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Unread 24-12-2011, 16:16
zaphodp.jensen zaphodp.jensen is offline
Alumni and Mentor of 3130
AKA: Pierce Jensen
FRC #3130 (East Ridge Robotics Ominous Raptors (E.R.R.O.R.'s))
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Rookie Year: 2009
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 76
zaphodp.jensen is a jewel in the roughzaphodp.jensen is a jewel in the roughzaphodp.jensen is a jewel in the rough
Pic: Arduino Season Countdown Timer

I was bored this weekend, and finding myself yearning for the build season, I dug around inside my basement for something to build. And I stumbled across the parts to build: A SEASON COUNTDOWN TIMER! This simple device is controlled by an Arduino Duemilanove, and the display is a MAX6955 Evaluation board.
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Link to the part used as the display board: http://www.maxim-ic.com/datasheet/index.mvp/id/3540
This easy to use board uses I2C to control the 16 14-Segment displays, which makes it extremely easy to interface to an Arduino. The code uses the Wire Library to communicate with the displays, and the serial library to easily change the time remaining.
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This display is going to be in our shop this season, counting down until kickoff, and then down to Ship!

P.S. I screwed up entering the time , so it thinks that there are 3 fewer days until kickoff. I noticed this after I took the photos, and I changed it accordingly!

And sorry for the low quality photos, they were taken in high quality, but due to an upload size limit, I had to reduce the size of them...
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