First project for 2013 :) Reverse engineer clock?

toodle_pipsky

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My darling husband brought home for me 2 clocks that used to be in an abattoir. I think these guys just told the time but hub thought they might be used as a countdown timer. One has a controller, the other one doesn’t, don’t know if that’s because someone removed it or they were linked – all the connecting cables were chopped off.

Anyone have any suggestions on what this controller might be or where I can start reading up on it? Or if it’s easier/better to make a controller and just use LED board? Any insight would be appreciated.
 

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David_AVD

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The board in the 1st pic looks like it can chain out to another board.

Have you tried Googling the company that made it?

Do you have a pic of the LED board?
 

David_AVD

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Some of those signs have an RS232 or RS485 input, but I can't see any chip on there to suggest that. Others used an XT or AT keyboard and had the message keyed in and options set that way.

The LED board and driver boards are probably quite usable in conjunction with a new CPU board. It's not a trivial task however as you'd need to generate the character fonts and control the display scanning in real time.
 

toodle_pipsky

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Sorry, had trouble trying to upload more photos - you were super quick to reply! I haven't tried google yet, thought I would post then try.
 

toodle_pipsky

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Here's the photos (hopefully)
 

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David_AVD

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I checked out that company, but it doesn't look like they supply those systems any more.

With the existing CPU, even if you got it going would possibly not do the count down you want.

It all comes down to how much electronics you want to get into to make it work.
 

David_AVD

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Ah, after seeing the LED board it's obviously only meant to display time, not text.

I assume the red and black are from a power supply, but where do the 3 other wires go to?
 
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