Datasheet
MAX6956
2-Wire-Interfaced, 2.5V to 5.5V, 20-Port or
28-Port LED Display Driver and I/O Expander
______________________________________________________________________________________ 19
The recommended value of R
ISET
is 39kΩ.
The recommended value of R
ISET
is the minimum
allowed value, since it sets the display driver to the
maximum allowed segment current. R
ISET
can be a
higher value to set the segment current to a lower maxi-
mum value where desired. The user must also ensure
that the maximum current specifications of the LEDs
connected to the driver are not exceeded.
The drive current for each segment can be controlled
through programming either the Global Current register
(Table 11) or Individual Segment Current registers
(Tables 12, 13, and 14), according to the setting of the
Current Control bit of the Configuration register (Table 9).
These registers select the LED’s constant-current drive
from 16 equal fractions of the maximum segment cur-
rent. The current difference between successive current
steps, I
STEP
, is therefore determined by the formula:
I
STEP
= I
SEG
/ 16
If I
SEG
= 24mA, then I
STEP
= 24mA / 16 = 1.5mA.
Applications Information
Driving Bicolor and Tricolor LEDs
Bicolor digits group a red and a green die together for
each display element, so that the element can be lit
red, green (or orange), depending on which die (or
both) is lit. The MAX6956 allows each segment’s cur-
rent to be set individually from 1/16th (minimum current
and LED intensity) to 16/16th (maximum current and
LED intensity), as well as off (zero current). Thus, a
bicolor (red-green) segment pair can be set to 289
color/intensity combinations. A discrete or CA tricolor
(red-green-yellow or red-green-blue) segment triad can
be set to 4913 color/intensity combinations.
Power Dissipation Issues
Each MAX6956 port can sink a current of 24mA into an
LED with a 2.4V forward-voltage drop when operated
from a supply voltage of at least 3.0V. The minimum
voltage drop across the internal LED drivers is there-
fore (3.0V - 2.4V) = 0.6V. The MAX6956 can sink 28 x
24mA = 672mA when all outputs are operating as LED
Table 14. Odd Individual Segment Current Format
LED
DRIVE
FRACTION
SEGMENT
CONSTANT
CURRENT WITH
R
ISET
= 39kΩ (mA)
ADDRESS
CODE (HEX)
D7 D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D1 D0 HEX CODE
1/16 1.5 0x12 to 0x1F 0 0 0 0 0x0X
2/16 3 0x12 to 0x1F 0 0 0 1 0x1X
3/16 4.5 0x12 to 0x1F 0 0 1 0 0x2X
4/16 6 0x12 to 0x1F 0 0 1 1 0x3X
5/16 7.5 0x12 to 0x1F 0 1 0 0 0x4X
6/16 9 0x12 to 0x1F 0 1 0 1 0x5X
7/16 10.5 0x12 to 0x1F 0 1 1 0 See Table 13. 0x6X
8/16 12 0x12 to 0x1F 0 1 1 1 0x7X
9/16 13.5 0x12 to 0x1F 1 0 0 0 0x8X
10/16 15 0x12 to 0x1F 1 0 0 1 0x9X
11/16 16.5 0x12 to 0x1F 1 0 1 0 0xAX
12/16 18 0x12 to 0x1F 1 0 1 1 0xBX
13/16 19.5 0x12 to 0x1F 1 1 0 0 0xCX
14/16 21 0x12 to 0x1F 1 1 0 1 0xDX
15/16 22.5 0x12 to 0x1F 1 1 1 0 0xEX
16/16 24 0x12 to 0x1F 1 1 1 1 0xFX