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Serial 4-digit seven segment LED display

Sunday April 9, 2017 / Ibrar Ayyub
Categories: Electronics News and Updates
Tags: seven segment led
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1.1 Ibrar Ayyub

This project is a 7 segment LED display module that can be driven using SPI protocol, so it needs only 3 pins of your mcu to drive 4 x LED displays. It’s based on MAX7219 LED display driver.

Description

Seven segment LED displays are very popular for displaying numeric information because they are very attractive and readable from a far distance and wider viewing angle.

Serial 4-digit seven segment LED display

The downside is they are resource-hungry. For example, it requires 12 I/O pins of a MCU to drive a 4-digit seven segment display using a standard time-division multiplexing technique.

Here I present a serial seven segment LED display module that can be used with any MCU using a 3-wire SPI interface. This particular display has four digits (0.40” size) and two colon segments (to support time display) display.

 Schematic

The main controller of this display module is MAXIM’s MAX7219 driver chip. Included on-chip are a BCD decoder, multiplex scan circuitry, segment and digit drivers, an 8×8 static RAM to store the digit values, and a 3-pin SPI interface to receive the display data from the host MCU.

The segment current for all LEDs is set through only one external resistor. However, the device also provides a digital control of the display brightness (16 steps from minimum to maximum) through an internal pulse-width modulator.

The seven segment module used in this project is LITE-ON, Inc.’s LTC-4727JS module, which has LED segment arrangement and pin configuration as shown in figure below.

 

For more detail: Serial 4-digit seven segment LED display

About The Author

Ibrar Ayyub

I am an experienced technical writer holding a Master's degree in computer science from BZU Multan, Pakistan University. With a background spanning various industries, particularly in home automation and engineering, I have honed my skills in crafting clear and concise content. Proficient in leveraging infographics and diagrams, I strive to simplify complex concepts for readers. My strength lies in thorough research and presenting information in a structured and logical format.

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