I have to repair a Grade Select board from a fuel dispenser unit, and it has a proprietary chip in it which I can't get replacements of for obvious reasons. I can however find similar chips which have the same number of pins, form factor, and are also LCD drivers. What are the chances that these drivers will be interchangeable with the ones I'm looking to replace? Basically I'm asking if all or most LCD drivers will use the same or very close pinouts and internal circuitry, or if they don't. What is the potential danger in trying a chip which may not work?
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Boswell, post: 416192, member: 29034 wrote: If you are sure the
Boswell, post: 416192, member: 29034 wrote: If you are sure the original is a proprietary chip, it's not worth trying standard ones as direct replacements. If the manufacturers could have used a standard chip they would have done so and saved the huge cost of designing and commissioning their own device.
I am not exactly sure that it is a proprietary chip, just that it has the company name on the front and you can't find any chip that matches the codes on it.
Boswell, post: 416192, member: 29034 wrote: However, the saving factor could be that they have taken a standard chip, removed the markings on it and stamped their own brand marks to make it look proprietary.
This is what I am hoping. I know this goes on a lot in the audio scene, but I'm new to the petroleum industry, so I just don't know. I am hoping this chip is some form of a "4558" industry standard chip, and that like you said, the company has a contract to run their markings on it to put in their equipment to slow any reverse-engineering attempts.
Boswell, post: 416192, member: 29034 wrote: Do you have schematics of the dispenser unit?
Unfortunately not. Reasonably speaking, my job is to reverse-engineer (repair) these units to save money for the small guy, and the "big guy" doesn't normally take well to that kind of thing, so they have refused to provide schematics for their equipment because they want to preserve their profit margin. The best I was able to find was a field tech's handbook "this plugs into this, and does this" which doesn't really offer us very much as engineers.
If you are sure the original is a proprietary chip, it's not wor
If you are sure the original is a proprietary chip, it's not worth trying standard ones as direct replacements. If the manufacturers could have used a standard chip they would have done so and saved the huge cost of designing and commissioning their own device.
However, the saving factor could be that they have taken a standard chip, removed the markings on it and stamped their own brand marks to make it look proprietary.
Do you have schematics of the dispenser unit?