AVR-Chat

hello

I have been looking at LED message display similar to this one: http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/NEW-VR3-CAR-LED-DIGITAL-SCROLLING-LED-MESSAGE-BOARD_W0QQitemZ110277140007QQihZ001QQcategoryZ9886QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem 

However, its rated at 3A, while editing, power will surge to 500mA continous and its scrolling current is in the 300mA range. This display is almost suitable for my application except for the power.

Does anyone here know of an alternative display w/ the following requirements:
- Alphanumeric display
- low power ideally rated 1A or below
- large enough to be easily read from 10feet
- Practical to interface to an AVR
- rugged design for land vehicle installation

I've been looking into character LCD modules but the lagest character height I could find is 10-15mm. Is there an lcd module w/ character height about 1inch high or perhaps 20mm?

thanks in advance

Chris

Chris,

does it really need to be a LED display ?
Noritake makes a line of VFD displays, that
need all your requirements, bit maybe more
expensive...

>- Alphanumeric display

Yes.

>- low power ideally rated 1A or below

Close to that; i measured just below 1 A at 5V.

>- large enough to be easily read from 10feet

With character sizes up to 30 mm, no problem.

>- Practical to interface to an AVR

Those are very similar to LCD modules in the
way they are connected to the MCU.

>- rugged design for land vehicle installation

I have seen VFD´s as main instrument panels in
some recent european vehicles, namely made by
Renault, and also on some older (end-80´s) Audis.

HTH
-Michael

Manufaturer´s homepage:
http://www.noritake-itron.jp/english/e_top.htm
(i have used the Gu800 Series module named
"GU256X32-800A")

Chris,
Have you seen this display: http://crystalfontz.com/products/2002z/index.html  ?  We get all our LCDs from them and have had wonderful service and quality.

BTW, unless you're doing high volume (>10K month), noritake won't bother talking to you.  The best place for low volume VFDs is at:  www.newhavendisplay.com.  We've done several custom VFDs with them and they're great to work with.

The other option is large starburst LEDs or to build up your own out of dot matrix LEDs.  I attached a photo of a clock module as an example.  The picture isn't the best quality but it gives you the idea (the display looks great with a gray filter in front of it).

Regards,

Tim Gilbert
JEM Innovation Inc.
303-926-9053 (office)
303-437-4342 (cell)
720-890-8582 (fax)
www.jeminnovation.com
www.pdksolutions.com

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Michael Buchstaller 
  To: AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 4:55 PM
  Subject: Re: [AVR-Chat] Character display viewable at 10feet


  Chris,

  does it really need to be a LED display ?
  Noritake makes a line of VFD displays, that
  need all your requirements, bit maybe more
  expensive...

  >- Alphanumeric display

  Yes.

  >- low power ideally rated 1A or below

  Close to that; i measured just below 1 A at 5V.

  >- large enough to be easily read from 10feet

  With character sizes up to 30 mm, no problem.

  >- Practical to interface to an AVR

  Those are very similar to LCD modules in the
  way they are connected to the MCU.

  >- rugged design for land vehicle installation

  I have seen VFD´s as main instrument panels in
  some recent european vehicles, namely made by
  Renault, and also on some older (end-80´s) Audis.

  HTH
  -Michael

  Manufaturer´s homepage:
  http://www.noritake-itron.jp/english/e_top.htm
  (i have used the Gu800 Series module named
  "GU256X32-800A")


   

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