Experience the brilliance of our green dot matrix display with SZ810757G and PIC18F2553

Visualize, customize, shine!

Published Nov 01, 2023

Click board™

7x10 G Click

Dev. board

EasyPIC v8

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

PIC18F2553

Elevate your projects with the tranquil ambiance of our green LED dot matrix display, suited for creating visually pleasing displays, notifications, and graphics in various settings

Hardware Overview

How does it work?

7x10 G Click is based on two SZ410757Ns, green LED dot matrix modules from Wuxi Ark. A single LED matrix module is composed of 35 LED elements grouped in rows and columns. The LED elements in one row have their cathodes connected and routed to a single-row pin. The LED elements in one column have their anodes connected and routed to a single-column pin. Multiplexed like this, modules have a fairly low number of pins (12 per module), making them suitable to be driven by shift registers and a decade of counter ICs. The driver circuit consists of two 74HC595 - 8bit, serial input - parallel output shift registers, one CD4017 - a Jonson topology decade counter with ten outputs, and one ULN2003A - an IC with seven integrated

Darlington transistor pairs, all chips produced by Texas Instruments. The shift registers are used to polarize the anodes on the columns of the LED displays. To complete the LED's current path, their cathodes must be connected to the ground. This is where the CD4017 and ULN2003 ICs are used. The ULN2003 IC drives rows of the dot matrix displays by sinking the current on the active row. To activate one of the seven input channels of the ULN2003 IC, the CD4017 decade counter IC is used. The design of the decade counter allows only one row to be active at a time. So, to see the complete picture on an LED matrix, the row scanning has to be fast enough so that the effect called persistent vision takes place. It produces an illusion of a complete image, even if only one row

is seen at a time - because the human eye cannot detect very fast changes in light. 7x10 G Click uses a 4-wire SPI serial interface of the 74HC595 shift registers to communicate with the host MCU. The shift registers are chained together and can be reset over the RST pin. The clock and the reset inputs of the CD4017 are controlled by the RC and RR pins. This Click board™ can operate with either 3.3V or 5V logic voltage levels selected via the PWR SEL jumper. This way, both 3.3V and 5V capable MCUs can use the communication lines properly. Also, this Click board™ comes equipped with a library containing easy-to-use functions and an example code that can be used as a reference for further development.

Features overview

Development board

EasyPIC v8 is a development board specially designed for the needs of rapid development of embedded applications. It supports many high pin count 8-bit PIC microcontrollers from Microchip, regardless of their number of pins, and a broad set of unique functions, such as the first-ever embedded debugger/programmer. The development board is well organized and designed so that the end-user has all the necessary elements, such as switches, buttons, indicators, connectors, and others, in one place. Thanks to innovative manufacturing technology, EasyPIC v8 provides a fluid and immersive working experience, allowing access anywhere and under any

circumstances at any time. Each part of the EasyPIC v8 development board contains the components necessary for the most efficient operation of the same board. In addition to the advanced integrated CODEGRIP programmer/debugger module, which offers many valuable programming/debugging options and seamless integration with the Mikroe software environment, the board also includes a clean and regulated power supply module for the development board. It can use a wide range of external power sources, including a battery, an external 12V power supply, and a power source via the USB Type-C (USB-C) connector.

Communication options such as USB-UART, USB DEVICE, and CAN are also included, including the well-established mikroBUS™ standard, two display options (graphical and character-based LCD), and several different DIP sockets. These sockets cover a wide range of 8-bit PIC MCUs, from the smallest PIC MCU devices with only eight up to forty pins. EasyPIC v8 is an integral part of the Mikroe ecosystem for rapid development. Natively supported by Mikroe software tools, it covers many aspects of prototyping and development thanks to a considerable number of different Click boards™ (over a thousand boards), the number of which is growing every day.

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

Architecture

PIC

MCU Memory (KB)

Silicon Vendor

Microchip

Pin count

RAM (Bytes)

2048

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

CD4017 Clock

RA3

74HC595 Reset

RA0

RST

74HC595 Latch

RA5

SPI Clock

RC3

SCK

SPI Data OUT

RC4

MISO

SPI Data IN

RC5

MOSI

Power Supply

3.3V

Ground

GND

CD4017 Reset

RC1

PWM

INT

SCL

SDA

Power Supply

Ground

GND

Take a closer look

Click board™ Schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

EasyPIC v8 front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the EasyPIC v8 as your development board.

NECTO Output Selection Step Image hardware assembly

In the advanced settings, pay special attention to the Redirect standard output field. By default, it is set to Application output as the method of displaying final results. To show results via a UART terminal, select the “UART” option in that field and click the “SAVE” button. You will be returned to the Compiler field, and now you can move on to the next step by pressing the “NEXT” button.

