MatrixPortal M4 - Chained Displays and background images

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marshallm900
 
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MatrixPortal M4 - Chained Displays and background images

Post by marshallm900 »

Hi!

I've got a MatrixPortal M4 and two 64x32 displays that are chained and I'm working on trying to display a singular image on both of them at once. So far I've been able to successfully run many of the examples for the single display but then when I join them and set the width to 128 (and height to 32) and provide a bitmap image with those dimensions, I'm not having any luck getting it to display - just shows up blank. I've got the latest CircuitPython and ESP firmware loaded on the MatrixPortal.

I feel like I'm missing something simple here but I'm not sure what it is. Any help to point me in the right direction is appreciated.

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blnkjns
 
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Re: MatrixPortal M4 - Chained Displays and background images

Post by blnkjns »

What happens if you set up as 64x64? If that works, you can always write the images in two 64x32 blocks.
I did this once, but that was in C++ on the ESP32 directly (sans M4), and if I remember correctly I had to tweak the script a bit to work with dual panels, and maybe it involved using an extra address pin on the HUB75 cable.

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marshallm900
 
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Re: MatrixPortal M4 - Chained Displays and background images

Post by marshallm900 »

So I think you mean 128x64 and that is this example:

https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Le ... x/tiled.py

Which I am currently trying to run and I'm not having any luck with it.

The serial out does have this message though and I'm now wondering if I'm just maxing out the current for it:

Code: Select all

You are in safe mode: something unanticipated happened.
The microcontroller's power dipped. Make sure your power supply provides
enough power for the whole circuit and press reset (after ejecting CIRCUITPY).

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blnkjns
 
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Re: MatrixPortal M4 - Chained Displays and background images

Post by blnkjns »

If you max out current, I assume there IS an external supply for the matrix, that will result in the blue LED's to stay off and you will mostly see the red part and maybe some green. I tried these panels on USB power from a Metro M0 Express, and with few LED's on, it will work.

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marshallm900
 
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Re: MatrixPortal M4 - Chained Displays and background images

Post by marshallm900 »

Well, I've tried it with an external supply and I'm still not seeing anything using the above tiled/flag example.

I have been able to successfully run the slot machine example and expanded that to 6 tiles instead of 3 though but it just doesn't seem to want to display a singular image. If it makes a difference, I'm using the 6mm pitch matrices: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2276

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marshallm900
 
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Re: MatrixPortal M4 - Chained Displays and background images

Post by marshallm900 »

Just messed around with this:

Code: Select all

import time
import board
from adafruit_matrixportal.matrixportal import MatrixPortal

FRAME_DURATION = 3

IMAGE = "bmps/image.bmp"

# --- Display setup ---
matrixportal = MatrixPortal(status_neopixel=board.NEOPIXEL, debug=True,width=128,height=32)

while True:
    matrixportal.set_background(0x0000FF) #works just fine, very blue
    time.sleep(FRAME_DURATION)
    #matrixportal.set_background(0xFF0000) #works for a second and then resets the micro, very red
    time.sleep(FRAME_DURATION)
    matrixportal.set_background(0x00FF00) #works just fine, very green
    time.sleep(FRAME_DURATION)
    matrixportal.set_background(IMAGE) #fails, blank display
    time.sleep(FRAME_DURATION)
The image is just a 128x32 bitmap. Nothing fancy as far as I know? Couple random rectangles that are blue and green. This is from both panels being powered over USB. If I flip over to using a bench power supply, I still don't see anything for that image - the red also fails in the same way - brief full red and then it does a reset. Current goes from about 1.2~1.6A to like 0.25A for that. Not sure what I'm doing wrong here.

One more update - I had to provide multiple power supply channels for the red to display it... it's pulling about 4.5A for the all red display but it does work. The image though, still doesn't.

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: MatrixPortal M4 - Chained Displays and background images

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Two 64x32 matrices will have 256 pixels per row update, for a total of 768 LEDs. Your worst-case current load will be about 15A, and having one LED lit per pixel will draw about 5A, as you've seen.

Make sure you have enough power to support the whole array, and start working through basic pieces of the GFX library to see what works. Try to draw lines across both matrices, display a bitmap image on only the first matrix, then only the second matrix, and so on.

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marshallm900
 
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Re: MatrixPortal M4 - Chained Displays and background images

Post by marshallm900 »

Thanks! I am going to pick up a larger power source and hope that's the issue but it seems like I've been able to get quite a few things to display across both displayed chained together: Static text across both displays, Scrolling text across both displays, Rotating/changing images on both displays (the slot machine example expanded to 6 slots).

The only images I've been able to get working only work on one display though. No larger formatted images show across the two displays chained together... I would think lots of black in the images would reduce the number of active LEDs but maybe there is something I'm missing.

I appreciate the help and suggestions. I'll post again once I've got the new power supply and can test with it.

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marshallm900
 
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Re: MatrixPortal M4 - Chained Displays and background images

Post by marshallm900 »

Alright...

So the power supply was maybe part of it... but also maybe not. I'm having a lot more luck with USB power now that I've figured out what program to use for editing images...

There is something happening here with bmp formats - though I'm at a loss for what. I've noticed that if I create the bmp using Photoshop, it works but if I use Preview on the Mac to resize an image then it completely fails. I'm not sure what the formatting difference is but something is happening with the format to where it won't display the image. I've attached two samples:

Working:

[The extension bmp has been deactivated and can no longer be displayed.]

Not working:

[The extension bmp has been deactivated and can no longer be displayed.]


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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: MatrixPortal M4 - Chained Displays and background images

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Are those stereographs? On my machine, they come out as multicolored static.

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