Adafruit 1.2" 4-Digit 7-Segment Display

w/I2C Backpack - Yellow

PRODUCT ID: 1269

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Description

What's better than a single LED? Lots of LEDs! A fun way to make a numeric display is to use a 4-digit 7-

segment display. LED matrices like these are 'multiplexed' - so to control all the seven-segment LEDs you

need 14 pins. That's a lot of pins, and there are driver chips like the MAX7219 that can control a matrix for

you but there's a lot of wiring to set up and they take up a ton of space. Here at Adafruit we feel your pain!

After all, wouldn't it be awesome if you could control a matrix without tons of wiring? That's where these

adorable LED matrix backpacks come in. We have them for a variety of 8x8 and 7-segment displays. They

work perfectly with the displays we stock in the Adafruit shop and make adding a bright display trivial.

The backpacks use a driver chip that does all the heavy lifting for you: They have a built in clock so they

multiplex the display. They use constant-current drivers for ultra-bright, consistent color (the images above

are photographed at the dimmest setting to avoid overloading our camera!), 1/16 step display dimming, all

via a simple I2C interface. The backpacks come with address-selection jumpers so you can connect up to

eight 7-segments (or a combination, such as four mini 8x8's and four 7-segments, etc) on a single I2C bus.