>Problem is how do I know the difference between the long and short pause
(so I can stop >counting flashes and move to the next digit) AND the big
how... How do I turn "1" & "2" into 12 >(for use in the lookup table)?

I think you should convert the 2 digits into one binary number. You said in
another mail that there were about 90 fault codes, so you could then double
the number so you can use it as a pointer into an address table that would
point to string data giving the fault code text which would be in an
external eprom.

The eprom would be loaded with a pointer table at the beginning using code
similar to this:-

fault00:    DW fmess00
fault01:    DW fmess01
fault02:    DW fmess02
....
fault90:    DW fmess90

fmess00:    "no fault"
fmess01:    "fault message for fault code 02"
fmess03:    "message for fault code 03"
....


Your code would then get the fault code, multiply by 2, and use this value
as an index into the table at the start of eprom. having this table means
you can have variable length strings to make maximum use of the eprom. You
will need to have either a null byte at the end of the message, or a length
byte at the beginning of the message to determine how many characters to
read out.

If you change to a 16F87x family you may have enough program eprom to store
your messages, depending on how long each one is, and this would require a
modification of this technique.

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