I have made a counter which displays outputs from 1-15 on led's..but now i want to see it on the 7-segment display.
so can anybody suggest as to which decoder should i use and how to connect two 7-segments together..cauz i searched for 74LS47(BCD to 7-segment decoder) but that has option for only connecting one 7-segment.
plz help!!
As Saturn1bguy said,
You will need to use 2 BCD to 7-segment decoders (1 per display) and use 'CLKOUT/CO' from the first stage counter IC to increase the count in the second stage counter IC.
What are you using as a counter at the moment?
If a CMOS counter, What type and how many counter ICs are you using? How are you incrementing the numbers/count? If (for example) the CP input on the 'MC1451' is used then it should automaticly reset its internal count to 0 once it reaches 9. However if you are loading in data via the Parallel inputs (4-bit data from 0 to 15) then it will reach a maximum count of 15. This would explain how you are counting up to 15 by using one chip.
But if you use the counter like you are now and connect it to a 'BCD 7-segment driver', any number above 9 will then display the letters A,B,C,D,E,F on the 7-segment display....something to consider.
What is the maximum number you would like to see on the displays?
I built a 24 hour digital clock using only logic ICs and made my own custom 4 digit 7-segement LED display using individual LEDs just like like you are planning to.
Pics of the Display module I made:
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/attachments/display-jpg.14304/
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/attachments/normal-jpg.14306/
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/attachments/tracing-paper-jpg.14310/
One thing to be aware of is that LEDs tend to have a terrible viewing angle so I had to roughen up the LEDs and place transparency paper infront of them as a filter...also the blue LEDs are blinding
hence why I cannot sleep with the thing on.
Hope this was of some use to you.