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MAX 7219 daisy-chain — Parallax Forums

MAX 7219 daisy-chain

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2000-06-14 06:59 in General Discussion
Hi there,

I am trying to daisy-chain the MAX 7219 LED-driver chip. As soon as I
connect more than 6 chips the results are unpredictable. There seem to be
some line-losses ...

Now I am trying to stabilize the LOAD and CLOCK signal by using a line
driver to create a potential first and each subsequent MAX 7219 chip would
get a line receiver.

The parts I am using are:
Quad line driver DS26LS31C (National Semiconductor)
Dual line receiver DS9639ACN (National Semiconductor)

Any comments on my approach or the specific parts I am using?

Thanks in advance,

erwin

Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2000-05-07 15:18
    Hi there,


    I am daisy-chaining several MAX 7219 LED-driver chips but I am not able to
    drive more than 8 chips. Whenever I try to connect chip 9 it plays the
    sequence of chip 9 on chip 1????

    To get a better signal I use a differential line driver/receiver pair for
    LOAD and CLOCK (parts; Nat.Semi. DS26LS31C/DS9639A).

    Any ideas?

    Are there any hardware or software tricks I am not aware of?


    Thanx for your time,

    erwin
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2000-05-07 16:45
    Well my thought is (after looking at the data sheet) I only see
    addresses for 0 to 7 or 8 chips so 8 may be the limit! Registers d8
    to d11 it also says you can daisy chain several 7219 together ( ok
    somebody look up several and let me know how many this is). The data
    sheet it at the Maxim web page and look up table 2 Register Address
    Map.

    erwin redl wrote:
    >
    > Hi there,
    >
    > I am daisy-chaining several MAX 7219 LED-driver chips but I am not able to
    > drive more than 8 chips. Whenever I try to connect chip 9 it plays the
    > sequence of chip 9 on chip 1????
    >
    > To get a better signal I use a differential line driver/receiver pair for
    > LOAD and CLOCK (parts; Nat.Semi. DS26LS31C/DS9639A).
    >
    > Any ideas?
    >
    > Are there any hardware or software tricks I am not aware of?
    >
    > Thanx for your time,
    >
    > erwin
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2000-05-08 13:31
    hi there,

    i managed to get chip 9 to work but now chip 10 is only randomly flashing ...

    guess that's the proof that MAX 7219 can drive more than 8 chips - the
    datasheet promises 16 chips in a daisy-chain ...

    maybe i should also use a differential line driver/receiver pair for the
    DATA bus?

    any ideas?

    erwin
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2000-06-14 06:59
    Hi Erwin

    Thanks for the reply, sorry I have left your original reply on
    another PC, however, do you have a circuit diagram of the arrangement
    you were using to seee if we are doing the samething ?

    He is a reply from Parallax and a bit more of my own setup. Any feed
    back would be welcome.

    Cheers Chris
    ****************************************************************
    Hi thank for your reply, however I think you may have mis understood
    the data sheet ?

    I'm using 16 x 7219 ic's i.e I driving 1024 seperate LED's

    the 3 bit you refure to are local addressing of a digit if you use 7
    segment displays, not actual MAX chips

    Every thing in the data sheet has been implimented.

    I have a mains filter powering a 10VAC 100VA transformer feeding 16 x
    bridge rectifiers and 1000mf caps then feeding 16 x 5vdc 1 amp
    Regulator to each MAX7219, all decoupled.

    A single CLK and Load going to 16 x MAX's and Din to Dout through
    out. Everything is Common GND on the logic and 5vdc side. Stared
    every 4th board down to Earth/chasy.

    Scoped everything and see nothing to cause data problems.

    I'm sending 16bit Shiftouts x 16 then sending a Load Pulse of 100ns

    What seem to be happening is that the chain of data, before it is
    loaded, has picked up or lost a 0 or 1 and then causes the incorrect
    data to be stored.

