a dual 8x8 LED Matrix clock

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louie003
 
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a dual 8x8 LED Matrix clock

Post by louie003 »

That's all i want to do. I will admit I'm pretty dumb when it comes to arduino code and such but I'm great at learning threw pictures and so on. I am finding myself depressed and about to give up because the multiple and the single led matrix tutorials not only conflict on how to run but neither of them tell you how to print out values from another component connected to the arduino. i cant even find that after googling it for the last week. I have an arduino Leonardo; 2: 1.2 monochrome 8x8 LED Matrix (square dot blue with I2C backpack); a DS1307 RTC. I've tested everything separate works great but i cant find write or come up with the right code. I want to make a 8 high by 16 long one Screen scrolling text clock. yes i did solder one pad on the I2C back packs. The only other thing i wanted to include but cant get working is the BMP180 pressure sensor i wanted to use that as a temp sensor but i'm at my minds and wits end and i would be happy with just a clock

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: a dual 8x8 LED Matrix clock

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Post your code (between CODE tags please) and a photo of your hardware. We'll double-check the connections and make sure the sofware matches the hardware.

louie003
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Oct 27, 2013 7:38 pm

Re: a dual 8x8 LED Matrix clock

Post by louie003 »

Code: Select all

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <Wire.h>
#include "Adafruit_LEDBackpack.h"
#include "Adafruit_GFX.h"
#include "RTClib.h"

Adafruit_8x8matrix matrix[2] = { // Array of Adafruit_8x8matrix objects
  Adafruit_8x8matrix(), Adafruit_8x8matrix()};

static const uint8_t matrixAddr[] = { 0x70, 0x71 };
RTC_DS1307 rtc;

void setup(){
  
  for(uint8_t i=0; i<4; i++) {
    matrix[i].begin(matrixAddr[i]);}
  rtc.begin;
  }
  
 void loop () {
    DateTime now = rtc.now();
    
   
    matrix.setTextWrap(false);  // we dont want text to wrap so it scrolls nicely
    matrix.setTextColor(LED_ON);
  for (int8_t x=0; x>=-36; x--) {
    matrix.clear();
    matrix.setCursor(x,0);
    matrix.print(rtc.now);
    matrix.writeDisplay();
    delay(100);
  }
    


after that not working i walked away that was my tenth try i tried using code learned from the multi led matrix tutorial and just the signal cant get either to print out the time Image

Image

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: a dual 8x8 LED Matrix clock

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Looks like the images didn't come through. You can post them directly to the forum with the 'Choose File' button below the Submit button when composing a reply. The forum software imposes a limit on file sizes, but 800x600 is usually a good compromise between size and detail.

WRT the code, let's back up and double-check the hardware before moving ahead. Can you get the 'matrix8x8' sketch that comes with the LED backpack library to work?

louie003
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Oct 27, 2013 7:38 pm

Re: a dual 8x8 LED Matrix clock

Post by louie003 »

clock project 2.jpg
clock project 2.jpg (829.83 KiB) Viewed 400 times
clock project 1.jpg
clock project 1.jpg (905.75 KiB) Viewed 400 times
here is 2 pics i can zoom in closer i had to really compress them because my camera phone is 16megapixels

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: a dual 8x8 LED Matrix clock

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

That's plenty of detail, thank you.

The first rule of debugging is "don't trust anything", and the second is "remove things until the part that's left works." The most common source of frustration in electronics projects comes from putting a whole bunch of stuff together, flipping the switch, and finding that none of it works. It's also the situation that's hardest to debug, simply because there are so many things that might be going wrong at the same time.

In your original post you said that you'd gotten the pieces to work one at a time. That's good.. we call that the 'last known working condition'. Disconnect everything and plug one LED matrix directly into your Arduino, then run the 'matrix8x8' sketch and see if that works.

If it does, remove the matrix's connections from the Arduino, plug them into the breadboard, make the appropriate connections from the Arduino to the breadboard, and run 'matrix8x8' again to confirm that things still work.

If that's good, connect the second matrix to the breadboard but don't change any code. Just run 'matrix8x8' again to make sure adding the second matrix didn't make the first one stop working.

If that's good, switch over and try to run the second matrix by itself.

Work your way along, one small step at a time. Don't add anything else until you have the current configuration working, and every time you do add a new piece run the previous test to make sure the new piece hasn't gotten in the way of anything that's already there. Then ignore everything except the new piece and get that working while it's connected to all the previous hardware. Once you have that, make all the pieces work at the same time.

Getting a circuit to work inolves making sure a hundred small things haven't gone wrong. Working in small steps gives you a bigger and bigger set of problems that have already been solved, leaving you free to concentrate on the details of the next small step.

louie003
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Oct 27, 2013 7:38 pm

Re: a dual 8x8 LED Matrix clock

Post by louie003 »

i did it once again to amuse my self but nothing im going to give up on this project i can not find any one online that has a screen print arduino code for your guys matrix display after watching hours on youtube trying to find an answer i know its my lack of code skills for i know not how to type the proper code for it. hardware and connections all perfect even put my volt meter to make sure i had no loose connections or shorts the robo face code runs great but printing and scrolling words across 2 screens must require a massive code write that i don't posses

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