AlphaNum G Click

How does it work?

AlphaNum G Click is based on one green two digits 14-segment alphanumeric display with leading dots and two TLC5926s, 16-bit constant-current LED-sink drivers from Texas Instruments. This display consists of two sets of 14 LEDs arranged in a rectangular starburst fashion, where each of the 14 LEDs is called a segment. The segment forms part of a numerical digit (decimal and hex) or ISO basic Latin alphabet to be displayed when illuminated. The fifteenth segment of each set is a comma, suitable for displaying a decimal number.

Two TLC5926s drive this display with constant currents in the sink configuration. The TLC5926 is a 256-step programmable global current gain with constant current adjusted by an external resistor; in this case, it is kept around 8mA per segment. This Click board™ uses the SPI serial interface of the mikroBUS™ socket to communicate with the host MCU. There are four additional pins, two for each TLC5926: data latch pins marked as LE1 and LE2, routed to the CS and RST pins of the mikroBUS™ socket, and display segment select pins labeled as NS and NS# routed to the INT and PWM pins of the mikroBUS™ socket.

Those latch pins are data strobe input pins where serial data is transferred to the respective latch when they are in a high logic state. The data is latched when those pins are in a low logic state. Output enable pins are active LOW, with enabled output drivers; otherwise, with a high state, the display is turned OFF.

This Click board™ can operate with both 3.3V and 5V logic voltage levels selected via the PWR SEL jumper. This way, it is allowed for both 3.3V and 5V capable MCUs to use the communication lines properly. However, the Click board™ comes equipped with a library containing easy-to-use functions and an example code that can be used, as a reference, for further development.

Specifications

Pinout diagram

This table shows how the pinout on AlphaNum G Click corresponds to the pinout on the mikroBUS™ socket (the latter shown in the two middle columns).

Notes	Pin					Pin	Notes
	NC	1	AN	PWM	16	NS#	Left Display Enable
Left Display Data Latch	LE2	2	RST	INT	15	NS	Right Display Enable
Right Display Data Latch	LE1	3	CS	RX	14	NC
SPI Clock	SCK	4	SCK	TX	13	NC
SPI Data OUT	SDO	5	MISO	SCL	12	NC
SPI Data IN	SDI	6	MOSI	SDA	11	NC
Power Supply	3.3V	7	3.3V	5V	10	5V	Power Supply
Ground	GND	8	GND	GND	9	GND	Ground

Onboard settings and indicators

AlphaNum G Click electrical specifications

Software Support

We provide a library for the AlphaNum G Click as well as a demo application (example), developed using MikroElektronika compilers. The demo can run on all the main MikroElektronika development boards.

Package can be downloaded/installed directly from NECTO Studio Package Manager(recommended way), downloaded from our LibStock™ or found on Mikroe github account.

Library Description

This library contains API for AlphaNum G Click driver.

Key functions

• alphanumg_write_character This function displays characters on the left and right LED segments.

• alphanumg_write_number This function displays numbers on the left and right LED segments.

Example Description

This example showcases the initialization and configuration of the logger and click modules and shows how to display characters and numbers on both LED segments of the click.

 void application_task ( void ) { 
     alphanumg_set_display_interval( &alphanumg, 1000 ); 

     alphanumg_write_character( &alphanumg, 'M', 'E' ); 
     alphanumg_write_character( &alphanumg, '@', '?' ); 

     alphanumg_write_number( &alphanumg, 0,  1 ); 
     alphanumg_write_number( &alphanumg, 1,  2 ); 
     alphanumg_write_number( &alphanumg, 2,  3 ); 
     alphanumg_write_number( &alphanumg, 3,  4 ); 
 }

The full application code, and ready to use projects can be installed directly from NECTO Studio Package Manager(recommended way), downloaded from our LibStock™ or found on Mikroe github account.

Other Mikroe Libraries used in the example:

• MikroSDK.Board
• MikroSDK.Log
• Click.AlphaNumG

Additional notes and informations

Depending on the development board you are using, you may need USB UART click, USB UART 2 Click or RS232 Click to connect to your PC, for development systems with no UART to USB interface available on the board. UART terminal is available in all MikroElektronika compilers.

mikroSDK

This Click board™ is supported with mikroSDK - MikroElektronika Software Development Kit. To ensure proper operation of mikroSDK compliant Click board™ demo applications, mikroSDK should be downloaded from the LibStock and installed for the compiler you are using.

For more information about mikroSDK, visit the official page.