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Make a 24X6 LED matrix

by Syst3mX on July 21, 2010 Table of Contents Make a 24X6 LED matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Intro: Make a 24X6 LED matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 1: Getting All The Right Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 2: How it works? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 3: Schematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 4: Soldering The LEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 5: Programming The Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . File Downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 6: We Are Done! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 3 3 4 5 5 6 6 6 7

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-24X6-LED-matrix/

Author:Syst3mX

Vadim Electronics and LEDs what can be better ?! :D

Intro: Make a 24X6 LED matrix

After making a 8X10 matrix a lot of people asked me about expanding the matrix to some thing bigger, and some wanted to write stuff to the matrix via a PC, so one day I looked at a pile of LEDs that I had leftover from a LED cube projected and I decided to make a bigger matrix with all the things people wanted. So what are you waiting for? Get those LEDs out and heat up your soldering iron because we are about to make a 24X6 LED matrix!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-24X6-LED-matrix/

Step 1: Getting All The Right Things

So you will need the basic set of tools for this project : a soldering iron, some solder wire, a cutter, a needle nosed plier,some wire, wire striper, and some desoldering tools if you need them. For the matrix you will: 1. 144 LEDs 2. 24 resistors( The value is determent by the type of LEDs, in my case 91 ohm) 3. 4017 decade counter 4. 6 1KOhm resistors 5. 6 2N3904 transistors 6. A long Perfboard 7. Arduino 8. 3 x 74HC595 shift register 10. some pin headers

Step 2: How it works?

The tricky behind the display is multiplexing and the idea is the same as withe the 8x10 LED matrix: It is basically a way to split information in to little peaces and send it one by one. this way you can save a lot of pins on the Arduino and keep your program quite simple. Now this time we have 3 shift registers which multiply the number of outputs and save lots of arduino pins. Each shift register has 8 outputs and you only need 3 arduino pins to control almost an limited numbers of shift registers. We also use the 4017 decade counter to scan the rows, and you can scan up to 10 rows with it because you have only 10 outputs but to control it you need only 2 pins. The 4017 is a very useful chip and it's a good idea to know how to work with it(http://www.doctronics.co.uk/4017.htm) Like I said the scanning is done with the 4017, by connecting one row at a time to ground and sending the right data via the shift registers to the columns.

Image Notes 1. 4017 With 6 transistors for scaning the rows 2. The 3 shift registers to control the rows

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-24X6-LED-matrix/

Step 3: Schematics
The only thing I didn't specified in the schematics is the value of the current limiting resistors because they change from each type of LEDs, so you will need to calculate them by your self. Now to calculate the value of the 24 resistors you can use this site : http://led.linear1.org/1led.wiz You should first get some specs on your LEDs, you should know their forward voltage and forward current, you can get this info from the seller. The circuit operates on 5V so your Source voltage is 5V. Download the original file to see the schematics better.(press the "i" icon in the top left corner of the picture) I have added a PCB layout of the control board, and i want to thanks Willard2.0 who made this layout and let me use it so thanks a lot mate!

Image Notes 1. Arduino Pins 2. Arduino pins 3. Download the original file to see better.(press the "i" icon in the top left corner of the picture)

Image Notes 1. I didn't have room for the full matrix, So I hope you get the big idea

Image Notes 1. Green line are jumpers and red lines are copper traces. 2. PCB layout made by Willard2.0

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-24X6-LED-matrix/

Step 4: Soldering The LEDs

Soldering 144 LEDs in a matrix formation can be a little tricky if you don't have a general idea how. The last time I soldered a matrix I used lots of little wire jumpers which was a pain to solder, so this time I was a little more creative and came up with this way. You need to bend the positive lead of the LED down towards the other ones and make a column, and snip off the leads you didn't use and try to make the connections as low as you can get, and you do this to all of the positive leads. Now the negative leads are connected in a column and thats make soldering tricky because the positive rows are in the way, so you will need to make a 90 degrees bend with the negative lead and make a bridge over the positive row to the next negative lead, and so on to the next LEDs. Now I will not explain how to solder the shift registers and all the parts because every one has hes own style and methods.

