MQTT dot matrix display to show information from MQTT topics

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:

wida · February 11, 2020, 10:30pm

Based on similar problems in google I found several recommendations, try to follow them one by one:

Double-check what type of board you choose in Arduino IDE. It should be the same as you have.
Double-check your passwords in project config.
Uncomment this line https://github.com/widapro/pixel_led_mqtt_panel/blob/0be1189bcd2fc11707c6d559ad2a899a300bf9eb/pixel_led_mqtt_panel.ino#L79 and recompile the project.
Check your wifi signal, maybe move your board close to the router.
Grab logs from a serial port of your board. Connect your board to PC and use Arduino IDE --> Tools --> Serial Monitor. And share your logs here.

bladeback · February 12, 2020, 11:35am

thank you for the advice

Marton_Modis · February 12, 2020, 7:07pm

Great project,Big thanks!

thundergreen · February 15, 2020, 9:13pm

As you know …waf is the most important… I’ll now start programming some nice features

jasondreher · February 19, 2020, 3:26pm

Any thoughts on how to adjust this to include a timer? I love this project and would use it for messages through MQTT, but as mentioned above MQTT would not be good for a count down timer with seconds.