Electronic Design PCB Collaboration

[Keith Baxter]

Ok, So what I think might be more universal to most is to have one MAX7219 driver board that will drive anything up to 8 digits. All that needs to change is the resistor.

From this image of a 5 Digit display we can then using SIL headers. Just plug the driver board into the display.

MAX7219_5_digit_display.png (6.96 KiB) Viewed 2821 times

Keith

[Sling]

Keith,

Agreed it makes sense to split the driver from the displays to give the most flexibility. The cheapest way to connect the boards would be solder if you really want to keep the cost as minimal as possible.

Tony

[Keith Baxter]

Keith,

Agreed it makes sense to split the driver from the displays to give the most flexibility. The cheapest way to connect the boards would be solder if you really want to keep the cost as minimal as possible.

Tony

Tony,

3,4,5&6 digit displays done for 14.2mm LED tubes RED. I changed the SIL connectors to two 8 way. Here is the new design. I have also given the board 4 x 3.2mm mounting holes so that they can be mounted using 3mm standoff's.

.

MAX7219-5-Digit-7-Segment.png (5.31 KiB) Viewed 2782 times

.
This is what the driver board will look like.

.

MAX7219-Universal-Driver.png (5.51 KiB) Viewed 2782 times

.

If there are any suggestions please shout. I would like to finalise tomorrow and test before I make the files available to all.

Keith

[jedeen]

Keith,

would it not be better to use a normal IC instead of the SMD, Max7219
I personally don't have any experience with mounting SMD's.
I like the idea from you, but as I stated before.....I have 20 displays in my cockpit, with 3 different dimension and pin layout.
So I will design my own PCB,s.
But for the common user, I would recommend to use the IC variant of the Max7219.

Have fun
Derk

[Keith Baxter]

Keith,

would it not be better to use a normal IC instead of the SMD, Max7219
I personally don't have any experience with mounting SMD's.
I like the idea from you, but as I stated before.....I have 20 displays in my cockpit, with 3 different dimension and pin layout.
So I will design my own PCB,s.
But for the common user, I would recommend to use the IC variant of the Max7219.

Have fun
Derk

You are correct Derk.

MAX7219-Universal-Driver_2.png (7.2 KiB) Viewed 2776 times

Keith

[Sling]

Keith,

Can you get the DIP for around the same price as the SOIC?

Tony

[Keith Baxter]

Keith,

Can you get the DIP for around the same price as the SOIC?

Tony

Tony,

I don't know. It was my bad. I used the wrong package when generating the PCB.

This is the one I have on order. should arrive midweek.

https://www.robotics.org.za/MAX7219-DIP?search=max7219

Keith

[Keith Baxter]

The 10 x MAX7219's and a bunch of bits and bobs arrived this morning. So it is play time for a few days to see what can actually be done with the MAX7219.

Also found a very nice little 5v 10A power supply. Cost about 8 euros.

Keith