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Bridging two inputs and using two 7 seg displays — Parallax Forums

Bridging two inputs and using two 7 seg displays

joblessalexjoblessalex Posts: 5
edited 2010-07-30 07:08 in BASIC Stamp
Hi I feel like a noob for asking these two questions, but here I go. I am trying to build a bot to play guitar hero (not to cheat, but for fun) but to do so, I need to connect pins without extra voltage (like touching two wires together) but have no clue what the code is. Is this possible, and if so how? If not then what would?

The second thing I need is to be able to control 2 7 segment displays at once. They both fit, but the OUTH and DIRH commands only control the top half of the pins not the lower ones. How do I do this?
Thanks for any possible help you guys can give me I'm new so if we could keep it close to english as possible that would be nice smile.gif

Comments

  • Alan BradfordAlan Bradford Posts: 172
    edited 2010-07-28 02:04
    We need more information to help you.
    What kind of voltage do you want to control AC, DC, 3 volts, 100 volts
    You could use relays, transistors, fets, triacs, SCR's

    Same with the 7 seg displays..there are hundreds of them....

    Think of it this way.....
    Your car is broken..you take it to the garage and tell your mechanic..'It dont work..how much is it going to cost to fix and when can I have it back?'
    He shrugs!
    This is the same thing.
    It is obvious to you what you want to do but we can only help based on the information given.
    We want to help but we cant read minds.
    Enough venting....So lets have at it.

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    Alan Bradford ·N1YMQ

    Plasma Technologies
    Canaan NH 03741
    www.plasmatechnologies.com
  • joblessalexjoblessalex Posts: 5
    edited 2010-07-28 02:31
    I have the basic stamp home work board revision b. Input to stamp is 9vdc 250ma. The guitar hero controller has 10 terminals and when certain terminals connect it holds down a botton on gh. But if extra voltage is added, it messes up the buttons and pushes different things that it should not and does not when the same wires are just touched together ex. I take wire from pin 5 and pin 9 and touch them together it pushes button a on screen, but if I use HIGH 5 and LOW 9 it pushes button b,c, and d instead.

    On the 7 seg displays I have 2 model # hd11310 with same voltage as the one that comes with this kit. Pins 3 and 8 are common anode. If I hook them both up, I can get them to work with a PinCounter and HIGH/LOW commands. But not with binary. Binary will work with the top display only. I need the binary values for the lower pins (1-7 I think?).

    I hope this is of more help to you and thanks for the reply.
  • skylightskylight Posts: 1,915
    edited 2010-07-29 17:21
    I believe what you want are volt free contacts ccontrolled by the stamp, to do this you would need a relay

    the contacts would close making the two wires and the relay coil could be controlled with simple·HIGH and·LOW commands.

    look up the basic stamp manual to see how to interface a relay to a stamp.

    also look up information on normally open (NO)·and closed (NC) contacts


    Post Edited (skylight) : 7/29/2010 5:31:22 PM GMT
  • Alan BradfordAlan Bradford Posts: 172
    edited 2010-07-30 01:20
    You could use Opto Isolators. They would be quiter than relays.

    Connect the input Led,s to the Stamp output pins and the Opto to the GH pins to connect together.
    Meassure the polarity of the GH inputs and connect themm to the Opto.

    A 4n25 would work nicely

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Alan Bradford ·N1YMQ

    Plasma Technologies
    Canaan NH 03741
    www.plasmatechnologies.com
  • joblessalexjoblessalex Posts: 5
    edited 2010-07-30 07:08
    Thank you all for the information. I will try that as soon as I get more 9v batteries!
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