Next kit (maybe) Dragonfly Seven segment & 16F886

[Gayan Soyza]

Hi is it possible to arrange your Segments one by one instead of two pairs. You have added two pairs each.

Considering the decimal point

If anybody wants to display a clock in a different manner ex: without displaying seconds & it displays in the two DP. Ex: 12:30

Or somebody wants to show a Date in a different manner like this 05’07’07 so he can use an upward DP to show that.

If use a single SSD so anybody can place the DP Upwards or Downwards to show the appropriate sign.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Hi is it possible to arrange your Segments one by one instead of two pairs. You have added two pairs each.

Considering the decimal point

If anybody wants to display a clock in a different manner ex: without displaying seconds & it displays in the two DP. Ex: 12:30

Or somebody wants to show a Date in a different manner like this 05’07’07 so he can use an upward DP to show that.

If use a single SSD so anybody can place the DP Upwards or Downwards to show the appropriate sign.

That's a great suggestion, Done. It now consists of single digit displays.

That was a pain to redo. But worth it thanks, email me Gayan and I'd be happy to send you a Dragonfly PCB.
**broken link removed**

Note to self, gifs look awful compared to PNG files

 

[Gayan Soyza]

Wow am I that so lucky? Thanks a lot Blueroomelectronics.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

The Dragonfly PCBs are ready and I built one in Super Red and another in Blue. The Super RED with 100ohm (the yellow dip in the drawing below, you can use resitor too) current limiting resistors (16ma per segment) are almost too bright when running at 1:8 mux (I update the test software to 1:6 mux tomorrow)

As for the Blue version they are well average, compared to Super Red they look dull and more violet than blue. I've used 0 ohm and 33 ohm (11ma) resistors and still not bright regardless of the duty cycle. I'll try 2N7000 instead of 2N4401 and see if that helps.

Gayans single digit suggestion instead of the duals make for an interesting take on it, I'll suggest flipping digits 3 & 6 as the default so you can make clocks and thermostats. Easy enough to code for any combination of flipped or normal digits.

Now I'd like to make a 3 digit red and 3 digit green display (current / voltage) but I'm sure the brightness wont match but should be able to fix with firmware.

And Mike I will put both PNP & NPN type drivers in the next and somewhat larger kit Giraffe Graphic Display
Looks like a 8x24 LED matrix will be a hoot and lots of fun to solder 192 LEDs but you can drive em at up to 60ma each when muxed.
**broken link removed**

 

[Pommie]

Bill,

I like Gayans suggestion but just wondered, does flipping the displays make it more complex for beginners? Will the flipped displays require a different segment lookup table or have you flipped the segments as well so that it still displays correctly? To put it another way, if I write code to display 3 on all display, will digits 3&5 display a letter E?

Mike.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Actually only the G and dp segments get swapped that's what's so cool about those 10pin 0.56" displays, the common runs through pins 3 & 8. And through sheer luck G & dp are on PORTA 6,7 (all other segments that dont change are on PORTB 0-5 as the debugger gets 6&7)
a simple swap of those two bits and I figure a position variable like b'xx100100' would tell the software to swap (XOR I figure bits 6&7)

 

[Gayan Soyza]

Wow your Dragonfly PCB is looks great.

I think Mike interested a Board too

And Mike I will put both PNP & NPN type drivers in the next and somewhat larger kit Giraffe Graphic Display Looks like a 8x24 LED matrix will be a hoot and lots of fun to solder 192 LEDs but you can drive em at up to 60ma each when muxed.

This is more interesting the Giraffe Graphic Display. Sign board is one of my favorite PIC projects. I have done couple of displays & this week I’m working on another big signboard as well. As soon as I finish I’ll put it on ELECTRO-TECH.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Wow your Dragonfly PCB is looks great.

I think Mike interested a Board too



This is more interesting the Giraffe Graphic Display. Sign board is one of my favorite PIC projects. I have done couple of displays & this week I’m working on another big signboard as well. As soon as I finish I’ll put it on ELECTRO-TECH.

Well I looked at lots of sign boards and they seem to be of interest to kit builders and anyone who loves LEDs (I seem to be drawn to LEDs too, I love my new Dragonfly kit, can't help it just so much fun oooh bright lights...)

The use of discreet LEDs over a 8x8 matrix is simply a much wider choice of colors, sizes 3mm / 5mm, brightness... And who says you have to use all one color

 

[Pommie]

Actually only the G and dp segments get swapped that's what's so cool about those 10pin 0.56" displays, the common runs through pins 3 & 8. And through sheer luck G & dp are on PORTA 6,7 (all other segments that dont change are on PORTB 0-5 as the debugger gets 6&7)
a simple swap of those two bits and I figure a position variable like b'xx100100' would tell the software to swap (XOR I figure bits 6&7)

Is it too late to swap the 2 segments on the board? It would make programming much simpler.

Mike.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Is it too late to swap the 2 segments on the board? It would make programming much simpler.

Mike.

You can build it anyway you like. All right side up is easiest to program and great for a frequency counter.

The MAN6980 or it's many copies (it's a common pinout) has two rows of 5 pins on the (top & bottom)
They were designed to flip! look at the datasheet and you'll see segments A-F are symetrically pinned, only dp & G get swapped. The two CC pins are straight down the center.

You could put all the digits in upside down it would still work but dp & G (the center segment) would have to be swapped in software. Easy a pie.

PS HE Red or Super Red look great, I think the Super Red is supposed to work in sunlight. The last part you should solder in is the segment limiting resistors R1 thru R8 as you can simply try different values before commiting them. I found 100 ohm works out to 16ma per segment and is extremly bright when using Super Red. The 2N4401 or 2N2222 can handle 500ma or your could try a 2N7000 for Q1 thru Q6. I've used 2.2K with the 2N4401 and all segment lit (I didn't have a 1.2K on hand) but it looks great IMHO.