MQTT dot matrix display to show information from MQTT topics

wida · February 8, 2020, 1:31pm

wledPixel

ESP8266 and MAX7219 dot matrix display management

The latest firmware version can be found in Releases

Supported key features:

Home Assistant client [display sensor values]
OpenWeatherMap client [display: temperature (C/F), humidity, pressure, wind speed, weather icon]
MQTT client [each display zone support own topic]
Wall NTP clock [NTP sync clock]
Manual input
Full controll through web UI
Home Assistant MQTT discovery [When MQTT settings specified, device will be automatically send discovery message to HA]
Initial setup through wifi AP and web UI
Controll through MQTT
Support 3 separated display zones
Support 12 display segments in the same time
Included 3 different fonts
Symbols font

Ingredients:

Dot matrix display MAX7219, something like this: https://aliexpress.ru/item/32618155357.html
WeMos D1 Mini (esp8266), something like this: https://aliexpress.ru/item/32651747570.html

Firmware compiled with next parameters:

// Display pinout
#define DATA_PIN  D7                     // WeMos D1 mini or ESP8266 -> GPIO13
#define CS_PIN    D6                     // WeMos D1 mini or ESP8266 -> GPIO12
#define CLK_PIN   D5                     // WeMos D1 mini or ESP8266 -> GPIO14

First boot:

Device will boot in wifi access point mode and write the wifi name and password on the display.

AP wifi name: wledPixel-[short MAC address]

AP wifi password: 12345678

Connect to this AP and configure your wifi settings (connect to your wifi network)

When the device connects to the WIFI network, the device’s IP address will be displayed on the zone0

Open the browser and go to the device IP address

Icons in Wled symbol font:

1 - "X"
2 - "stop"
3 - "rain"
4 - "ip:"
8 - "full light segment"
A - "calendar"
B - "windows"
C - "clouds"
D - "door"
E - "female"
F - "snowflake"
G - "key"
H - "male"
I - "alarm"
J - "clock"
K - "garbage"
L - "info"
M - "moon"
N - "message"
O - "reminder"
P - "wifi"
R - "huge rain"
S - "sun"
T - "thunderstorm"
c - "cloud"
f - "fog"
m - "cloud and moon"
r - "rain"
s - "sun and cloud"
° - "degree symbol"

MQTT topics:

devicePrefix/zoneN/workMode - zone work mode
devicePrefix/zoneN/scrolleffectIn - scroll effect IN
devicePrefix/zoneN/scrolleffectOut - scroll effect Out
devicePrefix/zoneN/scrollspeed - scroll speed
devicePrefix/zoneN/scrollpause - scroll pause
devicePrefix/zoneN/scrollalign - scroll alignment
devicePrefix/zoneN/charspacing - character spacing
devicePrefix/intensity - brightness
devicePrefix/zoneN/workMode - zone work mode
devicePrefix/power - display power control, support on / off values

where devicePrefix = wledPixel-A071
zoneN = zone number (e.g. Zone0)

Supported workMode:

workMode supported values:

mqttClient - MQTT client
manualInput - Manual static text inputed in UI
wallClock - NTP sync clock
owmWeather - Open Weather Map client
haClient - Home Assistant client

Wall clock

Wall clock mode support next following display options:

HH:MM - Hours : Minutes [21:43]
HH:MM:SS - Hours : Minutes : Seconds [21:43:54]
HH - Hours [21]
MM - Minutes [43]
dd.mm.yyyy - Day.Month.Year [21.06.2022]
dd.mm - Day.Month [21.06]
dd.mm aa - Day.Month weekday name (e.g., Sun) [21.06 Tue] *in Cyrillic font weekday name will be in Cyrillic
aa - Weekday name (e.g. Sun) *in Cyrillic font weekday name will be in Cyrillic

Scroll effect list

Default effects:

PA_RANDOM
PA_PRINT
PA_SCAN_HORIZ
PA_SCROLL_LEFT
PA_WIPE
PA_SCAN_VERTX
PA_SCROLL_UP_LEFT
PA_SCROLL_UP
PA_FADE
PA_OPENING_CURSOR
PA_GROW_UP
PA_SCROLL_UP_RIGHT
PA_BLINDS
PA_CLOSING
PA_GROW_DOWN
PA_SCAN_VERT
PA_SCROLL_DOWN_LEFT
PA_WIPE_CURSOR
PA_SCAN_HORIZX
PA_DISSOLVE
PA_MESH
PA_OPENING
PA_CLOSING_CURSOR
PA_SCROLL_DOWN_RIGHT
PA_SCROLL_RIGHT
PA_SLICE
PA_SCROLL_DOWN

Home Assistant automation example:

Send sensor value each time when a value has been changed

---
- alias: Outside temp change - send new temp to wled panel mqtt
  initial_state: 'on'
  trigger:
    platform: state
    entity_id: sensor.outside_thp_sensor_3
  action:
    - service: mqtt.publish
      data:
        topic: wledPixel-A071/zone0_text
        payload_template: "{{ states('sensor.outside_thp_sensor_3') }} C"

Change wledPixel-A071 to device name with your prefix

thundergreen · February 8, 2020, 1:53pm

Awesome ! I was looking for something like this BUT i have to admit that your reaadme on your repo is a bit short. We would need the links for the libraries as well as a short write up how ti compile that. I don’t mean the general way but the libraries needed for this project.

wida · February 8, 2020, 7:23pm

Thank you for your comment, I added dependencies libraries in Readme.
To compile this project you need to install the next libraries in Arduino IDE:

PubSubClient
MD_MAX72XX
MD_Parola (with dependencies)

And also do not forget to choose your type of ESP board in Board Manager. I had compiled with Wemos D1 mini.

