Im looking into making a big counter display for team games, looking to have 4 teams, and a counter for each, one button counts up, the other button counting down.
What i would like to know, is it possible with the Mega, to have all 4 counters operate through the one arduino Mega board, or will i need an Arduino board for each counter/each team?
Thank you in advance for anyone that can help with this!
Connor
One Arduino for 4 counters is definitely enough but display what kind?
One arduino should be fine.
It's a common beginner error to think that using multiple Arduino in the same project is a good idea. For beginners and experts alike, using multiple Arduinos in a project can be very difficult.
My thinking was 4 boards each set up the same way, and using the large LED 7 segment numbers as the display for team points, i am a complete beginner and havent bought any components yet, just didnt want to be buying more than i need for it!
Would you recommend the Mega for this project or what would be best for me to get?
If the 4 displays are independent of each other and do not communicate, they are just 4 copies of the same project, then using 4 Arduino is fine.
I do not think Mega would be necessary for one display and 2 buttons. A classic Nano might be a better choice.
If the 4 displays are connected in some way, then Mega may be an advantage, but probably one Nano can control all displays and buttons.
Have you managed to find large enough displays for sale?
Will the displays need to have maximum brightness so they are visible outdoors in sunshine?
See? Now it starts to be complicated.
I would start with the display and one Mega. You can add another element later if needed.
I have found buttons and displays for what im looking to do, its just a wee project for a youth summer club and will be used indoors so display brightness should all be good.
Would the Mega be able to run all 4 counters at once? Instead of having 4 Arduino Uno running one counter each?
I will either have 1 or 2 displays per counter (tens/units) so the score for each team can go above 9
If the mega has the capability to have all 4 counters at once, that gives me a good starting position for the project!
4 counters on Mega definitely. Mega is way more powerful. The display is about the pins so it depends on how many pins display needs. As I understand, if it is 7 segment, 2 places, 4 counters , then surely yes, Mega is OK. Also 2 buttons, of course.
Could you show the display you are considering?
Show us your displays… links/ data sheets preferably.
If the displays are located together, a single UNO is more than enough to control everything.
Depending on the display, you may need to,put some thought it on the power supplies,
Where are the counter buttons located?
Alongside the displays, or on a long cable ?
This is the displays i had looked at, im not sure if this would be suitable or not, just trying to research things before i buy any parts to see if it is going to be possible. For now its confirmed a single Mega board is enough for controlling them, but the rest may cause issues with supply power for everything
You have a few considerations including the actual displays. Large 7 segment displays are available like this one. When choosing a 7 segment display you have a few lets say flavors. This is a data sheet for the unit I linked to. This example just happens to be a Common Anode, become familiar with terms like common anode and common cathode. Note the need for current limiting resistors on many displays and the need for a driver for each display. Note the current required for your displays making sure you have a power supply capable of handling the load. As you can see in the linked example large LED 7 segment displays are not cheap so you want to get things right the first time around.
Next you can figure each button to increment or decrement a display will use a DIO (Digital In / Out) channel of your uC along with an adequate number of DIO channels for the actual displays.
A single Arduino should do just fine. That was already covered.
Ron
Note that it requires 12 volts to drive it so you will need additional drivers (you can't control a 12v load directly). Also there are components like the TM1638 that can drive multiple 7-segment display digits and push buttons and handle the time multiplexing you would otherwise need to do in software unless you really want to connect 7 Arduino digital pins for each and every digit. Basically you can do it all with a Arduino Nano.
Take a look at this:TM1638 LED controller
Matrixing (TM1638 etc.) is not recommended if the display is used in a bright environment.
Sparkfun has matching drivers (not matrixed) for those large displays.
The drivers can be daisy-chained, so eight (or more) displays are only using three Arduino pins.
Plenty of pins left for buttons, even on the smallest Arduino.
This is a simple task, so computing power is not relevant.
Leo..
So the website in the UK that i have been looking at has those drivers too, but are you saying i could link all 8 number displays together with them even if its only 2 displays per counter?
And i could supply them with 12v power directly through the Arduino or would i be needing a separate power supply?
Connor
Arduino has no 12V so you will need separate power supply.
Yes. Your code sends "data" to the display-drivers.
Whenever a part of the data changes send the data new.
Sending the data for all digits new will take less then 0,1 seconds.
I haven't yet looked into the pre-written part of the code for the display-drivers
but it is very likely that the display-drivers keep the "data" which segment shall be switched on/off until you send new "data"
The LED-driver-chip from sparkfun is a shiftregister
IC-type-number TPIC6C596
shiftregisters serial in parallel out work very similar to each other
here is a video that explains how a shiftregister IC-type 74HC595 works
the TPIC6C596 works the same way
additionally you can watch these videos
these chips can be daisy-chained which is explained in the video too.
For your 4 displays each with 2-digit you can daisy-chain the all the drivers
first step: all data is shifted in
second step: transfer "bits" to output-stage
best regards Stefan
There is an example on the Sparkfun page of the drivers.
Writing 8 bytes takes less than 0.001sec.
Leo..
[quote="Wawa, post:13, topic:1124012, full:true"]Sparkfun has matching drivers (not matrixed) for those large displays.
[/quote]
Perfect since it also handles the 12V drive needed by the displays as well as needing few pins.
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