Step 5: Programming The Display

We are almost there, the only thing thats left is the program. So far I wrote two programs for it that do pretty much the same thing. I have added the program that gets a word or a sentence from the arduino IDE serial monitor and displays it on the matrix, my code is very basic and may be not the best in the world but it does the work, and you are free to write your own code and modify mine as you wish. I have added an excel file so you can create your own symbols and characters. The way it works is like so: You create the symbol you want pixel by pixel(don't worry it's very easy) and copy the output line like so - #define {OUTPUT LINE} I will add in the future a code for animations and a nice game of snake as soon as I have more time on my hands.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-24X6-LED-matrix/

File Downloads

Now it works.txt (15 KB) [NOTE: When saving, if you see .tmp as the file ext, rename it to 'Now it works.txt']

Looping text.txt (9 KB) [NOTE: When saving, if you see .tmp as the file ext, rename it to 'Looping text.txt']

Code maker(6x24).xls (25 KB) [NOTE: When saving, if you see .tmp as the file ext, rename it to 'Code maker(6x24).xls']

Step 6: We Are Done!

Congratulations you made yourself a 24x6 matrix and now you can display anything you like on the fly. Now try to play with it and come up with a new program and a better interface.

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Build an Arduinopowered talking robot head! by xtremd

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http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-24X6-LED-matrix/

Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 159 comments

LINOLARIOS says:
SOMEBODY GOT ARDUINO UNO AND MAKE IT WORK OK ???

Mar 14, 2011. 8:36 PM REPLY

LINOLARIOS says:

Mar 13, 2011. 7:19 PM REPLY HEY IT WORKS OK WITH ME GOOD JOB MAN!! THE ONLY THING ITS HOW CAN I PROGRAM ANY MESSAGE? I GOT THE ARDUINO UNO ATMEGA 328 AND I PUT MESSAGE IN THE SERIAL MONITOR I WANT TO MAKE THIS THING DONT STOP SHOWING MY MESSAGE HOW CAN I DO THIS ??? .......IM NEW ON THIS I WANT TO LEARN ABOUT IT CAN YOU HELP ME OUT THANKS...

LINOLARIOS says:

Mar 14, 2011. 2:22 PM REPLY NO, STILL NOT WORKING..... :( I DONT GET IT , IF I GO TO SERIAL MONITOR AND WRITE SOMETHING IT SHOW ME ANY TIHING I PUT ON IT, JUST GOT THE FIRST LINE OF MATRIX ON Mar 14, 2011. 1:31 PM REPLY

Syst3mX says:
I have a code for looping text, you just write there your message and it will loop. Just keep the format the same as in the code ths if you want to write HI WORLD you write is likfe so : H,I,SPACE,W,O,R,L,D

LINOLARIOS says:
You think i got something wrong in my arduino?

Mar 14, 2011. 3:29 PM REPLY

Syst3mX says:
If th normal program worked for you then there is no problems with the arduino. The "Looping text" program will not get the message from the serial monitor so there is no point at writing to it. The text goes here: byte your_text[8][6]={H,I,SPACE,W,O,R,L,D};//PUT YOU TEXT HERE

Mar 15, 2011. 4:10 AM REPLY

LINOLARIOS says:
yes thats the way i did..........and nothing just the first row....... ROW 1 JUST STAY ON......

Mar 15, 2011. 9:13 AM REPLY

Syst3mX says:
Ahh I think I know whats wrong. I have forgot to delete the comment sign on the main function. So all you need to do is to delete this sign: // in the void loop function. I will put the fixed code soon

Mar 15, 2011. 9:34 AM REPLY

LINOLARIOS says:
OK THANKS MAN ILL TRY IT

Mar 15, 2011. 10:16 AM REPLY

LINOLARIOS says:
WOW MAN THAT WORK!!!!!!!

Mar 15, 2011. 10:28 AM REPLY

Syst3mX says:
Great, have fun with it

Mar 15, 2011. 10:30 AM REPLY

LINOLARIOS says:
THANKS........HEY DO YOU HAVE THE LED CUBE TOO CODE ????

Mar 15, 2011. 1:11 PM REPLY

Xombee says:

Mar 12, 2011. 3:05 PM REPLY On the PCB layout, why are there 8 transistors, if there are only 6 in the whole project? I assume 2 of them have to go, which would be 4 and 5 since the first 6 pins down match up to the schematic and would go to one of the 1k resistors. What does this do the the number sequence on the bottom of the PCB view (6,2,1,3,7,8,4,5)? Does the 7 and 8 become the 4 and 5? I'm sorry if I made this sound totally confusing. Am I right in assuming that 2 of the 1K resistors and 2 transistors don't belong in the PCB view?

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-24X6-LED-matrix/

Syst3mX says:
The guy who did the PCB made it for a 26X8 matrix thus you 8 transistors. The numbers on the PCB are the order at which you need to connect your rows. So if you want to use only 6 rows you take out transistors 7 and 8(and there 1K resistor)

Mar 13, 2011. 6:14 AM REPLY

micko12 says:

Mar 9, 2011. 4:03 AM REPLY The led I have chosen gives a single led resistor value of 150ohms and with two led's in series the calculator gives a value of 56ohms for a 2x72 array.This project uses 6x24 but the calculator doesn't let me change the number of leds in series to 6. Would the resistor value of the 6x24 array be the same as the 2x72 array? If not, how can I calculate it? Thanks for your help

Syst3mX says:

Mar 9, 2011. 4:15 AM REPLY If you are doing a matrix of 2X72 and plan on scanning the 2 rows, there will never be 2 LEDs ON in series. So you would need to use the 150Ohm resistors and not the 56 ones Mar 4, 2011. 3:09 AM REPLY

neutron_robot says:
have an error on looping text program on "byte yout_text" --> your_text :)

Syst3mX says:
Ohh right thanks I will fix it right away

Mar 4, 2011. 3:13 AM REPLY

bond815 says:

Feb 28, 2011. 11:47 AM REPLY I am totally new to Arduino and I have absolutely no idea how to input the letters to display on the matrix. Can you give me simple step-by step instructions on how to do this?

Syst3mX says:

Mar 1, 2011. 1:10 AM REPLY OK so in the arduino IDE there are 7 buttons you need to look for the one which says " Serial Monitor" you click on it and it opens another window. There you can write some text in the upper box. And don't forget to make sure the baud rate is 9800 ( you choose it in the bottom right corner of the serial monitor window)

neutron_robot says:
can this led matix looping it self without serial data?

Feb 28, 2011. 11:21 AM REPLY

Syst3mX says:
Yeah, lots of people asked me about it and I will put a code for it today.

Mar 1, 2011. 1:03 AM REPLY

lonjim2 says:
I'm new to Arduino and was wondering if I might be able to make this play Tetris/Conway's Game of Life by itself. Any ideas

Feb 25, 2011. 9:19 AM REPLY

Syst3mX says:
Yeah you could do this kind of things without a problem but you need to know your C. I have another instructable about a smaller matrix and I have the code for conways game of life there.

Feb 25, 2011. 10:06 AM REPLY

lonjim2 says:

Feb 25, 2011. 1:31 PM REPLY A bit murky on C but will certainly try this out over the coming week using your Conway's Game of Life code from the 8x10 matrix with the necessary adaptations. Thanks for the guidance! Feb 20, 2011. 6:39 PM REPLY

o.thoma says:
Hi, Really nice. I'd like to know the approximative size of the matrix before getting busy with this project. Thx

Syst3mX says:
Mine is about 19cm X 4.5cm

Feb 21, 2011. 12:01 AM REPLY

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-24X6-LED-matrix/

o.thoma says:
Ok will certainly fit... Thx a lot

Feb 21, 2011. 12:13 PM REPLY

ryanlg says:

Oct 30, 2010. 7:42 PM REPLY I have a slight problem, I have finally finnished it with lots of procrastenation, and when I turn it on the LEDs look like this when 1's are :on LED's and 0's are off LED's 110100110000101001111111 110100110000101001111111 110100110000101001111111 110100110000101001111111 110100110000101001111111 110100110000101001111111 No matter what I send to the Arduino through the serial monitor, the LED's turn off for a second, then do the exaxct same. Any help?

Syst3mX says:

Oct 31, 2010. 6:57 AM REPLY what kind of arduino do you use? If you use the ATmega328 try and recheck your connections, and if not change the value of 100 to 30 in this array byte patterns[100][6];

ryanlg says:

Oct 31, 2010. 4:30 PM REPLY Well, I bought a Duemilanove on Ebay, but it ended up being a Chinese rip off, but it has an ATmega328 and it worked fine with everything else I've done I tried your suggestion, but to no avail.

Syst3mX says:
Well there are no problems in the software so the problems are 100% in hardware. I will recommend looking for any kind of shorts and focus more on the shift registers data clock and latch lines.

