Replacement for SAA1064

Other Hardware LEDs and Multiplexing
1

So its kind off confirmed - Mouser / Digikey / Farnell - all of them say that the SAA1064 chip from NXP to drive 7-seg CA displays is obsolete. Which is a pity anyway.

So does it mean that no one no longer drives 7-segment displays using the I2C bus ?

I am sure there must be a new alternative and will be happy to what that is . Thanks

2

Maybe not I2C, but what is wrong with a MAX7219? Chain any reasonable number to three pins.

OK, if you must have I2C, Adafruit knows how.

3

Paul__B:
Maybe not I2C, but what is wrong with a MAX7219? Chain any reasonable number to three pins.

OK, if you must have I2C, Adafruit knows how.

Of course nothing wrong with the MAX7219 which is my favorite for CC display modules !. But right now it so happens that I need to drive 3 different 4 digit modules and they are big : Each 7 seg display is 2.3" tall and has a vf of 12V. And more important these are Common Anode types.

So considering all this the SAA1064 is just the chip I need and its obsolete I think.

The Adafruit page links to HT16K33 chips... let me check them.

Thanks

4

I hope you do not imagine that the MAX7219 cares whether you have common anode or common cathode displays.

5

The TPIC6B595 is commonly used for large 7-segment displays.
Leo..

6

Paul__B:
I hope you do not imagine that the MAX7219 cares whether you have common anode or common cathode displays.

I know the MAX7219 does not care about the CA and CC stuff. But then if I were to use it with a CA module I guess some circus is involved to swap the segment and digit pins and then do some changes to the code to suit. Been reading about it.

Anyway to drive a segment with 12V vf , I need to bring in the high voltage drivers which is what I was trying to avoid. ( But not given up still !!)

7

I am sure there must be a new alternative

The age of 7 segment displays in commercial products ended a several years ago. Large high voltage 7 segment displays even more so. So, no, there is no new alternative.

I used saa1064 in a project many years ago. It wasn't all that convenient, because you needed a couple of transistors as high-side switches if you wanted to drive 4 digits with multiplexing. But at least it was i2c compatible and had constant current cathode drivers, performed the multiplexing for you etc.