17 Segment Display Controls

Projects General Guidance
1

Hey there everybody! So I've got an Arduino Uno board and I honestly am having difficulty understanding if my project idea is possible, for 1, and how to go about it for 2. My materials I've got assembled already are below:

Six 17-segment LED displays (each one is a pair of individual displays, so a total of 12 "characters") with 20 pins
Two 2-hole, 6 position rotary switches
One 3-pin toggle switch
Two 2-pin momentary-on push-buttons witches
70 jumper cables (for the board)
Power supply/remaining LEDs for the mushroom cloud (see below)

Project info: Basically I'm building a replica of an ICBM launch panel. I understand that displaying target and weapon yield weren't actually done in the real silos, but this is a personal project for a class not really based on realism.

Program 1:

At 1, display is blank:
[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

At 2, toggle switch is flipped and display is activated:
[T] [A] [R] [G] [E] [T]
[M] [O]
```c
~~ [O] [W]

At 3, dial is turned to choose between 6 different "target" options:
[P] [Y] [O] [N] [G] [Y] [A] [N] [G] / (other options here)

At 4, push-button "locks in target" and brings up next part of display, reading:

[W] [E] [A] [P] [O] [N] - [Y] [I] [E] [L] [D] [:]
[1] [.] [5] [M] [t]

At 5, dial is turned to choose between 6 different "yield" options:
[1] [5] [M] [t]

At 6, push-button "locks in yield" and display reads:
[S] [Y] [S] [T] [E] [M]
[R] [E] [A] [D] [Y]

And finally, at 7, a key will be turned to "fire" the missile, with the display to read:
[W] [E] [A] [P] [O] [N]
[L] [A] [U] [N] [C] [H]

Program 2 for the board:

After the above is finished, I'd like the board to activate a series of 5 standard LEDs in sequence, one every second, until the "trail" dead-ends into a mushroom cloud which I'd like to have slowly spread from the center to the top and bottom of the shape made of LEDs, all triggered by step 7 in the above program.

Is it possible? Is it way too complex for my simple mind? Can anybody help me with this? And finally, when I finish this project, would you all like pictures/video if it in action? :stuck_out_tongue:

Let me know! Thank you so very much for your time.~~
```

2

For your 1st Program:
I build for my project --> 24 7segments with 24 Shift Register 74hc595 divide into 6 line like this:

[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] <-- 1st line <-- using 4 shift register for one line with 4 digits <-- using Shift Register only needs 3 control pins to the arduino
[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] <-- 2nd line <-- using 4 shift register for one line with 4 digits <-- using Shift Register only needs 3 control pins to the arduino
...
...
...
[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] <-- 6th line <-- using 4 shift register for one line with 4 digits <-- Using Shift Register only needs 3 control pins to the arduino
Total Pins used (not include power and ground) is 18 for control the 7segments

It means, it will not be enough if I use Arduino UNO R3 with only total 12 outputs could be used.
So I suggest you to use Arduino Mega 2560 with more pins.

What is 'mushroom cloud' you state?

3

Thank you so much, creativen. I'm a little bit short on cash right now, so I'll have to wait a few days before I can purchase the Mega 2560, but I'll most certainly take your advice on that one. :slight_smile:

Mushroom cloud:

Basically I'd like to have an outline of that made of LEDs that starts in the middle and grows to the top and bottom of the outline, if that makes any sense.

4

You are very welcome, let us know your interesting project whether it works or not ... XD