Tindie Blog | Electromechanical Status Indicator

Having recently watched an excellent video about flip-dot displays, when I saw this product come up I was interested right away. This Electromechanical Status Indicator breakout can be super useful in low-power projects, or in projects where LED displays are inadequate or don’t meet accessibility requirements. It simply takes setting one pin high or low, and then a quick pulse of current to flip the display from one state to another. After that, you can completely disconnect power if desired — the display holds its state magnetically.

Not only do these displays make an audible click when they change state, which can help get attention to the state change, but they are also somewhat tactile. If you look closely, the red state has a raised circle whereas the green state is completely flat. This could probably be felt by someone with limited vision, though you’d have to test it before using it for anything important.

If you want to learn more about flip-dot displays in general, check out the aforementioned video by Mike’s Electric Stuff which goes into quite a bit of detail on how flip-dots work! And for a demo of this display, check out the video embedded below.