Picture before I did the damage I did. Someone threw a bottle at the board and smashed the IC chip, a display driver. I got a replacement from a really nice guy at the company, however it did not fix the issue. I wanted to use WS2812B led's for the project, but could not find a feasible way to solder them in the close proximately to each other for this project. At that point I elected to try to salvage as much of the original board as possible. Somehow, they had it working with the segmented numbers as they are.

 

My suggestion requires 16 resistors and 32 connections. You are not going to get an acceptable solution with one resistor per digit.

Bob

 

The two 470 ohm resistors are connected side by side as in this image. It's equivalent to a 235 ohm resistor. One pair for each LED module.

 

My suggestion requires 16 resistors and 32 connections. You are not going to get an acceptable solution with one resistor per digit.

Bob

I am not following. There are 8 numbers, 7 segments each, that's 56 segments. Plus the game over/selections lights. If I understand , you said each segment needs a resistor. 56 resistors, 112 solder connections.

 

The two 470 ohm resistors are connected side by side as in this image. It's equivalent to a 235 ohm resistor. One pair for each LED module.
View attachment 256545

I can try that. I do have 220 ohm resistors that I can exchange the 470s with. Is there a benefit to doing the 2 470s in parallel over a single 220? The board is at a buddies house. I was tasked with fixing the board.

 

It doubles the wattage rating but 220 ohm is probably OK.

 

I guess in the 50s they were still worried about penny pinching!

It would have been the very late 50's. The first visible LED wasn't invented until 1962.

 

Oh, there were only two in your picture. Of course there had to be more.

How are the digits driven? Surely some of the segment wires have to come together somewhere, not 56 outputs from the Arduino, right?

Bob

 

Oh, there were only two in your picture. Of course there had to be more.

How are the digits driven? Surely some of the segment wires have to come together somewhere, not 56 outputs from the Arduino, right?

Bob

Its double sided. and... Don't call me surely. Sign is duplicated side for side, so 1 segment is connected to the other corresponding segment on the other side of the board.

 

Its double sided. and... Don't call me surely. Sign is duplicated side for side, so 1 segment is connected to the other corresponding segment on the other side of the board.

Was this the smartest way to accomplish this task? No.

 

Each digit has 7 segments:


The numbers look "special":

 

Its double sided. and... Don't call me surely. Sign is duplicated side for side, so 1 segment is connected to the other corresponding segment on the other side of the board.

I forget, the issue is, the wires that go to the Arduino are negative. There is only 1 positive per number - 7 segments share the common positive. That's how they did it when it was built. I would have to unsolder every led, and swap them, and then also solder in the resistor. Easier to throw it away and do something smarter.

 

Each digit has 7 segments:
View attachment 256550

The numbers look "special":
View attachment 256551

Yes, that is correct. This is a special project

 

Going back to post #1 the simplest way to increase the brightness is lowering the resistor values. It's not the best approach but in the end the quickest.

 

Going back to post #1 the simplest way to increase the brightness is lowering the resistor values. It's not the best approach but in the end the quickest.

That is what I will try. Someone suggested a 5 band 220, I have a 4 band 220.. That still work?

 

Doesn't matter as long as it's 220 ohms. You could try other values, what do you have on hand?

 

Someone suggested a 5 band 220, I have a 4 band 220.. That still work?

You haven't given us any information regarding how the LEDs are being driven.

 

You haven't given us any information regarding how the LEDs are being driven.

Because I am not smart enough to answer that. All the segments are negatively hooked to an Arduino, positive is common, there are buttons that increase the score and change the numbers. Currently I have one side of the board led's hooked to a 5v port on the Arduino, and the other side hooked to another 5v port on the Arduino.

 

Doesn't matter as long as it's 220 ohms. You could try other values, what do you have on hand?

I have this kit from amazon https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N32W2PI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Only resistor values between 100 and 470 ohms would be required.