company and someone in CHINA is selling it on Taobao. It cost around 100RMB(including shipping within CHINA), which is about $16 USD.

This will save a lot of 1273 and 125x.

I've been having some bad luck getting any of these from taobao. They show piles and piles of stock, but then when you actually order, it gets cancelled because they can't fulfill it.

[boborich]

Understand that, just providing info there just in case someone needed that.

[alexwhittemore]

I got the LCD from germany this morning and just finished installing it. Thanks for finding (tooki)/testing eddiea6987!

[tooki]

In all fairness, ultrasmurf found it, and I just used my German to find the vendor.

[alexwhittemore]

In all fairness, ultrasmurf found it, and I just used my German to find the vendor.

Ahh I missed that part! In any event, thank you all! Cant wait to see if any of the (way cheaper) taobao parts actually work.

[Assafl]

It worked for me. Thank you!

Got my display from SOS electronic (same module).

Very hard to desolder the ribbon. It is basically the copper without the underlying PCB substrate. Ended up piling a blob of solder, gently routing it over the top of the ribbon while a stainless spudger lifted the heated section off the PCB. Lost 1 ribbon to it - but there was enough left to solder it in place.

Anyway, Agilent is like new.

Anyone know why these go bad (used or unused?) - is it humidity? Can we seal them?

[nanofrog]

The organic material used to manufacture OLEDs decays. And unfortunately, this can't be helped.

[scopeman]

I have one of the Agilent 34460A 6 1/2 digit bench DMM's that is probably 4 years old and has been powered on 24 hours a day since we go it.

So far no issues but after reading this thread it certainly makes me wonder how long the display will last. I don't think my next DMM will be OLED.

Sam
W3OHM

[tooki]

Isn’t that an LCD in the 34460A?? Should last nearly forever.

[texaspyro]

Isn’t that an LCD in the 34460A?? Should last nearly forever.

Displays in test equipment are my pet peeve...  there is a lot of very nice older test equipment out there that is unusable because of display failures.  OLED displays are at the top of my peeve list.  Life wise they are still not ready for prime time.

LCDs do fail.  Newer models are quite a better than earlier ones that had problems with defective seals, spacers, and polarizers.   As an example older Fluke DMMs are notorious for bad displays.

VFDs are well known to wear out due to cathode and phosphor aging.  They are almost always custom models that are rather impossible to source if you need a replacement.  Gas discharge displays (like Burroughs Panaplex displays are similarly affected.

If you want a long lived or serviceable display in your test equipment look for displays that used standard 7-segment LEDs... followed by monochrome LCDs (but check the interwebz to make sure the model does not have some well known LCD problems).  Oddly, nixie tube displays seem to hold up quite well and replacement tubes can still be found.

CRT based displays can often times be retro-fitted with LCD video displays.  You will probably need to do some mechanical work and tweak the display and sync signals.

[Assafl]

7 segment LEDs are indeed the longest lived of the bunch. Mechanical indicators are also long lived. A never-before-dropped high quality d'Arsonval movement may indeed last nearly forever....

The OLED in the Agilent died although it was used rather rarely. I am beginning to suspect that the Solomon Systech OLEDs have a problem with humidity. I wonder if putting a satchet of silica gel would help extend its life. Or dunking it (at least the seams) in Varnish.

[nanofrog]

Isn’t that an LCD in the 34460A?? Should last nearly forever.

The 34440A's I'm familiar with all have VFD's, not OLED's. 

[tooki]

Isn’t that an LCD in the 34460A?? Should last nearly forever.

The 34440A's I'm familiar with all have VFD's, not OLED's. 

There is no 34440A. Are you thinking the 34410A? Either way, that’s not the same as the 34460A.

I checked, the 34460A (still part of Keysight’s latest crop) is an LCD, as I thought: https://literature.cdn.keysight.com/litweb/pdf/5991-1983EN.pdf?id=2318052

(It says it’s a 4.3” TFT with LED backlight.)

Isn’t that an LCD in the 34460A?? Should last nearly forever.

[...]
LCDs do fail.  Newer models are quite a better than earlier ones that had problems with defective seals, spacers, and polarizers.   As an example older Fluke DMMs are notorious for bad displays.
[...]
If you want a long lived or serviceable display in your test equipment look for displays that used standard 7-segment LEDs... followed by monochrome LCDs (but check the interwebz to make sure the model does not have some well known LCD problems).  Oddly, nixie tube displays seem to hold up quite well and replacement tubes can still be found.
[...]

But standard LCD modules like 1602’s and most color TFTs are so standardized that replacements should be available for decades to come.

And while early LCDs did have troubles like you mention, I don’t think those have ever been common in TFTs, since by the time those came along, LCDs were already mature technology. Look at early 1990s laptops: their displays still work just fine.


The person I was replying to (while on the go, hence not doing extensive googling) seemed to be worried about the LCD in the 34460A. I think there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. I don’t think it’s likely to fail, and even if it did, I suspect it’s fairly easy to find a replacement that will work.

[nanofrog]

Isn’t that an LCD in the 34460A?? Should last nearly forever.

The 34440A's I'm familiar with all have VFD's, not OLED's. 

There is no 34440A. Are you thinking the 34410A? Either way, that’s not the same as the 34460A.

I checked, the 34460A (still part of Keysight’s latest crop) is an LCD, as I thought: https://literature.cdn.keysight.com/litweb/pdf/5991-1983EN.pdf?id=2318052

(It says it’s a 4.3” TFT with LED backlight.)

You're right; I was looking at a 34410A.   

Seem's only the older models came with a VFD (example), whilst the current production is LCD. FWIW, I'm a huge fan of decent used gear, so it's not a big stretch for me to not have recognized there was a change in displays. 

My deepest apologies. 

[tooki]

I mean, as much as the color TFT enables things like graphing, there's just something special about a really nice VFD.

(For a lab power supply mod I'm working on, I've been thinking of using 1.9mm pitch LED matrix displays to achieve a kind of similar effect.)

[Assafl]

I am still trying to figure out why the OLEDs die so quickly (whether the DMM is powered or not). So I tried measuring the voltage on the connector to the OLED daughterboard (the black silkscreened board) when powered down (off/charging position) and it seems like the connector sends power to the card even when powered down (about 1.5V worth of voltage).

I failed at tracing where it goes on the daughterboard - I may try this again at some time - the black silkscreen makes it difficult to figure out the traces.

Could the DMM cause the burnout of the screen because it biases it even when off?

[nanofrog]

I mean, as much as the color TFT enables things like graphing, there's just something special about a really nice VFD.

(For a lab power supply mod I'm working on, I've been thinking of using 1.9mm pitch LED matrix displays to achieve a kind of similar effect.)

Although I can't say precisely why, I'm absolutely 100% fond of VFD displays over OLED, TFT, and othewise.

I guess I'm an old git these days (just shy of 47  ).   

[tooki]

I mean, as much as the color TFT enables things like graphing, there's just something special about a really nice VFD.

(For a lab power supply mod I'm working on, I've been thinking of using 1.9mm pitch LED matrix displays to achieve a kind of similar effect.)

Although I can't say precisely why, I'm absolutely 100% fond of VFD displays over OLED, TFT, and othewise.

I guess I'm an old git these days (just shy of 47  ).   

I’m on my last month of being 37 and I agree!

[John Heath]

Isn’t that an LCD in the 34460A?? Should last nearly forever.

Displays in test equipment are my pet peeve...  there is a lot of very nice older test equipment out there that is unusable because of display failures.  OLED displays are at the top of my peeve list.  Life wise they are still not ready for prime time.

LCDs do fail.  Newer models are quite a better than earlier ones that had problems with defective seals, spacers, and polarizers.   As an example older Fluke DMMs are notorious for bad displays.

VFDs are well known to wear out due to cathode and phosphor aging.  They are almost always custom models that are rather impossible to source if you need a replacement.  Gas discharge displays (like Burroughs Panaplex displays are similarly affected.

If you want a long lived or serviceable display in your test equipment look for displays that used standard 7-segment LEDs... followed by monochrome LCDs (but check the interwebz to make sure the model does not have some well known LCD problems).  Oddly, nixie tube displays seem to hold up quite well and replacement tubes can still be found.

CRT based displays can often times be retro-fitted with LCD video displays.  You will probably need to do some mechanical work and tweak the display and sync signals.

I see a resistance to an inevitable trend in test equipment. Why fiddle with a LED 7 segment display when you can have the best display money can buy , a computer monitor. Why solder wires from A to B when  you can knit these connection together with software ? An example of these advantages.  This is coming from an old fart with a clear memory tubes a analog steam gauges . My best frequency counter of the 5 that are on my bench is the Keuwlsoft model A. This frequency counter has a  build in oscilloscope for the sheer luxury to eyeball your input with variable gain , variable hysteresis for noise  , variable DC offset. It gets better. A .1 to 100 second averaging for lower frequencies down to the uHz range. This is 11 digits in a row for  10,000.000,000 Hz. There is one draw back. If you lose this frequency counter it is a little hard to find. The reason is it is not tangible in the sense of being able to touch it. Trying to find something that is not tangible is an uphill battle. The good news is the Keuwlsoft model A frequency counter is free so you download another one. A second advantage that I like is it is self cleaning. You can not leave dirty finger prints on virtual test equipment as there is nothing real to leave a finger print on.
 

[nanofrog]

I mean, as much as the color TFT enables things like graphing, there's just something special about a really nice VFD.

(For a lab power supply mod I'm working on, I've been thinking of using 1.9mm pitch LED matrix displays to achieve a kind of similar effect.)

Although I can't say precisely why, I'm absolutely 100% fond of VFD displays over OLED, TFT, and othewise.

I guess I'm an old git these days (just shy of 47  ).   

I’m on my last month of being 37 and I agree!

FWIW, getting old totally SUCKS!  (I hit 47 in under 2 months).   

Guess it's about time for some TEA therapy.

[Mr. Scram]

FWIW, getting old totally SUCKS!  (I hit 47 in under 2 months).   

Guess it's about time for some TEA therapy.

Guess what, not getting old sucks even more!

[nanofrog]

FWIW, getting old totally SUCKS!  (I hit 47 in under 2 months).   

Guess it's about time for some TEA therapy.

Guess what, not getting old sucks even more!

Blasphemy, that is. 

[Assafl]

Are you old people replacing your electrolytics?

[rsjsouza]

Are you old people replacing your electrolytics?

Yes!

(Sorry, I couldn't resist)

[nanofrog]

I prefer cans myself. 

[John Heath]

She can clean my soldering iron.

[colorcoded]

@mcookieman how did it go with that display from taobao?

[project]

My U1253A screen getting very dim suddenly just like everyone else. I order some of these screens from china--taobao. Turn out very good. its screen only PN 19701, SSD1303T10 . no daughter board, direct fit. I have some for sale now. 65CAD shipped in canada or 65usd shipped to USA. anyone interested PM.   

[mcookieman]

Sorry for the lack of updates. I messed up the soldering on the displays I got from taobao so I wasn't able to get it working. I started a new job around the same time which has been really busy up til now; so I never got around to trying again.

Its good to hear that the the previous replier has tried and confirmed that they are a good replacement. When I get a bit more motivated I'll give it another go and post an update. (Turns out the people who told me making your hobby a career can be dangerous had a point

[marcopolo]

Hi,

Like many of us, the OLED display of my u1253a has lost its brightness. I bought it new and hardly used it but it's almost dead.
The display is no longer available from Germany. Does anyone know another source?

The other solution is to develop a FPGA-based adapter for a TFT display. Has anyone tried?

Marc

[nanofrog]

Hi,

Like many of us, the OLED display of my u1253a has lost its brightness. I bought it new and hardly used it but it's almost dead.
The display is no longer available from Germany. Does anyone know another source?

The other solution is to develop a FPGA-based adapter for a TFT display. Has anyone tried?

Marc

What you're after is the ssd1309, which is currently available on Taobao (98.00 CNY, Chinese Yuan, is ~ 14.30 USD according to XE.com). 

[marcopolo]

PROGRESS!
I've got the SSD1309 display working! it is mirrored unfortunately though.

[bitseeker]

Try to send a PM to project. He had extras of the SSD1303T10, which worked properly. See below:

My U1253A screen getting very dim suddenly just like everyone else. I order some of these screens from china--taobao. Turn out very good. its screen only PN 19701, SSD1303T10 . no daughter board, direct fit. I have some for sale now. 65CAD shipped in canada or 65usd shipped to USA. anyone interested PM.

[nanofrog]

I guess I should have qualified my response. You can try and make the ssd1309 work (read the firmware, edit to fix the mirroring, and rewrite), or ssd1305 work instead (the columns are reversed on this one, so bodge wire time). No idea of your skills or equipment, so cannot make a recommendation either way. 

The original P/N Escort used the ssd1303 (Agilent acquired them in 2008, and the design is older than that), but as they've not been available for some time, one can only conclude they've been EOL'd by the manufacturer.  You could get lucky and find an NOS unit, but this won't be commonplace (what the German supplier had I suspect).

[Micke]

I bought replacement display from Slovakia.
https://www.soselectronic.com/products/bolymin/bl-12864g-ernhn-1-52156   30.3 Euro
It works fine, but it required 3 displays in total, I accidentally destroyed the 2 first displays when trying to desolder those very fragile zebra strips... practice makes perfect! 
But now the multimeter is like new with the OLED display from SOS Electronics!

[marcopolo]

Thanks to all for informations.

I see 3 solutions:
- Original SSD1303 OLED display (30 to 100€ + VAT + shipping)
- SSD1305/1309 OLED with a FPGA adapter to correct pixel's order (35-40€ + shipping)
- TFT 2.4" 320x240 with FPGA converter (15-20€)

I used this multimeter for a maximum of 200h (I bought it new) and the display is dead.
My conclusion is: Using or not an OLED display, after a while it doesn't work.
Buying a NOS display is a solution but for how long?
If the display has been stored 7 or 8 years, it will work maybe 1 or 2 year. If I'm lucky, 5 years.

