Identifying an old led sign

Thread Starter

hmmmmm

Joined Feb 19, 2017
3
Ive got an old led screen / sign that i'd like to get working. Hopefully someone can put me in the right direction. It seems to be in good shape and is properly build so i'd hate for it to end up in the garbage. Got it for a couple bucks from a guy who got it from a guy.. There is no sticker or plate with a manufacturer name, so i have no idea how to run this thing. Here are a couple of shots from the unit:





Here's what i found out sofar:

-It has 32x252 red leds, divided over 6 boards, 1 controller board, powered by 2 20A 5v psu's.



One of the 6 led driver boards:



-When i power it up, its showing: multimedia led 2005. Now there is a company called multimedialed.com that sells displays, but they dont have any info on old signs on their website. They do have a pdf file on their 'Multimedia 2MPRO' signage software (http://www.multimedialed.com/radiate/radiateUploadFiles/2MPro_User_Man.pdf). On page 23/24 it mentions the communication options, but it says they only use 232/485 or modem, not ethernet.



-There is an rj11 connector on the back for communication. And a dipswitch on the pcb to switch between RS232/485/Ethernet. I would prefer RS232, i can convert it using a MOXA Nport later if need be. No problem setting it to 232 but there is a 9 wire cable going from the pcb to the rj11 connector. Any way i can find out what the RX and TX wires are? (and i still need some software to run it to even know if the connection is working i guess..)





-When i take a closer look at the controller pcb it has a number on it, but google cant find any info on it. HXITC054.PCB. I tried searching for the names of the bigger components but they arent specific to this display.



There is also a little logo on it, looks like a capitol G to me, maybe someone will recognize it?



Hopefully someone has a helpful tip, thanks in advance! (Apologies if i spelled something wrong/weird, this isnt my native language.)
 

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
It has a March 2005 date on the pcb so it should be smart enough to serve internet pages for configuration - much like printers and routers if you connect to them.

- log into your router to see which devices are on your network
- Plug the sign into your wired Ethernet network, check to see which new address was issued by your router.
- open your browser and type that IP address into the address bar. 192.168.1.23 (or something similar - usually)

A MediaLED page should appear and you should be able to configure it.
 

mcgyvr

Joined Oct 15, 2009
5,394
Don't assume the RJ11 is ethernet (Id expect RJ45 for ethernet).. It could be for numerous other functions (companies internal programming, programming pendant, test setup, etc..)
Looks to me like J12 on the board is where an ethernet connector would go if it was setup for that.. I suspect its not..
I don't believe that unit will work with anything but 232/485 when the jumper switches are set to the correct configuration as per the silkscreen right under it..

And the "G" is probably the PCB board house logo along with their approval file number and date code or similar..
 

Thread Starter

hmmmmm

Joined Feb 19, 2017
3
Anyway to figure out which pin of the 6 wire rj11 does what on the 232 connection? The options are plenty so just guessing can take days :)

I did just get an email back from the multimedia company i refered to:

''That doesn’t look like one of our products. It looks more like a BRG precision product. The software for their signs are Multimedia LED 2005 2006 or 2007. The web link is below. We don’t use ALTREA chips.''

So i guess im going to bother another company now..
 

AnalogKid

Joined Aug 1, 2013
10,987
The wires from the RJ11 go somewhere. Trace them back to a board, and hopefully somewhere near where they enter the board there will be a MAX232 or some other RS-232 interface chip. If the interface is switchable to 485, there are single-chip 232/485 interface chips. If changing between the two standards is a dipswitch or jumper, the driver will be near that. The chip pinout should let you ohm out connections to the RJ11.

Alternative - power up the system and measure the voltage on each RJ11 pin with respect to a known system GND.
 

omarwagdi

Joined May 15, 2020
2
Even I Got an old LED sign that is already pre-programmed. And think I should personalize the sign using an Arduino. These are all reasonably easily programmed but very poorly documented. The board with the battery on it is probably the controller, the battery holds time for a clock, there’s likely a USB plug on that board which will take programming from a USB stick programmed with PC software. The display is one or two colors (red/green or red only) it’s probably an LED display called HUB08 or HUB12. If it’s a full RGB display then I can make sure it is a HUB75 display. I’ve done some hobbyist stuff with these kinds of led signage display, feel free to drop me a line and I’ll dig through my notes.
 

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