So, if you remember from looooooooong ago, I found out about the 19S-8 display. And I tried to get a control device going for it, but the CMOS chips I tried crapped out on me... (damn things are too sensitive to static electricity!
)
But as I thought of a control device (and gave up and used plain ol' rotary switches
), tomcat came up with a control device for them using relays. D'oh!
While I was purchasing digits for my custom display, I decided to have a peek at its internal shot... I found out that the bitmapping was done using diode steering! Just as I initially thought, but it was common
anode, not common
cathode like I wired the diodes up in my original diode card replica. (I'm used to a
1 being an "on" data signal and a
0 being an "off" data signal. With common anode it's inverted.)
To get an idea, here's a replica I recently sketched...
Now my idea here is to make a
miniaturized version, with #6838 28V 24mA grain of wheat bulbs and SMD 1N4148 or LL4148 diodes.
I think they'd be a cute little miniaturization of the classic eggcrate display!
tomcat can even try making a few if he is up for the challenge. All that would need done is that the schematic be followed but with different, smaller parts.
Figure, Staver made a tiny 1.5" vane display (the 152L) for use in toll booths and arcade games, so why not make a custom tiny eggcrate display! I hypothesize it'd be about 2" tall.