I think I'm going to a solution based on low-cost chinese TFT + FPGA converter.

Thanks,
Marc

[bitseeker]

Marc, that sounds great. I hope you share your progress on that conversion. I have a U1252B with segmented LED display. A TFT dot matrix display would be cool to see.

[marcopolo]

Of course, I'll share my progress 

[marcopolo]

PROGRESS!
I've got the SSD1309 display working! it is mirrored unfortunately though.

May be you can correct this problem 

The MCU send a A0 command (COL0=SEG0) at startup of the u1253.
If you count the WR pulses, when you see the ninth you force the line D0 to 1 (COL131=SEG0) to transform the command A0 to A1.
But if the MCU send an A0 command later, you're dead!

Or you can use a comparator (more wires)
If D/C=0 and data=A0 and WR=0, you force D0 to 1 before the rising edge of WR

It's just an idea, not sure it'll work.
Marc

[skripach]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bolymin-BL12864GERNHn-oled-display-for-AGILENT-U1253B-Nivona-830-845-850/142953171466?hash=item2148ac4a0a:g:Fz8AAOSw0c9bq7gE
Will this work?

[coromonadalix]

well seems to do, in the ebay description and the suggested links ?

[Latet]

I just bought a U1253B with dead display for $25 USD, and I will get one display from here: https://detail.1688.com/offer/575133973531.html?spm=a261y.7663282.1998411376.2.45666b20QMBhdS&scm=1007.19151.114112.0

If anyone is interested. I'm expecting to spend $50USD in total, for a big win. 

[Terry01]

I just bought a U1253B with dead display for $25 USD, and I will get one display from here: https://detail.1688.com/offer/575133973531.html?spm=a261y.7663282.1998411376.2.45666b20QMBhdS&scm=1007.19151.114112.0

If anyone is interested. I'm expecting to spend $50USD in total, for a big win. 

Nice score! 

[zenith1111]

I bought replacement display from Slovakia.
https://www.soselectronic.com/products/bolymin/bl-12864g-ernhn-1-52156   30.3 Euro
It works fine, but it required 3 displays in total, I accidentally destroyed the 2 first displays when trying to desolder those very fragile zebra strips... practice makes perfect! 
But now the multimeter is like new with the OLED display from SOS Electronics!

I can confirm that this display is identical to the original and works, at least on a U1273AX. It's a shame this store has a 50 euro minimum order, but I also needed other stuff, so it worked out fine.
The replacement is easy to dessolder from the original board with hot air, but at the slightest mechanical pressure the ribbon will tear from the solder pads, it is really sensitive.

I didn't see anything about it so I've made a video of the procedure on youtube.

[bitseeker]

Here's the video. Nice recovery on the torn ribbon cable, José.

[Terry01]

Here's the video. Nice recovery on the torn ribbon cable, José.

Cool video buddy!

I have the U1273 which has the "OLED screen" too. Cool to know there is a fix if the screen poops out on me! They seem to be hit and miss? Some people say "they are terrible only using it very lightly" and others say "oh, mine has been going fine for years used loads every day" so who knows?

[bitseeker]

Yeah, makes you wonder if there were just bad batches of them from the screen manufacturer.

[rsjsouza]

Yeah, makes you wonder if there were just bad batches of them from the screen manufacturer.

Yes, that may have been the case, or perhaps other environmental conditions such as storage temperature and humidity. Also, there seems to be more concentrated on the prior generation U1253.

José, nice video BTW!

[Latet]

Finally my new screen arrived and I installed it successfully.

I bought it for 18~20 USD, from taobao.

[Terry01]

Finally my new screen arrived and I installed it successfully.

I bought it for 18~20 USD, from here: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.84.7ac842d4idVm7g&id=578497899619&ns=1&abbucket=1#detail

Nice job buddy, well done! Hopefully it lasts you for years now.

[stj]

is this the same as the unitrend ut171c??

[Rosenköpfchen]

Hi, I'm from Germany. Through research, I met this forum and I am pleased about the quality of the posts. In Europe, there is a similar problem with the 164x64 Oled with SDD1303, which is installed in the high-quality coffee machines of the Nivona 8-series.

o far, it has been in the forums Germany, Holland, Poland only managed to replace the yellow display BL12864G, the display is now voided in the European market. There are individual pieces in Russia, but they do not deliver abroad.
The yellow display is a compromise because white displays are not available at all.
White displays with the SDD1309, 1305, 1325 drivers are easier to buy, but how are they connected electrically?
Promising attempts have been made in this forum but the final procedure is still missing.
Unfortunately, I understand too little of the matter, but I could try out finished solutions with my coffee machine. So I would be very grateful if you could help me to replace the Oled Display 1303 by an Oled with the driver SDD1309 or similar.
Thank you 

[stj]

what do you mean by "the display is now voided in the European market." ??

[wraper]

White displays with the SDD1309, 1305, 1325 drivers are easier to buy, but how are they connected electrically?

There are SDD1309, 1305 displays with the same pinout as SSD1303, no electrical differences. However these controllers are not identical in commands they support. Using them in keysight meters results in mirrored image. You may try them, though. If you are lucky and unsupported commands are not used in particular device, it may work just fine.

[Rosenköpfchen]

what do you mean by "the display is now voided in the European market." ??

Sorry my english is bad.
There are no Oleds to buy in Europe with SSD1303
Thanks stj for the info.
But my SOLOMON technical data sheet has a pinout of PIN 25-29 on the SDD 1303. SSD 1309 has NC there.

[Rosenköpfchen]

Finally my new screen arrived and I installed it successfully.

I bought it for 18~20 USD, from here: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.84.7ac842d4idVm7g&id=578497899619&ns=1&abbucket=1#detail

Hi Latet,
the Oled has the driver SSD 1305z, because the columns are reversed?

[Rosenköpfchen]

Hi,
a question to the experts. Could this OLED be installed for replacement?
Thank you

https://www.elecok.com/de/rgs24128064yw001-2-4-pm-oled-oled-for-ritdisplay.html

[coromonadalix]

Dont think so,  may have the good chipset,  but see the connector ........ it wont do unless you make somekind of daughter board

[Latet]

Hi Rosenköpfchen, the seller has changed the product,    be careful. Search it as SSD1303T10 driver, and check the size you need. 

[Rosenköpfchen]

Many Thanks 

[salvagedcircuitry]

Has anyone considered soldering in a connector for the LCD? If the display has a shelf life of ~4months - 3yrs depending, why not solder in a ribbon connector / Rotary Backlock Type connector to the agilent daughterboard?
I'm down for researching a connector, I just need the pin pitch.
Also, the Adafruit Monochrome 2.42in 128x64 dot monochrome oled display looks to be a similar pin pitch, but it does not look like there is a chip-on-flex like the other oled displays.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/2719

[ntrx]

Hi All,

Desperately trying to find a replacement screen with SSD1303 it seems there are none in stock anywhere, anyone know of anyone who has stock?
Cheers

[Rosenköpfchen]

Hi,
Now again new display was produced with the driver SSD1303  .
Look here for ..https://www.coffeemakers.de/Nivona-Displayeinheit-691-NICR8xx-64758-3268?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIubn08umJ4QIVV-J3Ch3ytwl8EAQYASABEgKaN_D_BwE

[jdurango]

Just to clarify, is the SSD1303T10 the correct screen for a u1253b? Seems like most everyone in this thread is dealing with A or AX models. Thanks!

[ntrx]

I'm wondering this too, I can't find a compatible 1303 driver oled anywhere but can get a replacement screen for the B.
I have an A and don't want to spend the $220AUD if it isn't the same.
In actual fact I can't find an OLED display of the correct dimensions at the moment at all, if I can get one with a 1305 or one of the other drivers that just requires a flip command on power up I will start work on a replacement screen board with a PIC to hijack the comms on power-up.

[Rosenköpfchen]

Hello, with the SSD 1305, the image is mirrored. There is column offset with the SSD1309.
Problem is to reverse the mirrored.

[ntrx]

Was your old OLED driver 1303 or 1305? I am currently trying to find 1305 so keen to know where you got this one please?

[Rosenköpfchen]

Hello,
original was the driver SSD 1303 installed. Then the driver SSD 1305 was installed and the image is mirrored.
Oleds with SSD 1305 can often be found at Chinese retailers,
eg: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Green-2-4-inch-128x64-OLED-Display-Module-I2C-Serial-SPI-SSD1305-w-Tutorial-/291844721833?hash=item43f34d0ca9&tfrom=301226745140&tpos=unknow&ttype=price&talgo=origal

[spalter]

Hey Guys,

I do have the same issue with my Agilent U1273A as well. An Agilent spare for the U1273A is not available, they exchange the whole meter for a fixed price. I did a lot of testing and soldering. What I can tell you for sure, only the SSD1303 Oled display will work ! Everything with SSD1305 or higher has the mirrored image, cause the driver is different to the SSD1303.

Unless you find a NOS somewhere, it will not work. As OLED change very fast in China, I did not find any resource to get a SSD1303.

Hope this helps

DPX

[satanistik]

I solve the problem with the mirrored image in SSD1303 replaces to SSD1305 SSD1306 SSD1309.
I use only 3 cmos logic chip.





It's dedicated to cafe machine but if this meter uses 8bit bus its can work.

[sanchelo]

Hello, Help scheme!!!

[sedushi27]

Help me too with scheme, please!

[satanistik]

This method works only in 8bit  bus mode - BS0 = 1 and BS1 = 1. System controller must send 1010000X command - set column scan direction, this hack replace 10100000 commands to 10100001 but if uP doesn't use this instruction or use 10100001 - its doesn't work.
"Delay line" 3 OR gate compensate propagation time - display controller latch command on rising edge of WR/ signal and if I connect WR directly - it does not work.

[sanchelo]

Thank you!!!!!!!

[sanchelo]

what's the resistor and capacitor?

[satanistik]

C = 100n
corected schematic:

[TweakIT]

C = 100n
corected schematic:

Thank you very much. Saw your posts on the polish forum.
Since you etched a PCB, do you have a PCB file for this schematic by any chance? Would be nice to just order it on Ali using the file  

[stupid]

Hi everybody,

I found a Chinese vendor that provide OLED display for U1273A and U1253A/B，after my trial，it's ok on my U1273A and U1253A.

List price as below:
For U1273A，59.99 USD
For U1253A , 69.99 USD

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.101.7c43260eXXQFvS&id=591402268582&ns=1&abbucket=19#detail

[mcookieman]

Thanks satanistik!
After seeing your post about the command to control column scan direction I probed the meter to check if it sends that command (and it does).
I put together a PCB and it works! (with a minor bodge on the 12V boost converter)

I finally have a working multi-meter after nearly 2 years..

I rearranged the logic a little bit and used 74HC / 74HCT gates so it only requires two chips. No need to delay the WR signal, but there is the provision to do so on the board.
Attached is a schematic, I'll upload the design files when I have some free time. I also have 8x sets of PCBs + components (no display) if anyone is interested in building their own.

[amigos]

Very good job.
Please upload file project.
What display you used? ssd1309?
Thanks!

[wraper]

Attached is a schematic, I'll upload the design files when I have some free time. I also have 8x sets of PCBs + components (no display) if anyone is interested in building their own.

I would suggest not using AMS1117-3.3 but something with lower quiescent current. Adding 5mA to already poor battery life does not help.
EDIT: AP3012 is also far from the best from this standpoint (3mA) but about on par with original MC33063. However you should use higher feedback divider resistance. It consumes almost 1mA from 12V which translates into about 2mA from the battery.

[satanistik]

https://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/viewtopic.php?p=17977216#17977216
Similar topic on elektroda forum.

mcookieman - I see in you schematic line D/C is not connected to logic. This may cause display data modification - some white drop.  My logic is transparent for display data and modify only command.

[marcopolo]

May be you can correct this problem 

The MCU send a A0 command (COL0=SEG0) at startup of the u1253.
If you count the WR pulses, when you see the ninth you force the line D0 to 1 (COL131=SEG0) to transform the command A0 to A1.
But if the MCU send an A0 command later, you're dead!

Or you can use a comparator (more wires)
If D/C=0 and data=A0 and WR=0, you force D0 to 1 before the rising edge of WR

It's just an idea, not sure it'll work.
Marc

That's what I proposed eight months ago.

[mcookieman]

@wraper
 - great suggestions, I didn't consider many things when designing this board. I"ll swap those parts out before releasing the design files.

@satanistik
- Ahh that is true; I haven't noticed any significant glitches in the display so it looks like I got lucky.

@marcopolo
- Apologies and thanks, I completely missed that; I wasn't following this thread closely at that time.

[satanistik]

I need delay WR because in Nivona coffe machnie suply voltage is only 2,7V.

[decoder77]

Replacing the OLED SSD1303 display with SSD1305

After replacing the display, the image becomes a mirror image.

In order for the image to be displayed correctly, you need to replace the command from the microcontroller 10100000 to 10100001. I did this using flash memory sst39vf040. You can also use sst39vf512, sst39vf010, sst39vf020, etc.

More info -  http://www.alexej-krom.de/replacing-the-oled-ssd1303-display-with-ssd1305/

[wordmaster]

I finally have a working multi-meter after nearly 2 years..

Thanks so much! How did you integrate 74HC / 74HCT into the old PCB?  On the schematic uses three of the chip, but you write that you use two?

[Latet]

Has anyone tried with the SSD1325 display? I believe that is contemporary to SSD1303 and there is enough room in the multimeter for that size.

[TweakIT]

I solve the problem with the mirrored image in SSD1303 replaces to SSD1305 SSD1306 SSD1309.
I use only 3 cmos logic chip.

