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Testing with 8X8 Dot Matrix code

A project log for Open Source Arduino Learner Kit

This is a hardware development board designed for Arduino beginners. Lots of IO devices are in-built in the board.

md-khairul-alamMd. Khairul Alam 08/23/2019 at 19:230 Comments

The kit includes a 8x8 LED matrix. The LED Matrix is connected using the MAX7219 driver.  The MAX7219 driver IC is capable of driving 64 individual LEDs while using only 3 wires for communication with the Arduino, and what’s more we can daisy chain multiple drivers and matrixes and still use the same 3 wires. 

The 64 LEDs are driven by 16 output pins of the IC. The question now is how is that possible.  Well the maximum number of LEDs light up at the same time is actually eight. The LEDs are arranged as 8×8 set of rows and columns. So the MAX7219 activates each column for a very short period of time and at the same time it also drives each row. So by rapidly switching through the columns and rows the human eye will only notice a continuous light.

Note how the pins of a common 8×8 LED Matrix are internally arranged, so if you are building a matrix on your own you should consider it. Also note that a common breakout board for the MAX7219 comes with a resistor between the 5V and the IC pin number 18. The resistor is used for setting the brightness or the current flow to the LEDs.

The VCC and GND of the module go to the 5V and GND pins of the Arduino which are already made and the three other pins, DIN, CLK and CS go to any digital pin of the Arduino board. 

#include "LedControl.h"
#include "binary.h"

/*
 DIN connects to pin 12
 CLK connects to pin 11
 CS connects to pin 10 
*/
LedControl lc=LedControl(12,11,10,1);

// delay time between faces
unsigned long delaytime=1000;

// happy face
byte hf[8]= {B00111100,B01000010,B10100101,B10000001,B10100101,B10011001,B01000010,B00111100};
// neutral face
byte nf[8]={B00111100, B01000010,B10100101,B10000001,B10111101,B10000001,B01000010,B00111100};
// sad face
byte sf[8]= {B00111100,B01000010,B10100101,B10000001,B10011001,B10100101,B01000010,B00111100};

void setup() {
  lc.shutdown(0,false);
  // Set brightness to a medium value
  lc.setIntensity(0,8);
  // Clear the display
  lc.clearDisplay(0);  
}

void drawFaces(){
  // Display sad face
  lc.setRow(0,0,sf[0]);
  lc.setRow(0,1,sf[1]);
  lc.setRow(0,2,sf[2]);
  lc.setRow(0,3,sf[3]);
  lc.setRow(0,4,sf[4]);
  lc.setRow(0,5,sf[5]);
  lc.setRow(0,6,sf[6]);
  lc.setRow(0,7,sf[7]);
  delay(delaytime);
  
  // Display neutral face
  lc.setRow(0,0,nf[0]);
  lc.setRow(0,1,nf[1]);
  lc.setRow(0,2,nf[2]);
  lc.setRow(0,3,nf[3]);
  lc.setRow(0,4,nf[4]);
  lc.setRow(0,5,nf[5]);
  lc.setRow(0,6,nf[6]);
  lc.setRow(0,7,nf[7]);
  delay(delaytime);
  
  // Display happy face
  lc.setRow(0,0,hf[0]);
  lc.setRow(0,1,hf[1]);
  lc.setRow(0,2,hf[2]);
  lc.setRow(0,3,hf[3]);
  lc.setRow(0,4,hf[4]);
  lc.setRow(0,5,hf[5]);
  lc.setRow(0,6,hf[6]);
  lc.setRow(0,7,hf[7]);
  delay(delaytime);
}

void loop(){
  drawFaces();
}

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