The IVLM2-5/7 is a dual colour VFD display. It has two sets of segments. One BLUE and one ORANGE, arranged in the standard 5 rows x 7 columns format.

Driving the display is as simple as scanning the rows and columns with the desired segment patterns. This interface board I designed takes care of all the tedious display refresh work, freeing up a host microcontroller OR old fashioned logic circuits to do other things.

The display does not flicker to the human eye, the video camera is picking up the refresh.

The details in a nutshell….

Display power requirements:

• 200mA filament current
• up to 70V DC bias voltage ( I am using 30V DC in my example above )
• 5V supply for logic.

It sounds complicated, but in reality it is very easy! ( Honest! )

Display interface options:

• I2C
• SPI
• LOGIC (no host microcontroller required! )

- several general purpose digital I/O available for use with future software upgrades to onboard controller.

Display features:

On-board microcontroller handles all the scanning and VFD refresh requirements.
Standard character-set stored in microcontroller memory for access via one of the interface options. Special characters and effects selected by external pin or in software.

Display PCB settings:

• Address – for SPI/I2C
• Bias brightness control, important to trim each individual display
• Mode setting jumper

PCB Mounting:

Four holes allow easy mounting to a backplane.

I’ll soon be making a mini wall of these VFD displays. Check back soon!