It's dedicated to cafe machine but if this meter uses 8bit bus its can work.

Do you have some more pictures of how you connect it all? I have the same display and blue displayboard. If I understand it correctly you connect the displayboard to your custom PCB, invert the signal and connect it to the nivona display module (with the controls on it). For me, as an amateur, it's not clear how I should connect it all (too many missing pieces).

Would be great if you could help!

[vishaldotgupta]

Hi, Myself is an electronics engineer from India.   i have in the past worked for R&S for almost 12 years and has a passion of owning test RF test equipment and do reverse engineering
 
I do have two Agilent DMM's having issues with oled.  I tried very hard and it seems SSD1303T10 based Oled is not available as the driver chip was discontinued in year 2014.  Since them newer drivers are available which have a better life and performance compared to SSD1303t10.  But the mirror image issue is still there.

I am able to do fine soldering and reworking.  I am willing to offer my services to anyone interested.  The procedure would be as below.

The defective board needs to be sent to me (by EMS / POST)  I will change the OLED , replace any other defective  component, re work on the board to change the hex command and send it back by EMS.   EMS is slow but economical and usually doesn't involve customs taxes due to low value

Do let me know if this sounds workable?

[rtekal]

This info is put up by Keysight in their community forums. There is a replaceable parts for the OLED display, you may purchase the display board and change it. The part number is U1253-66007.

[Rosenköpfchen]

vishaldotgupta ,
the forum lives from users who work out solutions to a problem and not from services.
Let us know your solution.
greeting

[rsjsouza]

Keysight now has a display replacement for the U1273A. Just search for this meter at their find-a-part page and you should get the part U1273-66501. It is expensive.

https://www.keysight.com/my/fapHomePage

[marcopolo]

In France, 96 € + 20% VAT + shipping

[Terry01]

I agree it is expensive but if the screen went on mine i would pay the £100 to get it sorted.
I sold my 289 a couple of weeks ago so have been using my U1273 a lot more and am warming to it more as I use it. Once you get used to it it's actually quite easy to use, just a bit different from the Flukes.

[rsjsouza]

Terry, I agree with you that I would also strongly considering paying for that. Its visibility is superb and it looks really well on camera. Since I got it, the U1273A is my preferred meter with very few drawbacks and "sins" - it even surpasses my BM857 in several aspects, which was my prior top one. Recently I got a 87V on the cheap that may be a replacement for the 27/FM, but at the bench the U1273A is still the one to beat.

Oh well... The heart desires what it desires...

I agree it is expensive but if the screen went on mine i would pay the £100 to get it sorted.
I sold my 289 a couple of weeks ago so have been using my U1273 a lot more and am warming to it more as I use it. Once you get used to it it's actually quite easy to use, just a bit different from the Flukes.

[Lockon Stratos]

Hi everybody,

I found a Chinese vendor that provide OLED display for U1273A and U1253A/B，after my trial，it's ok on my U1273A and U1253A.

List price as below:
For U1273A，59.99 USD
For U1253A , 69.99 USD

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.101.7c43260eXXQFvS&id=591402268582&ns=1&abbucket=19#detail

Hi!

How did you managed  order from there? Its all  jumbled and there is no visible way to change it to a readable language.....
(Google translate didnt helped either)

[Terry01]

Hi everybody,

I found a Chinese vendor that provide OLED display for U1273A and U1253A/B，after my trial，it's ok on my U1273A and U1253A.

List price as below:
For U1273A，59.99 USD
For U1253A , 69.99 USD

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.101.7c43260eXXQFvS&id=591402268582&ns=1&abbucket=19#detail

Hi!

How did you managed  order from there? Its all  jumbled and there is no visible way to change it to a readable language.....
(Google translate didnt helped either)

I am sure there is another thread somewhere on the forum that is similar to this one. I will have a look for it and post here if I find it.

[unromeo]

Hi everybody,

First of all, I would like to thank this community. For a hobbyist like me it's an invaluable source of information and inspiration.

And thanks to this post, I am now the happy owner of a self repaired Agilent Multimeter!

Instead of going the mcookiemans way and building a OLD Screen PCB board from scratch, I decided to add a second PCB, just to deal with the un-mirroring of the display. It does the job for me and the resources invested were the SSD1309 OLD display and the two logic IC's in total of 20€. A local distributor was quoting 140€ for the original Agilent display..

I don't know if the SSD1309 is to blame, but the last column is displayed first, even in the mirrored version. You can see it in the second picture. The rest is displayed correctly, the missing pixels are caused by the refresh rate and the camera shutter. 

So here I present to you my... hack job..

 

[exe]

Can you please post the picture of fully assembled unit?

[ultrasmurf]

Built PCB using satanistik design with abit change here and there. Using 1309 display, there is column offset. I have bunch of spare pcb if anyone need it, just throw some beer my way. Gerber file attached, so anyone can just send to manufacturer like seeedstudio or other cheap pcb builder. It's panelized so go grab your friend to share the mfg cost. You can attach the PCB directly to 1253B pcb.
U1 is 4071, im using Nexperia HEF4071BT, mouser pn 771-HEF4071BTD-T
U2 is 4078, im using TO CD4078BM, mouser pn 595-CD4078BM
U3 is 74AHC1G00W5-7, im using Diodes inc, mouser pn 621-74AHC1G00W5-7
Decoupling/bypass capacitor use 0805 smd cap. I'm using 100nF 16v just because it wander near my soldering station.... 
Aligning the PCB to go to the display daughterboard is trivial, I forgot to print alignment mark on the PCB, just scrape off a bit on the edge of the PCB to mark the edge location of pad 1 and pad 31, align it on the daughterboard and solder it like you would soldering any smd component.

File for the PCB is uploaded to Seeedstudio fusion galery as well, not making any money out of this link, it just make it easier for any of you that need the PCB in the future.

[ApertureScience]

I tried the taobao seller. PCB is pin compatible, no desoldering required. I just snipped the pins pertruding the board to the side.

[Ginum]

And my edition.
Special thanks satanistik !

[voltsandjolts]

Ginum - very tidy and nicely documented.
What software did you use to draw the schematics?

[wraper]

What's the point of placing 2 decoupling capacitors (C2, C3) 1mm away from each other? Rather than placing them like this, throw out one of them instead.

[exe]

What's the point of placing 2 decoupling capacitors (C2, C3) 1mm away from each other?

My guess is one to decouple U2, and the other one for U3 . Indeed, putting just one will lead to significant cost savings, simplify assembly and improve reliability (I'm joking).

[wraper]

My guess is one to decouple U2, and the other one for U3 .

That's pretty obvious. But decoupling won't be a tiny bit better by using two caps in such a way. There is nothing criminal about this, just looks extremely lame.

[Ginum]

Oh yes of course, my mistake. At some point, during routing, U2 turned 180 degrees, then a capacitor followed and did not even notice how they ended up together

[johns]

Hello,

I have two OLED screens on board developed by OLED supplier for direct replacement on U1253A  Agilent multimeter
The OLED board was tested on Agilent DMM and it is working fine.
The price is US$55 plus postage (the cost of what I paid for).
I can provide pictures of those screens but I do not have Agilent DMM so that's why I am selling it.
This is direct replacement.

[Tarloth]

Thanks Johns, I'm interested because, off course, I have a U1253 multimeter with dim to death screen, but looking at pictures the conector it's different that multimeter connector. Are you sure that this boards work?

[ilciumbia]

I am interested too, tried to pm you but inbox is full... Do you still have any?

[wraper]

Thanks Johns, I'm interested because, off course, I have a U1253 multimeter with dim to death screen, but looking at pictures the conector it's different that multimeter connector. Are you sure that this boards work?

IMHO it's a spam from some Chinese folks. And this display has nothing to do with U1253A, connector looks similar to generic OLED display boards.

[Tarloth]

Yes, I did send some messages to John (and he answer me) and it's clear that this board it's a standard module with the correct (maybe???) screen but not a direct replace for the U1253 board.

I are very busy now, but in few months I will make a new board that permit to use any other screen even a LCD. The OLED obsolescence its a PITA, but te multimeter itself if wonderful and I will like to use it for many more years.

[Rollin Hand]

Im interested on the board .Keep me inform.

[crohamson]

I came across this topic while searching for information on replacement OLED displays for a different product, internet radios made by Pure. They used a different RiTdisplay display, the P19301, but that suffers the same fading with time.
As supplies of these old displays is almost non-existent, I have sought alternatives and found that most new ones do not display correctly, but show a mirror image. Hence my interest in this blog. But as satanistik has pointed out, the solutions so cleverly applied to the Agilent multimeter will not work for my application, as the Pure radios use an SPI serial interface.
I have noticed that the displays are commonly identified here by the driver IC, e.g. SSD1303 0r SSD1305, and that the mirrored image is due to the different driver in replacement displays. But I believe that the cause of the mirroring is due to the different pixel address mapping in the screen. The Pure radio display uses an SSD1305 driver, and substituting a display with an SSD1309 or SPD0301 both give a mirror image. This is due to the different start address of  the Segments (columns) and Commons (rows). Also, the SSD1303 and SSD1305 are both 132x64 pixel drivers, hence most new 128x64 display drivers will show a 4 pixel offset.

[Tarloth]

Hi, I think that the only "final" solution it's use a microcontroller to translate the multi meter commands to a new display command set. If the communication it's parallel and the new display it's pin compatible and software compatible, the solution cleverly proposed by forum members it's perfect. If not the only solution to me, it's translate the commands and offset/scale the pixels when it's necessary.

In my case, I doubt to use again an OLED display that's probably not available the next time that screen fade away and perhaps seems useless to store another screen because they ages without use. My screen did fade away without use and even without a battery in the meter.

I'm thinking in change the display technology expanding by the way the battery duration, but I haven't time to do this until almost end of year.

I'm very disappointing with Agilent, If the screen not exist anymore they must develop a new board adapted to a new screen or a new firmware to manage a new screen. I's a shame that a beautiful multi meter ends his life in only few years. BUT, internet is plenty of appliances with the same screen problem, it is not only Agilent.

[marcopolo]

I fully agree with you.

[joncl]

Thank you very much ultrasmurf for posting your solution! My 1273A was basically useless. Display was so dim, could no longer read anything. Total disappointment for a $350 MM, especially since it's had such light use! I ordered your PCBs from Seeed, and components from Newark. Total cost was around $50 with shipping. Soldered up the board (after a couple of tries getting the soldering technique down), and my 1273A is working again! Nice and bright green display now! Super stoked! As others have noted, the last column seems to be displayed first, which is close enough for me (you can see this in the attached photo). I have a stack of boards left and a few components, so if anyone needs one let me know.

edit: link to ultrasmurf's post: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/replacing-oled-screen-on-an-agilent-u1253a-multimeter/msg3085696/#msg3085696

[johns]

We have built a PCB using using your design based on satanistik design but still have the same problem with mirrored image
We must be doing something wrong but what we have no idea.
Do you have any suggestion what to check?

[coromonadalix]

see reply #196

[ultrasmurf]

How is the connection between the main pcb, small pcb (the one that suppose to invert the command), and the oled controller ?

[tautech]

Hello Johns,

Do you still have any replacement screens left?    pwrtrnx  -  NZ

regards

Welcome to the forum.

 
Kiwi with an Aussie flag ? 
FYI you can remedy this in your profile settings.

[Boosted_Eric]

We have built a PCB using using your design based on satanistik design but still have the same problem with mirrored image
We must be doing something wrong but what we have no idea.
Do you have any suggestion what to check?

I'm working on the same project for my power fc. Did you end up finding any type of solution? My screen is still mirrored as well.

[Zucca]

see reply #196

Which is --->THIS<--- one

PS: It is not hard to put a link for it...

[Murzzillkin]

Hello.
I have a U1273 device. The display does not work. Advise what to replace. Can not understand.

[rtekal]

Hi,

Heartfelt thanks to Satanistik, Ultrasmurf and Ginum for the design and PCB details.

I got both the PCB varieties manufactured locally. I used a MIDAS make 128 X64 OLED display MCOT128064EY-YM and assembled it using Ginum's PCB.

The display is working fine with the last column being displayed first. Also a line is displayed in the last row.The same is not seen in the displays of both Ultrasmurf and Ginum.

The second thing I noticed that is the battery seem to be draining a little faster than before. The unit is drawing about 45mA. While a non modified unit draws about 30 mA.

Thanks guys

Regards
Ramesh TN

[LagrangeWang]

thanks for your solution, but i want to know why there is column offset,is there any othoer improvement such as modify your schematic

[LagrangeWang]

hey ,my brother ,is there any difference with original solution(ssd1309 to ssd1303)

[LagrangeWang]

do you have a PCB file ,and i want to know why your solution doesn't have a coulum offset

[gmarsh]

I just pulled a U1253A out of the junk bin at work with a dead screen, that I'm gonna have a go at fixing.

I'm curious if I can fix the column offset issue, perhaps using a CPLD to offset the column address when it gets written in. If I'm lucky, the meter writes only full rows at a time starting at the same column address, and all I have to do is substitute the column address for another.

I'll be stuffing my MSO on the display header shortly to take some captures of the meter writing to the screen, and figure out how feasible this is. Updates to follow...

[gmarsh]

Update!

I hooked up the MSO to the meter and did some captures. Some observations:

- The meter doesn't seem to care that there's no LCD plugged in, and doesn't seem to ever read from the display.
- The meter doesn't write full pages at a time from the same starting column offset, it writes randomly to the screen.
- But... every time the meter writes to the display, it always writes the page first (0xB#), then the column LSB (0x0#), then the column MSB (1x#)

This means we can add a value to the column LSB command when it's written to the screen, catch the carry bit and add it when the column MSB command is written to the screen. This is an easy CPLD job.

I've attached some Verilog that implements this and also flips the bit to reverse the display. It's pretty simple and uses only 19/40 logic elements in a <$2 Intel 5M40E64 "MAX V" CPLD, which you can program with a ~$2 USB Bus Blaster clone. Right now I've got the column address offset set to +2 as a placeholder, which is probably wrong, but it's something I'll mess with once I get hardware in my hands.

Just ordered a OLED screen off aliexpress, and I'm gonna start throwing together a schematic.

I ordered a 31 pin solder-on screen that's the same style as the old screen, but I should measure and find out if a flat connector screen can be made to fit too.

[TestSubject]

I am excited to hear some updates gmarsh! For some reason, my U1273a got real dim with missing pixels after being shipped across the pacific...

Which display did you end up buying? If you need help with PCB design and/or testing, I am happy to oblige!

[gmarsh]

I am excited to hear some updates gmarsh! For some reason, my U1273a got real dim with missing pixels after being shipped across the pacific...

Which display did you end up buying? If you need help with PCB design and/or testing, I am happy to oblige!

Time for another update I guess:

- I sniffed the screen activity some more, to get a full idea of what the meter writes to the display.
- The lowest column address value sent to the screen is 0x02, which causes the column shift everyone is seeing. So all we need to do is subtract 2 when an address is written to the screen and that should center everything properly, and since the address is sent LSB-first from meter to screen (on the 1253A, at least) we can do that.
- The Verilog I posted earlier will wreck some command arguments that are sent to the screen on startup, so don't use it I've got newer CPLD code now which looks for commands that take an argument and passes through the argument unmodified, and still fits in a 5M40ZE64 CPLD with ~60% utilization. I'll probably throw down a 5M80 for the first prototype run in case I run into any surprises.
- And I've got a new PCB designed, which I'll be ordering in the next week or so.

I'm also laying out a tester PCB that a display plugs into so I can measure all the rail voltages, program the CPLD and show a test screen on the OLED without having to use a real (and expensive) meter as a host. I'm also finishing a couple other projects to make one big JLCPCB order (+ one big Digikey order) at once.

I ended up ordering this screen afterwards:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000321242073.html

I don't need any help with the PCB design, but my big question is whether what I'm doing here for the U1253A can drop into your U1273A. Any chance you've got a 4 channel scope or MSO or anything that can capture what gets written from the meter to the display?

[eb4eqa]

Hi gmarsh. Very interesting, thank you! I have one U1273A and MSO. I will look at it over the weekend ok?

Roberto

[johns]

We had to redesign the conversion PCB and use different parts as well and now it is working fine.

[johns]

How is the connection between the main pcb, small pcb (the one that suppose to invert the command), and the oled controller ?

We had to redesign the PCB/schematic and use different parts, it is working now fine.

[johns]

We have built a PCB using using your design based on satanistik design but still have the same problem with mirrored image
We must be doing something wrong but what we have no idea.
Do you have any suggestion what to check?

I'm working on the same project for my power fc. Did you end up finding any type of solution? My screen is still mirrored as well.

Yes, we did it. See our latest post.

[johns]

Thanks Johns, I'm interested because, off course, I have a U1253 multimeter with dim to death screen, but looking at pictures the conector it's different that multimeter connector. Are you sure that this boards work?

IMHO it's a spam from some Chinese folks. And this display has nothing to do with U1253A, connector looks similar to generic OLED display boards.

No, it is not a spam from China, I am in Perth, WA and we find the solution to fix the Ap5exi commander OLED screen replacement to work.
And further more we have some extra boards with parts as per ultrasmurf design for Agilent U1253A DMM

[johns]

Hello Johns,

Do you still have any replacement screens left?    pwrtrnx  -  NZ

Yes, I have some extra boards as per ultrasmurf solution for Agilent U1253A and with all the parts on the board.
For our project we had to redesign all and it is working fine.
For Agilent the board is ready to use as per ultrasmurf design.


 

[gmarsh]

Hi gmarsh. Very interesting, thank you! I have one U1273A and MSO. I will look at it over the weekend ok?

Roberto

Thanks for offering!

The pinout for the U1253A screen is on mcookieman's post here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/replacing-oled-screen-on-an-agilent-u1253a-multimeter/msg2428572/#msg2428572

There's a female connector on the main PCB, you'll want to find a matching 2mm pitch connector that plugs into it to give you something to clip your DSO leads onto. If your display's dead I suppose you could just rip the connector off it and use that. Just please don't poke old resistor legs into the connector and damage your meter to do this test for me.

I hook up R/W, D/C, the 8 data lines and ground. Set up the MSO to trigger on D/C being low and a rising edge on R/W.

There's a blast of assorted commands when the meter starts up, after that the U1253A spits out over and over again:
... bunch of data writes ... <Bx> <0x> <1x> ... bunch more data writes ...
Bx selects the page, 0x is the column address LSB, 1x is the column address MSB. Key being the LSB comes first.

I should have taken an actual screen capture from the MSO instead of a picture of what I was doing, but you can see the address write waveform in the picture I posted earlier. I'm hoping the 1273 does the same.

[Bhflex57]

Hi. Can you please send me any website where I can get the OLED module for my Agilent U1273bAX  ? I see a few links that don't work but don't know where to get the part .
SOS electric needs a part number .
Taobao link doesn't work .
I appreciate the help !

[Bhflex57]

Hi.
Do you now have a fix for the OLED screen replacement on an Agilent U1273 AX DMM ?
If you can help with part numbers , place to order , other necessary steps , etc. I would appreciate it.
Do I need a new board as well ? Your custom one ?
Please let me know.
I am in US .
No repair shop seems interested or able to find the part .

[gmarsh]

Another update:

JLCPCB and Mouser orders placed! I've ordered 5 PCBs, 5 PCBs worth of parts, but still have just 1 screen coming from Aliexpress.

Thanks to EB4EQA's work, I can confirm the U1253A/U1273A both write to the screen identically, and this solution should work in either meter.

Next update will come in a couple weeks when I have all hardware in my hands.

[eb4eqa]

Great! Can't wait to see it working! Thx!

Roberto

[norb]

Having successfully fixed my U1253B OLED display, which went dim a few weeks ago, i thought i´d share my experience as well:

First, I thought wtf, googled, and found out about the OLED-problem. I decided to send the meter to the vendor, maybe there was some kind of warranty or good will, and got a service offer (see below). Interesting business model.

As i didnt´t want to spend hours making pcbs and stuff, i followed the procedure from kostelectronics switzerland:


This is the replacement display at taobao in chinese, it´s offered for U1273 and U1253:
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.101.7c43260eXXQFvS&id=591402268582&ns=1&abbucket=19#detail

Luckily there is an english taoabo site, tbfocus.com, and this is the display there:
https://shop.tbfocus.com/item.php?id=591402268582#4133487996875

I ordered the display via a tabao sales agent and received the diplay about 10 days later. It was a straight swap, just cut 7 pins which were protruding from the left side of the display pcb.
The display lower end is a bit longer, I therefor put countersunk M2 screws, which fit underneath the protruding display glass plate. Also I put insulation on und under the pcb where the two upper srews are because there are pcb tracks very close to the bores.

Costs / Euro:
Display 59,-
Taobao agent: 15,-
Shipping: 24,-

Regarding the repair procedure by Markus in his Coneheads.de blog:
http://new.mash.webclient6.de/index.php/bauen/sonstiges/47-agilentu1252

he didn´t mention where he got the display from, which i suppose is this:
https://lcdstore.de/OLED-Modul-128x64-Punkte-monochrom

It is obsolete, but there is a replacement, for which you need an additional pcb:
https://lcdstore.de/epages/17406888.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/17406888/Products/CFAL12864J-Y
https://lcdstore.de/epages/17406888.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/17406888/Products/Command-Switch-2

So whichever way you choose to replace your display, maybe you find some help here, as i did on this great forum.

Thanks to all.

Edit: posting images here is a bit tricky ...

[kitsune-denshi]

Seeing that there is still some interest in repairing these meters, I thought I'd share the results of my take at tackling the display issue.

First of all, thank you everyone who has contributed here so far and especially for posting images of the various fixes, that really motivated me to have a go.

Initially, I had a thought very similar to gmarsh, in that all that would be needed to get rid of of the one-column shift would be to intercept the address data and subtract one from it. So I went about that and made a little board with a small FPGA (Lattice ICE5LP1K) to do that. However, when starting to dig, it became apparent that there were a lot more things that needed fixing than "just" the first column, mostly do do with the fact that the "original" display has 132 columns of display memory (instead of 128 on the SSD1309) and the multimeter assumes that only a portion if that is visible and relies on the data to wrap around after 132 columns and so on.

Anyway, after some digging (I think) I finally managed to work around all the oddities and now have a SSD1309 display working without any pixel-weirdness in my U1273A.

I will do a proper write-up (including schematics, layout and a slightly cleaned-up version of the Verilog) in the next few days and share it here if people are interested. But for now I just wanted to make a quick post to share the end result.

[gmarsh]

That looks great!

You've got me worried now I captured a good bit of the data stream from the meter and as far as I can tell, the meter doesn't seem to take advantage of wrapping.

Like when it's clearing the screen on startup, it writes 0xB0 0x02 0x10, then writes 128 data bytes to clear the first page, then repeats on the next page. Once the meter is up and running, it seems to write randomly to the screen in small bursts, overwriting individual digits or whatever. I haven't seen it write beyond the edge of the screen but I don't really have a good way to check for that. If it does write off the edge of the screen, I hope I can work around it in an 5M80EZ64 because that's what I've got coming from Mouser for the first round of boards...

I've attached the design files I've got so far. I'll hold off posting the actual Eagle files or gerbers until I'm 100% sure the design works, in case a Chinese factory decides to start shitting out something that doesn't work that has my name on it.

[kitsune-denshi]

That looks great!

You've got me worried now I captured a good bit of the data stream from the meter and as far as I can tell, the meter doesn't seem to take advantage of wrapping.

Thank you for you kind comments and for sharing the schematics. Nice to see we had basically exactly the same idea - clocking the thing off the WR line. I figured that would be the way to get the lowest power consumption. Here is also my schematic for reference, but the Verilog will have to wait until it's had a tidy-up. 

I don't think you need to be too worried, but just for reference these are the major snags that I picked up on:

• You already wrote that yourself, but there are some multi-byte commands, where the second byte looks like a standalone address command. So it's keeping track of the preceding commands to not incorrectly decrement something when it isn't actually an address.
• The minus sign (in front of the measured value) is actually drawn as 11 pixels starting from address 0 (when in actual fact the first two columns aren't supposed to be displayed). However, with the decrement-address approach (which works for all other content), that means the start of the minus signs will wrap around and start drawing at the right-hand edge of the screen. My approach to that was to detect the commands for address 00, and then instead of the next two data bytes (which are supposed to be invisible anyway), output the two address commands again and only then let the subsequent data through - that way the two "invisible" columns stay hidden and it draws correctly from address 00.
• When a new screen is loaded, the multimeter draws a "background" (some blocks of active pixels) to the bottom 8 rows. I think they are intended to be overwritten with e.g. the range indicator and things like that. However, for some bizarre reason it starts drawing that at address 241, and it then writes the full 132 bytes. However, because the memory is only 128 columns in the SSD1309, when things wrap around the active pixels end up in places where they are not being overwritten later with the correct indicators. The workaround there was to catch the specific command sequence for drawing at that one particular address (B0 01 1F), and then output 00s instead of the data.

However, especially with the last one I'm not sure how universal that is, as I didn't see those artifacts on any of the images that others have posted (conversely, the last row was always ok on mine, whereas it seemed garbled on a lot of photos that people posted). My multimeter was quite an early model, so it may well be that newer firmware versions do behave slightly differently from what I'm describing.

As for resource utilisation, it's actually not that bad still. In the RTL it's only 6 flip-flops (1 for the carry from the subtraction, 1 for the multi-byte commands, and 2 each for the dealing with the minus sign and last-8-rows artifacts), but it does say it's using 54 LUTs... 

[gmarsh]

Thanks for the hints and figuring this all out. Everything you've described there seems pretty CPLD-able.

Negative edge of /WR seemed to be the only good way to clock the thing, yeah. Thankfully the meter is nice enough to make the data lines and DC signal valid for both the falling and rising edges of /WR, and the SSD1309 clocks incoming data on the rising edge of /WR. Between that and them writing the column address LSB-first, you'd think the folks at Agilent were planning for this hack.

Thanks for sharing your design too. Wow, that Lattice part is a beast... lots of block RAM and DSP blocks, PLL block, excellent quiescent current consumption, and $5 CAD in singles from Digikey. Gonna have to keep that one in my back pocket.

[norb]

Regarding different display controllers, i found this german document on lcdstore.de with details about differences between 1303, 1305 and 1309.

If anybody is interested, i could translate it into english.

[fbpicsous]

I ordered the display via a tabao sales agent and received the diplay about 10 days later.
Costs / Euro:
Display 59,-
Taobao agent: 15,-
Shipping: 24,-
It is obsolete, but there is a replacement, for which you need an additional pcb:
https://lcdstore.de/epages/17406888.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/17406888/Products/CFAL12864J-Y
https://lcdstore.de/epages/17406888.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/17406888/Products/Command-Switch-2

LCDstore.de sells an agilent U1253 replacement... but only in Germany 
https://lcdstore.de/epages/17406888.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/17406888/Products/LC-OL12864-09-YO-AG

Keysight quote was ~100-150€ without taxes (2019), but now, they doesn't sell spare part (not available for direct sale) 
https://www.keysight.com/my/partDetail/U1253-66007

Thanks for sharing your taobao experience.

