alternative numeric displays

[bic 44]

This seems pricey, but could it be done?http://www.delcom-eng.com/products_USBNDisplay.asp

[Guest twabi2]

This could be done, altough I don't know why you'd want to do that!

[Guest PoRrEkE]

You'd need quite a bunch of them and you will need the 6 version (only 4 for xpdr) and it will cost you a lot!

[tigert 0]

Don't forget that for a few hundred euros you can get a nice TFT. Who says you cannot do radios the same way as other gauges? You just need knitters or other small rotaries that can be installed in *front* of the panel - and have holes for digits at the correct places. It does not *need* to be 7-segments!We have seen a few such fine examples even here.//Tuomas

[Guest PoRrEkE]

I've seen that in real cockpits they don't use 7segments even.They use small LCD's which are full black and have the numbers "cut out" as you will so that backlight shows trough the numbers.Can this be done ?We'd need a new interface for that to say the least .. but does it exist ? A small 5 digit LCD ?

[Guest PoRrEkE]

Awesome!Gert Polkerman just found me this:http://www.crystalfontz.com/products/0802a...#CFAH0802AYMCJPCheck it. It's a 2*8 Negative backlit LCD.And the good news is: it costs 9,9 dollar and a chewing-gum (as we say in BE :( )That's quite cheep ! No more messing around with soldering 7 segments ... Just hook this one up to an interface.Now the final question remains ...Whom makes an interface to host ... say ... 6 of these ?They are perfect for COM1, COM2, NAV1, NAV2, ADF etc.

[kiek 1,212]

Hi PoRReke,>No more messing around with soldering 7>segments ... Just hook this one up to an interface.??OpenCockpits (IOCards) sells pcbs for 3-digit & 5-digit 7-segment displays. Very easy to solder... And with their Display2 card you can control 16 digits (you may connect up to four of such cards to one master card).>Whom makes an interface to host ... say ... 6 of these ?If this LCD is HD44780 compatible (don't know), two of them could be controlled by FSLCD (via LPT). But that would still not be enough for all your radio's....In my opinion you better use 7-segment displays. I have used them for NAV1/OBS and I plan to replace my GF-166 modules by 7-segment displays as well.The two LCD's I have, (4*20 and 2*20) are in use for information other then radio's. Regards,Nicowww.nicokaan.nl

[Guest PoRrEkE]

Nico >>Sure I know that IOcards can do segment displays. But I don't want IO .. I got photon already ;)Either way, as I said there is 1 problem with these pcb's ... not all segment displays have the same pin-layout. And I do not want to go buy specifig segments for that specific pcb cuz the ones I got now were VERY cheap over at reichelt.Then why LCD's .. Here's my motivation:1) cuz they are nicer than the segments (ok this is personal)2) you could do other characters than numbers whenever needed.3) only soldering you do is a 16 pin connector to this pcb.4) tunable backlight .. cool feature5) they are probably less expencive(if you pay .. say 1.0 euro per segment .. you need 10 of them for your NAV. that's 10 euro .. exactly same price in that case ..)Either way if I could chose .. I'd go for the LCD's for sure. I'm quite trough with the segments. They suck.Reason:If you get small ones (10mm) they are too big actually for your sim but they are already almost unpossible to solder without a pcb ...I am quite sure that IOcards pcb AND fsbus pcb wouldn't work for my segments so then what ??

[Guest spiliot_]

>I am quite sure that IOcards pcb AND fsbus pcb wouldn't work>for my segments so then what ??It is quite rare to find 7segments displays that don't follow a standard pinout. Even if this is a case, we don't you try designing your one PCB or getting someone else doing it for you?My guess is that if you add the time needed to design the PCB produce it, and solder the displays, it is much less than handwiring and soldering. Plus with the PCB you don't need to solder _them_ on the board, solder a stand-off and plug the segments on the board (so you can change them easilly or remove them if needed).

[Guest PoRrEkE]

Ok well I know by now that there is horizontal pin layout and there is vertical pin layout and then there is the one where the CC is the middle pin and then there is the one where the CC is the lowest pins and then you got the CA and the CC and ....Either way I do have my own layout designed.http://users.skynet.be/porreke/DoubleDisplay5.jpgThat's the one. This print for the 10mm Kingsbright LED display ..SC 39-11 GE (over at reichelt).If anyone can/wants to make this pcb a couple of times for me .. that would be cool indeed.

[tigert 0]

For LCD's remember FSLCD: http://mikkila.wabbits.org/fsbus/lcd/index_e.phpWorks great for those parallel-port HD44780-compatible display modules.I have a 20x4 character one for all my radio stack, works nicely.Philip: Note that there's version 5.1 there, has more of the multidisplay stuff.//Tuomas

[Guest PoRrEkE]

FSlcd indeed is quite ok. And I will be using it for a bigger LCD that is not negative backlit.If FSlcd could host more than 2 displays ...

[Guest spiliot_]

I'll do it for you. Contact me privately.

[kiek 1,212]

>Sure I know that IOcards can do segment displays. But I don't>want IO .. I got photon already ;)Yeah, that's your problem! ;-) -)Remember an old American saying: "the pioneers get the arrows, but the settlers get the land..."Nicowww.nicokaan.nl