Geek Mom Projects' RGB LED Strip Setup Puts a Brilliant Spin on 7-Segment Displays
Edge-lit acrylic and skinny LED strips come together to form a colorful timepiece.
As Debra, AKA Geek Mom Projects explains, while seven-segment displays now often supplanted by screens, “It’s hard to argue with the brevity of encoding the state of a numerical display in only seven bits of information (each segment on or off).” On the other hand, these displays are generally monochrome, so to add visual interest, she decided to make one that utilizes inexpensive RGB LED strips.
Her device is made out of a clear acrylic structure, with cavities carefully laser cut so as to hold the skinny strips on an edge. These include “88” patterns for each number, and dots to visually separate clock divisions, allowing the strips to snake around, while minimize wiring hassles. The clock, as seen in the video below, can made with either six or four digits, showing time in the classic HH:MM:SS format, or omitting the “SS” if you go with the simpler option.
Main control is accomplished by a SAM D51-based Adafruit Itsy Bitsy M4 Express board. Time is set using a separate ESP8266 module in the form of a Lolin D1 Mini Pro. Notably, the M4 Express is programmed using CircuitPython and the D1 Mini is coded in Arduino, but both programs, as well as cut files, are provided if you’d like to make your own.