60 LCD (color) screens displaying QTY and LED via microcontroller

[StealthRT]

Hey all I am looking into building a project for my company that would better help them lower the errors of workers when choosing parts.

What I need to accomplish is a way to have a small LCD screen (which I would like color so it would show up when on) on each part (60 parts) and depending on what needs to be chosen, only show the number of qty of part(s) needed while the other LCD screens are off. So only LCD screens that are on are the only ones they need to go to and pick up the part.

I know how to go about this the “simple” way. Just hook up an LED light to each of the 60 parts and only turn the LED light on that they need a part to pick up. But problem with that is that they may need more than 1 qty for each part that’s light up.

So as an example let’s say we have all 60 blue LED’s (A blue LED for each part). I would use an Arduino Mega to trigger each LED that needs to be on via the digital pins that the LED’s would be connected to on the Arduino board.

But as I stated above, I cannot tell the user how many QTY there is doing just the LED way (of course I could use RGB LED’s but that’s way too many wires to hook up!!!)

So my question is: What products can I look for that would be similar to what I am looking to do? Is it possible to drive 60 LCD’s with a qty number displayed on them via an Arduino without having a massive amount of wires to hook up?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

David

 

[Raven Luni]

I was looking through LCD / OLED screens recently looking for something to experiement with. I was surprised at how expensive those things are considering how cheap some products using them are. I also found that about 95% of all listed screens on every site were nolonger manufactured. I'm guessing they just do this to make their inventory look big.

Anyway - good news. I did come across this: a cheap copy of a nokia screen for £10. The connector for it is absolutely tiny though but they have a board mounted version for £23. Here are the respective links:

http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=45_71&products_id=663

http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=45_71&products_id=664

 

[StealthRT]

I was looking through LCD / OLED screens recently looking for something to experiement with. I was surprised at how expensive those things are considering how cheap some products using them are. I also found that about 95% of all listed screens on every site were nolonger manufactured. I'm guessing they just do this to make their inventory look big.

Anyway - good news. I did come across this: a cheap copy of a nokia screen for £10. The connector for it is absolutely tiny though but they have a board mounted version for £23. Here are the respective links:

http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=45_71&products_id=663

http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=45_71&products_id=664

Good suggestion but having to work with both the LCD and board mount would bring the cost up to 40 each plus would require an arduino to power each LCD itself. Thats a lot of money

David

 

[(*steve*)]

Why not a simple LCD module that displays something like "10 required" placed above each bin.

There are a plethora of these available very cheaply and with some ingenuity you could arrange for the backlight to only be turned on for those where the part is required.

 

[StealthRT]

I'm just thinking of getting some LCD TFT's (5 inches or so) with touch screens and hooking them up to some ebox 3300 PC's. That would give me more options on how i go about programming and all.

Saying that does anyone have any good links to any LCD websites with good prices? The lowest i've found (5" with touch screen) is about $120/each.

David

 

[(*steve*)]

Either wait a few years, or buy them in quantities of > 1000 and you should be able to get a better price, other than that it sounds reasonable. A lot depends on whether it's a naked LCD and touch panel or if there are electronics to control it.

For example, you could get Iphone screens for less (they're a bit smaller) but you'd have to do all the interface electronics.