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Adafruit RGB Matrix FeatherWings
Created by lady ada
https://learn.adafruit.com/rgb-matrix-featherwing
Last updated on 2021-11-15 07:19:45 PM EST
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Table of Contents
Overview
Pinouts
• 5V Power
• Feather Power
• Data Pins
• M0/M4 FeatherWing wiring
• nRF52840 FeatherWing wiring
Usage
• M0 or M4 FeatherWing (SAMD21/SAMD51)
• nRF52840 FeatherWing
Troubleshooting
Downloads
• Files
• Schematic & Fabrication Print for nRF52840 Wing
• Schematic & Fabrication Print for M0/M4 Wing
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Overview
Ahoy! It's time to create a dazzling light up project with our new RGB Matrix
FeatherWing. Now you can quickly and easily create projects featuring your favorite
16 or 32-pixel tall matrix boards. Using our RGB Matrix library is easy and works
wonderfully with any of our M0 or M4 based Feathers.
Please note: We have two wings: one wing is only tested/designed to work with the
SAMD21 M0 and SAMD51 M4 Feathers(https://adafru.it/LFQ). Another wing is only
tested/designed to work with the nRF52840 Feathers(https://adafru.it/MMF). These
two designs have slightly different wiring/schematic to optimize for the pinouts of the
different chips. They not for use with any other Feathers at this time. (That said, if
you'd like to add support, we'd be happy to take a pull request(https://adafru.it/aHj)
on the library repo)
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This wing can be assembled in one of two ways. You can either solder in a 2x8 IDC
shrouded header on the top, then plug in the IDC cable that came with your matrix.
This makes it easy to stack on top of your Feather. Or, you can solder in the 2x10
socket header on the bottom of the Wing, and then stack your Feather on top. That
way you can plug it directly into the back of the matrix *mind blown*
This FeatherWing will work great with any of our 16x32(https://adafru.it/ClE), 32x32(h
ttps://adafru.it/ClF) or 64x32(https://adafru.it/ClG) RGB matrices, and is definitely the
easiest way to glow and go.
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Either way you decide to go, you can plug a 5V DC power pack into the 2.1mm DC
jack. That 5V is polarity protected and then output on the other side to a 5.08mm
terminal block. An onboard regulator will provide 3.3V power to your Feather so you
don't need a separate USB or battery, this makes for a very compact build!
Each order comes with one FeatherWing PCB with surface mount parts attached, a
2x8 IDC header, a 2x10 female socket, 2.1mm DC jack, 5.08mm terminal block, and
some male header. You may also want some Feather stacking headers(https://
adafru.it/oAP) or female headers(https://adafru.it/waW) depending on how you plan to
attach/stack your Feather.
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Pinouts
5V Power
RGB matricies are powered from 5V. We recommend using a 5V 2A or 5V 4A power
pack to provide power to your Feather+Matrix
5V 2A (2000mA) switching power supply -
UL Listed
This is an FCC/CE certified and UL listed
power supply. Need a lot of 5V power?
This switching supply gives a clean
regulated 5V output at up to 2000mA. 110
or 240 input, so it works...
https://www.adafruit.com/product/276
5V 4A (4000mA) switching power supply -
UL Listed
Need a lot of 5V power? This switching
supply gives a clean regulated 5V output
at up to 4 Amps (4000mA). 110 or 240
input, so it works in any country. The
plugs are "US...
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1466
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You can plug in the 5V adapter directly into the 2.1mm plug shown on the left, and the
output to the matrix is available on the right. In between it goes through a P-FET 'ideal
diode' which will protect the circuitry if you plug in the power backwards.
Feather Power
The 5V power input is also regulated to 3.3V and provided to the Feather 3.3V and
Ground pads. This means that the Feather will 'self power' naturally from the 5V
adapter even if USB or battery is not plugged in.
Data Pins
RGB Matricies require many data pins to push data out. We've picked what we think
are a good range of pins that let you use I2C, SPI and two analog pins. There's not a
lot of pins left over, but you can still add other wings and sensors if you need!
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M0/M4 FeatherWing wiring
Here are the following 'default' pinouts
CLK on #13
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LAT on #0 (a.k.a RX)
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OE on #1 (a.k.a TX)
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Address A on A5
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Address B on A4
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Address C on A3
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Address D on A2
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R1, G1, B1, R2, G2, B2 on 6, 5, 9, 11, 10, 12 in that order
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That leaves A0, A1, SCK, MOSI, MISO, SDA, SCL available. M0 and M4 Feathers with
built in SPI devices like SD cards, Bluetooth or WiFi will still work since the CS pins
are not exposed.
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nRF52840 FeatherWing wiring
Here are the following 'default' pinouts
CLK on #12
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LAT on #0 (a.k.a RX)
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OE on #1 (a.k.a TX)
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Address A on #10
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Address B on #5
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Address C on #13
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Address D on #9
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R1, G1, B1, R2, G2, B2 on #6, A5, A1, A0, A4, #11 in that order
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That leaves A2, A3, SCK, MOSI, MISO, SDA, SCL available. nRF52840 Feathers with
built in sensors will still work since I2C is available.
Usage
Our Arduino library will do all the heavily lifting for you.
Visit the RGB Matrix ProtoMatter library guide page at https://learn.adafruit.com/
adafruit-protomatter-rgb-matrix-library(https://adafru.it/MNa) to install the Arduino
library and load up the examples.
Use the following configuration when uploading example code, and you'll be glowing
in a minute!
M0 or M4 FeatherWing (SAMD21/SAMD51)
// Use FeatherWing pinout
uint8_t rgbPins[] = {6, 5, 9, 11, 10, 12};
uint8_t addrPins[] = {A5, A4, A3, A2};
uint8_t clockPin = 13;
uint8_t latchPin = 0;
uint8_t oePin = 1;
// Create a 32-pixel tall, 64 pixel wide matrix with the defined pins
Adafruit_Protomatter matrix(
64, 4, 1, rgbPins, 4, addrPins, clockPin, latchPin, oePin, false);
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nRF52840 FeatherWing
// Special nRF52840 FeatherWing pinout
uint8_t rgbPins[] = {6, A5, A1, A0, A4, 11};
uint8_t addrPins[] = {10, 5, 13, 9};
uint8_t clockPin = 12;
uint8_t latchPin = PIN_SERIAL1_RX;
uint8_t oePin = PIN_SERIAL1_TX;
// Create a 32-pixel tall, 64 pixel wide matrix with the defined pins
Adafruit_Protomatter matrix(
64, 4, 1, rgbPins, 4, addrPins, clockPin, latchPin, oePin, false);
For the smaller 16x32 matrix, the last line is a little different:
Adafruit_Protomatter matrix(
32, 4, 1, rgbPins, 3, addrPins, clockPin, latchPin, oePin, false);
Troubleshooting
Does not power up when powering through the FeatherWing
This may happen on some M4 based Feather's when used with the Rev A version
of the RGB Matrix FeatherWing that has a 100K pull up resistor on the enable (EN)
pin. It can be solved by either replacing the 100K resistor with or adding a 10K
resistor on top of it. You can even use a through hole resistor if you want.
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Downloads
Files
EagleCAD PCB files on GitHub(https://adafru.it/ClH)
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Schematic & Fabrication Print for nRF52840 Wing
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Schematic & Fabrication Print for M0/M4 Wing
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