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Vacuum Fluorescent Display Help

blast

Hi,

I've been given a 16 character, 14 segment (plus decimal point & comma tail) starburst Vacuum Fluorescent Display, which was recovered from a fruit machine 20 odd years ago, and would like to get going again; connecting it to either a PC or Raspberry Pi.

 

The VFD board is mounted on a driver board via headers, the VFD circuit is labelled 'Barcrest 682225 19364-2', while the driver board is labelled '15178-3' & '101 D/IC' - Barcrest is a fruit machine manufacturer in the UK.

 

I've attached a photo of the device.

 

The driver board has 5 wires (White, Yellow, Orange, Black & Red).

The driver board contains one 40 Pin Dual In-Line package, which is labelled:

'Rockwell

10937P-40

A8201-30

MEXICO

9313 A30133-4'

 

I've looked this up online and found a datasheet (attached PDF) for what appears to be a copy made under license, and have derived the following connections for the wires:

White - SLCK (Clock)

Yellow - Data

Orange - Reset Maybe?

Black - Negative DC voltage?

Red - Positive DC Voltage?

 

Any idea what kind of voltage/ current requirements this device may have (PDF datasheet seems to suggest 15v is typical)?  I'm hoping that before going too far, I can power it up and see the display initialise to ensure it actually works.  After that I'd like to get it connected (via serial?) to a PC or Raspberry Pi so I can send text to it, are there any guides for showing how to connect VFDs up/ send data etc, as I don't really know where to start.

 

Thanks in advance!

Attachments:
image
imagedatasheet.pdf
  • 0

    Hi blast,

    It's a nice-looking display. On it's own, the glass requires some unusual voltages compared to (say) LED displays; basically, the IC requires 15V (or a +5V and -10V supply, which will still provide a total of 15V across it), but the VFD may require a lower voltage than that. However, there is a possibility that the power supplies (to step-down - and step-up if needed) are integrated on the board, so that you could power from (say) +5V or some other voltage, and use normal 5V  logic levels to control it (it won't work with 3.3V logic levels according to the datasheet you supplied). Look for a small wound transformer on-board as a clue in case it has an on-board supply. You'll need a power supply capable of a few hundred milliamps.

    To get to 3.3V logic levels you'd need to use a level converter (google for some information on that). You'd have to toggle bits using an RPI or something, this is not a standard PC interface.

    So, in summary it is possible.

  • 0 in reply to shabaz

    Hi Shabaz, thanks for you reply.

    You're right, the driver board does contain a coil.  I've attached another photo - you can see it in the middle of the board.

    So I guess my best bet is to give it 5v and see if it lights up (I'm assuming it will flash all segments as part of a self test), if nothing happens then increase the voltage torward 15v.

     

    image

  • 0 in reply to blast

    If I recall there isn't a self test on most of these.

    They are either serial or parallel and until you give them characters, you won't see anything.

     

    I don't have access to any of the schematics any more, but search some of the forums, they are a reasonably common type of device found in Point of Sale, gaming machines, pinball machines and the like.

     

    It might not give you the whole answer, but something to start you off.

     

    Mark

  • 0

    Hi, It looks similar to mine, Have a look here and see if you think so too,

     

    http://www.pyrofersprojects.com/blog/vfd-clock-with-snmp-and-ntp/

     

    Anyway, You need to send a few commands to activate the display not just power it up. You need to set the duty cycle/brightness and reset it and send characters.

     

    I power mine from 12v and use 5v logic for the data/clk/reset lines.

  • 0

    Hi,

    I wonder if you have sorted this out.

    I think I remember using one of these displays.

    The (larger) samsung equivalent is Samsung 16LF01UA3 and the datasheet is easily avalable.

    There are 5V and 12v versions - I seem to remember that yours is a 12v one - you can check if it was a 5v one easily by seeing if the supply line from the Micrel 10937 (pin 18) goes to the power-in. (or by putting 5v on the red wire and checking the volts on pin 18)

    These displays are cheap on ebay (normally £5-£10) and easy to use. The Samsung displays seem more common and larger (218mm wide!)

    There is also an equivalent ITRON display (VAF1613) which is 5v and much thinner (transformerless design)

    These are all great displays, are easy to use and can give blue/green/white with coloured filters.

    Here is a picture of a clock that a friend and I made:

    http://www.tubeclockdb.com/vfd-clocks/21-samsung-approximation-clock.html

    If you need help, please ask.