HACK O'DA MONTH-ADD DISPLAY TO YOUR SINGLE IMPRES CHARGER!

Post by Pj » Wed Aug 16, 2006 9:39 pm

I think XMO might have some business coming to him

DES-AJ · Post by **DES-AJ** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 10:09 pm

Very IMPRESsive!

Post by **xmo** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 8:33 am

Just in case anyone is curious about what the display installation looks like from the inside

Notice the extensive need for a Dremel tool to flatten the inside top and to undercut an opening in the cross-web structure- plus the shortening of the ballast weight:

Post by **akardam** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 6:51 pm

Here's how you do it on a WPLN4182_ Pro series single unit or WPLN4208_ Jedi/XTS mobile Impres charger:

Impres Single Unit Charger Display Hack - 4 Pin RJ11 Variant

radioinstl · Post by **radioinstl** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 8:25 pm

1. anyone figure if the display data can be taken off the rear connector on the 6 unit charger yet? or have software to use that data for record keeping or display?

2. anyone try putting display on one of the drop in vehicle impress chargers? would love to see a vehicle one done with the quality of some of the ones in this thread

Post by **akardam** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:02 pm

Updated the document to show the mobile charger, which works fine.

Don't know why I didn't consider the manual before. Page 5 of the WPLN4208_ Vehicular Charger User Guide (6881098C11-A) clearly shows the 4-pin as "RJ11 - Future Use (Display Module)".

4n6inv · Post by **4n6inv** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:47 pm

I hate to ruin the fun, but; did Motorola ever release a single unit Impres with display for those of us with "bear paws"; who couldn't do this mod, if their life depended on it?

Post by **akardam** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 8:56 am

I imagine if anything, it will have a 4 pin jack on the back, like the newer chargers I mention above, and the display will be an external module of some sort.

Post by **escomm** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 10:27 am

4n6inv wrote:I hate to ruin the fun, but; did Motorola ever release a single unit Impres with display for those of us with "bear paws"; who couldn't do this mod, if their life depended on it?

There was talk of one being released back in 3rd Quarter '06, but as of yet nothing has been officially announced or released

dick33 · Post by **dick33** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:17 pm

I have a question for those of you that have upgraded chager firmware.(flashed) I see that you can download the software from M but is the flash cable special or can it be made? Looking to do my own chargers and try to save a little $$ Thanks.

Bruce1807 · Post by **Bruce1807** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:11 pm

RLN5671A IMPRES Field programmer 175.00
No it a freestanding programmer
You use the computer just to load to the programmer.

So the answer is no.

mr.syntrx · Post by **mr.syntrx** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:51 pm

Q101ATFD wrote:If the data was ASCII, my Parallax LCD would have worked

Not necessarily. If the bit rate, polarity or something like that was not supported by that LCD, you wouldn't get anything.

I suspect Motorola's LCDs contain a precanned set of messages, and the charger has a corresponding list of opcodes for those messages.

Is the IMPRES LCD I2C, or something similar?

dick33 · Post by **dick33** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 6:18 pm

Thanks for the reply. Is the kit good for multiple upgrades or is it one upgrade per kit? Thanks again.

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 3:33 am

Multiple upgrades. There's no limitation on impres firmware... grab the latest from Moto Online, dump it into the flash goodie, and away you go. You can flash 1 or 100.

4n6inv · Post by **4n6inv** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:24 pm

I'm going to give this a try. Could someone tell me where I need to solder the three leads to one the charger board? Bat Dude says to solder where indicated, but I have no indications on my charger board. Someone share a clue with me.

Thanks,

Jim

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 7:55 pm

Your board should simply have solder pads. The dots that batdude shows indicate which color wires to solder to each pad.

4n6inv · Post by **4n6inv** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 10:43 pm

You're obviously dealing with someone with a diminished mental capacity, because I only see the B+, TH, the six SMD's with three solder pads in between, and the three solder pads for the AB switch. For some reason, I don't see where there is any designation for a particular color wire. I've looked at my charger board, and it appears to be identical. My LCD module has the red, black, and white wires, but nothing printed on it to indicate any type of similarity with the charger board. If there is something I'm missing; I must be blind - or my browser isn't displaying a color code.

