Total noob- wants to make a score board! Help appreciated

Thread Starter

RemAv

Joined Jul 22, 2018
4
Hi everyone, I have stumbled across this site this morning and it seems awesome from what I’ve looked at so far. But while watching two toddlers I haven’t had time to dive into the forums to search out my problem yet. Ok let’s start this off by saying I am an electrician, but am new to this sort of thing. I did have DC Theory when I was a first year apprentice but not used much of that in the last 12 years. My brother lives states away and said he’s help, but is currently wrapped up in a project of his own. With all that explained on with the project (anyone who hasn’t left yet due to boredom).

The project- a set of Cornhole boards the each display one teams score. I’ll try to include the rough drawing I’ve made. But just two 7 line displays on each board. With a score up, score down, and reset button. 00-99. The post I’ve seen show people just buying displays but I’m wanting to build them out of LEDs. Around the outside and around the hole I’ve thought about just putting in fairy lights but am open to any and all suggestions.

Now I have no idea where to even start, so you’re dealing with a guy who can most likely understand what you’re saying, but has never had to deal with circuits like this, so has no idea what to do.

One last thing, I think I’d like to be able to dim the score as well, so it’s seeable in the day and not over powering/blinding at night. And the outside the board and hole light only need to be turned on at night as well. Annnnd lit push buttons for up/down/reset. Think that’s it.

Any help/suggestions appreciated
 

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dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,846
Welcome to AAC!

Are you wanting to implement this with logic gates and counters? Or are you looking for a microcontroller based solution?

It's common to use PWM to control LED brightness, but you could also use a brute force approach of limiting current or voltage.
 

Bernard

Joined Aug 7, 2008
5,784
Is scoring automatic or by push button ?
There was a recent post by Rachael Waltemire on lighting strings of LEDs on successful bag drops.
 

Marc Sugrue

Joined Jan 19, 2018
222
Hi everyone, I have stumbled across this site this morning and it seems awesome from what I’ve looked at so far. But while watching two toddlers I haven’t had time to dive into the forums to search out my problem yet. Ok let’s start this off by saying I am an electrician, but am new to this sort of thing. I did have DC Theory when I was a first year apprentice but not used much of that in the last 12 years. My brother lives states away and said he’s help, but is currently wrapped up in a project of his own. With all that explained on with the project (anyone who hasn’t left yet due to boredom).

The project- a set of Cornhole boards the each display one teams score. I’ll try to include the rough drawing I’ve made. But just two 7 line displays on each board. With a score up, score down, and reset button. 00-99. The post I’ve seen show people just buying displays but I’m wanting to build them out of LEDs. Around the outside and around the hole I’ve thought about just putting in fairy lights but am open to any and all suggestions.

Now I have no idea where to even start, so you’re dealing with a guy who can most likely understand what you’re saying, but has never had to deal with circuits like this, so has no idea what to do.

One last thing, I think I’d like to be able to dim the score as well, so it’s seeable in the day and not over powering/blinding at night. And the outside the board and hole light only need to be turned on at night as well. Annnnd lit push buttons for up/down/reset. Think that’s it.

Any help/suggestions appreciated
Check out https://components101.com/cd4511-7-segment-driver-ic or https://circuitdigest.com/electronic-circuits/7-segment-display-driver-using-ic-cd4511

I'm sure you can drive multiple discrete LEDs by buffering these ic's using a Transistor. Dimming Can be done by either reducing the LED voltage or using a 555 timer to give you an adjustable PWM signal.

Have fun
 

Thread Starter

RemAv

Joined Jul 22, 2018
4
Scoring only by buttons. Because only one teams score will be at each board. If it read bag drops then it would add everything to one teams score. And if red makes one and blue makes one, they cancel each other out so I don’t need it to count I can press a button easy enough

dl324- I’m honestly not sure what you are asking.
This being my first project I’m just want it to be basic as I can. Just a buttons to adjust score and a way to dim them.

