Novastar A7s

NovaStar A7s — PWM and common driver receiving card

The A7s is a previous-generation NovaStar receiving card, now withdrawn from the manufacturer's active catalogue. We list it for one precise reason: the installed base. It is the first Armor card to distinguish PWM from common driver ICs, and that distinction still weighs on service.

Specifications

Load: 512×256 pixels avec driver IC PWM — 384×256 pixels avec driver IC commun
Connectors: 32 groupes RGB parallèle ou 64 groupes série (extensible à 128), 2 × Gigabit Ethernet
Dimensions: 70,0 × 45,0 × 7,9 mm
Weight: 17,3 g
Power: DC 3,3 – 5,5 V, 3 W
Status: outside NovaStar's active catalogue
Recommended replacement: A7s Plus

NovaStar A7s — why this reference is still stocked

On an LED wall, a receiving card is not swapped like a light bulb. Its load capacity determines how the wall is divided into zones, and that division is frozen in the cabinet configuration file. Changing reference means rebuilding that file, revalidating the mapping, and sometimes reworking the internal harness — turning a standard exchange into an engineering job.

Our position: we always state the current replacement card — here the A7s Plus — and we tell you plainly how good the substitution is. On a common driver IC wall, the A7s is calibrated at 384 × 256. The A7s Plus rises to 512×512 in PWM and 512×384 in common: either way the division changes.

On a partially serviced estate, like-for-like replacement is often the cheaper option once engineering time is counted. On a full refurbishment it is the opposite. We quote both.

• Service on a wall in operation — like-for-like replacement without rebuilding the configuration.
• Homogeneous estate — keeping a single card reference across the whole wall.
• Maintenance stock — spare cards on site for critical installations.
• Extending an existing wall — installation already fitted with A7s.
• Planned migration — we also quote the move to A7s Plus with the engineering time it implies.

• Status — outside NovaStar's active catalogue: confirm availability before committing.
• Replacement — A7s Plus. Functionally good substitution but the division must be revisited.
• Supply voltage — DC 3,3 – 5,5 V; recent replacement cards start at 3.8 V, check against older 3.3 V supplies.
• Configuration — any change of reference means rebuilding the cabinet configuration file and revalidating the mapping.
• Clearance — compare dimensions before proposing a substitution: recent cards often add 1 to 2 mm of thickness.