Have no electronic experience but sure this is simple?

[dsavin]

Hi All,

My first post so please be gentle with me

I need to create a simple Electronic style score board. Currently it only needs to show the heat number that is currently running. It's rare the number of heats exceed 10 so i only need to display single digits 0 to 9.

I'd like to make this from LED's/Diodes running from a 12volt portable battery source. The overall size of the digit being displayed would need to be 30 - 45cm in height so it can be seen from a good distance.

I'd really love to be able to control this from a PC program so you hit the number you want to display and off it goes however i have no idea where to start so i'm guessing manual switching would be required with some sort of 10 position selector switch and relays etc

I would guess the digit would need to be made up of 7 segments like an LCD style display.

I have no idea where to start, what is required etc. Can anyone shed me any light on this or point me to some good reference material?

Any questions just shout.

Thanks for your time and understanding.

Regards
Darren

 

[steveycocktail]

hiya - are you still after a solution to this .... i only just joined and found your post.

steve

 

[dsavin]

hiya - are you still after a solution to this .... i only just joined and found your post.

steve

Hi,

Yeah i'm still looking at this project so any ideas or help sure would be appreciated

Thanks
Darren

 

[evilheart]

it will be simple with out the pc thing , because it will need a microcontroller to communicate with the pc , a pic microcontroller will do it good , and u can go to microchip company site and go to application notes to find about it,

if u r not ready for microcontrollers, i think u will need a keypad 74c922 chip , and a BCD to seven segment decoder 7447 or 7448 , i don't know if there is a seven-seg display with the the size u want , if there isn't u can make it ur self, and i think u will need an op amp as a buffer or digital switches (like relays but chips) to operate the seven seg display because it may need high current with the size u want.

 

[docel]

Hi!!
Evilhearts suggestion can be further simplified , since 74c922 is long obsolete and may not be available.....

You can replace the 74C922 with a BCD thumb wheel switch connected to the 74LS47.