| Hewlett Packard 5082-7500 LED Display | |
| Written by AnubisTTP on 2020-08-12 |
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The problem with early LED displays, as Hewlett Packard had discovered when producing their prior LED products, is that they are simply too small. The 5082-7500 was an attempt to solve this issue, by taking a 5082-7000 LED display and replacing the tiny LED dies with standard 5mm epoxy LEDs. The 5082-7500 uses the same complicated false bitmap as HP's early 5082-7000 display, and includes an extra row of LEDs which is used to produce more accurate "4" and "7" characters. The BCD driver circuitry of the 5082-7000 has been packaged in a separate integrated circuit, which is located to the left of the display digit. We have been unable to confirm the release date of this display, but suspect it was produced sometime around 1973. As with their other early LEDs, Hewlett Packard's manufacturing excess is on full display; the 5082-7500 is resplendent with gold traces and white ceramic packaging. Given it's size and complexity, the 5082-7500 was likely an expensive part to purchase.
By all measures the 5082-7500 appears to have been a commercial failure, at least in comparison to the 7400 and 7300 series LED displays that preceded it. To our knowledge it was never sold in quantity and was used in no devices of commercial significance. Interestingly Hewlett Packard does not even appear to have used the 7500 in any of it's own products, a sharp departure from their other early LED models. The home builder could probably build a very nice clock or counter from these if only they were more readily available.
Hewlett Packard 5082-7500 LED display, normal operation.
The 5082-7500 produces false bitmap characters with a more pleasing shape than standard 7 segment LED displays.
Early Hewlett Packard LED display family; from left to right: 5082-7000, 5082-5107, 5082-7200, 5082-7300, 5082-7412, 5082-7500.
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