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Project Notes

#480 7-Segment LED Displays

All about LED 7-segment displays…

Build

Notes

There is a huge range of 7-segment LED displays in the market. Although basically the same, they vary in critical ways:

  • common anode or common cathode configuration
  • arrangement of pins
  • size, LED colour and forward voltage

The basic unit will have 10 pins, and comprise 7 LED segments plus a decimal point and a common anode or cathode.

Although pin assignments vary, they all operate in a similar manner:

  • the “common anode”/”common cathode” terminology basically indicates the polarity of the circuit. Common cathode means all the LED segments share a common cathode (negative pole) and are switched on by pulling segment pins high.

LED 7-Segment Components

The 7-segment components I have are similar to the SC56-11.

SC56-11_mechanical

Segment SC56-11 pin
a 7
b 6
c 4
d 2
e 1
f 9
g 10
dp 5

Credits and references

About LEAP#480 7-SegmentLED
Project Source on GitHub Project Gallery Return to the LEAP Catalog

This page is a web-friendly rendering of my project notes shared in the LEAP GitHub repository.

LEAP is just my personal collection of projects. Two main themes have emerged in recent years, sometimes combined:

  • electronics - usually involving an Arduino or other microprocessor in one way or another. Some are full-blown projects, while many are trivial breadboard experiments, intended to learn and explore something interesting
  • scale modelling - I caught the bug after deciding to build a Harrier during covid to demonstrate an electronic jet engine simulation. Let the fun begin..
To be honest, I haven't quite figured out if these two interests belong in the same GitHub repo or not. But for now - they are all here!

Projects are often inspired by things found wild on the net, or ideas from the many great electronics and scale modelling podcasts and YouTube channels. Feel free to borrow liberally, and if you spot any issues do let me know (or send a PR!). See the individual projects for credits where due.