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Message display

Alejo83Alejo83 Posts: 28
edited 2014-03-25 04:39 in General Discussion
Hello, I am just wandering if you guys have an idea of what is the best way (if possible) to make a display that can be seen from at least 50 feet away.
The project consist in the following:

- I work in a company where we make plastic hoses and we need to know how many feet we ran per hour. I basically arranged 2 sensor separated 1 feet away from each other so in that way every time the hose pass through the sensors with some calculations I will know how many feet we ran per hour.
That is already done, but the part that i am struggling to make is that the calculation of the feet per hour need to be seen from a distance of 50 feet away, so the question is if you guys know a display that it is easy to drive and compatible with basic stamp 2?

- The hoses are going to pass through the sensors at least every 2 minutes.

thank you so much and have a great day!

Comments

  • SRLMSRLM Posts: 5,045
    edited 2014-03-24 18:29
    Where will this display be? Indoors or out? Run during broad daylight or at night? Weather proofing? How wide of an angle does the display need to be visible at? What is the maximum size? What power is available, and how much? How quickly must you read the display (aka, is squinting and staring for a while ok)?

    Besides some sort of light based display I'd think about a mechanical display. Maybe you could use a linear servo to push up a marker and create an electrical "float gauge".
  • Alejo83Alejo83 Posts: 28
    edited 2014-03-24 18:38
    Thank you for your response! it is going to be display indoor during both daylight and night but we have a geat lightning in the warehouse, the angle can be anything, the maximum size can be between 4 and 7 inches hight but it doesn't hurt if it is higher, the power can be anyone(just depending of the system that is going to be use) and the display is going to be updated every 30 seconds.

    Thank you!
  • SRLMSRLM Posts: 5,045
    edited 2014-03-24 18:50
    Alejo83 wrote: »
    Thank you for your response! it is going to be display indoor during both daylight and night but we have a geat lightning in the warehouse, the angle can be anything, the maximum size can be between 4 and 7 inches hight but it doesn't hurt if it is higher, the power can be anyone(just depending of the system that is going to be use) and the display is going to be updated every 30 seconds.

    Thank you!

    What do you mean by "the angle can be anything"? Do you need full 360 degree view? If it's mounted against a wall then you just need 180. If your hose always goes in a single direction from the display then you can probably get by with >45 degrees.

    By power I meant what are the voltages and currents available? If wall outlet power is available then it's easy (no need to worry about power efficiency). If it's run on a battery then you'll have to take consumption into account.

    Have you considered a plain 7 segment display? You can get some pretty big ones, and Sparkfun claims 100' visibility:
    https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8530
    http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/partsmenu/107-sevensegment
  • Alejo83Alejo83 Posts: 28
    edited 2014-03-24 18:57
    WOW! Those are big! You're right, the angle can be 45 degrees and I am using a power supply for it. Thank you so much I think with the information that you just gave I can start doing something I really appreciate it...
  • Duane DegnDuane Degn Posts: 10,588
    edited 2014-03-24 20:37
    SRLM wrote: »
    Have you considered a plain 7 segment display? You can get some pretty big ones, and Sparkfun claims 100' visibility:
    https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8530
    http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/partsmenu/107-sevensegment

    Those SparkFun displays are fun. I have six I use in this project.

    attachment.php?attachmentid=89375&d=1328635740

    I used a 12V power supply but if I were to do it again, I think I'd use a 24V supply.

    I think I describe how it's all connected in the thread I linked to above.

    I still think the TPIC6B595 high power shift registers are a good way to control the segments. Besides using 24V for power, there are several other changes I'd make if I were to do the project again.

    If you use the big 7-segment displays make sure and ask me about the changes I'd make.

    How many digits do you need and how fast do you need to updated? Unless you need the display to change very quickly, I don't see a reason why a Basic Stamp couldn't control the shift registers.

    Another option would be to use a Propeller to control the display and have the Basic Stamp issue commands to the Propeller on what to display.

    There are all sorts of other options for this sort of display. Tumbler made his own 7-segment (16-segment) display using stands of LEDs and the high power shift registers.

    Edit: I was wrong about the display being 7-segment. It looks like it was a 16-segment display.

    attachment.php?attachmentid=102283&d=1371319865

    If you use shift registers, made sure and keep the enable pins accessible. They can be used to easily adjust the brightness of the display.
  • JordanCClarkJordanCClark Posts: 198
    edited 2014-03-25 03:19
    A couple of commercial options I use in our plant. The Vorne units are also a web appliance with OEE features added.

    http://ezautomation.net/ezmarquee/ezmarquee_menu.htm

    http://vorne.com/

    I'm not against the roll-your-own method, Unfortunately, the time I usually get to work on development is rather short. <sigh>
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2014-03-25 04:38
    We use these on our outdoor autocross courses. Standard RS-232 at 9600 baud, (which a BS2 can handle).

    http://axwaresystems.com/store/home.php?cat=28

    http://www.raceamerica.com/download/6x60dman.pdf
  • Peter JakackiPeter Jakacki Posts: 10,193
    edited 2014-03-25 04:39
    Alejo83 wrote: »
    Hello, I am just wandering if you guys have an idea of what is the best way (if possible) to make a display that can be seen from at least 50 feet away.
    The project consist in the following:

    - I work in a company where we make plastic hoses and we need to know how many feet we ran per hour. I basically arranged 2 sensor separated 1 feet away from each other so in that way every time the hose pass through the sensors with some calculations I will know how many feet we ran per hour.
    That is already done, but the part that i am struggling to make is that the calculation of the feet per hour need to be seen from a distance of 50 feet away, so the question is if you guys know a display that it is easy to drive and compatible with basic stamp 2?

    - The hoses are going to pass through the sensors at least every 2 minutes.

    thank you so much and have a great day!

    I have designed really large LED industrial displays way in the past but LCD monitors are really bright and have strong contrast especially with primary colors. Take a look at this post where I have used them in a similar setting to what you are asking for. I use scalable bitmap graphics to get those digits nice and big
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