4″ Seven Segment Displays Make A Fine Scoreboard

[Blark] took a few parts and turned them into a simple scoreboard. The centerpiece of the build is a set of 4″ seven-segment displays. With those in hand it was just a matter of choosing a controller to feed them data, and developing a user interface.

He seems to have had some issues as he mentions having blown up two PIC chips while soldering. He transitioned to an ATtiny24 chip and everything seems to work quite well now. The user interface depends on two buttons, each increments the score for one half of the display and pushing both at once zeros the game score. The displays use shift registers to store data so they’re quite easy to control with AVR chips. Check out the demo video after the break.

The only problem here is that someone needs to be on the sidelines to increment the score. We’ve seen some more intricate designs that let you use a remote control or even a smart phone.

5 thoughts on “4″ Seven Segment Displays Make A Fine Scoreboard

  1. Did he have the PICS in the socket when he was soldering? Else why would changing to the AVR have mattered? Anyway, nice project and one that could be very easily and cheaply enhanced. What he said about a “finished” project reminds me of the 8-10 projects that I have on the shelf that are 95% finished; circuit boards that are completely fuctional, just lacking the elegance of a case!

  2. Hey guys, Blark here! I was surprised to see my project on here, and first though “wow that looks like my video” lol. Thanks so much Hackaday!

    To the Op, about those pesky wires – I’v already go some NRF24L01+ wireless modules on the way from China ;)

    Those seven segment displays are available from Sure Electronics, they are also on ebay for a bit cheaper I think (from the same company).

    I blew the PICs 1 – reversing polarity, 2 – botched first attempt at protoboard. DOH. More in the mail ;)

    1. Hello Blark. I am interested in making a similar scoreboard can you please post some schematics please? or a way in which i can get the schematics of what you have done.

      Thanks you

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