[norb]

LCDstore.de sells an agilent U1253 replacement... but only in Germany 
https://lcdstore.de/epages/17406888.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/17406888/Products/LC-OL12864-09-YO-AG

Keysight quote was ~100-150€ without taxes (2019), but now, they doesn't sell spare part (not available for direct sale) 
https://www.keysight.com/my/partDetail/U1253-66007

Thanks for sharing your taobao experience.

If anybody wants to buy this display from Germany, i would offer my help.
Just throw a can of beer over the fence .. :-)

[gmarsh]

Boards are in!

[Toshi]

It is displayed correctly using SSD1305.

[Toshi]

Requires conversion PCB.

[DKelectronics]

Any news - does it look like it is working?

[gmarsh]

Boards are built and mostly tested - 1.8V regulator works, 13V regulator works, but my crappy Aliexpress USB Blaster clone doesn't work at all.

Got a Terasic one ordered which I'm hopefully getting next week.

[gmarsh]

Update: GAAAAAAAH

I got the top row and bottom row of the 20 pin connector switched.

I can probably make it work anyway, with a bunch of trace cuts and magnet wire. It'll be ugly but it'll be hidden within the meter at least

[voltsandjolts]

my crappy Aliexpress USB Blaster clone doesn't work at all.

Maybe your having the same problem I had with driver install on Win10. I just got a cryptic error message about a bad driver.
Turns out that Win10 by default now requires signed drivers and Intel/Altera are too lazy to sign theirs.
Of course the error message doesn't explain that at all.
You can perhaps disable signed driver enforcement or use an older signed driver.
See this thread:
https://community.intel.com/t5/Programmable-Devices/Windows-10-driver-support-for-USB-Blaster/td-p/55323

[gmarsh]

Got it working! Had to change the driver in device manager, go through the whole "Have Disk.." dialog, choose a Bus Blaster II JTAG driver from the Quartus install directory and ignore a bunch of warning dialogs.

Modifying the board to fix the connector miswiring looks feasible, since I can reorder them in the FPGA. Gotta pull the pin header to cut a trace between the two VBAT pins, but that's not too bad. Another goof is I didn't 100% nail the mounting hole locations so I have to enlarge the holes a little.

[kitsune-denshi]

Right, so after over a month I finally had the time to sit down and document the display interface board: https://kitsune-denshi.net/projects:display-if

The board replaces the power supply / display mounting board in the U1273A and takes a "normal" SSD1309 display (although with a ZIF connector as opposed to the soldered type used originally). I think this takes care of all the weird and wonderful display artifacts and should give you the "original" display experience.

If you would like to build your own, please have a look at the web site linked above where I have put all the design files. I haven't had any issues building two of the boards, so I'm quite confident that the design is ok to build as-is. Also, you do not need a programmer for the FPGA - it's enough if you can program a serial flash through SPI (e.g. using the ICSP port of a  XGecu TL866II Plus). If you do run into any issues, especially compatibility issues with different multimeter models or firmware versions, please do let me know so maybe I can try and address them.

The BOM component cost is just over €10 (at one-off quantities), so with PCB and display you'll be looking at a total material costs of maybe €35-€40. So depending on how much you value your time / enjoy tinkering with equipment that should just work, you might be better off following the route outlined by e.g. norb above and just get a direct replacement display.

Anyway, I'm really glad that I could finally put the lid back on the multimeter and now continue with the never-ending list of other projects that always take way too long and probably will never get finished.

[rsjsouza]

That was a great procedure. Thank you for sharing.

[eb4eqa]

Great work, thank you for sharing.

Your website is fantastic.

Roberto

[voltsandjolts]

@kitsune

I have a 1272A which is IMHO the best handled DMM for electronics. Avoided the '73 because of the screen issue - but it's no longer an issue!

You NAILED this. Nice low power solution and very well documented

Edit: Is this now the world's first handheld DMM with an FPGA inside?

[The Hooded Foot]

I'd just like to add my thanks to Kitsune.

After my U1273A screen died, I found a video in which someone replaced the screen with the OLED from a Bolymin BL12864G, which was a near drop-in replacement] since it uses the same SSD1303 controller.  Unfortunately, I accidentally bought the BL12864G2, which uses an SPD0301, and has a different pitch flat flex connector.

Kitsune's design will be a great base for me to try and adapt to this different screen.

Once again, my thanks for your hard work.

[kitsune-denshi]

Thank you all for your kind messages, really appreciated!

I'm personally quite keen to see how gmarsh's design works out - it's quite a bit less complex and so should be even easier to build or adapt.

Out of curiosity, does anyone actually know what the actual failure mechanism of the original OLEDs is? To me it felt way too abrupt to be ageing (meter was fine, put it in a box for 4 months, screen was unusably dim when taking it back out), so I wonder if it's actually the controller dying?

[chickenHeadKnob]

Thank you all for your kind messages, really appreciated!

I'm personally quite keen to see how gmarsh's design works out - it's quite a bit less complex and so should be even easier to build or adapt.

Out of curiosity, does anyone actually know what the actual failure mechanism of the original OLEDs is? To me it felt way too abrupt to be ageing (meter was fine, put it in a box for 4 months, screen was unusably dim when taking it back out), so I wonder if it's actually the controller dying?

One  mechanism is moisture getting inside display, causing chemical degradation of oled. controllers can last forever pretty much.

[gmarsh]

Thank you all for your kind messages, really appreciated!

I'm personally quite keen to see how gmarsh's design works out - it's quite a bit less complex and so should be even easier to build or adapt.

Out of curiosity, does anyone actually know what the actual failure mechanism of the original OLEDs is? To me it felt way too abrupt to be ageing (meter was fine, put it in a box for 4 months, screen was unusably dim when taking it back out), so I wonder if it's actually the controller dying?

Current state of 'er: it's madness at work right now so I haven't had a chance to do any further work on the thing.

I can confirm that the SSD1309 panel soldered onto the original board produces a working but backwards display, so I can confirm I haven't fried the meter or display with the reversed connector.

I did a bunch of trace cuts and airwires on one board to get the pinout "sort of right" again, but it doesn't work, even with the CPLD acting in passthrough mode. Not sure what's wrong, but I'm going to modify a 2nd board and hope for the best.

[antdes45]

My U1253B display managed to go dim even with the DMM living in it's carrying case and being only used <10h a year. Keysight has no excuses for this.

I tried the LC-Design LC-OL12864-09-YO-AG replacement module mentioned somewhere in the thread.

https://lcdstore.de/epages/17406888.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/17406888/Products/LC-OL12864-09-YO-AG

The online store doesn't ship outside Germany but they sent me a PayPal invoice when asking by email.

Got it shipped to Canada for 81,95 EUR, took 21 days to reach home, 15 minutes to install and my display is now nice and bright again. Haven't noticed any weird quirks, and dimming doesn't change much just like the original OLED display.

[exe]

It's a very interesting story for me, a non-EE guy, how important availability of spare parts for end-users who whant to keep their equipment in service for longer than a warranty period. Some parts go out of production very quickly. Now I see why Keithley used a less-than-exciting display in their DM6500: they used a part which they can source for a long time (there is a thread about DM6500 on this forum).

[2N3055]

It's a very interesting story for me, a non-EE guy, how important availability of spare parts for end-users who whant to keep their equipment in service for longer than a warranty period. Some parts go out of production very quickly. Now I see why Keithley used a less-than-exciting display in their DM6500: they used a part which they can source for a long time (there is a thread about DM6500 on this forum).

There are noname meters on which LCD screen is perfectly fine after 30 years or more. Not to mention good brands..
OLED is crap, they have limited lifetime by specification, just everybody ignores that fact. And being organic, chemicals can decompose, even without working.. So, yes, OLED screens look cool and have better visibility in some situations, but they are not meant to last.
If longevity and battery consumption is important, go with LCD.

[marcopolo]

 

[kkontak]

I friend had problems with an Agilent U153A and asked me to find a way to fix it.
(Sorry Jonh for the delay...)

The original yellow OLED display was very very dim.

I followed the idea from Alexej Krom (with a twist) and worked well enough. Thanks Alexej.
http://www.alexej-krom.de/replacing-the-oled-ssd1303-display-with-ssd1305/

I found a pin compatible green display with SSD1305 controller, from ebay.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Green-2-4-inch-128x64-OLED-Display-Module-I2C-Serial-SPI-SSD1305-w-Tutorial-/291844721833?hash=item43f34d0ca9&tfrom=301226745140&tpos=unknow&ttype=price&talgo=origal

The unsoldering and soldering the new one was almost easy... Nothing broke. I had more trouble positioning the display to match the front window.

I tried first an old UV EPROM that I had in hand but it was too slow and could not follow up the MCU control signals.

I used a different FLASH memory at 5V, SST39SF020A-70-4C-NHE PLCC-32, from ebay.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/123259658853
It was not a big surprise, it arrived with some BIOS firmware as a bonus!

I programmed it with a mini programmer from ebay called TL866CS and the optional PLCC32 adapter.
Worked great.

I used the 5V level signals side to make the soldering easier. Thats the reason I used the 5V FLASH.
The FLASH datasheet says it has 10mA consumption. Will see how much faster it drains the battery.

The mirror image was fixed and only some artifacts in the lower side of the display are shown when the fast moving bar graph is displayed and only in some screens. The readings and the other graphics are not affected.
I don't see any vertical line offset like others are mentioning.

OLED and Memory total, about $20.00.

Here are some pics and the schematics.

[kkontak]

More pics...

[kkontak]

More pics...

[kkontak]

More pics...

[kkontak]

More pics with measurements.

[ffor]

Hi,

What is R13 on schema?

[Dacke]

I have a U1273A and the original display is still fine,  but I wanted to get a replacement display for when this one fails.  Yesterday I stumbled into someone who has made a kit available for these meters on Ebay for $48,  first time I have ever seen them on the site.  I figured I would share with you guys as I know these displays can sometimes be hard to get your hands on.  Looks like he still has a few left -   https://www.ebay.com/itm/224562652338

[wraper]

I have a U1273A and the original display is still fine,  but I wanted to get a replacement display for when this one fails.  Yesterday I stumbled into someone who has made a kit available for these meters on Ebay for $48,  first time I have ever seen them on the site.  I figured I would share with you guys as I know these displays can sometimes be hard to get your hands on.  Looks like he still has a few left -   https://www.ebay.com/itm/224562652338

Well it's just someone selling design from satanistik/ultrasmurf. Since there was no R&D or assembly whatsoever, IMHO it does not justify inflating provided component cost like 5 3 times. 
EDIT there are plenty of those displays on aliexpress like this

[gnavigator1007]

Have the bad display issues been limited to the Agilent models? I've had the keysight u1273a for a few years now and it's still going strong. I was aware of the issues before I purchased it and have been following the various threads just in case, but I don't recall seeing any posts for the keysight branded meter.

[rsjsouza]

I have an Agilent U1273A that still looks as new, thus I suspect this new series was not affected as badly by this issue.

[Kimmeridgien]

Hi all and thanks to everybody who have contributed to this work.

I am kindly asking for feedback on my adapter board for the SSD1305-based display.

I read the below excellent project description and decided to add a MUX to the simple logic gate design:
https://kitsune-denshi.net/projects:display-if

Assuming that Kitsune Denshi is right about the reason for the artifacts, it is easy to properly handle the case of reading from the SSD130x controller. He / she does that by not actually reading from the SSD130x but instead just returning 0x00 to the U1253x (which seems to work OK). The simple logic gate design doesn't read bit D0 from the SSD130x controller but actually tries to drive this pin at the same time that the SSD130x controller is driving it. This might be bad in the long run.

My humble addition is to add a MUX that couples the SSD130x D0 pin to the U1253x D0 pin when WR# is high, and couples the D0' from the simple logic gate design to the SSD130x D0 pin when WR# is low.

Before ordering the PCBs I would appreciate proof reading, if anybody feels up to it. I'm attaching some screen dumps and photos. My solution requires cutting one PCB trace and soldering one wire.

Thank you in advance and best regards

Niclas

[Kimmeridgien]

Cut this trace...

[Kimmeridgien]

...and solder wire here.

[Kimmeridgien]

Sorry, could you be more specific?

[effpe]

Hi all,

My U1253B went dim after 6 years of very light use.
Just wanted to give you a heads up that this Taobao seller is selling a display for U1273A, U1273B, U1253B and U1253A which worked for me off the shelf. No soldering, cutting, etc. needed. Pretty pricy, but if you just want to get done with it quickly, I can recommend:

https://parcelup.com/shop/item.php?id=623769294078

My tips:

1.  Before putting the whole case together, the picture was mirrored. After all the screws were in, the issue resolved itself. So if you see a mirrored screen when testing without the case, don't give up.  I don't know why this happened, but didn't really want to spend much time on figuring it out.

2. The rotating knob's position is indicated on the PCB.

3. Make sure you don't snap your battery wires when putting the case together.  I managed to learn this the hard way. 

And of course, shame on Keysight/Agilent.

[tim_25]

Hi all,

I purchase 2 displays from parcelup for U1253A and U1253B I own but unfortunatly, the fixing screws don't match the original display and the screen is mirrored (displays received is not the same as in the picture...).
For the 2 displays, the cost was 124.85EUR+32.13eur shipping=156.98eur so I hope to find a way to make my DVM functionnal.
Two options:
1. add the pcb interface to unmirror the display and let the display unfixed with addition of kapton protection on the circuit where the spacers touches the PCB
2. unsolder the display from the PCB I received and solder it on original Agilent PCB as described in Markus Coneheads.de blog:
http://new.mash.webclient6.de/index.php/bauen/sonstiges/47-agilentu1252

The second option might be the best but I am not sure the display is fully compatible (number of pins and pitch seems to be the same) and not sure I can unglue the display easily from the PCB.
I will inform you which option I choose! Just a first feedback to inform you that parcelup products are not reliable! It worked for eeffpe but not for me 

Cheers

Happy new year!

