HowTo: pxlBlck – Build your own pxlBlck_8x8

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The pxlBlck_8x8 was one of the first members of the pxlBlck family. Thanks to the few parts and the prefabricated WS2812 8×8 LED matrix, it is set up fairly quickly and thanks to the adapter board, it offers some expansion options that are not visible at first glance.

With the help of the installed pxlBlck plug-in for ESPEasy, animations and icons can be displayed on the connected LED matrix. Different effects can be configured for both.

Various clock faces and screensavers are also available.

Everything you need for building your own pxlBlck_8x8 is described in the following article.

Safety instructions

I know the following hints are always a bit annoying and seem unnecessary. But unfortunately, many people who knew it "better" from carelessness lost their eyes, fingers or other things or hurt themselves. In comparison, a loss of data is almost not worth mentioning, but even these can be really annoying. Therefore, please take five minutes to read the safety instructions. Even the coolest project is worth no injury or other annoyance. https://www.nerdiy.de/en/sicherheitshinweise/

Affiliate links / advertising links

The links to online stores listed here are so-called affiliate links. If you click on such an affiliate link and store via this link, Nerdiy.de receives a commission from the online store or provider concerned. The price doesn't change for you. If you do your purchases via these links, you will support Nerdiy.de in being able to offer further useful projects in the future. 🙂

Requirements

For the assembly you have to master soldering tasks. The following articles provide tips on how to do this.

In the following lists you will find all the parts you need for this article.

Required tool:

NumberLink
1xSoldering Iron  Buy at Amazon
1xUSB Soldering Iron  Buy at Amazon
1x Helping hand  Buy at Amazon
1x Tip cleaner  Buy at Amazon
1x Electronic side cutter  Buy at Amazon
1x Electronic side cutter  Buy at Amazon
1x Hot glue gun  Buy at Amazon
1x 3D printer  Buy at Amazon

Required material:

NumberLink
1x 3D print filament  Buy at Amazon
1xSolder 1mm  Buy at Amazon
1xWemos D1 Mini  Buy at Amazon
1x Hot Glue Stick  Buy at Amazon
1x Acrylic glass sheet 66x66x3mm  Buy at Amazon
1x USB power supply  Buy at Amazon
1x WS2812 8x8 LED matrix  Buy at Amazon
1x Micro USB cable  Buy at Amazon

Overview

Here you can see a small overview of how the display of animations and the time on the pxlBlk_8x8 can look like.

Collect the parts you need

So that you can start building your pxlBlck_8x8, you should first collect all the parts you need.

To assemble the pxlBlck_8x8 you need the following parts.

  • 1x WS2812 8×8 LED matrix including pin header
  • 1x satin acrylic sheet 66x66x3mm
  • 1x Wemos D1 Mini including pin header
  • adapter board
  • 3D printed light grid
  • 3D printed frame

Further overview of the required parts.

Adapter boards for the pxlBlck_8x8

v1.4

Various breakout boards can be found on the current version (v1.4). The pxlBlck_8x8 can easily be equipped with additional functions.

For example, it is possible to connect capacitive buttons / electrodes and use them to trigger actions on the pxlBlck or in the SmartHome. With the right extension, the pxlBlck_8x8 can also be used as a doorbell sensor, which notifies you when the doorbell is pressed via a loudspeaker and also via MQTT.

Ultimately, this board also makes installation much easier.

I have uploaded and summarized the board data under the following link. You can also have the boards manufactured there. New board versions will also be listed here.

You can find the STL files for printing on your 3D printer in the repository for the pxlBlck_8x8 under the following link.

Solder the Wemos D1 Mini / ESP8266 to the board

To make installation easier, you should first solder the ESP8266 installed on the Wemos D1 Mini to the adapter board

Insert the first pin header to connect the Wemos D1 Mini into the board as shown and solder only one pin to the board.

Now check that the pin header is correctly aligned. It should...

… be aligned straight and at right angles on the board.

If not, you can heat up the solder of the soldered pin again and correct the alignment of the pin header.

As soon as the pin header is correctly aligned, you can also solder the remaining solder points on the pin header.