Your thoughts?

Thanks,

Jim

4n6inv · Post by **4n6inv** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 10:50 pm

OK; I just answered my own question...

My browser was only displaying HALF of the photo! I downloaded the photo and opened it, and lo and behold; there's the dots! That's a mellon scratcher... At least I figured it out.

Thanks for all of the help. No wonder you thought I am an idiot!

Thanks again!

Jim

4n6inv · Post by **4n6inv** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:35 am

OK! I went with the XMO design, and it looks and works great! Pimpin'!

Thanks,

Jim

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:26 am

4n6inv wrote:My browser was only displaying HALF of the photo! I downloaded the photo and opened it, and lo and behold; there's the dots! That's a mellon scratcher... At least I figured it out.

As your penance, you are to build one XMO-class design and fedex it to me.

I'd love to build one, just haven't had the time.

Where abouts in West TX are you?

4n6inv · Post by **4n6inv** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:46 am

It's not too bad of a job, actually. It took a couple of hours - mostly with a Demel Tool to get all of the plastic out of the way, and a hack saw to trim up the ballast weight. If one were to make a career out of it; I'm sure you could get pretty quick at it. I used a caliper to measure the opening so I didn't make it too big.

I'm in Sweetwater, TX - about 50 miles West of Abilene.

Thanks again!

Jim

Post by **akardam** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 11:52 am

Bruce1807 wrote:Nice job, You will be able to buy the real deal Q3/06 when Mot releases it.

Well well... lookie what Mother M send us to play around with:

(I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the photos, the regular digicam is AWOL and the camera phone sucks ballocks)

Works with any of the impres chargers with the 4pin RJ jack on the back (we've tested it with the Waris and Mobile XTS/Jedi impres chargers). This sample came with a 4 pin curly cord to connect the charger with the display module, as well as some double stick to stick it somewhere.

The display board itself is identical to the regular impres displays, same part number and firmware load. It's anyone's guess at this point if they ever intend to introduce single units with the displays built in. Based on this I'm guessing it's somewhat unlikely, they'll just have you hook up an external module. This thing looks very usefull for the mobile chargers, can stickum the display module to the dash and run a cord back to wherever the charger is.

4n6inv · Post by **4n6inv** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 2:01 pm

Well, just damn. Too bad they haven't made one built into the single charger. Any idea what they are going to charge (no pun intended) for this unit? Curious...

I'm happy with mine after the XMO mod. It would be nice to have the display a bit more visible, however.

Post by **escomm** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 8:03 pm

I would really love to hear feedback from any and all members on whether they think a product like this would be positive (or negative... It's OK to be honest!). Since it's a pre-production item and there is no guarantee of manufacture, I'd like to know if it's something you'd buy if it were available.

In the interest of full disclosure, I've been tasked by the /\/\ accessory group to solicit feedback on this item. I will not be sharing names or sources (unless asked, and dropping your name would be helpful <g>), merely that you're an end-user of a Motorola product.

Tom in D.C. · Post by **Tom in D.C.** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 4:24 am

Jeff,

If you're using an Impres battery on an XTS3K radio the
Impres charger readout is almost mandatory.

Conundrum · Post by **Conundrum** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 5:25 am

The whole idea of a single unit impress charger is nice, but whats the point when you can't make use of a lot of features due to the fact you have no screen... why buy a one unit impress charger with no screen, when you can get gang chargers that will take screens for only a couple hundred more.

If the screen was available I know I would buy one as long as the price was not outrageous.

Post by **akardam** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:09 am

Conundrum wrote:The whole idea of a single unit impress charger is nice, but whats the point when you can't make use of a lot of features due to the fact you have no screen... why buy a one unit impress charger with no screen, when you can get gang chargers that will take screens for only a couple hundred more.

If the screen was available I know I would buy one as long as the price was not outrageous.

As with all things there's pro's and con's to both situations.

First off, list on a single unit impres charger is $165, and list on a 6 unit rack charger is a whopping $788. That's more'n a couple hundred difference there. On the used market, the prices are about $90 and $300, respectively, but the rack chargers are few and far between. For people with only a few batteries and radios, the gang charger really doesn't make too much sense vice a single unit charger.