[wraper]

Hi all,

I purchase 2 displays from parcelup for U1253A and U1253B I own but unfortunatly, the fixing screws don't match the original display and the screen is mirrored (displays received is not the same as in the picture...).
For the 2 displays, the cost was 124.85EUR+32.13eur shipping=156.98eur so I hope to find a way to make my DVM functionnal.
Two options:
1. add the pcb interface to unmirror the display and let the display unfixed with addition of kapton protection on the circuit where the spacers touches the PCB
2. unsolder the display from the PCB I received and solder it on original Agilent PCB as described in Markus Coneheads.de blog:
http://new.mash.webclient6.de/index.php/bauen/sonstiges/47-agilentu1252

The second option might be the best but I am not sure the display is fully compatible (number of pins and pitch seems to be the same) and not sure I can unglue the display easily from the PCB.
I will inform you which option I choose! Just a first feedback to inform you that parcelup products are not reliable! It worked for eeffpe but not for me 

Cheers

Happy new year!

Return that junk. For this price you could order a display with custom PCB fitting the multimeter (the better kind without any visual artifacts). Soldering it on original PCB will not help with mirroring issue.  Bare display with SSD1309 costs less than 15 EUR on Aliexpress and will give you the same mirrored image.

[Fungus]

My U1253B went dim after 6 years of very light use.

OLEDs degrade with time, not use. After 6 years it will lose brightness even if it was never used.

And of course, shame on Keysight/Agilent.

Why?

[tim_25]

Hi, thank you wraper for your feedback. I understand now that SSD1303 is attached to the display and not the PCB... so no chance for just soldering the mirrored display to the original Agilent PCB...
The response from parcelup regarding my issue is that they sent me the U1273A compatible display and that there is an option to choose between U1253 or U1273 when ordering! but there is none!...
So I might have received two displays for U1273A which pictures are below.
Two options now:
1. Try to use the displays I received and solder it on orignal Agilent PCB with additional PCB tricks to unmirror the display.
2. Find someone interested by U1273A displays at the cost mentionned earlier (about 80eur + shipping fee for one display) and then find some cheaper display to solder on orignal Agilent PCB with additional PCB tricks to unmirror the display...
For me both options are the same with a lot of efforts and money to solve this issue

[rtekal]

Hi all and thanks to everybody who have contributed to this work.

I am kindly asking for feedback on my adapter board for the SSD1305-based display.

I read the below excellent project description and decided to add a MUX to the simple logic gate design:
https://kitsune-denshi.net/projects:display-if

Assuming that Kitsune Denshi is right about the reason for the artifacts, it is easy to properly handle the case of reading from the SSD130x controller. He / she does that by not actually reading from the SSD130x but instead just returning 0x00 to the U1253x (which seems to work OK). The simple logic gate design doesn't read bit D0 from the SSD130x controller but actually tries to drive this pin at the same time that the SSD130x controller is driving it. This might be bad in the long run.

My humble addition is to add a MUX that couples the SSD130x D0 pin to the U1253x D0 pin when WR# is high, and couples the D0' from the simple logic gate design to the SSD130x D0 pin when WR# is low.

Before ordering the PCBs I would appreciate proof reading, if anybody feels up to it. I'm attaching some screen dumps and photos. My solution requires cutting one PCB trace and soldering one wire.

Thank you in advance and best regards

Niclas

Hi,
Thanks for the new adapter board design.
Could you please share the gerber plot files for the same.

Regards

[brainhouston]

Does anyone know how to tell the color of these displays apart without powering it on?
I've ordered 2 different colors of ssd1305 from aliexpress but they have no labels of any kind on the packages i got, nothing on sellers page and no response to questions.

[iblackford]

Hi all,

I've followed this thread quite a bit, and all the various solutions for replacement displays. I can't say i've read _every_ message, but I've ready many of them. Forgive me if my questions have already been answered.

I have a U1253A with a dead display. I ordered an SSD1309 display, and I had this PCB made:



I put it all together today, ohming out the various connections as I go. To my dismay, it doesn't work.

I noticed a couple of things:
1) The adapter board I had made, I just realized that it's for the U1253B...would this also work on the U1253A?
2) I may have gotten the knob on the case out of sync with the PCB assembly. I can manually move the PCB switch with an allen key, and I think I can see how it should be aligned. Can anyone comment? from the picture below, does the notch in the PCB switch show that it's in the off position?



Thanks, Ivan

[PushUp]

I also haven't read anything, just saw a video some days ago and did some links for the necessary parts, in case my Keysight U1273A needs an OLED replacement...


As far as this description is concerned - you may have to translate it - both A and B versions need the same OLED modul LC-OL12864-09-YO-AG.

https://lcdstore.de/epages/17406888.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/17406888/Products/LC-OL12864-09-YO-AG

This one, however, for the "Agilent U1253 A und B" is tutto completto and can be changed without soldering for around 72 Euro + shipping. I would buy it, as I live in Germany, but Canada is probably too complicated...


This guy, which is probably also an EEVBlog-Member, bought from the same source and changed his OLED for his Keysight U1273A; it is another board, but maybe you get a hint from his video, despite the foreign language:

ht*****tps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReUDgjQ5TA0


...but I don't wanna spoil your fun of doing it yourself, just wanna show you an alternative as testgear should be in perfect and reliable condition as soon as possible! 


Cheers! 

[brainhouston]

Hope this helps someone
Wanted to post my successful replacement for Apexi Power FC OLED commander

I decided to go with SST39 flash memory design from @decoder77 (thanks buddy)
More info - http://www.alexej-krom.de/replacing-the-oled-ssd1303-display-with-ssd1305/

One difference for Apexi is it already sends A1 command, so had to change it to A0 (i'm guessing due to screen orientation)
This is why all the conversion boards made for Agilent/coffee machines/audio players don't work for Apexi.
With flash memory its easy, just reprogram different bit.
Also, its much easier to cut the trace for D0 and solder the new output right to the display interface (see red circle in the pic), rather than to de-solder all 20pins between 2 boards as some others have done.

FYI, its been said few times already, OLED displays with SSD1305 controllers are still for sale on many Chinese websites (got one from AliExpress), these only have mirror issue. Displays with SSD1309 will also have offset which is harder to fix due to 2 step memory addressing and needs FPGA or CPLD circuit...

@Boosted_Eric, hope you already figured out your issue or maybe this will clarify it for you.

Big thank you to all the fine folks who figured this out and SHARED their designs:
@satanistik, @ultrasmurf, @gmarsh and probably more...

And big shame to ones like @johns who come here for help and use all the shared knowledge but don't share when they find the solution...
Instead just offer the service to fix it and keep it to themselves like its some big secret.
Trust me the ppl that have the skills for this can figure this out anyways and will do it themselves, you won't loose any business over this.
/rant

[johns]

brainhouston, you are very wrong. We haven't use any info from this forum.
What we used is the logic analyzer to solve the problem, same as satanic did. This is what he told me, use the logic analyzer and you will fix it.
It takes good few hours to fix one Apexi commander and it is not worth the money people are prepared to pay for it.

[johns]

I know how to check the color of the OLED display.
On the backside read second line and first letter will tell you a color:
Y - yellow
R - RED
B - Blue
W - White
and so on

[montecri]

Has anyone managed to solve the blue rubber flaking? I've tried silicone (spraying on a cotton ball and gently applying over the rubber) but that didn't work. It's still degrading.

Thanks!

[ptdamore]

I debated whether or not I should add to this thread given its age but it seems to have recent traffic so...

This post might be a bit long.  Even if nobody reads it, it was kind of therapeutic to write it.

Way back in this thread there was talk about replacing the OLED in this meter with an LCD.  I think the talk at the time was about replacing it with a fixed-segment display.  I didn't have one of those, but I still wondered what the U1253A would look like with a graphic LCD and sort of became obsessed with having one.  This is what I wound up with:



The display looks slightly washed out in that pic for some reason, the contrast is better in person.  This works because the memory organization and the relevant commands sent by the U1253 (the address-related commands) are basically 1:1 between OLED and LCD graphics modules.  I just suppress all the other commands and give the LCD the initialization commands it needs at boot time.  I also intercept the OLED brightness command and use it to set the duty on a PWM output, so I can use it as backlight brightness.  I don't have any way to set contrast.  I picked a middle-of-the-road value that works pretty well when the meter in its normal place on my bench, and hard-coded it in software.

Some might be wondering, the current drawn is as follows:

Condition: Vbatt = 8V

Backlight high: 32mA
Backlight medium: 25mA
Backlight low: 20mA

I have the meter configured to start at medium.  I don't remember what the original OLED drew, but nobody ever bought this meter for its battery life so  .

Aside from flipping the power lines to the LCD in my PCB and having to do some surgery to recover from it, I'm happy with this build.  I had fun doing it and I think the display I picked looks at home in the case.

Having said that I'm not sure I'd run out and tell anyone else to do this.  There were issues:

1. The display update rate of this meter is pretty fast.  The display has a hard time keeping up when the numbers jump around.  In practice I'm probably not using those numbers for anything when they are jumping around but it's not as crisp as the OLED was with the fast updates.  Once the reading settles, the numbers look fine.  The glass I used here is STN, I think maybe a FSTN display would have worked better, but I could not find one to meet my display area and overall size requirements.
2. These graphic LCDs are big.  I used this one: https://www.buydisplay.com/blue-2-6-inch-128x64-cog-lcd-module-display-with-touch-panel-serial-spi.  It was the sweet spot between display area and overall size.  I spent a lot of time looking at spec sheets to settle on this one.  It seems that graphic LCDs for a given display area run much larger overall than a similar OLED.  This module mostly covers the area of the original display board used in the U1253A.  More than that, these modules are much thicker mostly due to the backlight.  The one I used has a spec of max thickness of 5mm.  My actual display is about 4.8mm thick.  For the display are, this is about the thinnest I could find.  the OLED I think was less than 1/2 that thickness.  The physical reality of the display module had a ripple effect into everything.

You have about 11.2mm total height off the board for everything before you start having issues putting the case back together.  The full stack with the original standoffs and the original board lands you at about 8.25mm.  Add the LCD to that and you are over 13mm.  I ultimately had to gut all the old mounting, including the connector on the board and redo all of it to fit the new module into the envelope I had.  It's actually worse, because the screws that hold the board on are on the top of the board, and the display is so large it will sit on top of them.

Here is a side view of the final stack-up fully assembled:



From the U1253 board up:

1. .8mm board with the new interface stuff on it (the connector on the side is the ICSP connector.  I had these connectors laying around and I did not care that it had more pins than I needed.
2. 3d printed mounting plate.  This plate has standoffs integrated in it so that the top surface can be completely flat.  I just printed them so that I could press-fit some metal standoffs into it to accept the screws which come in from the bottom of the U1253A board.
3. The LCD itself

Additionally you might notice the ribbon cable from the LCD comes out the top, the original OLED was on the bottom.  The need to route this cable, combined with the fact that the old connector was too high off the board anyhow, meant I needed a new way to connect the display board to the main board.  Ultimately I used a flat-flex cable to do this.  I had to make an adapter board to convert the old footprint for the 2mm rectangular connector to a 20-pin FFC connector.

The little adapter board is also .8mm thick.  JLC does these for their standard prototype pricing and timelines which is pretty amazing.  This board was a total PITA to route, I spent more time routing this board than I did the main board.  Doing this allows me to get the connector out of the way, so the FPC connector on the LCD can wrap around.

I have a couple more pics, I will add them in a second post.

[ptdamore]

Continuing from my last post...

Here's a pic of that FFC adapter board:



Here's a view of the board stuck to the underside of the mounting plate (sorry again for crap quality):



The white FFC connector is for the display, the black one behind it accepts the cable that connects to the main board.  The main board cable actually does not go straight in, it flips around so that assembly is easier, and I did not need to worry about the orientation of the contacts on the cable or the connector.

The bodge wires are there to fix the fact that I got the power traces flipped for the LCD.  I definitely used up some luck on this one.  I managed to not destroy the display.

If anyone actually wants to do this, I'm happy to make the files available, just reply here.  I'd need to do some cleanup so I'll probably not do that unless someone is interested.

[wakko]

I've been looking at replaceing the display in my U1253B.  The oled displays are becoming harder to get hold of, so an LCD option would be nice to have.  Please could you make the files available?

[wakko]

I was looking at making this but it seems the display used is hard to source.  I've found this https://www.buydisplay.com/yellow-2-4-inch-graphic-oled-display-128x64-serial-spi-i2c-ssd1309  and wondered if it would work without changing anything.

[AVGresponding]

I've a new OLED display for my 1273A on the way from the German supplier mentioned by PushUp earlier on this page, lcdstore.de, they also supply screens for the 1253A. Naturally I will post an update, with pics, when it arrives.

[wakko]

How did you manage to order from them.  I emailed the company and they told me they can't ship to 'private persons in the uk'.

[AVGresponding]

How did you manage to order from them.  I emailed the company and they told me they can't ship to 'private persons in the uk'.

I luckily had a friend in Germany buy it for me and forward it.

It arrived yesterday, but naturally I was at work... I am about to set off to the local Royal Mail parcel office to pick it up (it's 2 minutes walk away and has an evening opening on Thursdays) so I will know in an hour or so whether the patient can be saved.

[AVGresponding]

Didn't have time to post an update yesterday, so many things went wrong...

Anyway, the screen works great:



Now I can see the readings, I found there's a fault on the front end somewhere, but that's for another thread!

[--Oz--]

I received a u1253B with a dead display, swapping with a known good display from a working meter proved the rest of the meter is working.

I found a replacement on Ali for $25 shipped, but before I buy it, I decided to attempt to see if anything else is wrong with the display board before ordering the replacement. Seems the voltage rails look the same as the good one. Any chance the $25 Ali display will work?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256804134410750.html?UTABTest=aliabtest300081_422161&_randl_currency=USD&_randl_shipto=US&src=google&src=google&albch=shopping&acnt=631-313-3945&slnk=&plac=&mtctp=&albbt=Google_7_shopping&albagn=888888&isSmbActive=false&isSmbAutoCall=false&needSmbHouyi=false&albcp=15229744697&albag=126912416582&trgt=1480551745650&crea=en1005004320725502&netw=u&device=c&albpg=1480551745650&albpd=en1005004320725502&gclid=Cj0KCQjwidSWBhDdARIsAIoTVb0nSu1JcnPtGWsWRL7F93obSO29M3JJQP12LwQKuUfiT2sREFQw6QQaAkI8EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&aff_fcid=796bce6756e74e588f463cf46278a237-1658200149919-00971-UneMJZVf&aff_fsk=UneMJZVf&aff_platform=aaf&sk=UneMJZVf&aff_trace_key=796bce6756e74e588f463cf46278a237-1658200149919-00971-UneMJZVf&terminal_id=440d772547c54425b020c6b5ffbd9879&OLP=1083300108_f_group0&o_s_id=1083300108&afSmartRedirect=y&gatewayAdapt=4itemAdapt

[Per Hansson]

The Signal Path did a video on the replacement, not sure this one you link on Aliexpress is "honest" as there is no picture shown with the meter running the replacement as far as I can see?
The one shown on The Signal Path is the expensive replacement with an FPGA that gets a "pixel perfect" display.
There is a cheaper version that uses basic logic gates, but this gets the display shifted by a pixel row.

[--Oz--]

Thanks for the reply. Watching that video and reading the comments, seems that solution is now hard to get the fpga, plus programming, plus cost plus assembly. I will report back when I (or "if" I get, lol) my Ali display.

[wraper]

I doubt that Aliexpress display is the real deal. Likely you will just receive a bare display with the same pinout but wrong controller, thus image mirroring issue. Here is a similar listing from the same seller for Nivona coffee maker which uses the same SSD1303 based display https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256804117138608.html and of course buyers report mirroring issue.

[--Oz--]

You are probably correct and they will refund me for their lies, haha, will report back when it gets here.

Here is their description:
"2.42 Inch OLED Display LCD Screen Highlight Device for Agilent U1253B U1253 U1253A Industrial Quality Wholesale"
If it does not work on my U1253B = money back.

I am old school, I still have my Fluke 77 DMM from 1984, ultra reliable, excellent battery life, now we have $500 meters that eat the battery alive and live for only a few years, sad, this alone would make never buy from that company again.

[--Oz--]

Well, it got to USA in 10 days from Ali, well packed, will try to get to installing it Monday.
Even if I have to use the flip logic board it will be worth it.

[wraper]

As I said it has the wrong controller - SSD1305 instead of required SSD1303 https://aliexpress.com/item/3256801202021227.html So you can spare the effort of soldering it uselessly.

[--Oz--]

I solder some of the most demanding prototype 200Gbaud data circuits at work, soldering this display on will take about 1 minute, then with a short 15 sec video I will get my money back, otherwise I dont get my $25 back, worth it for a minute of my time.

I am pretty sure you are correct, its the wrong display. Nowhere in my link does it say what model number this display has, but it says its compatible with my meter, so I should be covered for a refund.

[--Oz--]

@wraper, you were correct, haha. Refund in process. I do like the blue color over the yellow/green. Next to get/build the flip board. Anyone selling them? Or I will just order and build a couple, anyone else need one?

[--Oz--]

Weird, I have tried twice to post pictures of the pcb adapter I plan on using and the post does not show up,,,,,?

[Per Hansson]

Weird, I have tried twice to post pictures of the pcb adapter I plan on using and the post does not show up,,,,,?

Actually with this version of the display I think it is enough to flip it and it will be "pixel perfect" only the other display requires the pixel shift.
So you can use this really simple fix with an eeprom only:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/replacing-oled-screen-on-an-agilent-u1253a-multimeter/msg3999520/#msg3999520
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/replacing-oled-screen-on-an-agilent-u1253a-multimeter/msg3588163/#msg3588163
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/replacing-oled-screen-on-an-agilent-u1253a-multimeter/msg2438199/#msg2438199

[--Oz--]

Off Topic (but pertaining to this U1253B meter):
The 9v I use is 9v 600mAh (tested to 520mAh) or ~4.4Wh and does not last very long imo.

What are my options for longer life? (links)

I was thinking two 14500 li-ion protected cells would fit and they are 800~900mAH, ~7.1Wh.

Or ghetto it on the back with:
2s1p 18650 3500mAH cells on the back for 29Wh, or 6x my current battery,
2s2p 18650 3500mAH cells on the back for 58Wh, or 13x my current battery,
2s3p 18650 3500mAH cells on the back for 87Wh, or 20x my current battery.
TIA

PS: If I ever go this route, I know not to use the meter in high voltage applications, mostly I am under 50V.

[--Oz--]

Ordered boards from china and got them in 14 days. Will shoot for next week to assemble and test.

[--Oz--]

Success! Thanks to ALL that helped!

If anyone is interested in a assembled board (no display) and is located in CONUS, I am willing to sell a few to recoup my costs.
wforacer(at)rocketmail(dot)com
and please use A1253B in the email subject line, this will help me not miss the email.

Again, thanks to everyone for the awesome help here!

[--Oz--]

More pics of the finished project.

[vishaldotgupta]

please confirm the resolution of the oled.

oled presently available has slightly less horizontal resolution resulting in loss of two columns on either side.

in the DMM pic it seems the resolution parts is okay

[--Oz--]

please confirm the resolution of the oled.

oled presently available has slightly less horizontal resolution resulting in loss of two columns on either side.

in the DMM pic it seems the resolution parts is okay

With all the reading I have done on this subject months ago, seems the original display was not the standard 128 columns wide and was 132 wide.
Seems this display is OK in not having the right most column display on the far left column.
I will look for a meter with original still working display and compare, when I find one, I will report back.

[wraper]

please confirm the resolution of the oled.

oled presently available has slightly less horizontal resolution resulting in loss of two columns on either side.

in the DMM pic it seems the resolution parts is okay

With all the reading I have done on this subject months ago, seems the original display was not the standard 128 columns wide and was 132 wide.
Seems this display is OK in not having the right most column display on the far left column.
I will look for a meter with original still working display and compare, when I find one, I will report back.

It's a standard display and with same resolution. 132 columns are supported by SSD1303 controller, not actual display. IIRC you get a few columns wrapped around and bottom row shifted. Proper solutions were given in this thread which do not cause these artifacts.

[gamalot]

Thanks for all the very useful information, I have seen solutions for combinational logic, EPROM, FPGA and CPLD.

I'm trying to solve the problem with an STM32 MCU and everything seems to be working fine so far.

[moeyekung]

Hello.This can do on ssd1309?
Thank you.

I friend had problems with an Agilent U153A and asked me to find a way to fix it.
(Sorry Jonh for the delay...)

The original yellow OLED display was very very dim.

I followed the idea from Alexej Krom (with a twist) and worked well enough. Thanks Alexej.
http://www.alexej-krom.de/replacing-the-oled-ssd1303-display-with-ssd1305/

I found a pin compatible green display with SSD1305 controller, from ebay.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Green-2-4-inch-128x64-OLED-Display-Module-I2C-Serial-SPI-SSD1305-w-Tutorial-/291844721833?hash=item43f34d0ca9&tfrom=301226745140&tpos=unknow&ttype=price&talgo=origal

The unsoldering and soldering the new one was almost easy... Nothing broke. I had more trouble positioning the display to match the front window.

I tried first an old UV EPROM that I had in hand but it was too slow and could not follow up the MCU control signals.

I used a different FLASH memory at 5V, SST39SF020A-70-4C-NHE PLCC-32, from ebay.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/123259658853
It was not a big surprise, it arrived with some BIOS firmware as a bonus!

I programmed it with a mini programmer from ebay called TL866CS and the optional PLCC32 adapter.
Worked great.

I used the 5V level signals side to make the soldering easier. Thats the reason I used the 5V FLASH.
The FLASH datasheet says it has 10mA consumption. Will see how much faster it drains the battery.

The mirror image was fixed and only some artifacts in the lower side of the display are shown when the fast moving bar graph is displayed and only in some screens. The readings and the other graphics are not affected.
I don't see any vertical line offset like others are mentioning.

OLED and Memory total, about $20.00.

Here are some pics and the schematics.

[gamalot]

Try different splash screens and have so much fun. 

[exe]

Am I correct that the issue of mirrored screen could be easily fixed in firmware (possibly just in initalization code), it's just keysight is not interested in it?

[wraper]

Am I correct that the issue of mirrored screen could be easily fixed in firmware (possibly just in initalization code), it's just keysight is not interested in it?

Yes, it can be easily fixed in firmware. A few lines of could would do the job. U1253A was discontinued a long time ago, so don't expect any. Dunno about U1253B and U1273A made in recent years, they actually could use display with a different controller as SSD1303 seems to be either obsolete or very scarcely available.

[flyglas]

Ordered boards from china and got them in 14 days. Will shoot for next week to assemble and test.

I have also ordered some circuit boards. If someone comes from Germany, I can send him some. Just send me a PN.

[gamalot]

Hi everyone, I need some help from you guys.

I'm still working on my U1253 OLED replacement, the first version of the PCB has some minor flaws, but it seems like all the expected features have been implemented.

My goal is a "perfect" replacement that should be better than the original one. Not just display all information correctly, but it also has a customizable splash screen and lower power consumption.

Preliminary test results show that my design consumes about 7mA less current than the original (31mA vs 38mA, battery voltage 9V, brightness setting high, DCV 5V range, reading 0.0000).

I watched Shahriar's (The Signal Path @Hugoneus) video. His meter with the replacement display draws more than 40mA, but one test obviously isn't enough, I really want more.

I would be very grateful if you could measure the power consumption of your U1253 multimeter (either the original screen or any version of the replacements) under the same conditions and post your test results.

thank you very much!

[--Oz--]

@gamalot, you can double your battery run time by using a 650~750mAh li-ion 2S 9v battery.
And could do more capacity with pouch lii-on cells.

[gamalot]

@gamalot, you can double your battery run time by using a 650~750mAh li-ion 2S 9v battery.
And could do more capacity with pouch lii-on cells.

Yes, choosing a battery with a higher capacity is a solution, but the high power consumption design of the original display and some replacements is still unsatisfactory to me, and no matter what kind of battery being used, a display with low power consumption is always a better choice.

[--Oz--]

The larger capacity battery is the lowest hanging fruit. So the original display board had 12v, 9v and 3.3v. I think all of these could be looked at for improved efficiency. The 3.3v is a linear reg is a no brainier to switch to a skip mode buck regulator. Regarding the boost regulator(s), a larger lower esr inductor will help a little, playing with switching freq can also help. You might want to try lowering the 12v and 9v outputs to shave some mA, same with 3.3v. Maybe an option to dim the backlight even more for low light applications. Is there settings in the driver to reduce power, like lower hz update rate/etc?
Milling out the case for a larger li-ion battery would be many fold more run time than all these small incremental improvements, but some would look down on that. 🤣

[TheSteve]

Custom boot logo is pretty nice.

I admit in my mind a patch to the original firmware would be the best overall solution.

[--Oz--]

Yes of course, but what's the chance that is going to happen? About the same as your daughter cleaning her room.

[TheSteve]

Yes of course, but what's the chance that is going to happen? About the same as your daughter cleaning her room.

Well I certainly wasn't suggesting Keysight would do it. Firmware for many devices have been patched by creative owners. This seems pretty "do-able", just takes one inspired person(and sadly maybe a few bricked meters).

[--Oz--]

Its semi easy to copy hardware (relatively), the FW is Agilent's secrete sauce, and to debug FW that cant be read out of the mpu is pretty tough. I agree, sure would be the cleanest way.

[gamalot]

Hacking the firmware looks like a good idea, but when there is an MCU or FPGA on the replacement display, the customized splash screen is very simple, and even some tricks can be made.

One of the features in my current implementation is that it can show a different splash screen every time you power up or wake up the meter (sequentially or randomly).

[gamalot]

Aside from those icing on the cake features, I think the most important thing I discovered and solved was why the MCU reads from the OLED display's RAM.

I've noticed that some readings only happen when the battery's voltage drops below a certain threshold (on my U1253B it's around 8.3V), and if the read back data is not what it expects, it shuts down immediately.

I'm not sure if the same thing happens with the U1273A as I don't have one. If you happen to have one and replaced the display module with one which has an MCU or FPGA, you can verify if it works at low battery voltages (my implementation works down to 6.2V)

[AVGresponding]

Aside from those icing on the cake features, I think the most important thing I discovered and solved was why the MCU reads from the OLED display's RAM.

I've noticed that some readings only happen when the battery's voltage drops below a certain threshold (on my U1253B it's around 8.3V), and if the read back data is not what it expects, it shuts down immediately.

I'm not sure if the same thing happens with the U1273A as I don't have one. If you happen to have one and replaced the display module with one which has an MCU or FPGA, you can verify if it works at low battery voltages (my implementation works down to 6.2V)

I have such a 1273A. I shall investigate.



At 6.0V (this meter uses 4x AAA) the meter pulls 26mA, absolute madness... the first battery warning, an "x" in the battery icon, comes on at around 4.6V, and it's using 32mA. The "Change Battery" text comes on at 4.25V, and the meter shuts down after a few seconds. It will power back up by pressing a button, but shuts off again quite quickly. The current draw at 4.25V is 36mA.

[gamalot]

Aside from those icing on the cake features, I think the most important thing I discovered and solved was why the MCU reads from the OLED display's RAM.

I've noticed that some readings only happen when the battery's voltage drops below a certain threshold (on my U1253B it's around 8.3V), and if the read back data is not what it expects, it shuts down immediately.

