| Litronix DL1416 LED Display (DL1416T, DL1416B) | |
| Written by AnubisTTP on 2021-12-17 |
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Released in 1977, the Litronix DL1416 is a sophisticated intelligent LED display which incorporates LED dies, display drivers, and character memory into a single device. The DL1416 is able to decode 6 bit TTL-level ASCII without any external components and also includes a cursor display function that can flash an indicator over a character without erasing that character from display RAM. The LED readouts themselves are alphanumeric single die chips that have been bonded to a PCB substrate and sealed under plastic magnifier lenses for improved visibility. Unfortunately the display is quite large relative to the size of the digits displayed; a bulky plastic compartment below the display area contains the CMOS logic for the display RAM and character driver. This logic compartment makes vertical tiling of the DL1416 inconvenient; fortunately multiple 1416s could still be combined horizontally into displays of any length. The DL1416 was well received by the nascent personal computer market of the late 1970s, and saw use in many products.
Although Litronix quickly superseded the DL1416 with the release of the smaller and more advanced DL2416 intelligent LED in 1979, the DL1416 still enjoyed a lengthy production run with a number of different variants produced. The earliest DL1416s were manufactured using bare tinned PCBs and recycled DL416 lens components. This model was quickly replaced by the version commonly seen today, which is built on a painted gold trace PCB with the Litronix part number crudely stamped on top of the plastic chip compartment. By 1984 Litronix was producing the DL1416B, a version with a thinner PCB and a robust complete epoxy encapsulation, similar to the package style used for the DL2416 LED. Despite the DL1416B's clear superiority, it appears Litronix did not produce this variant in great quantity, given the scarcity of examples for sale in the secondhand market.
Litronix DL1416 LED display, normal operation. The DL1416 was Litronix's first commercially released smart LED display.
The DL1416B is an improved version of the DL1416, which was released in the mid 1980s.
The DL1416 went through a number of revisions through its lifespan. Manufacture dates from left to right; 1977, 1981, 1982, 1984.
Pinouts and block diagram for the DL1416 LED display.
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