A nice plus I see with the external module is it would allow you to move it between several chargers if need be.

4n6inv · Post by **4n6inv** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:16 am

I can see end users buying the display add-on IF the cost was very low (ie: Under $20.00). I've shown my mod to several of my customes, and the first question is: "Why didn't Motorola do that?" I agree with Conundrum, and my customers. Everyone that I've spoken to are not too happy with the cost of the single unit IMPRES charger to begin with, given the fact that it has no display. Most of my customers are small town public safety agencies, that use single chargers, at the officer's homes, rather than rack chargers. They like the idea, they want the feature, but they sure aren't happy with paying more for something that should have been part of the IMPRES system to begin with. I agree with them. Plus; it would be a hassel to round up 20+ chargers from all of the officers /firefighters /EMS personnel's homes and do the mod. And; if it's a stick on display that doesn't conform with the overall design of the orginal charger; they'd be even less happy.

My suggestion would be for Motorola to redesign the overall shape of the charger to incorporate a display on the front - either as an internal add on, or as it comes from the factory. Price the chargers differently, but allow for the retrofit at a later date. The IMPRES charger is way over priced for not having a display. Police and firefighters have enough to remember without having to know what the series of flashes and combination of colors mean.

I think the IMPRES system is a great idea, but a poor egonomic design.

Jim Dempsey
North Metro Communications
Motorola NSO
Sweetwater, TX

Conundrum · Post by **Conundrum** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:24 am

4n6inv wrote:I can see end users buying the display add-on IF the cost was very low (ie: Under $20.00).

I can guarantee that the price will probably be around the same price as actual charger, the list for the display modules alone is somewhere around $120, plus add on the R&D time plus the extra components, I can see it going for around $160... Which on one hand isn't that much if you're going to use it, but it is a lot for a simple display... hell you can get a 15in computer LCD display for that much.

4n6inv · Post by **4n6inv** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:58 am

Conundrum; I agree with you totally. The costs are nuts. Motorola needs to stongly consider incorporating these features. From a manufacturing standpoint; none of these are expensive items. I can see a customer paying $160.00 to $180 for a charger with a display, but not without. This wouldn't put Motorola in the hole. They'd still be making money.

I am, and always have been a huge Motorola fan. They are the gold standard, without a doubt. But; just like IBM, back in the 80's; and Apple Computers, today; they are going to price themselves out of the market. Thier opinion of themselves is way over-inflated. I am losing business to ICOM, and Vertex because of their prices, and overall attitude towards the customer. Customers are sold a radio with promises of particular features, and when it doesn't work as promised, Motorola wants to stick it to the end-user for a flash upgrade. They have been losing their market share in TX, and are now beginning to bleed out as agencies begin to hop on board the P-25 train by buying ICOM and other type radios to comply with the new statewide standard. There are a lot of small agencies out here that love Motorola, but just don' have the money to buy it any more.

Post by **escomm** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:18 am

Guys-- thanks for the feedback and please keep it coming. I want to hear the real world experiences and opinions and if it's not all peachy then so be it.

I do have a couple of comments, perhaps clarifications, that might change the perspective a bit.

Currently, the displays would plug and play only with the Professional series (Waris) chargers and the Mobile Unit (WPLN4208). I agree that it seems a bit silly that they don't work with the bread and butter XTS-series chargers. For this there are two reasons I can think of (pure speculation here):

1) Motorola has already has great traction with Impres in the expert tier.
2) No plug-in jack on the charger = retooling of the line.

I do agree wholeheartedly that the expert tier needs single unit display chargers, and I will reiterate to my contact that serious consideration should be given to spreading this to the expert tier charger.

As for the cost of the Impres system, keep in mind that the Waris series chargers list for $62.50 and the legacy chargers list for $56.75. So for the lower tier it's a matter of a less-than-10% difference in cost.

As for the expert tier radios, keep in mind that these radios were $3000 brand new. I'd say this is the bigges reason for the disconnect in pricing between the tiers. Also, the XTS series charger has the added benefits of backwards compatibility with the Saber series and the Jedi series. The legacy charger for the XTS series runs $100 list, so there definitely is a bigger bump in pricing moving to Impres when you're up in the expert tier.

