Controlling Mechanical 7-Segment Displays?! How RS-485 and UART works! || EB#43

Useful websites which were shown/used during the video:

In this video I will be having a closer look at commercial mechanical 7-segment displays and find out how they work. Afterwards I will be creating a YouTube subscriber counter with them and an ESP8266 by not only finding out how the control PCB for the display works, but also by learning about the RS-485 and UART interface. Let's get started!

Music:
2011 Lookalike by Bartlebeats

[pauljackson]

That sound of listening to mechanical clicks of these displays and even hearing the clicks of relay array is always a pleasure to hear🙌

[sikkepossu]

He's getting more and more insane with that "I will see you next time" thing. :D

[ZevHoover]

I can’t be the only one who starts twitching slightly every time he runs the highlighter over the black pen enough times that the black ink starts to run.

Love your videos though man.

[josephhacker]

This video isn't sponsored by JLC-PCB

[izzieb]

These kind of displays always remind me of the old clocks and departure boards in Britain, under British Rail.

[NathanA]

I don't know why, but the highlighter smearing your ink really bothers me on some fundamental level. Great video though!

[lemonglataitor]

How to stress out children taking a timed exam.

[PabloAymerich]

And to get a price you have to ask for a quote. :( why couldn't they put at least an MSRP or estimated price per digit? It would be good for them to offer a DEV kit for $XX dollars with 4 digits and uart board?

[lptf]

I really want to commend you on a particular detail of your videos... the time and effort you take, as a non-native English speaker, to slowly and clearly pronounce each and every word in your video. So many videos from people who are non-native speakers of languages are almost unwatchable because of how difficult it is to understand what they are saying. They have poor pronunciation, they mumble, and they speak way too quickly. It can be hard enough for some native English speakers to understand other native English speakers from different countries, but non-native speakers are other level of difficulty. However your efforts are absolutely wonderful. All your videos are very easy to understand. Thank you for making the effort.

[jagadishk]

Hi Scott,
I am debugging an RS485 design-driven by raspberry pi, before coming to this video I was tired upset because it was not working and it was 3AM in the morning.
In your video you mentioned that the baud rate must to matched, then it dawned upon me that I must modify it and it worked.
I guess when your frustrated you mess up even the most trivial things. Your video gave my cluttered mind a hint.
Thanks a Ton, Scott, never stop making these videos.

[davidadams]

Absolutely brilliant - glued to the screen! Your patience and commitment is inspiring.

[stevenmorisset]

10 digits will never be enough for you GreatScott !

[hackerman]

PRICING FOR OCTOBER 2019:
7 seg modules:
9 EUR apiece for 1-99 pcs
controllers:
21 EUR for 1-99 pcs
190 EUR for a bundle of 1x10 digits with controllers

[vectorchan]

Hopefully china starts making these. I'm not buying from a company that won't tell you the price without "getting in touch with a representative"

[amirrezagd]

thanks a lot for talking about the RS-485, I wanted a simple with example video about RS-485 and your explanations were the best.

[alanm.]

This could’ve made a really bad ass 80s dashboard speedometer

[andrewkieran]

Another great topic, but I missed something.

In one of the the diagrams, one end of all of the magnets in a digit are connected to a common source, and the individual segments are grounded by a darlington transistor pair. How do you switch between the two states; segment displayed or segment not displayed?

Removing the power retains the existing state so don't you need to apply the power for state 0 and reverse the polarity to select state 1? How do reverse the polarity in this case without an h-bridge?

[StreuPfeffer]

Ive found the company a while ago through another YT vid. got myself a couple 7 Segments and some flipdots. Also got a single RS485 segement, didn't get to them unfortunatly yet. Thanks for makeing it more clear how they are driven though.

[anycatdessai]

Liked the new fusion way of project and electronics basics video in one. Makes it quite interesting.

[cabasse_music]

your vids are the best, man. can't believe i hadn't found your channel sooner