Let me know if I can help you more.

thundergreen · February 8, 2020, 10:44pm

Thanks man…that works awesome great …just 9ne question…the icon …do we have a Wiki which icons are possible? I already payed a bit and found some nice …fitting also to messages shown on the matrix

thundergreen · February 8, 2020, 11:13pm

Myour project is one of the smartest projects ever …I now can write with my XMPP Messenger messages to the led matrix as well as showing all kind of information based on events . Thanks so much dude !

wida · February 8, 2020, 11:16pm

Good question! For icons, I created a font with several icons to override the regular alphabet. This font applied just only for zone1. You can find a mapping card in wLedFont.h.
You can paint icons whatever you want using this online tool: https://pjrp.github.io/MDParolaFontEditor

Feel free to add new icons and update the existing wLedFont.h in the repository.

I also updated github with this information.

thundergreen · February 9, 2020, 9:23am

I saw this info in the GitHub repo and will create some nice icons .I’ll watch into it tonight and make some pull requests. Is it possible to add all icon on the right ? Just ideas but as I am fascinated by your project I wanna push it

thundergreen · February 9, 2020, 9:32am

I also saw some nice animations like pqcman somewhere …do you think it’s possible in include those or even planned …don’t abondon this project please I think there’s much more we can do with it

wida · February 9, 2020, 10:00am

I’ll appreciate any pull requests. Feel free to contribute to this project.

To move icons to the right you need to change zone config like this (for 8 segments display as an example):

void setup() {
  setup_serial();

  P.begin(2);
  // Icons zone in the right
  P.setZone(0, 1, 7);                     // P.setZone(zone_number,start_segmet,end_segment)
  P.setZone(1, 0, 0);                     // P.setZone(zone_number,start_segmet,end_segment)

^^^ I tested this changes:

thundergreen · February 9, 2020, 12:21pm

I meant more like having icons on both sides

wida · February 9, 2020, 1:06pm

I added 13 new custom animations included pacman. Video with new animations

PACMAN
WAVE
ROLL
LINES
ARROW
SAILBOAT
STEAMBOAT
HEART
INVADER
ROCKET
FBALL
CHEVRON
WALKER

Also I a little bit updated logic of work, now you need to send name of scroll effect rather number of effect.

thundergreen · February 10, 2020, 5:53pm

Absolutely great ! Thanks a lot !

frelev · February 10, 2020, 8:55pm

I would like to try this project but I have this LED matrix (32x16 outdoor RGB p10 indoor led module):

Module Resolution: 32 X 16 (dots)

How should I configure the segments and display?

Thanks!

wida · February 10, 2020, 9:18pm

Based on the limitation of supporting hardware types I’m not sure if it’s possible to use this display library with an RGB matrix. Your matrix has many more features than this one.
Unfortunately, I didn’t find your display in the supporting hardware list of display library: https://majicdesigns.github.io/MD_MAX72XX/page_hardware.html

But you can add a new display in the library by this manual: https://arduinoplusplus.wordpress.com/2017/04/14/parola-a-to-z-adapting-for-different-hardware/

frelev · February 10, 2020, 9:28pm

Ok,
I found this library,

Maybe that can be used instead?

wida · February 10, 2020, 9:49pm

To use this library needs to re-write half of the current project to change logic of communication with the display. I think it should be a new project. Unfortunately, I don’t have this display and I can’t help you with it. You can do it by your self and take from this repo all the logic of working with MQTT for example.

Thank you for sharing a link to aliexpress with this interesting matrix.

bladeback · February 11, 2020, 12:18pm

Super project

bladeback · February 11, 2020, 12:36pm

How do I on display the time from the home assistant on my Matrix display so I can go there for seconds? Is it possible to give an example of automation?
Thanks

bladeback · February 11, 2020, 10:11pm

I have a problem, client MQTT is still connect and immidietly disconnect again again, reset esp again. Please help me

Show one message and diconnect and reset ESP

wida · February 11, 2020, 10:12pm

MQTT hasn’t guaranteed delivery time. It means we can’t use this protocol for sending time each second. In this case, seconds will be changed with different delay each time.
But for display time with hours and minutes why not. In this case delay for 2 seconds doesn’t change anything.

I wrote and tested automation with 2 different time format: EU and US (with AM/PM)

---
- alias: wLed MQTT clock
  initial_state: 'on'
  trigger:
    platform: time_pattern
    minutes: "/1"               # run each 1 minute
  action:
    - service: mqtt.publish
      data:
        topic: wled/scrolleffect_without_exit
        payload_template: "PA_MESH"                     # change time effect
    - service: mqtt.publish
      data:
        topic: wled/zone0_text
        payload_template: "{{ as_timestamp(now()) | timestamp_custom('%H:%M') }}"            # EU time format 23:45
#        payload_template: "{{ as_timestamp(now()) | timestamp_custom('%-I:%M %p') }}"       # US time format 11:45 PM

Also, it would be nice to once send a clock icon to zone1: publish mqtt to topic wled/zone1_text message c

as a result, you will have this kind of wLed clock: