Seven segmented displays are great. They are pretty simple, don't take much power, and have a lot of flexibility when it comes to displaying numbers. But setting aside 14 pins just to run it is such a pain. If only there was a way to use them without sacrificing so many precious pins. Turns out there is! Shift Registers are logical IC's that can hold or shift data sent into them. They only take up three pins! Combine this with the arduino function "ShiftOut" and there is a lot more options suddenly open. Oh, and one more great thing. They can be chained together to have even greater flexibility and still only using three pins. Just another one of the many things that I made at TechShop today.
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Signing UpStep 1: Materials
Arduino Uno
2 digit 7 segmented display (common anode)
2x 74HC595 (the shift registers can be picked up on places like sparkfun.com for about $1.50)
14x 660ohm resistors
breadboard
wire
usb cable
2 digit 7 segmented display (common anode)
2x 74HC595 (the shift registers can be picked up on places like sparkfun.com for about $1.50)
14x 660ohm resistors
breadboard
wire
usb cable
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http://www.instructables.com/id/Breadboard-How-To/step5/7-Segment-Display-on-a-Breadboard-Part-2/
you just send them binary data and they output the appropriate decimal number on the 7 seg. I was driving a common cathode 7 seg, but you can find decoders for common anode as well.