Can also make your own segment with strips of LED. Make them 3, 6, 9, 12 LEDs/segment, double strips if want even, powered from 12V, and turning on each segment with TPIC6B595 shift register to sink up to 150mA/Segment from a 50V source.
That's what I did here, then we had PCBs made up.
This board drives them.
One shift register per digit. Board has a 328P chip on it, program it just like you would an Uno, using an offboard FDTI Basic or clone.
Here it is testing alarm clock code. A DS1307 module provided the real time when later on.
MrsCrossRoads calls this setup the science experiment.