Thanks for the responses so far.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,846
And if red makes one and blue makes one, they cancel each other out so I don’t need it to count I can press a button easy enough
But you do need a counter. You can't remember the count without it.
This being my first project I’m just want it to be basic as I can. Just a buttons to adjust score and a way to dim them.
If you want to do it with counters, you'd need two decade up/down counters and a couple BCD to seven segment decoders; with some circuitry to debounce the switches.

Doing it with a microcontroller would require some programming, but it would eliminate the counter logic. You'd still need something to drive the LEDs, but the decoding could be done in the software.

If I was doing it, I'd go with the first approach.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,846
I’m the beginner here, which option is the easiest for a beginner?
It's up to you. How is your programming? If you can't code, a hardware only solution will be easier. If you can, it's your choice. If you haven't worked with a microcontroller before, the learning curve could be steep.
 

Bernard

Joined Aug 7, 2008
5,784
My choice would be a solderles bread board 830 holes that has matching solderable bread board for final project. Power might be a 12V SLA battery allowing groups of 3 LEDs in series depending on color. 6V from a buck converter. Up-Dn counter 74HC192, 7 seg. decoder 74HC4511, drivers , maybe ULN series?
Around hole could use flat top LEDs ?
Where are you located?
You can stick with 4000 series ICs and run every thing from 12 V.
 
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Thread Starter

RemAv

Joined Jul 22, 2018
4
LEDs I was gonna get prewired 12v through holes. Around the board and hole I was just gonna do fairy lights because I can powere them off a couple aa batteries and dim them without having to work for it. If you have a different or better idea I’ll listen. Located in Missouri.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,846
LEDs I was gonna get prewired 12v through holes. Around the board and hole I was just gonna do fairy lights because I can powere them off a couple aa batteries and dim them without having to work for it.
It sounds like you're considering multiple power sources. Why?

How do you plan to dim the Fairy Lights? Were you planning to have a manual adjustment or did you want it to be automatic?

Regular LEDs will run you about a nickel each in low quantity. Why go to the expense of buying 12V LEDs? They'll limit your connection options. As mentioned earlier, you could connect multiple LEDs in series to make your "segments". How many depends on color and the voltage of the power source you select.
 

Bernard

Joined Aug 7, 2008
5,784
4000 series ICs are getting hard to find, but digikey has CD4029BC, SN; 296-2046-5-ND, $ .53, up/dn, bin.-bcd;
CD4511BE, SN: 296-2072-5-ND, $ .53, 7 seg decoder.
I still like the operation of the CDHC192E, separate up-dn clocks, others require to push & hold a down SW & hitting clock ? Drivers might be ULN2004 ?
 

Bernard

Joined Aug 7, 2008
5,784
Down this page in Projects is Buzz Game with a picture ,post #90, of thru the board mounting of LEDs. 5 mm holes were counter bored to about 9 mm leaving about 3 mm of LED protruding, 2 mm would be OK. Around hole 0 mm protruding would be about right, hence flat top suggestion.
Copper tape makes easy buss bar connections for rim LEDs, other picture.
 
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dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,846
Hope we didn't scare you off...

Here's a circuit suggestion for using an up/down counter with one clock and a direction input:
upload_2018-8-18_18-30-11.png
The assumption is that a button press from a normally open switch will propagate the desired direction to the flip flop output before the switch can be released to clock the counters.

You can use a 12V supply. You can also replace the D flip flop with an RS flip flop constructed from 2 of the unused gates in the CD4001. Unused inputs should be tied to ground.

As mentioned earlier, an up/down counter with separate clocks for up and down would be simpler.
 
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-live wire-

Joined Dec 22, 2017
959
For someone without a lot of experience with digital design, a μC solution is much easier. It will be far less complicated. All you need is an arduino nano, LCD or OLED display, and some pushbuttons. You will need to find the right library for your display. You can probably learn the basics of coding arduino in half an hour or so. If you need help coding it, I would be happy to help.
 
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