Hello!

 

As part of my working method in which I often use recovered components, I present to you this panel with 5x8 LED matrices recovered from an elevator panel. It is a PCB built after the model of the 8x32 with 8x8 matrices only that mine are larger (37.6mm*23.5mm). In addition to the LED matrices we also find MAX7219 ICs using for what else than as drivers, some capacitors and SMD resistors.

The first attempt was a homemade PCB (toner transfer, iron, a lot of work 🙆‍♂️), after many attempts (It's not easy to make double layers PCB at home), and which ended up degrading, I started with 4 matrices but I need to add one more because it has to do with the font of the displayed text (depends on the software), or better with 5 pieces. So I sign up for this activity also for the opportunity to improve my project.

The panel can be used with an Arduino board or other and the software libraries MD_Parola and MD_MAX72XX from Arduino IDE offer us enough help. I also had to make some SW adjustments because the situation is a little different, characters at a different width. You can build a digital clock, thermometer+hygrometer, or whatever else you want.

The result is a big PCB, two layers, 196mm*70mm and a little heavy but it's okay for me. At some point I'll have to find a better way to store it, after I finish the project (a big clock with an Arduino board) I'll build a proper case.

You can see a moment with this panel (the old version):
https://youtube.com/shorts/_MsfRvQ6Yj0?feature=share



And the new one:

I can't add many more details because it's more of the kind of project that speaks for itself, it is something that can only be used for displaying a text.

Do you like it? 😁

 

Thank you and have a nice day!