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 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!