Matrix Portal M4 and LED P4 64x32 panel questions: yellow NeoPixel, HUB75 power, flickering/ghosting

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openEyeSignal
 
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Matrix Portal M4 and LED P4 64x32 panel questions: yellow NeoPixel, HUB75 power, flickering/ghosting

Post by openEyeSignal »

I have a couple of questions related to these two products. Let me know if I should open separate topics for each:

1. My program uses the "Adafruit_CircuitPython_ESP32SPI" Python library. According to https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Ci ... py#L45-L50 the onboard NeoPixel turns Red if there is no WiFi connection, Green when a connection is established. For me, the NeoPixel is typically: solid red when you turn it on, solid green after startup, but occasionally flashes yellow at later points before returning to green. How should I interpret this status? Couldn't find it documented anywhere even in the source code.

2. I was hoping to wire a toggle switch between the 5V output on the Matrix Portal and the Molex-style power-in on the LED panel, so that I can turn the panel on/off while the Matrix Portal stays on indefinitely. However, I discovered that when the switch was toggled off, and the Matrix Portal tried to display something, the panel would flicker in a dim/random-looking red pattern (a typical low-voltage symptom). It appears that ~2.13V is provided to the panel through the HUB75, which I guess should have been obvious in retrospect that some power is supplied through these interface. Is there any way that I could simply wire a switch in the configuration I want by modifying the HUB75 interface?

I have seen lots of mentions on Adafruit references that these pinouts are not standardized and documented: 3. I have observed ghosting and/or flickering of LEDs during animations in this particular application, much like the ghosting in the Adafruit FAQ: https://learn.adafruit.com/32x16-32x32- ... matrix/faq. See details here: https://github.com/smartbutnot/flightportal/issues/10

I have ensured that all the connections are solid, and tried two different panels (one Adafruit panel with diffuser panel, and one Aliexpress panel without diffuser) and they both have bad effects in slightly different manifestations with nearly fixed spatial locality. Rotating the pattern changes the region of bad pixels.
221655751-59b76024-39e3-49d5-9cfa-92464492af16 (1).jpg
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It did not happen with the preloaded Matrix Portal demo, as far as I observed. Any suggestions on how to debug this?

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Re: Matrix Portal M4 and LED P4 64x32 panel questions: yellow NeoPixel, HUB75 power, flickering/ghosting

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

(1) If you are using the CircuitPython Matrix Portal library, which uses the PortalBase library, it may be doing it's own status indicating:
https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Ci ... py#L59-L66

(2) Sounds like it's back powering through the data lines. Best option here is to just control power to the whole setup, including the Matrix Portal. Or if you just want to blank the matrix, do so in software.

(3) Could be power related. What power supply is being used?

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openEyeSignal
 
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Re: Matrix Portal M4 and LED P4 64x32 panel questions: yellow NeoPixel, HUB75 power, flickering/ghosting

Post by openEyeSignal »

1) Thanks for the pointer! Looks like

Code: Select all

STATUS_FETCHING = (150, 100, 0)  # Orange
is what I was seeing, not yellow.

2) Unfortunate, but probably good advice. Maybe I will wire the switch to the A1 analog input and monitor the state in software to toggle the functionality.

3) Official Raspberry Pi Power Supply 5.1V 3A with USB C - 1.5 meter long
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4298

Power consumption peaks at ~0.75A

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Re: Matrix Portal M4 and LED P4 64x32 panel questions: yellow NeoPixel, HUB75 power, flickering/ghosting

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

That power supply should be fine. Do you see a similar issue if you try the simpletest UF2 here?
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-mat ... /downloads

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openEyeSignal
 
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Re: Matrix Portal M4 and LED P4 64x32 panel questions: yellow NeoPixel, HUB75 power, flickering/ghosting

Post by openEyeSignal »

On one of the panels, I see the bad pixels.

On the other, the pattern appears normal.

However: when I was checking to see if the Matrix Portal was fully seated in the HUB75 socket, I noticed that pressing and holding my finger on the circled region can make the pixel artifacts worse in panel #1, and cause panel #2 to start artifacting (not as bd).

https://imgur.com/a/AEKd2A0


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openEyeSignal
 
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Re: Matrix Portal M4 and LED P4 64x32 panel questions: yellow NeoPixel, HUB75 power, flickering/ghosting

Post by openEyeSignal »

Should I consider RMAing the Matrix Portal?

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