I'm not sure if the same thing happens with the U1273A as I don't have one. If you happen to have one and replaced the display module with one which has an MCU or FPGA, you can verify if it works at low battery voltages (my implementation works down to 6.2V)

I have such a 1273A. I shall investigate.



At 6.0V (this meter uses 4x AAA) the meter pulls 26mA, absolute madness... the first battery warning, an "x" in the battery icon, comes on at around 4.6V, and it's using 32mA. The "Change Battery" text comes on at 4.25V, and the meter shuts down after a few seconds. It will power back up by pressing a button, but shuts off again quite quickly. The current draw at 4.25V is 36mA.

Thanks for your testing work. It looks like your replacement display works fine at low voltage, maybe it's because the U1273 doesn't really care about the data read back from display, or the guy who made the replacement took care of that in the FPGA.

I know that the U1273 is a newer design, using low power devices, and the lower current is to be expected. But considering that most of the power consumption is on the OLED, your test results really shocked me!

For comparison, I made separate power connections for my display module and it draws 20mA at 6V and 27mA at 4.25V.

---

Sorry I made a stupid mistake! The test results above were measured with the brightness set to low. I measured 33mA at 6V and 47mA at 4.25V with the brightness set to high.

If your results are also with the brightness set to high, then there is a big problem with my design. 

[AVGresponding]

Set your mind at ease; I have the display brightness set to low. At £70 + shipping, I want it to last as long as possible!

[gamalot]

Set your mind at ease; I have the display brightness set to low. At £70 + shipping, I want it to last as long as possible!

Thanks, your reply saved my day.

I've always wanted higher power conversion efficiencies in battery-operated devices, but the chip shortage is indeed causing a lot of trouble.

[--Oz--]

I will try and measure the current my meter drinks tomorrow and report back.
I would think adding three simple logic gate ic's would drink less than a mpu, but lots of variables

The stock nimh 9v energizer battery I got with my meter was 225mah. We know this 225mah is valid from energizer (they dont lie).
The li-ion 9v I use is rated at 600mah but tested to 520mah (its used and may have lost some capacity), but thats 2x the stock battery life.

With some good li-ion 14500 (AA size), they are 900mah (tested) and would give 4x the stock battery, that is low hanging fruit for little work.

If we could find some Li-ion pouch cells to fill the battery compartment (roughly 53mm wide X 17mm thick X 26mm high) more efficiently than round 14500 cells, should be at least 1200mah, or 5x the stock battery run time.
Maybe even use a wireless charger to charge the 2S Li-Ion pack.

[--Oz--]

I found a stock meter (no OLED display replacement).

This U1253B battery icon has these reaction.
Keysight Stock.                  Agilent Modded.
9.40v full battery bars,      8.1v full battery bars,
9.3 to 9.0v 3 bars,.             8.0 to 7.7v 3 bars,
8.9 to 8.3v 2 bars,.             7.6 to 7.2v 2 bars,
8.2 to 7.3v 1 bar,.               6.65v shows 1 battery bar then turn off.
7.26v "X" in battery,
Works ok down till 5.7v,
At 5.6v the numbers jump around,

Current consumption (mA):
Keysight Stock.             Agilent Modded
Vin     Lo  Med  Hi.      Lo. Med. Hi
10v.   23.  30.  34.      26.  32.  36
9.4v.  24.  31.  35.      27.  33.  37
8.4v.  25.  32.  37.      28.  35.  39
7.4v.  26.  34.  39       30.  37.  41
6.0v   29.  40.  44.      Turned off at 6.65v

Clearly the two meters have different firmware and possibly hardware changes.

For the fun of it I powered a populated adapter board with 3.3v, current was 0.81mA.

Edited: 12-13-2022

[--Oz--]

Will try and test my modded meter tomorrow.

The three IC's have very low idle current, total for the three is around 5uA.
All three work down to 3v, so lowering the 3.3v supply would work with the adapter board.

Two ideas.

1. Is there a "dark mode" for the OLED display? Could save some power there.

2. Is there a way to pwm the OLED display brightness (like you could could do with lcd)? Yea, long shot on that one, haha.

[--Oz--]

Edited my 2nd post above with the modded meter currents.

[tooki]

I found a stock meter (no OLED display replacement).

This U1253B battery icon has these reaction.
Keysight Stock.                  Agilent Modded.
9.40v full battery bars,      8.1v full battery bars,
9.3 to 9.0v 3 bars,.             8.0 to 7.7v 3 bars,
8.9 to 8.3v 2 bars,.             7.6 to 7.2v 2 bars,
8.2 to 7.3v 1 bar,.               6.65v shows 1 battery bar then turn off.
7.26v "X" in battery,
Works ok down till 5.7v,
At 5.6v the numbers jump around,
…

Clearly the two meters have different firmware and possibly hardware changes.

Maybe, but I kinda doubt it.

The big changes (which were still little) were between the U1253A to U1253B. AFAIK there are no differences between an Agilent ’53B and a Keysight ’53B, other than the housing colors and boot logo. (And included accessories.)

The ’53A is designed for 7.2V NiMH, while the ’53B is designed for both 7.2V and 8.4V NiMH batteries. The ’53A and Agilent-branded ’53B’s shipped with 7.2V batteries, while Keysight-branded ’53B’s shipped with 8.4V ones.

In the ’53B, you can select the battery type in the settings, so that the battery indicator will be more accurate.

It might be interesting to set your Keysight ’53B to 7.2V battery and then repeat your testing.

[gamalot]

Will try and test my modded meter tomorrow.

The three IC's have very low idle current, total for the three is around 5uA.
All three work down to 3v, so lowering the 3.3v supply would work with the adapter board.

Two ideas.

1. Is there a "dark mode" for the OLED display? Could save some power there.

2. Is there a way to pwm the OLED display brightness (like you could could do with lcd)? Yea, long shot on that one, haha.

When the brightness adjustment button is pressed, the processor will send a 'contrast' instruction to the OLED display. By intercepting this instruction and modifying its parameters, the brightness of the OLED can be controlled at the desired brightness.

I was thinking of using a simple DIY light meter to find out the relationship between current and brightness (most likely it is non-linear), so maybe there is a chance to find a balance point with slightly lower current but enough brightness.

[--Oz--]

OT: Battery options, revisited.

The stock battery was 225mAh (1.62wh), I have two of these used and they test to 160mAh, complete rubbish 

I mentioned "the 9v I use is 9v 600mAh (tested to 520mAh) or 4.4Wh and does not last very long imo."

I am thinking two Li-Ion 102550 pouch cells in series with 1400mAh capacity (10wh)  might just fit an unmodded case. But I did not find Li-Ion, it was LiPo which has lower capacity, so some possible capacity/runtime gain there.
This would be 6 times the runtime of a brand new 225mAh cell.


Could make a simple 3 conductor connector to balance charge the 2S pack.
Of course with a battery BMS, you could not use the standard charger. I think I would go with simple $1 USB 2S charge bms board, with would charge at 1A and charge in less than 2 hours.
Or maybe even a wireless charge system for convince like cell phones use.

Thoughts?

[Darkover]

This is what I am using now for 3-4years,

> Of course with a battery BMS, you could not use the standard charger.

Perhaps you should not, but you can. Unfortunalty you have to charge the battery 2-3times in a row,
because there is a time limit in the chargealgorithm of the 1253.

But my battery has some electronic to prevent from overcharge, just in case. 

[zoiasso]

Built PCB using satanistik design with abit change here and there. Using 1309 display, there is column offset. I have bunch of spare pcb if anyone need it, just throw some beer my way. Gerber file attached, so anyone can just send to manufacturer like seeedstudio or other cheap pcb builder. It's panelized so go grab your friend to share the mfg cost. You can attach the PCB directly to 1253B pcb.
U1 is 4071, im using Nexperia HEF4071BT, mouser pn 771-HEF4071BTD-T
U2 is 4078, im using TO CD4078BM, mouser pn 595-CD4078BM
U3 is 74AHC1G00W5-7, im using Diodes inc, mouser pn 621-74AHC1G00W5-7
Decoupling/bypass capacitor use 0805 smd cap. I'm using 100nF 16v just because it wander near my soldering station.... 
Aligning the PCB to go to the display daughterboard is trivial, I forgot to print alignment mark on the PCB, just scrape off a bit on the edge of the PCB to mark the edge location of pad 1 and pad 31, align it on the daughterboard and solder it like you would soldering any smd component.

File for the PCB is uploaded to Seeedstudio fusion galery as well, not making any money out of this link, it just make it easier for any of you that need the PCB in the future.

does this work with ssd1305z or ssd1306 ?

[onesystem]

This is in regards to U1273AX.
Obviously same screen problem.
On Keysight website there are two branches of firmware. Latest versions is 3.03 and 4.02
I compared the two differences, and major difference is in a file called "u1273ax_v303.ag" vs "u1273ax_v402.ag"
I am not a programmer so I do not know the .ag file extension. Surface search states that .ag file is a "applix graphic" file extension, which may or may not be this particular file. If anyone knows, please fill in the missing info.
Here is why I am posting this here. Since it is a definite that SSD1303 has been discontinued, it follows that current replacements by Keysight would be SSD1306 or SSD1309, which means automatically that firmware would be adjusted. So I figure that is why there are two branches of firmware - due to display differences... Let me know if my reasoning makes sense.
Maybe one of you does have firmware version 4.02 on your meter and can confirm if your OLED has a different driver chip on it - SSD1306 or SSD1309. Keysight used SOLOMON Systech company for their 1303 OLEDs.

Maybe problem these days is quite simple - buy the same screen that Keysight currently swapping their meters with, update with 4.02 firmware and there you go. I just got quoted for 402USD to swap my dim screen to a new one...

Can anyone confirm or deny my reasoning? I find it quite improbable that Keysight is still swapping their screens with SSD1303 drivers due to it's discontinued state.

[onesystem]

Here are both versions of U1273AX firmware for investigation:

V3:
https://drive.proton.me/urls/N55QYAYX80#j24y3g6IIvZT

V4:
https://drive.proton.me/urls/5J0FE0ZPMC#invyx6Y26hik

[onesystem]

Me again.

Main chip on meter is RENESAS D78F0547.
Here are links to programming manual:
https://drive.proton.me/urls/G0F5REFDBC#tp38ti26zHNf

and the datasheet:
https://drive.proton.me/urls/SF51ZB1RF4#R0M7AdtgC0SV

Is there a way to decompile the firmware update using the programming manual data? Or is it a 100% lost cause?

[onesystem]

Agilent U1273AX / Keysight U1273AX

Original Screen is SSD1303 driver, SOLOMON SYSTECH

Digital Multimeter microprocessor is D78F0547, datasheet and programming docs are in earlier post.

Keysight has firmware updates, links to them added in earlier post.
I erroneously thought firmware version 3 and version 4 are due to different screens. That was an unreasonable assumption. I do not know the difference but I can't verify if it is due to a different screen SSD version. In fact I have not seen on the net anyone claiming that their meter is with anything newer then 1303 from the factory.

My focus on now is how to disassemble the firmware, amend it's code to match a newer OLED driver, compile it back and push it over to the multimeter.

Searching the net I found a guy who wrote a disassembler for this type of chip. Here is the GitHub page:

https://github.com/mnaberez/k0dasm

His code is specific to a different chip though, so I had to update two of his files, command.py and symbols.py, with hardware vectors and special function registers for D78F0547.

Here are the links to these two updated files:

command.py - https://drive.proton.me/urls/SERRTAHHZM#XDrd7wwvzOkc

symbols.py - https://drive.proton.me/urls/NXZ45SNNMW#aJBO1dpW3PZv

Inside firmware you will find 18 files called Binary.NewBinary1 through Binary.NewBinary18. Those are the firmware for our chip (at least this is what I can see so far, please correct me if I am wrong).

Running each of these files through k0dasm, we get output which is to be processed through ASxxxx 5.50 Cross Assembler (https://shop-pdp.net/ashtml/asxget.php). Obviously before that it would have to be inspected and edited to amend the communication with OLED screen driver.

In terms of loading our edited firmware onto multimeter, Keysight allows to roll back the update to a previous version which in turn will allow to update it back to current version. Just swapping the Binary.NewBinary1 through Binary.NewBinary18 inside the update file with our amended ones then will allow to upload the firmware onto multimeter.

Where I have a steep learning curve ahead is to understand the output code from k0dasm. It is assembly and I do not know it. Maybe someone here can help, or maybe all of this is somehow a dead ending without me realizing it - let me know!

I hope to learn a lot as a result of this project. And obviously simplify replacement of the OLED screen.

[onesystem]

Cool leow4738! I am glad there is a spot where you can buy the SSD1303T10 OLED screens!

Except they charge an arm and a leg for it....

There is a firmware patch for U1273AX that anyone here can do to get the meter to work with OLED screen with driver SSD1309 which you can buy for 5th of the price - around $10 US dollars. And this patch assures that you could replace a fresh OLED screen on that meter any time now!
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/agilent-u1273ax-dead-display/msg5282710/#msg5282710


I do not know if the firmware is the similar and if the main chip on U1253A is the same as on U1273AX. Maybe someone is interested to take a look and see if similar patch can be done for it too.

[DavidAlfa]

Please anyone give the modded firmwares a try!
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/microcontrollers/8-bit-78k0-d78f0547-help-with-firmware-modification/msg5144169/#msg5144169

[msquared]

The firmware upgrade at the link above works. 

I changed the SSD1303 display in my U1253A with a SSD1309 and upgraded the firmware with from the link above.

With just a few minutes of work and $10 for the display my meter is working again!

I'd suggest watching Stuart Rogers video for a few tips on successfully getting the old display removed from the PCB.


I've included a couple of pics of before the firmware upgrade and after.