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Another clock... I love clocks...

15/10/2013

I've got a thing for clocks... I wonder if it's because I'm not getting any younger.
Anyway, I had a day free over the weekend and decided It was clock building time.

There's not much to this clock really. A PIC18F25K22 running some simple firmware written in AMICUS18 BASIC. There's a Dallas DS1302 RTC chip with battery backup, and a handful of other components.
I've been experimenting with different firmware to see which makes the display the most readable.
The image on the left of the clock front is showing a time of 10:20:13

UPDATE 29/10/13
I've created a construction project for this clock which can be found here.

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PICs, Shift Registers and lots and lots of display digits

17/4/2013

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I’ve been experimenting with using a PIC to control long chains of 7-segment LED displays, and to find an approach that I can use to replace the obsolete TIL311 displays. To that end, I’ve created a tech article that describes a simple way to do this. My prototype was 24 digits long; long enough for most applications I think, but could be extended. It’s all done with a PIC18F25K22 running from its own internal oscillator, accepts data from a serial device at 9600 baud, and supports 0 to 9, and A to F value display. The code is written in AMICUS18 BASIC which is free so you can change the software to suit your own application. All the fully documented source code is supplied as well as a schematic of the circuit.

The picure above shows 24 digits (6 x 4 digit modules). The display modules each contain a 4 x 7 segment Common Cathode display, a DIL resisor pack on the modules right-hand side, and there are 4 n-channel SMT MOSFETS underneath.
The advantage of using modules on breadboards is the vast amount of time, and wire that's saved. You can throw a quick circuit together in no-time if you already have the modules pre-built. It also saves a lot of breadboard space.

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New PIC BASIC Programming series and the Weller WP3EU gas iron.

14/1/2012

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Been really busy over the last few days with a lot going on.

I’ve started writing a series of articles on programming PICs with the AMICUS18 PIC BASIC compiler from Crownhill Associates. Each article covers a specific topic starting with how to get everything configured and writing your first “Hello World” BASIC program, and then onto interfacing to common electronic components. Each article includes circuit diagrams and source code.

I’ve also added a review on a new toy… I mean tool, for the bench; a Weller gas powered soldering iron which recently arrived from Rapid Electronics.

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Another clock... I love clocks...

PICs, Shift Registers and lots and lots of display digits

New PIC BASIC Programming series and the Weller WP3EU gas iron.

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