I agree that it would be preferable to have the display built into the charger and have it come as one slick package. I don't know the likelihood of that happening, but it sure would be nice. That was definitely already expressed to /\/\ and I will reiterate it as well when all is said and done.

That said, keep the comments coming, you guys really do have a chance in some small way to influence the production here.'

Ps. Conundrum, FWIW, the list pricing on the single unit displays (as used by batdude, XMO, et all) is $95. Using this as a yardstick I'm guessing that the cost on the upgrade unit will be about $100, but that's pure speculation as well and it could be vastly different.

Conundrum · Post by **Conundrum** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:34 am

escomm wrote:Ps. Conundrum, FWIW, the list pricing on the single unit displays (as used by batdude, XMO, et all) is $95. Using this as a yardstick I'm guessing that the cost on the upgrade unit will be about $100, but that's pure speculation as well and it could be vastly different.

Damn I hate MOL.... its showing RLN5382 as $120 for me...

Post by **escomm** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:29 am

Oh you're Canadian, that's probably why. What's the price after exchange, if you know?

Conundrum · Post by **Conundrum** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:51 am

escomm wrote:Oh you're Canadian, that's probably why. What's the price after exchange, if you know?

120CDN = 113USD
95USD = 101CDN

Post by **escomm** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:41 pm

Ouch!

radioinstl · Post by **radioinstl** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 2:38 pm

In my opinion the display is nice for a single user, but for a system manager, it is nothing but a TOY.
It will do nothing to help me with 3000+ officers with take home radios and over 10,000 batteries in service
How is that little display (or for that matter a rack with 6 displays) going to help me? Am I going to stand in the radio room 24 hours a day at each station and monitor the radios as they go in and out?

What should be a much higher priority is USEFUL IMPRESS MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE? Not the software for a single charger like was displayed at APCO. I need to be able to connect all my rack chargers across the city (via the 15 pin on the back to a network plug) to a central computer.

That way I see all that is happening with all batteries. For example, in the radio room where there is 20+ rack chargers in a station, they would all be linked to a central computer running the management software. I can place a flat screen monitor on the wall in the radio room. If a bad battery comes in, or one I want pulled, it could come up on the screen "RACK # 6, SLOT # 5 --- PLACE BATTERY OUT OF SERVICE" That way it could be picked up by a tech. What good does a impress rack with displays do me when I have 1/3 of the officers coming in and using it on the overnight shift? There is no way to realistically monitor the chargers in 10+ different stations and use IMPRESS the way it was designed.

ESCOMM - pm ME IF YOU WANT TO TALK MORE ABOUT THIS

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 3:18 pm

tvsjr wrote:Radioinstl- first, the plug on the back has individual data from each bay. A gang charger is nothing more than 6 individual chargers, minus the AC transformers, in a big plastic case. There's no way to directly interface one of those chargers to Ethernet (which would've been smart... especially since Ethernet is becoming ubiqitous).

That's pretty easy and cheap to do actually with external hardware, using commodity Ethernet equipped single board computers powered by Atmel AVR and other microcontrollers.

I have just obtained a single unit IMPRES charger. I plan to at least take a look at decoding what comes out the back of it at some stage in the future.

Bruce1807 · Post by **Bruce1807** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 8:02 am

What should be a much higher priority is USEFUL IMPRESS MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE? Not the software for a single charger like was displayed at APCO. I need to be able to connect all my rack chargers across the city (via the 15 pin on the back to a network plug) to a central computer

Soon come. It was demoed at APCO at the Motorola booth.
They only had a single unit but were planning a six way version.
Very impres

ive

wkr518 · Post by **wkr518** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:33 pm

found this single impres with external display.

any idea when it will be available?

Post by **akardam** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:42 pm

wkr518 wrote:found this single impres with external display.

any idea when it will be available?

See my post above with pictures.

Still in engineering at Mother M I'm told. They've yet to set a release date.

Hightower · Post by **Hightower** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:57 pm

Waiting my displays to arrive.....