Nov 1, 2010. 8:20 AM REPLY

ryanlg says:

Nov 1, 2010. 5:15 PM REPLY Unfortunately I can't find any shorts (I have checked and double checked) so I narrow it down to a short that I just cant spot, or a faulty shift register. I do remember having a lot of trouble with the shift registers, because I soldered one in the wrong way (Now I know in future to use sockets) and desoldering it was a real pain, and it came down to heat from the soldering iron and brute force.

scottinnh says:

Feb 15, 2011. 7:38 AM REPLY Troubleshooting sometimes is the art of testing and confirming the fault. Other times, troubleshooting is elimination of possibilities until nothing is left. The former is difficult + requires some luck. The latter requires you to have access to more hardware (or other people with hardware to borrow). You may not be able to desolder the chip, however you might be able to temporarily wire in a new shift register elsewhere... you just want to know where the problem lies, and making the board look pretty/orderly is not as high a priority. Nice thing is these shift registers are $0.20 to $0.35 each in qty 10... wicked cheap. I'm still a complete newb, but I have some software test experience and I like to think it helps with this stuff. :-) It gets expensive, but I try to have 2 of everything, including the prototype boards. FYI - You can get some parts free as manufacturer samples (just make sure you have a 'real' email address and not a free/throwaway mail account... some sites won't approve samples to freebie email addresses). I got 5 each of different shift registers from Texas Instruments this week.

baldeagle072 says:
Is it possible to space out the LEDs a little more and use wires between the leads?

Feb 2, 2011. 4:40 PM REPLY

Syst3mX says:
Sure

Feb 3, 2011. 5:43 AM REPLY

prokton says:
hi. this is a great instructable. i'm interest in make 1 for me but i prefer 7 colums (7x24 matrix) to make leters (7x5) i think i don't have any problem with the hardware, my problem is the code. i don't know nothing about programming. i supose that where you putted a (6) i have to put a (7) basicly. hehe can you please help me with a code like that?? before a start the building and at the end it wont work. lolol thanks. sorry for my bad english

Jan 27, 2011. 5:55 AM REPLY

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-24X6-LED-matrix/

Syst3mX says:
yeah no problems at all PM me with your email and I will help you out.

Jan 27, 2011. 7:36 AM REPLY

prokton says:
thanks prokton@gmail.com it's not 7 colums, it's 7 rows. lolol. i think you understoud. thanks man...

Jan 27, 2011. 9:02 AM REPLY

drhoff says:
Cool instructable! I was just wondering what kind of LEDs those are and where you got them. I really like the way they look.

Jan 4, 2011. 8:48 PM REPLY

Syst3mX says:
I just got them from ebay 1000 LEDs for about 30 dollars not much info about them

Jan 8, 2011. 5:10 AM REPLY

shanakaplus says:
hi i would like to know after program 4017 decade counter , can i run this with out Arduino ?

Jan 2, 2011. 7:24 PM REPLY

Syst3mX says:
Do you mean if you can run it with another micro? If so there is no problem as long as you have 5 output pins.

Jan 3, 2011. 4:35 AM REPLY

llamma1010 says:

Dec 27, 2010. 7:58 AM REPLY amazing ible'. i'm a bit new but I don't quite understand the code. and you seem very good at codeing and building. I was also wondering if you could add notes to the code

Syst3mX says:
OK no problems I will add the notes as soon as possible.

Dec 27, 2010. 8:16 AM REPLY

samob says:

Nov 25, 2010. 2:03 PM REPLY Hi! Very nice project! I built a 40x6 matrix with 5 shift registers and now i spent 3 days trying to modify your code to my matrix. Any hints?

Syst3mX says:

Nov 25, 2010. 11:59 PM REPLY It's going to be tricky to modify my code because it was made for a matrix for 24 columns of LEDs or less, because I was lazzy to come up with something universal. You would need to work out a way to divide your 40bit word in to 5 shift registers and find a way to scroll that world. The scanning part of the code is pretty much the same and needs only 3-4 modifications, if you still having problems send me your email and I will try to help you out.

samob says:
Ok, thanks, i sent you a PM

Nov 26, 2010. 5:40 AM REPLY

Sergnation says:

Nov 17, 2010. 1:54 PM REPLY Do you run the Led throw the computer only or through a small little power supply, Like for instance i where to add this to a costume.

Syst3mX says:

Nov 19, 2010. 3:39 AM REPLY In this case the PC supplys the power to the matrix, but you can use a 5V power supply instad and run it on battery power.

view all 159 comments

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-24X6-LED-matrix/