    Seems to be susceptable to fluresents if not Earthed.

    My display is 2.5m long

    May be I have an Arial or the BS2 needs a line driver. ?

    Any thoughts ?

    Cheers Chris

    Original Message
    From: Andy Lindsay <alindsay@p...>
    To: <Christopher_Hill@M...>
    Sent: 12 June 2000 21:18
    Subject: RE: MAX 7219 - Cascading


    | - Table 2 on page 7 of Maxim's 7219/7221 data sheet shows the
    addressing
    | system used. It's got 4 bits, the fourth of which is used to set
    modes.
    | This leaves 3 bits for addressing one of eight chips. Might want
    check
    | again with Maxim on this infinite cascade thing.
    |
    | If I misunderstood the data sheet, please let me know, and I'll
    take a
    | closer look. Also, if infinite cascading really is possible, try
    the
    | following:
    |
    | - The voltage regulator powering these chips & displays needs to be
    able to
    | supply enough juice for everything. Monitoring the power supply
    with a
    | scope before and after a significant increase in drivers might be a
    way to
    | verify or rule out this problem. Pages 10 and 11 discuss power
    supply
    | ripple minimization and power dissipation calcs.
    |
    | - Check the signal (again on an O-scope) coming out of various
    drivers (Dout
    | to Din) in the series and look for signal degradation.
    |
    | Andy
    |
    | Andrew Lindsay, Applications Engineer
    | Parallax, Inc. Technical Support
    | E-Mail...........alindsay@p...
    | Voice............(916) 624-8333 ext 113
    |
    | Parallax, Inc. home page....................www.parallaxinc.com
    | BASIC Stamp Educational Resources...........www.stampsinclass.com
    | SX Microcontroller University Resources.....www.sxtech.com
    |
    |
    |
    |
    Original Message
    | From: StampTech [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=jW3x53SqhtFPcOg4RieUmCXE8PBQZ2y5pJYFhKDuCPapLKjoZxAl8NhT6FImj18fK7X2NrkW5E7PEqJCkif4ai0]gduran@p...[/url
    | Sent: Monday, June 12, 2000 7:22 AM
    | To: alindsay@p...
    | Subject: Fwd: MAX 7219 - Cascading
    |
    |
    | Andy can you please take a few of these, Stephen will not be in
    today he
    | got too much Sun on his trip. He said he will be in on Tuesday, I
    kinda got
    | slammed with emails. Thank's
    | >From: "Christopher Hill" <Christopher_Hill@M...>
    | >To: <stamptech@p...>
    | >Subject: MAX 7219 - Cascading
    | >Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 08:39:14 +0100
    | >X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300
    | >
    | >Hi
    | > >
    | > >I'm having the same problem as a few people in the eGroup
    Archieves, can
    | > you help ?
    | > >
    | > >I have 16 MAX 7219 cascaded and have random data after about the
    8th
    | > max7219's
    | > >
    | > >Is there a reason for this and a solution ?
    | > >
    | > >My thoughts where,
    | > >
    | > >1. may be my data bus was to long and picking up noise
    | > >2. Need more Decoupling at the BS2 to drive the paralleled CLK
    and
    | > >LOAD
    | > >
    | > >Require a solution urgently, any help would be appreaciated.
    | > >
    | > >P.s MAXIM tell me there should be no limit to the number of MAX
    you
    | > >can Casacade
    | > >
    | > >Cheers Chris
    |
    |




    --- In basicstamps@egroups.com, erwin redl <parallel@t...> wrote:
    > hi there,
    >
    > i managed to get chip 9 to work but now chip 10 is only randomly
    flashing ...
    >
    > guess that's the proof that MAX 7219 can drive more than 8 chips -
    the
    > datasheet promises 16 chips in a daisy-chain ...
    >
    > maybe i should also use a differential line driver/receiver pair
    for the
    > DATA bus?
    >
    > any ideas?
    >
    > erwin
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