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Led display using basic stamp (is that possible?) — Parallax Forums

Led display using basic stamp (is that possible?)

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2004-02-17 07:54 in General Discussion
Hi,

please help :

The problem is:
how to display 20 characters, each character has
40 leds (8x5) .

Total= 20 x 40=800 outputs

Is that posible ?

Thanks: Joe




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Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-02-16 20:52
    Hi,

    please help :

    The problem is:
    how to display 20 characters, each character has
    40 leds (8x5) .

    Total= 20 x 40=800 outputs

    Is that posible ?

    Thanks: Joe


    __________________________________
    Do you Yahoo!?
    Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online.
    http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-02-16 21:28
    You could string together a bunch of MAX7219s -- work, but you could do
    it.

    -- Jon Williams
    -- Applications Engineer, Parallax
    -- Dallas Office


    Original Message
    From: Joe Terk [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=zJiIVAybk8nTRKeboU0rgOBYfwWGR-g2t10ukeU4X0GqJcu32k0tqHCOrRJySxzKnqwFs8VLEOk]joeterk@y...[/url
    Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 2:41 PM
    To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Led display using basic stamp (is that possible?)


    Hi,

    please help :

    The problem is:
    how to display 20 characters, each character has
    40 leds (8x5) .

    Total= 20 x 40=800 outputs

    Is that posible ?

    Thanks: Joe
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-02-16 21:35
    If you off-load enough of the storage
    of the character bit-patterns from the
    BS2, this is possible. But basically
    you'll need a co-processor to remember
    the data at each character position, and
    refresh the LED's.

    There's several ways to
    do this. The typical approach is to 'scan'
    through each column of LED's at a certain
    rate -- typically 60 Hertz. To do that requires
    hardware which can change 8 outputs, strobe a
    signal low to display 8 LED's, then move on to
    the next row, and do this fast enough that the
    eye sees no 'flicker'. This is not hard for
    a typical micro -- but probably beyond what
    a BS2 can do. You'd need 100 rows, and
    100 bytes (one per row). Too much. It
    would be much more efficient to use a
    single PIC 16F876 (which has enough SRAM)
    and 6 74HCT595's for the scan pulse,
    and program it in assembly.

    Another approach is to have a 74HCT595 for
    each row and use the 595's to 'remember'
    the data. That's still a lot of '595's.

    The MAX7219 can drive 64 discrete LED's
    each chip, and they do the scan and
    current limiting themselves. If you
    were doing one chip per character,
    this could be a good solution. That
    would be 20 chips, but somebody still has to
    load the bit patterns. If you stored the
    bit patterns in EEPROM, the BS2 could
    support this.

    --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, Joe Terk <joeterk@y...> wrote:
    > Hi,
    >
    > please help :
    >
    > The problem is:
    > how to display 20 characters, each character has
    > 40 leds (8x5) .
    >
    > Total= 20 x 40=800 outputs
    >
    > Is that posible ?
    >
    > Thanks: Joe
    >
    >
    > __________________________________
    > Do you Yahoo!?
    > Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online.
    > http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-02-17 01:20
    Is it possible? Yes
    Is it practical? I'm not sure.

    I drive 7-segment displays which have BCD-to-7 segment decoders available
    using SHIFTOUT and several shift registers (see the example and demo program
    in the BASIC Stamp manual for the SHIFTOUT commeand used with a 74HC595
    shift register). This requires one 8 bit shift register for 2 digits.

    You could use this method for all 800 LED's. Determine which LED's have to
    be on and which off; send 1's or 0's serially to the shift registers (all
    800 bits!); when the data is transfered, move it to the output latch. The
    upside is you could do it all with 3 I/O pins. The down side is it would
    take 100 8-bit shift registers! Thus the statement questioning the
    practicality.

    A more practical approach would be to multiplex the display. Connect all 20
    digits to one set of 5 8-bit shift registers. Then turn on each digit in
    turn while loading the data for that digit into the shift registers. If you
    do it fast enough, the eye is tricked into seeing all digits on all the
    time. The BASIC Stamp may not be fast enough to do this, however, (I've
    never tried it) especially depending on what else your program does.

    Good luck.

