Seven Segment LED

I was wondering if anyone knew of a Seven Segment LED which can been seen in daylight.

I have been asked to build a Timer for hours and minutes for tee ball games. I would like to have the numbers fairly large so they are visible from a distance and bright enough as well.

I have looked at 5 inch and 7 inch but not sure if they can been see outside. I only need three digits.

Or is there another more visible solution for the digits.

Just thought I would ask and see if anyone had done this already. I feel I can do the hardware once I come up with the best solution for the digits.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Brian,
Since you need only 3 digits, it might be less time consuming to make your own, using as many hi brightness leds as you deem needed. Shading the display helps a lot too, either by using a hood over it or by recessing the display from its bezel surface.
Medium Density Fiber Board (MDF) is readily available, cheap, easy to machine.
It's what a lot of sign makers use, If you do not wish to fabricate it a sign company could do that for you, and in fact might be a good resource for commercial displays.
And now I am thinking they might "sponsor" your effort for putting their logo on the back, or even your employer might.

check also the requirement for digit height at given distance to enable it to be read clearly - there are charts that specify the minimum character heights.

As mentioned, there are no cost-effective 7-segment displays of 'large' size but using discrete LEDs (ultra-bright) will work if the viewing angle isn't too excessive. I've also seem electro-mechanical displays using dots (dot matrix) and segmented (7-segmented) that operate by rotating fluorescent coloured 'panels'. These can be found on some surplus websites.

I found this lot after a one-line web search http://evilmadscience.com/productsme...7-sevensegment

Yes I had found that one. It looks good. Expensive but good.

I also read the thread where the epoxy style would be better for outside.

Thanks for the ideas guys. As always I appreciate all the help.

I am thinking that LCD is the way to go in sunlight (I'm not sure just how big you need--i have some single 2") or perhaps a video overlay onto an old VGA monitor... You could watch highlights between innings too!

I looked at mechanical "Flip" type displays, but the mechanics of this method seem very involved.

Ultra-bright LEDs are the way to go for outside applications, just look at new vehicles.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/5959/dsc01334id9.jpg

You might want to consider 12V ultra-bright LEDs.