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AN ELECTRONIC LITESHOW DISPLAY

Part 1ýThe Electronics Behind the Lights
by James Antonakos

Start ý The Big Picture ý Inside a Panel ý The Driver Board ý The 64-Bit Shift Register Board ý Interfacing with the PC ý A Little Math ý The Real Thing ý Sources and PDF

THE BIG PICTURE

The LiteShow display consists of six 4ý ý 4ý panels, with each panel containing 64 lamps (25-W, 120-VAC) arranged in an 8 ý 8 matrix. The panels may be stacked horizontally or vertically. When stacked horizontally, the display measures 24ý ý 4ý. This is large enough to display scrolling messages that can be read from a large distance. Figure 1 shows how the panels are connected to each other. Each panel contains a serial input and serial output. By daisy chaining the panels together, the entire display can be controlled with only three signals from the PC printer port. To allow a long cable to be used between the PC and the first panel, the TTL signals on the printer port are converted into ý12-V levels.

Figure 1ýHere you can see a block diagram of the LiteShow display showing a daisy-chain connection. Panel 6 data is clocked out first, and panel 1 data is last.

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