GNSS2 Click front image hardware assembly

GNSS2 Click complete accessories setup image hardware assembly

EasyPIC v8 Access DIPMB 1 - upright/background hardware assembly

NECTO Compiler Selection Step Image hardware assembly

Necto DIP image step 7 hardware assembly

Track your results in real time

Application Output

1. Application Output - In Debug mode, the 'Application Output' window enables real-time data monitoring, offering direct insight into execution results. Ensure proper data display by configuring the environment correctly using the provided tutorial.

2. UART Terminal - Use the UART Terminal to monitor data transmission via a USB to UART converter, allowing direct communication between the Click board™ and your development system. Configure the baud rate and other serial settings according to your project's requirements to ensure proper functionality. For step-by-step setup instructions, refer to the provided tutorial.

3. Plot Output - The Plot feature offers a powerful way to visualize real-time sensor data, enabling trend analysis, debugging, and comparison of multiple data points. To set it up correctly, follow the provided tutorial, which includes a step-by-step example of using the Plot feature to display Click board™ readings. To use the Plot feature in your code, use the function: plot(*insert_graph_name*, variable_name);. This is a general format, and it is up to the user to replace 'insert_graph_name' with the actual graph name and 'variable_name' with the parameter to be displayed.

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for 7x10 G Click driver.

Key functions:

c7x10g_draw_pixel - Drawing the pixel on the display
c7x10g_draw_char - Drawing the character on the display
c7x10g_draw_number - Drawing the number on the display

Open Source

Code example

The complete application code and a ready-to-use project are available through the NECTO Studio Package Manager for direct installation in the NECTO Studio. The application code can also be found on the MIKROE GitHub account.

/*!
 * @file main.c
 * @brief c7x10G Click example
 *
 * # Description
 * This demo example shows a drawing of pixels, characters and a number on the screen.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 *
 * ## Application Init
 * Configuring the Click board.
 *
 * ## Application Task
 * Draws characters, numbers, and pixels to the display.
 *
 * @author Jelena Milosavljevic
 *
 */

#include "board.h"
#include "c7x10g.h"

// ------------------------------------------------------------------ VARIABLES

static c7x10g_t c7x10g;

// ------------------------------------------------------ APPLICATION FUNCTIONS

void application_init ( void ) {
    
    c7x10g_cfg_t c7x10g_cfg;  /**< Click config object. */

    //  Click initialization.

    c7x10g_cfg_setup( &c7x10g_cfg );
    C7X10G_MAP_MIKROBUS( c7x10g_cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    c7x10g_init( &c7x10g, &c7x10g_cfg );
}

void application_task ( void ) {
    
    c7x10g_pixel_t pixel;
    uint8_t cnt;
    uint8_t cnt_x;
    uint8_t cnt_y;
    
    // CHAR PROCEDURE
    for ( cnt = 'A'; cnt < 'Z'; cnt+=2 ) {
        
        c7x10g_draw_char( &c7x10g, cnt, C7X10G_DISPLAY_LEFT, C7X10G_DISPLAY_DELAY_50MS );
        c7x10g_draw_char( &c7x10g, cnt + 1, C7X10G_DISPLAY_RIGHT | C7X10G_DISPLAY_REFRESH, C7X10G_DISPLAY_DELAY_50MS );
       
        Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    }

    // COUNTER PROCEDURE
    for ( cnt = 0; cnt < 15; cnt++ ) {
        
        c7x10g_draw_number( &c7x10g, cnt, C7X10G_DISPLAY_DELAY_50MS );
        
        Delay_ms ( 500 );
    }
    
    // PIXELS PROCEDURE
    for ( cnt_x = 0; cnt_x <= 7; cnt_x++ ) {
        
        for ( cnt_y = 0; cnt_y <= 10; cnt_y++ ) {
            
            pixel.cord_x = cnt_x;
            pixel.cord_y = cnt_y;
            c7x10g_draw_pixel( &c7x10g, &pixel, C7X10G_DISPLAY_PIXEL_STORAGE, C7X10G_DISPLAY_DELAY_20MS );

            pixel.cord_x = cnt_x;
            pixel.cord_y = cnt_y + 1;
            c7x10g_draw_pixel( &c7x10g, &pixel, C7X10G_DISPLAY_PIXEL_REFRESH, C7X10G_DISPLAY_DELAY_20MS );
        }
    }
}

int main ( void ) 
{
    /* Do not remove this line or clock might not be set correctly. */
    #ifdef PREINIT_SUPPORTED
    preinit();
    #endif
    
    application_init( );
    
    for ( ; ; ) 
    {
        application_task( );
    }

    return 0;
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------ END