BigSeg7x4 only dots turn on and off

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eaderigt
 
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BigSeg7x4 only dots turn on and off

Post by eaderigt »

Dear all,
I am seeking advice for the following:

I have set up my Raspberry Pi 4 with the yellow 7 segment display 1.2 inch and the backpack.

For some reason only the dots want to turn on and of with "display.fill(1)"
The digits do not want to respond to my code.

There must be something critical I do wrong - but I am not sure what it is.

Does anyone have an advice for me?

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: BigSeg7x4 only dots turn on and off

Post by Franklin97355 »

How are you connecting it and what program are you using? Can you post a picture of the setup?

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eaderigt
 
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Re: BigSeg7x4 only dots turn on and off

Post by eaderigt »

Hi Franklyn,
Thank you.

I am using python and have gone through the tutorial here:
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-led ... t-backpack

Image
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eaderigt
 
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Re: BigSeg7x4 only dots turn on and off

Post by eaderigt »

two more photos
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eaderigt
 
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Re: BigSeg7x4 only dots turn on and off

Post by eaderigt »

The strange thing I am facing is:

The display does show the colon -> display.print(':')
And it lites all dots -> display.fill(1)

With the code below:

Code: Select all

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2019 Mikey Sklar for Adafruit Industries
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

import time
import board

from adafruit_ht16k33.segments import BigSeg7x4
#from adafruit_ht16k33.segments import Seg7x4

i2c = board.I2C()
display = Seg7x4(i2c)

# Clear the display.
display.fill(0)
display.brightness = 0.9

display.print(':')
time.sleep(1)

display.print("1234")
display.show()
time.sleep(1)

# Clear the display.
display.fill(0)
time.sleep(1)
display.fill(1)
time.sleep(1)

display.fill(0)

print("ready")

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eaderigt
 
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Re: BigSeg7x4 only dots turn on and off

Post by eaderigt »

hi Franklin, can you think if anything I did wrong?

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adafruit_support_carter
 
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Re: BigSeg7x4 only dots turn on and off

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

Did you try?

Code: Select all

display = BigSeg7x4(i2c)
It's not clear from your code. It's being imported, but not used.

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eaderigt
 
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Re: BigSeg7x4 only dots turn on and off

Post by eaderigt »

hi, thank you.

yes - I corrected that. It was the error in the code I posted here after doing trial and error.

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eaderigt
 
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Re: BigSeg7x4 only dots turn on and off

Post by eaderigt »

posting one mor pic to show what display.fill(1) is doing
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adafruit_support_carter
 
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Re: BigSeg7x4 only dots turn on and off

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

OK, let's check other connections. Can you post a photo of the backside of the backpack so we can check the soldering on the LED module pins.

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eaderigt
 
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Re: BigSeg7x4 only dots turn on and off

Post by eaderigt »

this is the backside with the pins
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eaderigt
 
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Re: BigSeg7x4 only dots turn on and off

Post by eaderigt »

and the full view
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dastels
 
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Re: BigSeg7x4 only dots turn on and off

Post by dastels »

I'd redo the soldering of the display to the board. It doesn't look bad, but the LEDs that light up are all on one column of the controller. The LEDs that aren't lighting up are on other columns.

Dave

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eaderigt
 
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Re: BigSeg7x4 only dots turn on and off

Post by eaderigt »

dastels wrote: Tue Oct 04, 2022 12:50 pm I'd redo the soldering of the display to the board. It doesn't look bad, but the LEDs that light up are all on one column of the controller. The LEDs that aren't lighting up are on other columns.

Dave
ok. I think I am going to try that. Can you maybe help me and tell me which columns is the one that you think that might have a soldering problem?

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dastels
 
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Re: BigSeg7x4 only dots turn on and off

Post by dastels »

The ones for the 4 digits. There aren't many connections, just reflow all of them. The solder should flow into the hole around the pin and result is a tent-like shape. As I said, they don't look particularly bad, but it's pretty much always the first thing to try.

Specifically the digits are on pins 2-5 of the display. See page 3 of the datasheet to identify pin 1.

Dave

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