So, I originally asked what the biggest VFD available was, and the answers were along the lines of: Noritake makes 256x128 but its not avaiable on the market. The 256x64 can be found on Ebay. You can custom order any size you want, but it'll cost quite a few 'chings'. There are also VFDs that are in expensive equipement and other things like large billboards, but that goes beyond the scope of this question. So, why did I ask? A few weeks ago I found a very obscure listing that had a graphical VFD for sale. It is a NOS item that was intentionally for marketting that never went through. There were no specs on this thing, so I dug around and found them. The digging was intense, including numerous long distance phone calls, but eventually I scored. Say hello to the Futaba GP1002C09A, a 320x240 VFD that requires 5V logic and 135VDC driving voltage: This thing is huge and heavy. My camera does not do it justice. Its 7"x6" (or 175mm x 150mm). Part of the sale included a 120VAC to 135VDC converter (whew). The above picture is of a 8x8 pixel square test pattern using a 16F877A PIC. I thought I would include the cigarette box as size refference. A better test pattern for showing the graphics. Again, the camera washes out the brightness of the VFD and the picture doesnt do this thing justice. The interface is really easy. A little too easy. Theres no text page, so I will be working on a firmware solution and build my own. The tiled image I used is 64x80 pixels. IRL, it looks amazing.
IEE makes some big ones. They made the ones that BG Micro sells or has sold. They make a 4x20 character display with 11mm high characters that's almost 10" long and 4" high. Surely not cheap tho. In fact the ones that BG Micro sold for $25 were originally around $200. And the 4-row version is about $300. http://www.ieeinc.com/html/vacuum_fluorescent_display_mod.html
one of the mills i have uses what looks like a 800x600 vfd... its the size of a 15" monitor... no clue on the actual resolution
So far 256x128 (which is not available yet) seems to be the highest. Im thinking that mill uses either CRT or a green EL backlight normal LCD. But give me the name/model number of the mill and I'll check it out. There's a reason why Im asking, so someone show me the money! I want to know the biggest graphical VFD that someone can actually buy.
You know there's a 256x128 G-VFD thing going on in the electronics forum. It looks like the 256x128 is the one with the largest display area. Also i'm sure that if you have the cash, they can make custom sizes for you. edit- i stand corrected, 256x64 thing going on , have two waiting for me, damned customs.
Actually Hazer.. just go to your local Best Buy. They have 50" plasma displays all over. The only difference between a VFD display, and a PLASMA display is the fact that the PLASMA uses very small itty bitty colored VF bulbs instead of one large plate. Now, if you want Electro-Luminescient displays, I got a whole stack of Planer EL display's here which all are 15" and do 640x480...
I'm pretty sure that the biggest display I saw ... was mounted on a billboard. Got Cash? ( Edit: I'm pretty sure the prices on those though are just as astronomical, however. Good luck on finding a reasonably sized BIG VFD. )
definitely a blue vfd...... its too thin to be a crt... the whole screen setup is about the thickness of my lcds...... and since its wicked bright, i'd lean towards it being a vfd
it could be an OLED like this one and here is a 320x240 display sorry bout the huge pics, I'll resize if necessary
No, however, they work just fine with the std controllers from EarthLCD however. I just happened to get a box of them during a swap. The nice thing about the EL panels is that they work well in low-light and bright light conditions (since they produce their own light). The only problem, is that the require a fair amount of power, and don't come in anything other than greyscale.
Right. I've seen them in person, in different light conditions. Would you be willing to part with any for a price? If so, e-mail me at jasz0008 at umn dot edu
