64×32 RGB LED Matrix – 2.5mm pitch Adafruit

DESCRIPTION

Bring a little bit of Times Square into your home with this sweet 64 x 32 square RGB LED matrix panel.

This matrix has 2048 bright RGB LEDs arranged in a 64×32 grid on the front. On the back, there is a PCB with two IDC connectors (one input, one output: in theory you can chain these together) and 12 16-bit latches that allow you to drive the display with a 1:16 scan rate.

These displays are technically ‘chainable’ – connect one output to the next input – but our Arduino example code does not support this (yet). It requires a high-speed processor and more RAM than the Arduino has! These panels require 13 digital pins (6-bit data, 7-bit control) and a good 5V supply, up to 4A per panel

Keep in mind that these displays are designed to be driven by FPGAs or other high speed processors: they do not have built in PWM control of any kind. Instead, you’re supposed to redraw the screen over and over to ‘manually’ PWM the whole thing. On a 16 MHz Arduino Mega, we managed to squeeze 12-bit colour (4096 colours) with 40% CPU usage but this display would really shine if driven by any FPGA, CPLD, Propeller, XMOS or other high speed multi-core controller. The good news is that the display is pre-white balanced with nice uniformity so if you turn on all the LEDs it’s not a particularly tinted white.

Please Note:

• This version is the 2.5mm pitch 64×32 RGB LED Matrix. Please note you cannot use an Arduino UNO to drive this size, it’s way too big!
• Use an Arduino Mega, Raspberry Pi, BBB or another device that can handle displaying to RGB matrices and has plenty of RAM.

FEATURES

• Dimensions: 160mm x 80mm x 14.7mm
• Panel weight with IDC cables and power cables: 176g
• Compatible with M3 mounting screws
• 5V regulated power input @ ~4A (with all LEDs on)
• 2000 mcd LEDs on 2.5mm pitch
• 1/16 scan rate
• Indoor display, wide visibility
• Displays are ‘chainable’