[Techtoolslist] Designing a 9010 replacement LED display?

[Tony Jones]

I assume you guys saw this:
https://forums.arcade-museum.com/threads/the-fluke-9010a-club.97717/post-4432860

On Mon, Dec 5, 2022 at 11:08 AM Brad Gass via Techtoolslist <
techtoolslist at flippers.com> wrote:

> I guess I hadn't looked at dot matrix displays because of the cost, but
> they certainly seem feasible from a technical standpoint.  From UT Source,
> the 3416 size red displays are still a lot more than an LCD, but at ~$21.14
> each, are certainly more reasonable than from Newark.
>
> Although I wouldn't fuss over a red versus green display if red were lower
> cost, I did put in an inquiry on the DLG3416 (green) Osram version of that
> display, which would more closely match the Fluke's look.  Awaiting a quote.
>
> So, the question is really - retrofit the existing board with a mezzanine
> type board (if feasible), or a full-on redesign of the board?  Anyone know
> if there is enough 5V rail current headroom to support up to another 1A of
> draw (worst case)?  I suspect the safest bet would be to create a new 5V
> supply for the character modules from the +55V rail used to provide power
> to the VFD.
>
> Thanks,
>
> --Brad
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Technical Tools Mail List" <techtoolslist at flippers.com>
> To: "Technical Tools Mail List" <techtoolslist at flippers.com>
> Cc: "John Robertson" <jrr at flippers.com>
> Sent: Sunday, December 4, 2022 12:51:39 AM
> Subject: Re: [Techtoolslist] Designing a 9010 replacement LED display?
>
> On 2022/12/01 8:37 p.m., Brad Gass wrote:
> > There doesn't appear to be small-pitch alphanumeric LED displays
> > available (at least that I could find) that would work here without
> > being much too large for the space. There are a couple Noritake Itron
> > graphic VFD's that might work, but those are going to be expensive,
> > and don't appear readily available either.
> >
> > I think what might be a workable approach would be to use a 40x1
> > character LCD module with a reasonably bright backlight. There seem to
> > be a couple models pretty readily available on the surplus market that
> > may work out. It's not perfect, and the surplus displays may or may
> > not support "inverted" displays (light text on black background), but
> > anything is a lot better than nothing if you have a bum display! But
> > no matter what the approach, additional design effort would be needed
> > to capture the segment drive data for each character, decode it into
> > character data for the LCD, then output it to the LCD module.
> >
> > In looking at pictures of the display PCB, this may be retrofit-able
> > on the existing board with a bit of clever craftsmanship. From the
> > schematic, abandon U3 through U10 in place, pick off character clock
> > (U6 pin 9) and data (U6 pin 7) from the head of the character drive
> > shift register chain, and get segment clock (U13 pin or U14 pin 3) and
> > data (U13 pin 2 *and* U14 pin 2) from the segment drive shift
> > registers. Decode the captured data into ASCII (or custom) characters,
> > then send them out to the LCD, updating only the LCD character
> > positions that change between VFD "refresh cycles" to keep the LCD
> > character flicker to a minimum.
> > Does anyone know the full "character map" of the 9010? As near as I
> > can recall, it's all standard ASCII characters but I honestly don't
> > remember if there was any oddball symbols that might need to be mapped
> > to custom characters on the LCD. I've been busy with other life issues
> > and away from the bench for much too long now, but wouldn't mind
> > working at this a bit if there were others interested in helping out.
> >
> > --Brad
>
> I did find what appears to be a suitable LED display module, that will
> fit in the space, but we need 8 of them and they cost around $36US each:
>
>
> https://www.newark.com/broadcom/hdlo-3416/led-alphanumeric-display-dot-matrix/dp/36AJ9396
>
> 8 of them is just over 6.5 inches, and the original space is around 6.75
> inches. Height is 0.274" or close enough to the original 0.3"
> fluorescent digit.
>
> They are ASCII coded, and even have 8 user defined characters available.
>
> Not so cheap, but with a bit of logic glue possibly a worthwhile fix
> considering the 9010 is worthless without a display...
>
> John :-#)#
>
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Technical Tools Mail List" <techtoolslist at flippers.com>
> > To: "Technical Tools Mail List" <techtoolslist at flippers.com>
> > Cc: "John Robertson" <jrr at flippers.com>
> > Sent: Thursday, December 1, 2022 7:47:51 PM
> > Subject: [Techtoolslist] Designing a 9010 replacement LED display?
> >
> > I was looking at my 9005 and grumbling because the tube is missing, then
> > I pulled out the 9010a service manual and you know, it looks like it
> > would be a pretty easy fix to replace the tube with 32 digit
> > alpha-numeric LEDs of the correct size on a small PCB and all that would
> > be needed is to replace the UDN6118 fluorescent drivers with suitable
> > LED drivers and find a place to grab 5V and ground and then mount the
> > new display to the board...
> >
> > Maybe it would work?
> >
> > Anyone interested in poking at the KiCAD layout? I have no free time,
> > but I know there are folks out there looking for a solution to bad or
> > weak tubes...
> >
> > Here is the page:
> >
> ftp://ftp.flippers.com/TTL/Test_Equipment/Fluke/9010%20Series/9010_Fixture%20PDFs/9010A_Display_Schematic.pdf
> > <
> ftp://ftp.flippers.com/TTL/Test_Equipment/Fluke/9010%20Series/9010_Fixture%20PDFs/9010A_Display_Schematic.pdf
> >
> >
> > John :-#)#
> >
>
>
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