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I'm really not sure if this is the best place to ask this, but I'm working on a project that requires a sort of 'giant pixel' of sorts, maybe about 4"x4", that can either be dark or light, and can maintain that state with low power (or no power at all, if possible, as in e-ink and things like that).

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what kind of component can fulfill this?

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With the information you give us right now, I'd say electronic photo frame with custom made pictures. – jippie Dec 24 '12 at 21:40
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@jippie Those take power. The best answer seems to be in the question, an e-ink display? – Kortuk♦ Dec 24 '12 at 21:48
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Flip dot's only use power to change state, but I don't know in what sizes they come and if they can show more than 2 colors. Of course you can combine them into a larger one. – jippie Dec 24 '12 at 21:51
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Mechanical pixels. Remember the old displays in the airports? They had 5x7 pixelated characters. Each pixel was a plate (green on one side, black on the other), which could be flipped. – Nick Alexeev Dec 24 '12 at 21:55
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The mechanical solution is the best for sure, especially if you don't need to toggle the pixel very often. You just need a piece of wood/plastic. To operate it a RC servo is a great option in my opinion, you can also turn off the servo with a mosfet for super power saving. – Vladimir Cravero Dec 24 '12 at 22:20
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up vote 10 down vote accepted

Flip dots only use current when flipping and are easily combined to a into a larger panel.

Flip dot display

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+1 nice option. – Oli Glaser Dec 24 '12 at 22:23
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip-dot_display or this is a cool (slightly off topic) little video: youtube.com/watch?v=x3jkoIyJgoc – jippie Dec 24 '12 at 22:26
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flipdots.com/how-it-works.html – jippie Dec 24 '12 at 22:51
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I like this video of something very similar. youtube.com/watch?v=BZysu9QcceM – David Kessner Dec 25 '12 at 2:34
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@DavidKessner - wow, that is pretty cool. – Oli Glaser Dec 25 '12 at 18:08
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Not sure if this is the type of thing you are looking for (as it doesn't meet the low power requirements), but adafruit do some cool EL panels that might be worth checking out:

enter image description here

There is also, "Smart Glass", but I'm not sure where you can actually get hold of it from in small quantities (you can get samples from some companies)

Another possibility is making your own :-s

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