Need power requirement help for RGB matrix/shield!

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blkhwks19
 
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Need power requirement help for RGB matrix/shield!

Post by blkhwks19 »

I bought a 64x32 6mm RGB Matrix panel, an RGB Matrix shield, and a Metro M4 Express Airlift Lite from Adafruit. The panel is powered with a 5v 5A power supply. And the board/shield is powered via USB from my laptop (though once I'm done with code I have a USB 5v 2.5A wall power supply I plan to use). I'm following this guide to get some graphics and text displayed on the new panel.

I uploaded and ran the demo code from the guide (testshapes_32x64, which I assume is meant for the 32x64 panels) and I'm getting flickery garbled text (see attached pic). I think I missed it earlier, but I think I'm realizing this guide is not really intended for 64x32 panels. I guess the guide does make a mention of the 32x64 panels here and there (like for the demo code I'm trying to run), but it doesn't go into detail for the 32x64 panel.

So my theory is that because I'm using 2 separate power supplies they aren't on common ground which may be causing my issues. The guide doesn't cover separate power supplies since it's for smaller panels and everything is powered via the same supply via the main board. Does this sound like a solid theory?

If so, whats the best solution here? Having everything on the same supply would be ideal, but what would the power requirement be for that, and how would my setup change as far as supplying power to everything? I'm kind of new to all this, but specifically unfamiliar with power, so could use some solid advice and real numbers to make sure I do it right.

Thanks in advance!
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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Need power requirement help for RGB matrix/shield!

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

If you are using the shield, you will have a common ground connection via the shield. If you post some photos showing all of your soldering and connections we will see if we can spot any issues there.

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blkhwks19
 
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Re: Need power requirement help for RGB matrix/shield!

Post by blkhwks19 »

Here's a couple images the top and bottom of the shield. I made the jumper wire modification to be used with the Metro M4 as instructed in the guide.
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bottom of shield
bottom of shield
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Top of shield
Top of shield
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blkhwks19
 
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Re: Need power requirement help for RGB matrix/shield!

Post by blkhwks19 »

And heres a couple more of the setup connections.
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panel_connection.jpg
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shield_connection.jpg
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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Need power requirement help for RGB matrix/shield!

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Soldering and connections look good. Did you remember to change the clock pin definition in the code for the M4 as described below?
https://learn.adafruit.com/32x16-32x32- ... ep-2991517

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blkhwks19
 
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Re: Need power requirement help for RGB matrix/shield!

Post by blkhwks19 »

Yep I did. The code has a commented out line for the M4 so I just swapped the comments there.

I mean the code works. The first bit with the colors and shapes looks fine, no weirdness or flickering there. Just the text part is what's flickering and looking strange, though I can still somewhat read the text that's supposed to display.

Just to test I made a brand new sketch and had it fill in 2 or 3 individual pixels with red, and that works, but it;s displaying the same flickering/bugginess as the demo code, so it's leading me to believe the software isn't the problem, but rather the hardware. But again, I'm new at this so not assuming, just leaning in that direction.

And to make things worse now, I just tried to put the demo code back on the board but the Arduino IDE doesn't recognize it, I can't choose a COM port it's completely grayed out. In fact, in Device Manager (I'm on Win10 64-bit), I get a yellow triangle that says "Unknown USB Device", so not sure why it's all of a sudden not being recognized.....

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Need power requirement help for RGB matrix/shield!

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The flickering on the text display could be a power issue. We recommend 4A for the 32x64 panels. The actual draw depends on the number of pixels illuminated and the colors used.


As for the USB issue. Have you tried cycling power and/or hitting the reset button on the board?

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blkhwks19
 
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Re: Need power requirement help for RGB matrix/shield!

Post by blkhwks19 »

Ok I can try swapping the 5A supply for a 4A and see if that works. It'll take a few days to get one so I'll report back when I have an answer.

As for the USB issue, yes I tried pressing reset, rebooting the IDE and my laptop, and cycling power to all components and my laptop. Still no dice. Weird since this worked for a while, and I didn't make any changes to configuration, just the sketch.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Need power requirement help for RGB matrix/shield!

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Sorry, I misread your original post. I thought you were powering the panel with the 2.5A supply. A 5A supply should be fine. Though just to be sure it is not a supply issue, measure the actual voltage at the back of the panel when the display is misbehaving.

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blkhwks19
 
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Re: Need power requirement help for RGB matrix/shield!

Post by blkhwks19 »

Well I can't seem to get the panel to light up at all today, even with everything connected. I'm not sure if that's something to do with the fact that my laptop still can't recognize my board or not?

With everything connected I tested the voltage and I'm getting about 5.4V, if that helps. So sounds like the power supply is good at least?

What else can I do to try to resolve that USB issue so I can properly troubleshoot the rest? Sorry this is getting complicated but I really appreciate your help and patience with me as I work through this!

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Re: Need power requirement help for RGB matrix/shield!

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Since nothing is lighting up, that is 5.4v with minimum load. The question is how well the supply voltage holds up under load. But we'll need to get the M4 working again before we can test that.

With the shield removed, what LED activity do you see on the M4 when you plug it in to the USB port?

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blkhwks19
 
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Re: Need power requirement help for RGB matrix/shield!

Post by blkhwks19 »

Shield removed, M4 plugged into the USB port, I see the green ON led light up. It stays solid, no other LEDs light or blink at all, not even once.

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Re: Need power requirement help for RGB matrix/shield!

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

OK. I'm checking with some of the other engineers to see if they have seen this before.

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Re: Need power requirement help for RGB matrix/shield!

Post by adafruit2 »

the board may have gotten damaged somehow - you can try doubleclicking the reset button to get back to the bootloader. if not, it somehow got erased completely and the bootloader needs to be reloaded (easiest thing might be just to get a new metro if you dont have a jlink)

the initial issue is likely because the metro AIRLIFT is not the same pinout as the metro M4 - a2 is different and you need to make sure the right board is selected in the tools menu

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blkhwks19
 
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Re: Need power requirement help for RGB matrix/shield!

Post by blkhwks19 »

For the board/USB issue, I double clicked the rest button and now the large green neopixel (near the reset button) is lit, and also the red L LED is lit as well. I also see a drive on my computer labeled METROM4BOOT. I'm not familiar with the bootloader, so I'm not sure what needs to be done from here.

As for the other issue, what I'm hearing is that the panel/shield is compatible with the Metro M4, but not the Metro M4 Airlift due to a difference in the pin configuration, so therefore this board basically cannot be used, correct? I chose this board because it looked like the same thing as the M4 (which is supported) but with wifi. I wanted to use the panel to display information retrieved from an online api, so the wifi feature was a selling point. Is there another board that can achieve the same goal that's supported by the panel/shield? Do I have any other options for driving the panel while also connecting to an online api?

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