Multiplexing Bulbs on Nixie Clock

sbelsky · 2010-02-06 23:19

So I built myself a nixie clock using the Basic Stamp 2 as the brains.

I used a multiplexed design... Only one bulb is on at a time. The code cycles through the six bulbs sending the correct digit for each bulb. Unfortunatly, my code runs too slow causing the bulbs to flicker. I was hoping someone might be able to point out how I might make the code more efficient. Do I need to use binary code to send the pin states? (%001001 or something?).

Youtube clip of the clock:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNFPThBWOUU

Here is the portion of code in question:

' MAIN LOOP ------------------------

main:
  FOR bulb = 0 TO 5
    ON bulb GOSUB bulb_1, bulb_2, bulb_3, bulb_4, bulb_5, bulb_6
  NEXT
  GOSUB ReadRTCBurst
GOTO main

'----------------------------------------

'reads time from clock chip
ReadRTCBurst:
  HIGH RTCReset
  SHIFTOUT DTA, Clk, LSBFIRST, [noparse][[/noparse]%1\1,BrstReg\5,%10\2]
  SHIFTIN DTA, Clk, LSBPRE, [noparse][[/noparse]Seconds,Minutes,Hours]
  LOW RTCReset
RETURN

'---------------BULB WRITING SUBROUTINES BELOW ------------------

bulb_1:
  LOW 7
  digit = hours.HIGHNIB
  ON digit GOSUB digit_0, digit_1, digit_2
  HIGH 2
RETURN

bulb_2:
  LOW 2
  digit = hours.LOWNIB
  ON digit GOSUB digit_0, digit_1, digit_2, digit_3, digit_4, digit_5, digit_6, digit_7, digit_8, digit_9
  HIGH 3
RETURN

bulb_3:
  LOW 3
  digit = minutes.HIGHNIB
  ON digit GOSUB digit_0, digit_1, digit_2, digit_3, digit_4, digit_5
  HIGH 4
RETURN

bulb_4:
  LOW 4
  digit = minutes.LOWNIB
  ON digit GOSUB digit_0, digit_1, digit_2, digit_3, digit_4, digit_5, digit_6, digit_7, digit_8, digit_9
  HIGH 5
RETURN

bulb_5:
  LOW 5
  digit = seconds.HIGHNIB
  ON digit GOSUB digit_0, digit_1, digit_2, digit_3, digit_4, digit_5
  HIGH 6
RETURN

bulb_6:
  LOW 6
  digit = seconds.LOWNIB
  ON digit GOSUB digit_0, digit_1, digit_2, digit_3, digit_4, digit_5, digit_6, digit_7, digit_8, digit_9
  HIGH 7
RETURN

  digit_0:
  LOW 11
  LOW 12
  LOW 13
  LOW 14
  RETURN

  digit_1:
  LOW 11
  LOW 12
  LOW 13
  HIGH 14
  RETURN

  digit_2:
  LOW 11
  LOW 12
  HIGH 13
  LOW 14
  RETURN

  digit_3:
  LOW 11
  LOW 12
  HIGH 13
  HIGH 14
  RETURN

  digit_4:
  LOW 11
  HIGH 12
  LOW 13
  LOW 14
  RETURN

  digit_5:
  LOW 11
  HIGH 12
  LOW 13
  HIGH 14
  RETURN

  digit_6:
  LOW  11
  HIGH 12
  HIGH 13
  LOW 14
  RETURN

  digit_7:
  LOW 11
  HIGH 12
  HIGH 13
  HIGH 14
  RETURN

  digit_8:
  HIGH 11
  LOW 12
  LOW 13
  LOW 14
  RETURN

  digit_9:
  HIGH 11
  LOW 12
  LOW 13
  HIGH 14
  RETURN[url=http://][/url][url=http://][/url][url=http://][/url][url=http://][/url]

$WMc% · 2010-02-07 02:51

sbelsky

Have You tried putting;
"ReadRTCBurst:
......HIGH RTCReset
......SHIFTOUT DTA, Clk, LSBFIRST, [noparse][[/noparse]%1\1,BrstReg\5,%10\2]
......SHIFTIN DTA, Clk, LSBPRE, [noparse][[/noparse]Seconds,Minutes,Hours]
......LOW RTCReset "

In the Main: loop with out a gosub?

This has worked for Me using seven seg. led displays

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
The Truth is out there············___$WMc%___···························· BoogerWoods, FL. USA

sbelsky · 2010-02-07 04:39

I've made some changes that improved it slightly but it still runs too slow (note: i changed some pins around as well)...

'define digit constants
d0        CON    %0000
d1        CON    %0001
d2        CON    %0010
d3        CON    %0011
d4        CON    %0100
d5        CON    %0101
d6        CON    %0110
d7        CON    %0111
d8        CON    %1000
d9        CON    %1001

'define bulb constants
bulb1     CON    %000001
bulb2     CON    %000010
bulb3     CON    %000100
bulb4     CON    %001000
bulb5     CON    %010000
bulb6     CON    %100000

DIRH = %11111111
DIRL = %11111111

' MAIN LOOP ------------------------

main:
  FOR bulb = 0 TO 5
      ON bulb GOSUB bulb_1, bulb_2, bulb_3, bulb_4, bulb_5, bulb_6
  NEXT

  'read time from chip
  HIGH RTCReset
  SHIFTOUT DTA, Clk, LSBFIRST, [noparse][[/noparse]%1\1,BrstReg\5,%10\2]
  SHIFTIN DTA, Clk, LSBPRE, [noparse][[/noparse]Seconds,Minutes,Hours]
  LOW RTCReset
GOTO main


' ----------------------------------



'---------------BULB WRITING SUBROUTINES BELOW ------------------

bulb_1:
  OUTH = %000000
  digit = hours.HIGHNIB
  LOOKUP digit, [noparse][[/noparse]d0,d1,d2,d3,d4,d5,d6,d7,d8,d9], OUTL
  OUTH = %000001
RETURN

bulb_2:
  digit = hours.LOWNIB
  OUTH = %000000
  LOOKUP digit, [noparse][[/noparse]d0,d1,d2,d3,d4,d5,d6,d7,d8,d9], OUTL
  OUTH = %000010
RETURN

bulb_3:
  digit = minutes.HIGHNIB
  OUTH = %000000
  LOOKUP digit, [noparse][[/noparse]d0,d1,d2,d3,d4,d5,d6,d7,d8,d9], OUTL
  OUTH = %000100
RETURN

bulb_4:
  digit = minutes.LOWNIB
  OUTH = %000000
  LOOKUP digit, [noparse][[/noparse]d0,d1,d2,d3,d4,d5,d6,d7,d8,d9], OUTL
  OUTH = %001000
RETURN

bulb_5:
  digit = seconds.HIGHNIB
  OUTH = %000000
  LOOKUP digit, [noparse][[/noparse]d0,d1,d2,d3,d4,d5,d6,d7,d8,d9], OUTL
  OUTH = %010000
RETURN

bulb_6:
  digit = seconds.LOWNIB
  OUTH = %000000
  LOOKUP digit, [noparse][[/noparse]d0,d1,d2,d3,d4,d5,d6,d7,d8,d9], OUTL
  OUTH = %100000
RETURN

Post Edited (sbelsky) : 2/7/2010 4:45:57 AM GMT

sbelsky · 2010-02-09 01:48

Does anyone see a way to speed this up? Is the BS2 just too slow of a chip?

Multiplexing Bulbs on Nixie Clock

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