As soon as the first pin header is soldered, the part of your adapter board should look like this.

Now solder the second pin header using the same principle.

If you have soldered both pin headers, your adapter board should look like this.

Another view of the soldered pin header on the underside of the adapter board.

After you have soldered the pin headers to the adapter board, it is now time to solder the Wemos D1 Mini to the pin headers.

To do this, place it on the pin headers as shown.

Make sure that the Wemos D1 Mini is not pushed onto the pin headers as far as it will go. It should sit on the pin headers as shown.

So that the Wemos D1 Mini no longer slips further onto the pins, you can already solder one of the contacts with a pin.

Then check again that the Wemos D1 Mini is straight and parallel to the adapter board on the pin headers.

As soon as it is in position you can solder the remaining contacts to the pins of the pin header.

The following contacts are important for the basic functionality of the pxlBlck_8x8 and should be soldered:

  • A0
  • 3V3
  • 5V
  • G
  • D4

Prepare the LED panels

So that the LED panel can be connected to the adapter board, this must first be soldered to a pin header.

For this you need the WS2812 8×8 LED matrix and the associated three-pin pin header.

Plug the pin header...

… on the page with the “DIN” contact …

… in the circuit board of the 8×8 LED matrix.

Then solder the pin header on the front.

View of the WS2812 LED matrix with the pin header soldered (on the back).

Solder the LED panel to the circuit board

Now you can solder the prepared parts together.

For this you need the prepared adapter board with the Wemos D1 Mini installed on it and the prepared WS2812 8×8 LED matrix.

Now you can plug the adapter board onto the pin header of the WS2812 8×8 LED matrix as shown.

Now align the LED matrix and the adapter board parallel to each other and then solder the pin header to the adapter board.

At this point it is also important that you close the solder jumper marked with "SJ1" with some solder. This solder jumper connects the data line between the Wemos D1 Mini and the LED matrix.

Another view of the unit consisting of adapter board and WS2812 8×8 LED matrix.

Insert the prepared circuit board into the housing

After you have prepared the "electronic part", the next step is the "mechanical part": The assembly into the 3D printed housing.

For this you need the following parts.

  • 3D printed frame
  • 3D printed light grid
  • Acrylic glass plate 66x66x3mm satined
  • The prepared unit consisting of Wemos D1 Mini, adapter board and WS2812 LED matrix

First insert the acrylic sheet into the 3D printed frame as shown.

The light grid is now pushed into the frame in a similar way to the acrylic sheet.

Pay attention to the correct orientation. There are cutouts in the bars of the light grid, which leave space for the capacitors on the WS2812 8×8 LED matrix.

View of the inserted light grid.

Now you can put the prepared unit consisting of adapter board, Wemos D1 Mini and WS2812 8×8 LED matrix as shown …

… into the frame of the housing.

So that the inserted parts stay in place, you should now add a drop of hot glue …

… in each corner of the pxlBlck_8x8.

So the inserted parts should …

... no longer fall out.

View of the inserted and glued parts.

And that's it with the construction of your pxlBlck_8x8.

Programming firmware

After setting up the pxlBlck_8x8, you now have to install ESPEasy including the pxlBlck plug-in on the ESP8266. How you can proceed is described in the following article.

Configure pxlBlck plugin

After installing the firmware you have to configure the plugin correctly. You can also find information on this in the article pxlBlck – Install and configure the pxlBlck plugin.

As an additional orientation, you can also use the settings from the screenshot shown here.

pxlBlck Usecases

Under the tag "pxlBlckUsecase" articles are listed in which you can find usage examples. It also explains how you have to configure your pxlBlck for this.

Animations, icons and commands

You can find more information on the display of animations, icons and the possible commands with which you can configure your pxlBlck in the following articles.

Have fun with the project

I hope everything worked as described. If not or you have any other questions or suggestions, please let me know in the comments. Also, ideas for new projects are always welcome. 🙂

P.S. Many of these projects - especially the hardware projects - cost a lot of time and money. Of course I do this because I enjoy it, but if you appreciate that I share this information with you, I would be happy about a small donation to the coffee box. 🙂

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com   

19 comments

  1. Good morning

    Cool project, but how do I make it alternate between showing random pixels and running time?

