Hello,
I needed a large 3 digit display with remote control. All available didn't fit my needs, were quite expensive or not flexible enough. So I decided to create my own inspired by products I found.
IR remote control looked simple and cheap enough, Seeedstudio sells some nice large 7 segment LED displays and prototype PCB manufacture in China doesn't cost much.
First I LaunchPad prototyped the design with 8 channel serial LED driver and generic 3 pin IR receiver. I implemented NEC IR protocol with TimerA and bit banged serial display data output. All worked nicely so I ordered 5" 7 segment LED digits from Seedstudio. I highly recommend to order one extra digit. From my batch 2 horizontal segments had visibly couple LEDs busted. Also provided datasheet doesn't match what I received. Instead of 2x6 mine are 3x7 LEDs per segment. I tore apart one to see what's inside. Dot segment doesn't even have a polarity mark and only one seemed to work, but I didn't plan to use them anyway.
I designed 2 boards, one large for individual segments of 5" digit, MCU and voltage regulator and small one for various sizes of common anode LED displays. I can extend the display by daisy chaining digits or run multiple displays in parallel depending on which side I connect next digit. Currently I have ordered 2.3" digits from ebay for secondary display. Boards were made by Elecrow, I fit 1 large and 2 small designs on one 10x10 PCB.
Code runs on small MSP430G2 MCU and only 4 pins are needed, board is designed for SO-8 package but with little leg bending and pin reassignment TSSOP-14 may be used. I use small remote I got with DVB-T tuner I use for SDR. It has just few buttons and fairly large labels. Current code implements 4 memory slots to switch between numbers.
Everything is placed in plastic box covered by gray acrylic.
Coming soon