    Bill, WB8ZRN

    Original Message
    From: "Joe Terk" <joeterk@y...>
    To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
    Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 3:52 PM
    Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Led display using basic stamp (is that possible?)


    > Hi,
    >
    > please help :
    >
    > The problem is:
    > how to display 20 characters, each character has
    > 40 leds (8x5) .
    >
    > Total= 20 x 40=800 outputs
    >
    > Is that posible ?
    >
    > Thanks: Joe
    >
    >
    > __________________________________
    > Do you Yahoo!?
    > Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online.
    > http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
    >
    >
    > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and
    Body of the message will be ignored.
    >
    > Yahoo! Groups Links
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > _____________________________________________________
    > This message scanned for viruses by CoreComm
    >
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-02-17 02:07
    I took apart one of those large LED ticker signs (it was broken so I figures
    why not [noparse]:)[/noparse]) they make for businesses once. It had 7 rows by 80 columns of
    LEDs. It controlled them using multiplexing. It used 10 8-bit shift
    registers, one pin of the shift register per column, so one shift register
    would run 8 coloums. The sign then would go through the rows updating the
    shift registers for every row. I was thinking about using this method as
    well but as Bill pointed out the stamp may not be fast enough as it would
    have to shift out 80 bits for every row and do it fast enough so the eye
    doesn't see flicker. Additionally memory is another big hitch the stamp
    would have to remember the values for every single LED. There is ways
    around the memory issue with the stamp but for the speed nothing can be done
    short of using a BS2P which still may not be fast enough. The sign that I
    took apart was built using a Z80 CPU which is definitely more powerful then
    a stamp. So like Bill said it is possible but it may be well beyond the
    capabilities of one stamp to handle so it's probably not practical. I've
    been meaning to investigate this for myself when I do I'll make sure to
    report back to the list with what I find out.

    Chris Shuster

    Original Message
    From: "Bill Reese" <breese@r...>
    To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
    Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 6:20 PM
    Subject: Re: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Led display using basic stamp (is that possible?)


    > Is it possible? Yes
    > Is it practical? I'm not sure.
    >
    > I drive 7-segment displays which have BCD-to-7 segment decoders available
    > using SHIFTOUT and several shift registers (see the example and demo
    program
    > in the BASIC Stamp manual for the SHIFTOUT commeand used with a 74HC595
    > shift register). This requires one 8 bit shift register for 2 digits.
    >
    > You could use this method for all 800 LED's. Determine which LED's have to
    > be on and which off; send 1's or 0's serially to the shift registers (all
    > 800 bits!); when the data is transfered, move it to the output latch. The
    > upside is you could do it all with 3 I/O pins. The down side is it would
    > take 100 8-bit shift registers! Thus the statement questioning the
    > practicality.
    >
    > A more practical approach would be to multiplex the display. Connect all
    20
    > digits to one set of 5 8-bit shift registers. Then turn on each digit in
    > turn while loading the data for that digit into the shift registers. If
    you
    > do it fast enough, the eye is tricked into seeing all digits on all the
    > time. The BASIC Stamp may not be fast enough to do this, however, (I've
    > never tried it) especially depending on what else your program does.
    >
    > Good luck.
    >
    > Bill, WB8ZRN
    >
    >
    Original Message
    > From: "Joe Terk" <joeterk@y...>
    > To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
    > Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 3:52 PM
    > Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Led display using basic stamp (is that possible?)
    >
    >
    > > Hi,
    > >
    > > please help :
    > >
    > > The problem is:
    > > how to display 20 characters, each character has
    > > 40 leds (8x5) .
    > >
    > > Total= 20 x 40=800 outputs
    > >
    > > Is that posible ?
    > >
    > > Thanks: Joe
    > >
    > >
    > > __________________________________
    > > Do you Yahoo!?
    > > Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online.
    > > http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
    > >
    > >
    > > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    > > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    > > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject
    and
    > Body of the message will be ignored.
    > >
    > > Yahoo! Groups Links
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > > _____________________________________________________
    > > This message scanned for viruses by CoreComm
    > >
    >
    >
    >
    > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and
    Body of the message will be ignored.
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    >
    >
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-02-17 07:54
    Why not use a large dot matrix led display like
    http://www.adaptivedisplays.com/Pages/a_one.htm
    They have an rs232 interface so the stamp would control output
    at the character level. The series 300 allows for 20 characters.
    The device handles the storage, power and multiplexing issues,
    and your stamp runs the show.

    regards peter

    Original Message
    From: "Chris Shuster" <cpuman3@h...>
    To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
    Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 3:07 AM
    Subject: Re: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Led display using basic stamp (is that possible?)


