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HARDWARE.md

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Hardware

This page acts as a BOM (bill of materials); it contains additional hardware you need or might want to pair with my PCB.

Included with every Tindie purchase

When you buy my board on Tindie, I will include these items. Store links are just in case you need more!

  • My ESP32 HUB75 driver PCB, of course!
  • Your choice of output connector:
    • Output Mode 0: Plug the PCB directly into the panel:
    • Output Mode 1: PCB plugs into the panel via a IDC ribbon cable:
  • 1206 SMD Ceramic Capacitor (~1-10uF): AliExpress
    • Optionally use this to enable the auto-bootloader (no need to press buttons to upload new firmware)

Required components not included:

  • ESP32-DEVKIT-V1: Amazon ($7)
  • Any HUB75 type scan LED panel (E pin is connected, so should work with 1/32 panels too)
    • Looking for a cheap panel to get started? Check out the Project Mc2 LED Purse!
    • Note that larger panels (> 64x64px) might not leave enough free DMA-capable memory to also utilize Wifi in your sketch! I can use a 128x64px panel, but there's no memory left for Wifi (and it lags if the animations are too long)!
    • If you're using Mode 1, make sure you have a 16P IDC Cable (might have come with your panel): AliExpress, Amazon
    • Make sure you have a plan for how to power the panel! You might need a powerful 5V power source! See POWER.md for the different options I recommend.
      • 4-pin power cables for HUB75 panels (might have come with your panel): AliExpress, AliExpress
      • Alternatively, you can solder some random (thick enough!) wires to the power connector. Useful for low profile projects!

Optional components (can be included for a fee):

  • If you want easy disconnect for ESP32:
    • 15 Pin Single Row Female Pin Header (buy 2): AliExpress
  • If you want easy disconnect for panel power:
    • Screw terminals (up to 2 can be used to easily wire power to the panels): AliExpress
  • If you want easy jumper wire access to the 9 GPIO and power pins:
  • If you want to smooth the power spikes (might prolong device lifespan or prevent brownouts):

Other LED panel related hardware you might want

  • Project Mc2 LED Purse (harvest a cheap 16x32px LED display): Amazon, Adafruit article, My GitHub Project
    • If you want to daisy-chain this display, it's missing an output socket:
  • If you want to daisy-chain other displays:
    • 16P IDC Cable (might have come with your panel): AliExpress

Alternative HUB75 shields

This board was inspired by Adafruit's RGB Matrix Featherwing Kit and Teensy SmartMatrix Shield! But mine is cheaper and more powerful, with Wifi/BT!

My shield only works with SmartMatrix, not PxMatrix.

If you want to work with PxMatrix, I highly recommend checking out Brian Lough's shields! They are designed much better than mine!

I simply prefer SmartMatrix, which is why I designed this shield. There are some shields in the SmartMatrix repo but these appear to be active and require extra components. My shield is passive and just connects the pins to the right place. It lacks a proper level-shifter, so it assumes your panel will accept the 3.3V logic from the ESP32. It also lacks an external latch, which those active shields use to free up a few more pins on your ESP32.

For the Raspberry Pi, the project rpi-rgb-led-matrix has an adapters folder with several designs.