Defective RGB Board?

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darkreunion
 
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Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2022 8:42 pm

Defective RGB Board?

Post by darkreunion »

Hi!

I recently purchased the Adafruit RGB Matrix Bonnet and the 64x64 RGB LED Matrix - 2.5mm Pitch to use with my Raspberry Pi 3 A+
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3211
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3649

I followed this tutorial, but was not able to get any LEDs to show up. I then tried the rotating-block-generator.py file, and I did at least see some activity on the board. However, it was only showing LEDs on the top 16 rows, nothing on the next 16 rows, showing on the next 16 rows, and nothing on the final 16 rows. It also looked like the rotating block was off center. The terminal command I used was: sudo python3 rotating-block-generator.py --led gpio-mapping=adafruit-hat --led-cols=64 --led-rows=64 --led-slowdown-gpio=3

I looked on the forum for people who may have had a similar problem to me, and found these two posts. However, the first one seems to have not been using the adafruit bonnet, and the second one was never given a solution
viewtopic.php?p=907901&hilit=64x64#p907901
viewtopic.php?f=47&p=867747

I looked into the python files and found that the two commands seemed to be SetPixel() and SwapOnVSync() to set pixels and then display them on the board. I modified the simple square python script just to see if pixels were dead or not. My conclusions were:
- Rows 0-15 are functioning, however they will only turn varying shades of blue
- Rows 16-31 are physically not functioning, and if the y value of 16-31 is used in the SetPixel function, it will just set the row value, -15. i.e. if 17 is used it will set it for row 2
- Rows 32-47 are working perfectly and as expected
- Rows 48-63 are physically not functioning, and if the y value of 48-63 is used in the SetPixel function, it will just set the row value, -15 i.e. if 50 is used, it will set it for row 35

I attached some pictures as well as the code I was using for testing:
https://ibb.co/LCXcrFJ
https://ibb.co/QjMKWjp

Code: Select all

#!/usr/bin/env python
from samplebase import SampleBase
import time

#sudo python3 simple-square2.py --led-gpio-mapping=adafruit-hat --led-cols=64 --led-rows=64 --led-slowdown-gpio=3


class SimpleSquare(SampleBase):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(SimpleSquare, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)

    def run(self):
        offset_canvas = self.matrix.CreateFrameCanvas()
        x = 0 #Range 0-63
        y = 0 #Range 0-63
        #Notes on Y
        #Range 16-31 is actually pixels 0-15
        #Range 48-63 is actually pixels 32-47
        offset_canvas.SetPixel(x, y, 255, 255, 255)
        offset_canvas = self.matrix.SwapOnVSync(offset_canvas)
        time.sleep(5)


# Main function
if __name__ == "__main__":
    simple_square = SimpleSquare()
    if (not simple_square.process()):
        simple_square.print_help()
Please point me in the right direction if you see something I’m doing wrong, but right now it seems like the LED Matrix I recieved may be broken :(

Thanks!

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darkreunion
 
Posts: 15
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2022 8:42 pm

Re: Defective RGB Board?

Post by darkreunion »

Just one more additional thing. Here is me trying to light the matrix completely, but as you can see it's only lighting up rows 0-15 and 32-47, and 0-15 are blue when I would assume they are supposed to be white. You can also see that columns 31 and 63 are flickering but I assume that's because of how much power this board needs to completely light up. Just for reference, I have this power adapter plugged into the adafruit bonnet, but I don't think that's the underlying problem I'm having.

Pictures & Code:
https://ibb.co/QDRS9Wb

Code: Select all

#!/usr/bin/env python
from samplebase import SampleBase
import time

#sudo python3 simple-square2.py --led-gpio-mapping=adafruit-hat --led-cols=64 --led-rows=64 --led-slowdown-gpio=3


class SimpleSquare(SampleBase):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(SimpleSquare, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)

    def run(self):
        offset_canvas = self.matrix.CreateFrameCanvas()
        x = 0 #Range 0-63
        y = 0 #Range 0-63
        #Notes on Y
        #Range 16-31 is actually pixels 0-15
        #Range 48-63 is actually pixels 32-47
        for i in range(0,63):
            for j in range(0,63):
                offset_canvas.SetPixel(i, j, 255, 255, 255)
        offset_canvas = self.matrix.SwapOnVSync(offset_canvas)
        time.sleep(5)


# Main function
if __name__ == "__main__":
    simple_square = SimpleSquare()
    if (not simple_square.process()):
        simple_square.print_help()
Thanks!

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adafruit_support_carter
 
Posts: 29168
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2016 2:45 pm

Re: Defective RGB Board?

