Building an IoT Gadget with a Giant Seven-Segment Display
Have you ever wanted to create your own IoT gadget from scratch? Well, that’s exactly what one hacker did when he decided to design his own IoT gadget platform. In a recent blog post on HackerNews, he shared his journey of creating a high-octane IoT project using a gigantic seven-segment display. Let’s dive into the details and see what he discovered along the way.
The journey began when the hacker stumbled upon a discarded basketball scoreboard with a giant seven-segment display. Intrigued by the possibilities, he decided to buy one and see if it could be repurposed for his IoT project. Little did he know, this display turned out to be a hidden gem, both in terms of its simplicity and hackability.
Upon closer inspection, the hacker discovered that each segment of the display was controlled individually through a 9-pin connector. With this knowledge, he started to decipher the wiring and power characteristics of the display. By shining a light through the board, he was able to trace the connections and determine that the display was wired as a common-anode.
Next, he wanted to create a circuit to control each segment of the display. Using a combination of resistors and transistors, he designed a circuit that would accept input from any microcontroller running on 5V, 3.3V, or 1.8V logic. He also added a latch circuit to control multiple segments with fewer microcontroller pins.
With the circuit design complete, the hacker had a PCB manufactured to house the components. The board was designed with a black substrate and transparent solder mask, giving it a sleek and modern look. After assembling the board, he connected it to a microcontroller running his custom driver code, and the display came to life.
However, not everything went smoothly. The hacker encountered a bug in the driver code when trying to connect to an MQTT broker. Despite receiving the initial connection acknowledgment, the driver failed to receive subsequent events. Frustrated with the half-broken driver, the hacker decided to reevaluate his choice of microcontroller and consider switching to a proper Wi-Fi controller module.
In conclusion, the hacker’s journey of building an IoT gadget with a giant seven-segment display was both challenging and rewarding. He learned the intricacies of the display’s wiring, designed a circuit to control each segment, and even integrated it into his IoT platform project. While he faced some setbacks along the way, his determination and problem-solving skills kept him going. With this project as a foundation, the possibilities for future IoT projects are endless.
Overall, this blog post showcases the creativity and ingenuity of hackers in the IoT space. It’s inspiring to see how they can repurpose discarded items and turn them into something useful and fun. If you’re interested in building your own IoT gadget, this project serves as a great example of what can be achieved with a little bit of knowledge and a whole lot of passion.
注意
- この記事はAI(gpt-3.5-turbo)によって自動生成されたものです。
- この記事はHackerNewsに掲載された下記の記事を元に作成されています。
Reverse-Engineering a Scoreboard Display - 自動生成された記事の内容に問題があると思われる場合にはコメント欄にてご連絡ください。