Persistence of vision (POV) is a phenomenon of the eye by which an afterimage is thought to persist for approximately one twenty-fifth of a second on the retina.
Image Credit: Wikipedia
Recently, a Maker by the name of Vishalapr created an inexpensive POV display using an Atmel ATtiny85 microcontroller (MCU) paired with a DC motor.
Aside from the Atmel-based ATtiny85 and DC motor, additional key components include:
- 5 LEDs
- 3V coin cell
- Coin cell holder
- USB header (a normal USB cord would do)
- A case/enclosure to keep the motor in
- A piece of wood or cardboard for the LED bar
- IC holder
- Protoboard
- Jumper cables
Vishalapr kicks off the project by making a simple LED board out of cardboard/wood. He then connects the ATtiny85 MCU and the motor/power supply, placing the various components in an enclosure.
Next up? Installing support for the ATtiny series and programming the ATtiny85.
“So now that you have built a 5 LED POV Display, why not try something bigger? How about a 10 LED POV Display with an Arduino instead of an ATTiny85 (supports only 5 outputs),” Vishalapr added.
“We can also make this wall mountable by adding a small hole through which you can hang it on a nail firmly. Using some tricolor LEDs and more pins, we can give out a multicolored display.”
Interested in learning more? You can check out the project’s official page here.
Atmel | Bits & Pieces 