In the earlier tutorials we saw how to interface the Leds to PIC microcontroller and wrote the code to blink them. How ever the leds cannot be used to display any user information like numbers, char's etc. To display numeric values we can use seven segment displays.
In this tutorial we will interface a seven segment to PIC16f877a and display a single digit decimal counter(0-9). Later same will be extended to multiplex 4 seven segment displays to generate a 4-digit counter.


Seven Segment Display

Basic 7 segment Display

Well, the name 7 segments implies there are 7 LED segments arranged as shown in figure 1. After LEDs, these are the easiest interfaces to a microcontroller. There is also a decimal point or dp. It is used when decimal digits like 5.1 etc are displayed.

Applications

Seven segment are widely used in applications where digits[0-9] are required to be displayed.Although they also display letters A to F as shown in figure(2) simulation. This is a very simple and convenient way to display numbers in a bright fashion.

Form Factor

  • Sizes:They come in various sizes; 0.28”, 0.3”, 0.32”, 0.36”, 0.39”, 0.4”, 0.5”, 0.56”, 0.6”, 0.8”, 1.0”, 1.2”, 1.5”, 1.8”, 2.0”, 2.3”, 3.0”, 4.0”, 5.0”, 7.0”)
  • Colors: and varied colors too; Red, Green, Yellow, Orange, Blue, and White.




Working

Since these are basically LEDs arranged as a group they can either have anode in common or cathode thus they are named as Common-Anode/Common-Cathode displays.

Common Cathode 7Segment.jpeg
Common Anode 7Segment.jpeg
  • Common Cathode: In this type of segments all the cathode terminals are made common and tied to GND. Thus the segments a to g needs a logic High signal(5v) in order to glow.

  • Common Anode: In this type of segments all the anodes terminals are made common and tied to VCC(5v). Thus the segments a to g needs a logic LOW signal(GND) in order to glow.





0SevenSegment.gif

Below table shows the binary/hex values for displaying the digits on CommonAnode seven segment display.

Digit h g f e d c b a Hex Value
0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0xC0
1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0xF9
2 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0xA4
3 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0xB0
4 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0x99
5 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0x92
6 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0x82
7 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0xF8
8 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0x80
9 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0x90



Hardware Connection

Below image shows the hardware connection as per the table.

a b c d e f g h COM
PD0 PD1 PD2 PD3 PD4 PD5 PD6 PD7 VCC

SevenSegmentConnection.png

Code: Single Segment

Below is the sample code to display single digit up counter.



Code: Four Segments

Below is the sample code for multiplexing four segments to display 4-digit up counter.

Downloads

Download the complete project folder from the below link:


Have a opinion, suggestion , question or feedback about the article let it out here!