    > I took apart one of those large LED ticker signs (it was broken so I
    figures
    > why not [noparse]:)[/noparse]) they make for businesses once. It had 7 rows by 80 columns of
    > LEDs. It controlled them using multiplexing. It used 10 8-bit shift
    > registers, one pin of the shift register per column, so one shift register
    > would run 8 coloums. The sign then would go through the rows updating the
    > shift registers for every row. I was thinking about using this method as
    > well but as Bill pointed out the stamp may not be fast enough as it would
    > have to shift out 80 bits for every row and do it fast enough so the eye
    > doesn't see flicker. Additionally memory is another big hitch the stamp
    > would have to remember the values for every single LED. There is ways
    > around the memory issue with the stamp but for the speed nothing can be
    done
    > short of using a BS2P which still may not be fast enough. The sign that I
    > took apart was built using a Z80 CPU which is definitely more powerful
    then
    > a stamp. So like Bill said it is possible but it may be well beyond the
    > capabilities of one stamp to handle so it's probably not practical. I've
    > been meaning to investigate this for myself when I do I'll make sure to
    > report back to the list with what I find out.
    >
    > Chris Shuster
    >
    >
    Original Message
    > From: "Bill Reese" <breese@r...>
    > To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
    > Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 6:20 PM
    > Subject: Re: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Led display using basic stamp (is that
    possible?)
    >
    >
    > > Is it possible? Yes
    > > Is it practical? I'm not sure.
    > >
    > > I drive 7-segment displays which have BCD-to-7 segment decoders
    available
    > > using SHIFTOUT and several shift registers (see the example and demo
    > program
    > > in the BASIC Stamp manual for the SHIFTOUT commeand used with a 74HC595
    > > shift register). This requires one 8 bit shift register for 2 digits.
    > >
    > > You could use this method for all 800 LED's. Determine which LED's have
    to
    > > be on and which off; send 1's or 0's serially to the shift registers
    (all
    > > 800 bits!); when the data is transfered, move it to the output latch.
    The
    > > upside is you could do it all with 3 I/O pins. The down side is it would
    > > take 100 8-bit shift registers! Thus the statement questioning the
    > > practicality.
    > >
    > > A more practical approach would be to multiplex the display. Connect all
    > 20
    > > digits to one set of 5 8-bit shift registers. Then turn on each digit in
    > > turn while loading the data for that digit into the shift registers. If
    > you
    > > do it fast enough, the eye is tricked into seeing all digits on all the
    > > time. The BASIC Stamp may not be fast enough to do this, however, (I've
    > > never tried it) especially depending on what else your program does.
    > >
    > > Good luck.
    > >
    > > Bill, WB8ZRN
    > >
    > >
    Original Message
    > > From: "Joe Terk" <joeterk@y...>
    > > To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
    > > Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 3:52 PM
    > > Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Led display using basic stamp (is that possible?)
    > >
    > >
    > > > Hi,
    > > >
    > > > please help :
    > > >
    > > > The problem is:
    > > > how to display 20 characters, each character has
    > > > 40 leds (8x5) .
    > > >
    > > > Total= 20 x 40=800 outputs
    > > >
    > > > Is that posible ?
    > > >
    > > > Thanks: Joe
    > > >
    > > >
    > > > __________________________________
    > > > Do you Yahoo!?
    > > > Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online.
    > > > http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
    > > >
    > > >
    > > > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    > > > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    > > > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject
    > and
    > > Body of the message will be ignored.
    > > >
    > > > Yahoo! Groups Links
    > > >
    > > >
    > > >
    > > >
    > > >
    > > >
    > > >
    > > > _____________________________________________________
    > > > This message scanned for viruses by CoreComm
    > > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    > > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    > > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject
    and
    > Body of the message will be ignored.
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    > > Yahoo! Groups Links
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    >
    >
    > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and
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