2 layers48 × 40 mm SegmentCounter, the printed circuit board in 3D

SegmentCounter

Art piece demonstrating the power grid

Size: 48 × 40 mm
Copper layers: 2
Thickness: 1.6 mm
Parts: 38
Nets: 38
Pads: 122
Tracks, vias: 134, 29
Pours: 3
Routed: Yes
KiCad: KiCad 9.0 (file 20241229)
Created: 18 Jul 2025
Updated: 18 Jul 2025

Overview

SegmentCounter is an open-source printed circuit board by martinbros, from the martinbros/Quantifying-the-Current repository on GitHub, published under the GPL-3.0 licence. It is a 2-layer board of 48 × 40 mm with 38 parts on 38 nets, routed with 134 tracks and 29 vias.

It is built around the CD4026BE, CR0805-FX-3000ELF and CRM0805-FX-1002ELF, with the KAM21BR71H104KM among its other parts. Its parts include 18 resistors, 4 transistors, 3 connectors, 1 capacitor and 1 IC.

Main components

README

README.md

Quantifying the Current

This art piece makes visual the living and breathing nature of the national power grid in real time. Once powered on, it monitors the grid's pulse by counting the beats, acting as a guage of the grid's current performance. If the art piece loses power, the displayed progress is lost. Counting restarts after power is restored, and the cycle resets from zero.

All of circuitry that makes up the art piece (with the exception of power supplies) is analog. Every digit is controlled by a sequential logic decade counter IC. Each digit's IC recives a clock signal from the prior digit and provides a clock signal to the subsequent digit's IC. The digit in the 1's place receives a rectified and attenuated clock signal originating from the AC waveform of the power grid. This means that the grid itself provides the primary clock of the piece.

Given that the United States power grid oscillates at 60Hz, this means that each digit increments at the following rate:

Digit	Increment Time
0	1/60th second
1	1/6th second
2	1.66 seconds
3	17 seconds
4	2.8 minutes
5	28 minutes
6	4.6 hours
7	46 hours
8	19.3 days
9	193 days
10	5.3 years
11	53 years

These values are calculated using the following equation:

$\frac{10^{d}}{60^{x} 24^{y} 365^{z}}$

text

d: zero indexed, the digit to inquire about
x: set to 1 for seconds, 2 for minutes, and 3 for hours.
y: provided that x is 3, set to 1 for time in days. Otherwise set to 0.
z: provided that x is 3 and y is 1, set to 1 for time in years. Otherwise set to 0.

Below are some additional photos of the prototyping and building process

Parts

Qty	Value	Footprint	References
9	1k	Resistor_SMD:R_0805_2012Metric	R8, R9, R10, R11, R12, R13, R14, R17, R18
7	14	Resistor_THT:R_Axial_DIN0309_L9.0mm_D3.2mm_P2.54mm_Vertical	R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7
7	~	Jumper:SolderJumper-2_P1.3mm_Open_TrianglePad1.0x1.5mm	JP1, JP2, JP3, JP4, JP5, JP6, JP7
4	SI1926DL-T1-BE3	Package_TO_SOT_SMD:SOT-363_SC-70-6	Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4
2	10k	Resistor_SMD:R_0805_2012Metric	R15, R16
2	GND	MountingHole:MountingHole_4.3mm_M4_DIN965_Pad	H1, H2
2	VCC	MountingHole:MountingHole_4.3mm_M4_DIN965_Pad	H3, H4
2	~	customParts:TBL009V-254-04	J2, J3
1	0.1u	Capacitor_SMD:C_0805_2012Metric	C1
1	CD4026B	Package_SO:SO-16_5.3x10.2mm_P1.27mm	U1
1	~	Connector_Molex:Molex_Nano-Fit_105313-xx08_1x08_P2.50mm_Horizontal	J1

Questions

How big is the SegmentCounter PCB?

It measures 48 × 40 mm and has 2 copper layers, 1.6 mm thick.

What parts does the SegmentCounter use?

38 parts, built around the CD4026BE, CR0805-FX-3000ELF, CRM0805-FX-1002ELF and KAM21BR71H104KM. The full list of its parts is on this page, with links to each part's symbol and footprint where PCBKit's library has them.

Where can I download the SegmentCounter KiCad files?

From the martinbros/Quantifying-the-Current repository on GitHub, at the commit this page was made from: the board is segmentCounter/segmentCounter.kicad_pcb and its schematic segmentCounter/segmentCounter.kicad_sch. PCBKit opens the board in the browser, with nothing to install.

Can I use the SegmentCounter design in my own project?

Its repository publishes it under the GPL-3.0 licence: you may reuse it on that licence's terms (keep the author's notice, and for a copyleft licence share your changes alike).

Project files

Show this board on your page

A live frame, for any web page

<iframe src="https://pcbkit.io/embed/boards/martinbros-quantifying-the-current-segmentcounter" title="SegmentCounter in PCBKit" width="100%" height="480" style="border:0;border-radius:12px" allow="fullscreen" loading="lazy"></iframe>

A picture

<img src="https://pcbkit.io/embed/boards/martinbros-quantifying-the-current-segmentcounter.jpg" alt="SegmentCounter" width="1200" height="900">

A picture that opens the board, for a README

[![SegmentCounter](https://pcbkit.io/embed/boards/martinbros-quantifying-the-current-segmentcounter.jpg?size=s)](https://pcbkit.io/boards/martinbros-quantifying-the-current-segmentcounter)

Source

Repository: martinbros/Quantifying-the-Current
Board file: segmentCounter/segmentCounter.kicad_pcb
Commit: 78e07ee
Licence: GPL-3.0

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