What is code B?

throbscottle

Well-Known Member
I've been looking at the MAX7219 bcd to 7 seg decoder again (thanks, picbits) after working through some other ideas - all more trouble than they're worth. Anyway, on the data sheet it shows the extra characters for bcd "code b" - can't find a description of what the extra E, H, L, P mean (well, ok it could spell HELP). Do these have specific designations apart from this?

TIA
 
I think they display extra characters other than 0 to 9, by the sound of it h,e,l,p.
Some of the cmos decoders will display a to f.
 
Oh it gives you a choice - A to F, or "code b" which is "-",e,h,l,p, and blank, which is far more useful to me. I just wondered if there were standard usages for the e h l p characters (apart from "help"). It's a great device - wish I'd taken it more seriously when picbits suggested it ages ago.
 
Surely v A C F would have been more useful?

7 seg displays are common in instruments like panel volt and ampmeters, temperature meters. Much more useful than the panel meter needing to say "HELP".
 
Well, I'll need to use "-" and blank for sure. The decoder can change code on the fly, so there's room to use both sets. I'm looking at it drive the display for a bench dmm project, so you're spot on there.
 
Mr RB said:
Surely v A C F would have been more useful?

7 seg displays are common in instruments like panel volt and ampmeters, temperature meters. Much more useful than the panel meter needing to say "HELP".
Click to expand...

you can get the A C F with the binary display functions, but you'd need a 16 segment display to get a V...
 
I've read the data sheet properly now. Input registers can correspond to segments, or decode bcd to the mysterious "code b" - so it can be made to display pretty much anything. So for me the 8th digit will be status led's. Very very useful.
 
Mike odom said:
you can get the A C F with the binary display functions, but you'd need a 16 segment display to get a V...
Click to expand...

I use the bottom 3 segments to make a lower case 'v'. That's a common technique.
 
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