Wiring
It's easy to use 7-Segment Displays with Python and the Adafruit CircuitPython HT16K33 library. This library allows you to easily write Python code to control the display.
We'll cover how to wire the 7-Segment Display to your Raspberry Pi. First assemble your 7-Segment Display.
Since there's dozens of Linux computers/boards you can use we will show wiring for Raspberry Pi. For other platforms, please visit the guide for CircuitPython on Linux to see whether your platform is supported.
Connect the 7-Segment Display as shown below to your Raspberry Pi.
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Raspberry Pi 3.3V to 7-Segment Display VIN (red wire)
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Raspberry Pi GND to 7-Segment Display GND (black wire)
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Raspberry Pi SCL to 7-Segment Display SCL (yellow wire)
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Raspberry Pi SDA to 7-Segment Display SDA (blue wire)
Setup
You'll need to install the Adafruit_Blinka library that provides the CircuitPython support in Python. This may also require enabling I2C on your platform and verifying you are running Python 3. Since each platform is a little different, and Linux changes often, please visit the CircuitPython on Linux guide to get your computer ready!
Python Installation of HT16K33 Library
Once that's done, from your command line run the following command:
pip3 install adafruit-circuitpython-ht16k33
If your default Python is version 3 you may need to run 'pip' instead. Just make sure you aren't trying to use CircuitPython on Python 2.x, it isn't supported!
If that complains about pip3 not being installed, then run this first to install it:
sudo apt-get install python3-pip
Pillow Library
We also need PIL, the Python Imaging Library, to allow using text with custom fonts. There are several system libraries that PIL relies on, so installing via a package manager is the easiest way to bring in everything:
sudo apt-get install python3-pil
That's it. You should be ready to go.
Page last edited March 08, 2024
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