Anyone that has a display, do you see a decent way of adding a backlight (LEDS) so the display can be seen in the dark?

Tom in D.C. · Post by **Tom in D.C.** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 1:16 pm

Here are some additional installation notes for anyone
contemplating the addition of the LCD readout to the
single-gang Impres charger.

1. The RS box that worked for me is their 270-283A. It comes
with an internal copper-sided perf board that eventually I'll
set up to transition from the board wiring to a jacketed
three-conductor cable to run to the charger. Right now
it's not installed and I'm using only the wiring that comes
with the display. Price of the box is $3.99.

2. The wiring connections inside the charger are a b**ch,
but with a smalliron and patience it can be done.
The tinned leads needto be about a 16th of an inch or less;
longer will possibly spill over to an adjacent pad and give you all kinds of problems.

3. Orientation of the LCD inside the RS box doesn't matter
since the display is electronically invertible. You will have
to clip one of the plastic mounting brackets on the display
board to make the board clear the internal mounting posts.
Cut the wiring exit hole where it suits you best, depending
on where you're going to stick the box on the charger (IF
you're going to stick the box on the charger, that is).

I used a pick and pluck foam block to hold the display in
place. Seems to work fine and there's no glue to mess with,
plus the thing comes apart in a few seconds if necessary
(such as to complete the perf board work later that I plan
to do).

4. Since my Dremel tool (that was actually a Casco) broke
many years ago I did the cutting job manually, using a 1/8
inch drill, diagonal cutters, and a medium flat file. It took me
about an hour to drill, file, file some more, then file some more,
but eventually I got an almost perfect opening cut. As with
the soldering, patience is the watchword.

I also plan to add one or two white LEDs to illuminate the
display, using power from the existing wiring, at a later date.
It really needs lighting.

The thing worked the first time I turned it on. Gloriosky!

com501 · Post by **com501** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 4:59 pm

I am sitting here looking at the half dozen Impres chargers we bought to charge new batteries for resale as they come in, and also to test customer radio batteries when radios come in for service.

I am also looking at the pile of displays and the Impress field programmer I ordered along with them.

Would Itrade all these for a plug and play display? You bet. I can see an immediate need in my service shop for these 6 right now, and an easy sell to almost every public safety customer in our area. Most only want one or two, so they can save the time of driving the 100-300 miles from their jusridiction to our shop, or shipping their suspect batteries. In our area, our field tech may only be in an area one day every two weeks, due to distances.

And its cheaper than a new battery maintenance charger....

com501 · Post by **com501** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 12:39 pm

Anyone who has the Impres Field Programmer, I need the part number for the programming cable that goes from the programmer to the 3-pin header on the display board (hoping the part number is on the cable). No one at Moto seems to know what that part number is, and the new kits only come with the HD15 cable that goes from the programmer to the MUC.

HELP!!

Astrogoth · Post by **Astrogoth** » Sat May 24, 2008 11:55 am

Did the display module ever get released by the Big M? I can do the mod' myself but a module in an "M" branded form fitting case would be better than the ugly boxes I've seen so far. Has anyone tried a pair of RJ45 jacks and a short pigtail cable setup ala' the factory prototype? If so where'd you get the super short pigtail cable with plugs on the ends?

Thanks guys!

MotoFAN · Post by **MotoFAN** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:42 pm

Still no any news about external display module for Waris Impres charger? :(

Post by **escomm** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:18 pm

MotoFAN wrote:Still no any news about external display module for Waris Impres charger?

3rd Quarter. Maybe.

Oh wait it's already 3Q with no news...

Post by **selou1527** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 3:02 pm

Where did the pictures of the mod go? They do not show up on the post.

G · Post by G » Wed May 06, 2009 10:14 am

Could someone repost the photo and/or description of where to connect a CDM (charger display module) to an Astro25/Jedi single unit charger like the WPLN4111? The photos Doug once had attached to this topic are gone. If possible I'd like to receive them direct at 840@cox.net
Thanks very much.

Post by **akardam** » Wed May 06, 2009 11:27 am

You can find a mirror here:

http://www.akardam.net/moto/docs/mirror ... yhack.html