Introduction: Drive the HSD4039GA-1 With Arduino
This is an example of the HSD4039GA-1 4-digit 7-segment common anode display being driven by an Arduino Uno clone. This display features 13 pins all in one line. I desoldered this one from a Sharp brand microwave.
Step 1: Run the Code
Compile and upload the attached code to your board. I recommend doing this before hooking up the display. It's just good practice.
I can't take all the credit so check out the tutorial that got me here. Special thanks to Rudy Schlaf for the MAKE course at the University of South Florida (www.makecourse.com).
Attachments
Step 2: Connect the Display
For simplicity, I plug the display straight into the board. The inline pins make this possible. Pins 13 and 12 of the display are the cathodes for the individual dots of the colon. I don't know why they are individually addressable so please comment if you do. I bent pin 13 of the display to connect with pin 12 so that they both go into pin 13 of the Arduino(see image).
Because this is a green LED display, it can handle the voltage(~5v) straight from my board. Be warned that your board may be different and put out a higher voltage thus harming your display. It is always good practice to use pull-down resistors on the cathodes of the display. DO NOT plug a red display straight into the board! It will burn out!
Step 3: Power Up
With the display hooked up to the powered board all digits should light up and count up from 00:00 to 59:59. I configured the code to mimic a clock in the format of minutes and seconds so it will count up for about 60min and then start over. Please note that there is no strict time keeping involved. I have played around with values to get close to minutes and seconds but it is not accurate.