Hardware we make or use
Hardware
- ESP32
- ESP32 WROVER
- ESP32 S3
- ESP32 P4
- See platformio.ini and bins for builds on these microcontrollers
Best buy guide
Hardware we have used / tested. If you are not sure what to buy, you can try one of the items below. We used this hardware with our software and for our projects.
Microcontrollers
Periferal boards
Leds
Led curtains
Update Jan 2025: Recently most shipments of LED curtains are curtains with T-Connectors with an LED in it. After doing some tests it turns out they need to be controlled as if it were 800 (instead of 400) lights as the T-connector LED shifts the LED id with 40. So subsequential leds are set by 0..19, 40..59, …, 760-779. This means that the description below is based on latest received shipment, but curtain types might be different now.
Led curtains are a bit tricky as they are not all the same, some have lights in the T-connector (not desirable), some are a few cm shorter, some need APA106 driver etc, some sellers may change the type.
Consult us if you are unsure what to buy. If you buy them, please tell us what type you received.
Worked in 2023
- RGB Led Curtain String: normal 400 addresses (until mid-ish 2024!)
Ordered in 2024
- Led Curtain, t-connectors have a led and 800 addresses have to be used to burn 400 lights (see above)
- Led Curtain, have red and blue swapped and lights in the T-connectors
- Led Curtain USB work with APA106, 600kHz protocol, red and blue swapped
Hub75 panels
P2, P2.5 etc is the distance per pixel in mm. We work mostly with P2.5
- Cheapest per pixel: 128x64 p2.5 €23.97
- 128x64, p2.5 €19.19 + €15.64, cheaper in DE
- 64x64 p3 €22.39
- Expiremental support on WLED MM, much brighter 32x32 p6 €16.49+€7.89
- Instructions for WLED MM
- MoonHub75 board can be used to connect the ribbon cable to an esp32-S3 like Lilygo T7 S3 €15,59 (S3 is needed!), for more info on this board, contact us on Discord
good panels have
- larger led chips (3535 vs 2121 vs 1515)
- higher “brightness” (1200 cd/m^2) - don’t go below 800 cd/m^2
- outdoor panels can easily reach 8000cd/m^2
Multi-pin fixture shopping list
In order to drive leds using FastLED or the Physical LED driver, level shifters are adviced. Mostly simple setups work without but for instance the curtain cubes works better with level shifters. If you want to use the Virtual LED Driver, you need shift registers (no level shifters are needed in this case). This is the shopping list:
Basics
- Universal Control Box 12x12x5 3D-print
- Prototype board 10x10cm - see Universal control box
- 16 pin mini screw terminals
- Wiring connector for gnd and +
- 5v, 20A power supply
- 2 pin screw terminals for power
- 3 pin wire 22AWG
- 19 pin single row female header for ESP32 wrover
- 22 pin single row female header for S3
Physical LED driver
Virtual LED driver
Note: this has not yet been made on a 10x10 PCB, might be a bit of a wiring challenge ;-). Prefab PCB has been used: see Multi Pin Fixtures
Optional
- 100nF capacitors
- 33 ohm resistor between ic and dataline . See Quindor article
- Diode for USB protection
Other
- Logical Analyzer to measure data signals in case of flickering leds
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