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

Please follow the RGB Matrix Bonnet guide here:
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-rgb ... spberry-pi

Note special requirements when using a 64x64 matrix with the Bonnet:
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-rgb ... ep-2982866

Try testing basic functionality using one of the command line examples:
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-rgb ... re-1745233

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darkreunion
 
Posts: 15
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2022 8:42 pm

Re: Defective RGB Board?

Post by darkreunion »

Ah let me try the soldering and see if that fixes things - I had not done that

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darkreunion
 
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Re: Defective RGB Board?

Post by darkreunion »

Soldering seemed to allow me to utilize all of the LEDs on the board! However, unfortunately, half of the board still only seems to be able to turn blue (no red or green). Do you think this is due to a broken board? The range of the blue only LEDs is (0-63,0-31)

https://ibb.co/ZK5g1N2
https://ibb.co/qNtRFmF (all of the lights on - phone camera didn't capture all of them though, due to shutter speed)

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adafruit_support_carter
 
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Re: Defective RGB Board?

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

Do you get the same thing using the non-Python demo?
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-rgb ... es-2982010

ex:

Code: Select all

sudo ./demo -D0 --led gpio-mapping=adafruit-hat --led-cols=64 --led-rows=64 --led-slowdown-gpio=3

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darkreunion
 
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Re: Defective RGB Board?

Post by darkreunion »

Unfortunately, I'm still seeing those same rows not turn any color besides blue...

https://ibb.co/bs6fVZ4
https://ibb.co/MktCwL2

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adafruit_support_carter
 
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Re: Defective RGB Board?

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

Thanks for testing. So it's happening more low level than anything potentially Python related.

What OS image did you use as a starting point?

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darkreunion
 
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Re: Defective RGB Board?

Post by darkreunion »

I used Raspberry Pi OS (32-bit) as my OS

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adafruit_support_carter
 
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Re: Defective RGB Board?

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

inlining images for reference:
rgb2.jpg
rgb2.jpg (105.13 KiB) Viewed 248 times
rgb1.jpg
rgb1.jpg (58.39 KiB) Viewed 248 times

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darkreunion
 
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Re: Defective RGB Board?

Post by darkreunion »

Is there anything else you would like me to try doing? Do you think the board may be defective?

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nocturne
 
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Re: Defective RGB Board?

Post by nocturne »

I had similar issues with my 64x64 panels - but they were largely due to my poorly done soldering on the hat, so were basically connectivity issues. I'd re-check your DE pin soldering - that was an issue for me, repeatedly (3 tries, seriously). You might try reflowing the solder on the extra pin needed for the 64x64 panels.

For mine - the power supply issues - they created "weird" issues (like flicker, half lines, etc.), and then later a slight release of the magic smoke.
I did find that lowering the brightness helped with troubleshooting power supply problems, so I've left it in my example below.

So for yours:
sudo ./demo -D 0 -m 100 --led-gpio-mapping=adafruit-hat --led-slowdown-gpio=4 --led-brightness=50 --led-rows=64 --led-cols=64

If you do get that working, you might consider soldering the jumper, and if you do, then re-compile and change to the adadruit-hat-pwm instead:
sudo ./demo -D 0 -m 100 --led-gpio-mapping=adafruit-hat-pwm --led-slowdown-gpio=4 --led-brightness=50 --led-rows=64 --led-cols=64

And - if you did solder the connector for the DE pins - did you re-compile (rerun the install script) and select the option for that? That will create the adafruit-hat-pwm mapping that you can test with.

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darkreunion
 
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Re: Defective RGB Board?

Post by darkreunion »

Hi Nocturne
I double-checked my soldering and I feel like it is solidly connected between the two connection points. I've included some pictures to show you the connection that I have made.

As for you're theory about power supply issues, I originally thought that could be the issue - however, I wrote a python script to just light up one LED at a time, and the defined bottom rows still will not light up with a color that is not blue. Thus, I don't think it would be a power supply issue.

https://ibb.co/k2gfTMm
https://ibb.co/P1Jp7V8

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adafruit_support_carter
 
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Re: Defective RGB Board?

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

You were originally following this guide:
https://howchoo.com/pi/raspberry-pi-led-matrix-panel

Did you go back and start over and install software per this guide?
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-rgb ... g-matrices

Is the Pi A+ your only Pi?

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darkreunion
 
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Re: Defective RGB Board?

Post by darkreunion »

Hi, I was out of the country for the last few weeks with no access to the Raspberry Pi. I'm not sure if I had redownloaded it post the Step 3 soldering (on the tutorial), but I did it again and it still is having the same issues (blue only on half the board).

Just to be clear, I still went with the "convenience" option instead of the "quality" option in step 6 because at the moment I don't have access to solder right now, and at that point in the tutorial, it seems like it is referring to a different solder point (GPIO4 and GPIO18), not the one from Step 3.

And unfortunately I do not have another Raspberry Pi, this is my only one.

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