7 Segment Display Array Clock

About the project

An digital clock made out of 144 7 segment displays

Project info

Difficulty: Difficult

Platforms: Arduino

Estimated time: 3 days

License: GNU General Public License, version 3 or later (GPL3+)

Items used in this project

Hardware components

2.54MM 0.1" 15-PIN FEMALE HEADER 2.54MM 0.1" 15-PIN FEMALE HEADER x 42
Sparkfun Capacitor Kit Sparkfun Capacitor Kit 100nf 0603 x 18
MAX7219 MAX7219 Interface and IO ICs / Display Interface x 18
Tiny RTC for auto I2C-bus TSSOP8 Tiny RTC for auto I2C-bus TSSOP8 x 1
Arduino Nano 3.0 (with ATMEGA328) Arduino Nano 3.0 (with ATMEGA328) x 1
MINI 7-SEGMENT COMMON CATHODE MINI 7-SEGMENT COMMON CATHODE 0.56 inch x 144
10K ohm Resistor 1/4 Watt 10K ohm Resistor 1/4 Watt 12K 0603 x 19
Custom PCB Custom PCB x 1
USB Female Type B Connector USB Female Type B Connector x 1

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Story

It's an digital clock made out of 144 7 segment displays controlled by an arduino nano.

Details

I've build an digital clock made out of 144 7 segment displays controlled by an arduino nano. The segments are controlled by 18 MAX7219 ic's which can control up to 64 individual leds or 8 7 segment displays. The array has 144 displays made each up of 8 individual leds so the array has an total off 1152 leds you can control.

(Note: when building this clock make sure the Tiny RTC’s headers are upside down so the battery faces downwards.)

Schematics, diagrams and documents

PCB Schematic

CAD, enclosures and custom parts

PCB Gerber files

Go to download

Code

Arduino code

Credits

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