How does a Stackmat communicate with a tourney display?

[CubeWizard23]

Title says it all, my brother and i are trying to make our own display rather than forking over huge amounts of cash. any help is appreciated.

There are two ways we could think of that it could work:

1.The stack mat gives a high signal to the display when it starts timing, and when it ends timing the mat gives a low signal (this would require the display to have a built in timer)
2.The stack mat gives a clock pulse every so often letting the display know that it should update the time.

It could be more complicated, but one of these methods would have to be used in some way or other. thanks!

 

[StachuK1992]

idk but you should check this out
https://github.com/timhabermaas/stackmat.js

 

[Kit Clement]

Title says it all, my brother and i are trying to make our own display rather than forking over huge amounts of cash. any help is appreciated.

There are two ways we could think of that it could work:

1.The stack mat gives a high signal to the display when it starts timing, and when it ends timing the mat gives a low signal (this would require the display to have a built in timer)
2.The stack mat gives a clock pulse every so often letting the display know that it should update the time.

It could be more complicated, but one of these methods would have to be used in some way or other. thanks!

Definitely more 2 than 1. Jeremy could give a much better answer than I could, but from what I understand of his work he's been doing, it's an audio signal that the display decodes into a time.

 

[primarycuber]

You might find this interesting: http://hackvalue.de/hv_atmel_stackmat

 

[CubeWizard23]

You might find this interesting: http://hackvalue.de/hv_atmel_stackmat

thank you tons bro

 

[RicardoRix]

RS232, you should be able to read this over USB, and display on a laptop fairly easily. Would be a good inexpensive project to start with to get your hands dirty.

 

[SenorJuan]

That 'hackvalue' webpage was very interesting, thank you for the link. As an engineer myself, I think that's a well-executed project. It's a shame that considerable electronics skills are needed to reproduce the project, eg. PCB etching, micro programming.
It's possible the designer might be able to provide programmed chips, if you ask nicely....that's one headache out the way.

And to Ricardo: Yes a PC RS232 port should also be able to read the data. These days, that tends to mean an external USB-to-Serial adaptor. Not much point making your own, though it's not too difficult if you use the right parts. A firm called FTDI make a selection of these 'protocol converter' integrated circuits. Or you could press an older laptop into service, one that has a real serial port on it. Nothing fancy is needed, Win 98 OS is fine.

 

[CubeWizard23]

thank you all for the tips! my brother and i have been able to make the stackmat communicate the processor, so now we just need to make the big black box! =)
any suggestions for the size of the 7 seg LEDs? thanks guys!

 

[RicardoRix]

I can't remember what they're called, but you can get some programmable multi-coloured LED lattice, or lines of LEDs.

 

[CubeWizard23]

I can't remember what they're called, but you can get some programmable multi-coloured LED lattice, or lines of LEDs.

Do you mean a dot matrix?

 

[SenorJuan]

For full-price new parts, I would suggest starting with DigiKey and Mouser (as you're in the USA), a typical one:
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/SA40-19SRWA/754-1692-5-ND/3084505
http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?mpart=LTS-30801HRB&vendor=160
But there will many surplus dealers out there, get Googling.
Or there's always China direct, via a well-known auction site; example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-3inch-7-segment-Red-LED-display-common-anode-/310669605850