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Three Colour 8 x 8 Dot Matrix Display Total 128 LED's This is an LED matrix and consists of an 8x8 array of tri colour LED’s that can be individually activated to produce green red and when combined, orange. The interface is greatly simplified by the use of a proprietary serial communication system based on text commands. The full datasheet can be found at www.byvac.co.uk Each individual dot has 2 LED's that can be individually controlled to produce red, green or when combined orange. The red and green led brightness can be globally controlled to produce differing shades of orange and to match the red and green for differing lighting conditions. The displays can be stacked side by side to produce any number of different display configurations. The display is controlled by a serial interface ( see below ), each led can be individually controlled or a character can be selected using an ASCII code. Characters can be either red, green or orange. The display has a reveal feature so that a display pattern can be set in the background and revealed with a single command. This enables flashing displays and special effects. Up to 6 characters can be defined and stored in EEPROM, a 'splash' screen can also be configured to display at start up. The serial interface consists of 5 connections, of which, only four will be used at any one time. The connection details are as follows: There are two interface options, RS232 via a standard PC COM port (Pins 4 and 2) or from a microcontroller UART (pins 1 and 2). As an example to interface to a standard 9 pin D type connector the following connections would be made. The interface is fully configurable by software commands. From the factory the software will detect the Baud rate automatically, this is achieved by pressing CR All commands are in ASCII text, some examples: Mix command example displays 3 red dots and one green dot on row 2 Lights up green dots from 1-12 and also dot 15 Change the red brightness to 4 There are over 30 commands to control and configure the LED and serial interface. * Easy to use asynchronous serial interface requiring only 4 connections. * Only 2 data lines required, transmit and receive. The device will work with transmit only. * Many devices can use the same two data lines * Each device has it’s own user configurable address * No specialist hardware, can work from a PC Com port * Automatic Baud rate detection up to 38.4K, non-standard baud rates can be detected making interfacing with microcontrollers easier * Simple software requirement for interfacing with a microcontroller. * Common protocol used throughout range, devices can be mixed on same data bus * Free Terminal software for Windows * Works with RS232 standard voltages and +5V, no level translator needed for receiving data * Tri colour RED and GREEN controlled individually, use together to make ORANGE * RED and GREEN brightness can be controlled. * User configured ‘splash screen’ enables a customised sequence of bit patterns to be displayed at switch on * Variable delays can provide a simple text based ‘show’ * Six user defined bit patterns can be stored in non-volatile memory. Current consumption 2mA aprox, all LED's off (Serial three colour 8X8 dot matrix display is the responsibility of Troy Oneil) |
t.oneil@cedar--rapids.com (Troy Oneil) for more information.
