7 Segment displays are the simplest, most effective way to display text and numerical values while consuming very little power and remaining attention grabbing.

When paired with a CD4511 BCD to 7 Segment Decoder IC, you can drive one of these with only five MCU GPIO pins (assuming a fixed decimal place).

The savings REALLY kick in when you want to drive multiple 7-segs because you can share four of those GPIOs, with an unlimited amount of displays. You only need a single latch enable pin per device, so you can use the following:

Each unit also comes with our free wiring guide (see attached images)!

• 5 pins drive will drive 1 display unit
• 6 pins drive will drive 2 display unit
• 7 pins drive will drive 3 display unit
• etc.

These units fit perfectly on to any breadboard - see our wiring guide for an example.