    Reply

    1. Hey Daniel,
      Under what condition should the random pixel screensaver be displayed and when should the running time be displayed?
      If you have a trigger, you can configure it using the rules in ESPEasy, for example.
      Best regards
      Fab

      Reply

      1. Hello Fab,

        I wanted to trigger the time, the running time should run through every 2 minutes, otherwise just random pixel screensaver

        Greetings daniel

        Reply

          1. Hello, does this project work without an adapter board? If not, where can I get it? The project is really interesting, keep it up. Greetings from Saxony.

  2. Hi Fab,

    alternates in time

    I had imagined it in such a way that, for example, an animation such as the Random Pixel Screensaver, if necessary, runs through other animations and is always faded in between through the time.
    For example, the time should be displayed every 2 minutes

    Greetings daniel

    Reply

  3. So I've already managed it successfully with a Wemos D1 Mini. Now I wanted to use my ESP32 with it. Flashing works, but I can't find it as an AP afterwards and I can't set the WLAN. Then I can't get any further. I had used the finished BINs linked here. How do I have to call ESPTOOL.PY with an ESP32 from AZ-Delivery / WROOM32? I assume it's the chip.... LG Alex

    Reply

    1. hey alexander,
      As far as the ESP32 is concerned, I'm also a bit "new". I would (currently still) recommend flashing the code to the ESP32 via the Arduino IDE. I currently copy the binaries manually into the repository. That means they are not automatically created when the code is updated and are therefore not always up to date. With the way of programming via the Arduino IDE, I currently have a working setup here. I configured the WiFi access data via the serial interface. How to do this is also in the article https://nerdiy.de/howto-espeasy-firmware-flashen/ explained. 🙂
      I would later also create an article on flashing an ESP32.
      Best regards
      Fab

      Reply

  4. Is there another alternative to ordering circuit boards?
    The Gerber data cannot be downloaded.

    Is it possible to see the wiring diagram?
    Oh, I have so many questions...

    Reply

    1. hey jens,
      jain, I'm currently working on a new version of the circuit board, which I want to offer here for ordering. I'll also provide the wiring diagram. 🙂
      Bring on the questions! 😀
      Best regards
      Fabian

      Reply

  5. Hey,

    I can't load the stl files from your github into Cura, I get the error message "... can't be opened... file might be corrupt or inaccessible." What am I doing wrong?

    Greetings Basti

    Reply

    1. Hey Sebastian,
      Unfortunately, this is because GitHub delivers an HTML page to preview the STL file when you try to download the STL file individually. Please download the whole repository, then importing the file should work. 🙂 Otherwise, please let me know.
      Best regards
      Fabian

      Reply

        1. Great, I'm glad. 🙂
          Regarding the pxlBlck_32x8: I'm still working on the circuit board for it, because I want to secure the power distribution a little better and also integrate a few more functions. I also posted info about it here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CMZ5xCiK30I/
          I hope to have everything ready with the next revision. Then all I have to do is create the assembly article. 🙂
          Best regards
          Fabian

          Reply

  7. Hi Fabian,
    Am I wrong assuming, that your PCB for pxlBlck8x8 MUST HAVE jumper SJ1 soldered?
    Or the separate (and required, as far as we want to follow all the rules of connecting 3V3 controller to 5V WS2812B LEDs) level shifter T1, R2, R3 MUST BE mounted on PCB?
    None of this was mentioned in your assembly guide, but my measurements of your PCB show that DATA signal to WS2812B (on SV1) will no go unless you solder SJ1 jumper or solder the T1, R2, R3 level shifter.
    Regards,
    -DarS

    Reply

    1. Hi DarS,
      You are totally right. SJ1 needs to be closed.
      But in fact it is mentioned in the description. Please search for the text snippet "At this point it is also important that you close".
      To make this more visible I changed the text style of this part to bold. Hope this makes it better visible. 🙂

      Thanks for the hint and best regards
      Fabian

      Reply

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