7 Segment Display Help.

[No Longer Active]

Hi,

I have just ordered 3 of the FS-BUS 7 segment display PCB's for my NAV/COM radio and would like to know if anyone has got the displays pieces to go in it.

I need 14 of them and has been quoted £17 + £12 shipping. £12 Shipping is a lot of money for just 14 tiny displays (the size of a penny each!)

So, if anyone has any spare that they could sell me, then please let me know and I will buy them with no questions asked.

Looking for these little fella's:

http://uk.mouser.com/Optoelectronics/Displays/LED-Displays/_/N-6j73b?Keyword=LDS-C324RI

Anyone know of a supplier of these that wont rip me off for £12 on the shipping?

Kind Regards,

Alex

[No Longer Active]

Can someone tell me if these will do the job for the fs-bus displays PCB?

Just found this:

http://www.rapidonline.com/netalogue/specs/57-0140e.pdf

Cheers,

Alex

[Steve A]

I have 12, 7segment displays but they have amber numbers, they measure 12mm x 8mm and need de-soldering from an old pcb if they are any use you can have them.

[Buddym]

Alex,

Looking at the specs for these displays vs the ones that OC sells (Avago HDSP-7403), it looks like the width of each display is different. The Kingbright is 7.5 wide and the Avago displays are 7.62 wide.. this might be enough to make them look too far spaced from each other... I dunno.... it's close.

The other thing to watch of course is that you get displays that are common cathode.

The Mouser link to the Avago displays is here:

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Avago-Technologies/HDSP-7403/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMvkC18yXH9iIsSFKp4VzurGoIzdZmXSZPw%3d#spec

Buddy

[No Longer Active]

Thanks guys, what I am concerned with is making sure that the pins fit the board exactly, so what displays do I exactly need to fit the FS-BUS display pcb's?, these are not the OC boards, I am guessing that the fs-bus pcb's are pretty much the same as OC pcb's, both do the same thing I guess.

Hmmmm, I'm a little lost, maybe I should take a photo of the boards when they arrive, and then maybe you guys can give a verdict?

Cheers,

Alex.....

[iwik]

Hi Alex,
There are manuals for the Display board which state what type to use.Its accessible thru Menu after installing Fsbus.There was someone else woith your dilema but ant find the thread.
Les

[No Longer Active]

Can FS-BUS PCB's be used on OC display boards?

Also, the OC manual for the display card shows only how to wire ONE display card to the board, I am very puzzled to how you wire up THREE boards to the OC display board.

I have 2 x PCB's @ 5 digits
I have 1 x PCB @ 4 digits

Total 14 digits which is within the maximum digits available (which is 16) on the OC displays card.

Can anyone offer me any assistance?

Kind Regards,

Alex

[Buddym]

Alex,

If you are referring to connecting multiple seven-segment display holders to a singe displays driver card, you have to come up with a distribution point. I built a header board with a bunch of segment pins in parallel, then a header row with a pin for each digit. I had a pic posted here but I think it's gone, lemme look for it..

Buddy

[Buddym]

how I wire up the header board I made:

[No Longer Active]

Many thanks for that buddy.

I guess I can make a distro-board just using a spare piece of perf board or vero board......

Thanks for the diagram, I knew it would be something similar to this, you have just confirmed it!

Many thanks again,

Again!

[Buddym]

yepp, thats what I did. worked out great. Regarding your displays, were the OC displays not what you were looking for? I know some folks want different color other than the yellow or white.

Buddy

[No Longer Active]

Not sure if the OC displays fit the FS Bus PCB's, if they do then great, but 8 euros shipping is very steep, so 22 euros for 14 displays is a little harsh if you ask me.

Also, I have to drill the pcb's aswell, I am not good with drilling as I haven't got a steady hand, also I am no good at soldering and will not be able to solder these millions of wires without the pins touching each other.

I have a funny feeling that I will end up binning the pcb's (coz I will mess them up somehow like the holes don't line up or something where I can't drill them straight).

The more I embark on this project, the more I am realising that I just can't do this because I don't have the skill.

Looking like I will just have to buy a pre-made radio!

But I will have a go at these 7 segment displays but I am not promising myself anything other than learning from my mistakes (costly mistakes).

[Buddym]

Alex, don't get too discouraged! We all have doubts about our skills in certain areas. That's where this forum should show it's true form the best, in my opinion. We should be able to lend each other a hand and see what we can accomplish. I know that great distances seperate us, but if I can help in any way, let's do it.

Are you tied to the FSBUS system at this point? If so, how did you get the rest of the boards put together? If you need to get the boards drilled, I have a dremel and dremel drill press that we could do it on. Post expenses might kill the idea, but we can explore all options here, it costs us nothing to chat about it.

What type of radio module are you building anyway?

Buddy

[No Longer Active]

Hi Buddy,

Well I purchased 2 x PCB's for my GA NAV /COM Radio (Old ARC 300 Radio), and 1 PCB for the A320 EFIS (mates project that you know Im helping with).

For now, I would like to get the NAV/COM radio finished as this is what I am waiting on.

I have a dremel but it's quite heavy on the hand, just hoping that I can drill with accuracy as I don't have the press, also the 1mm or 1.5mm drill bits are really brittle and quite fragile. I don't wan't to snap the drill bits as I have before hand. Saying that the pcb can only be 2mm thick anyway so surely there isn't to much to get through, I am assuming that a slow speed will be better, bot not totally sure. What I don't want is my holes to be slightly off line so that I drill too much of the copper contact, if that happens then the pcb is obsolete because I would have no physical connection.

As for soldering, I know I need a better Iron than what I have now, having the ability so solder very little and small 'solders' is an acquires skill, and the spacing between the pins on the PCB is almost back to back, so how you solder so close without producing a 'bridge' or 'jump' is beyond me.

Also, what makes a good soldering iron? My iron is very chunky, cheap, only 1 tip and 1 temperature only, assuming that this iron is no good.

As for the interface, I am using fsbus pcb's as they are 3 times cheaper than OC, but will use an OC display card to power the digits fed from the oc master card.

I don't know what else to say really, apart from it all appears overwhelming. Its the precision of the close nit soldering that fears me most, then the drilling.

Kind Regards,

Alex

[Buddym]

Yep, a bit overwhelming to me sometimes too! I have done electronics my entire life, and I still bridge pins, we all do. For that tight work, get a 15-20 watt "princess" iron if you can. They have a small tip and are very light.

I have drilled away a few pads myslef over the years. I'll have to have a look at the FSBUS stuff again, I looked at it when I first started.

Buddy

[747captian]

I would like to build my own nav and com radio's but where do I start and how do I get it to link up with the flight simulator I am using fsx but I might switch to x plane in the future after I build my cokpit. I am starting with the center panel of the 747-400 first then to the thrust levers and flaps and speed brakes.

[mondo50m]

This may be coming a little late, but log onto Kingbright to see how their shipping is. They sell the .36 inch leds that you need. I use them. I believe that they are less than $1.00 U.S. each. Bear in mind that most radios have com1, com2, nav1 and nav2. That is more than your 14 you are stating, and do not forget that these are also good for the MCP (spd, vspd, alt, hdg, etc). Make sure of how many you need so that you do not have to make multiple orders and thus multiple shipping costs.