Make a 8x10 L.E.D Matrix

 by Syst3mX
Featured
PICT0013.JPG
PICT0014.JPG
IMG_0005.JPG
UPDATE 1: I HAVE ADDED THE CODE FOR CONWAY'S GAME OF LIFE
UPDATE 2: NOW YOU CAN SAVE SOME ARDUINO PINS WITH THE HELP OF 1 SHIFT REGISTER.

In this instructable I will show you how to build a quite fancy 8 by 10 L.E.D matrix(with scrolling text and animations) using the Arduino and 4017 decade counter. This type of matrix is easy to make and program and it is a good way learn how to multiplex.

I have added another part to this instructable about using the 74HC595 shift register which will help to save some arduino pins for other thing you would like to do.

So now you have to ways to go from here. You can make this matrix without the shift register and that will save you some soldering work or use the shift register if you want to have more free pins to use.

 
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Step 1: Stuff you need

Tools:
1. Soldering iron
2. Some solder
3. Small needle nose plier
4. A wire striper

For the matrix:
1. 80 L.E.D.s
2. 8 resistors( The value is determent by the type of L.E.D.s)
3. 4017 decade counter
4. 10 1KOhm resistors
5. 10 2N3904 transistors
6. Some single core wire
7. Perfboard
8. Arduino
optional -
9.  74HC595 shift register
10. some pin headers

1-40 of 198Next »
kirangowle says: Jan 30, 2013. 6:56 AM
Hello,
I am doing the similar kind project with 8051 and 4094.
Can i use the same logic of yours.
matt.e.jenkins says: Dec 26, 2011. 6:59 AM
This is what i have so far.

mzee233 in reply to matt.e.jenkinsFeb 22, 2012. 11:36 PM
dude...is it necessary to have a separate circuit to display the time and date....??
matt.e.jenkins in reply to mzee233Feb 23, 2012. 8:17 AM
I added a RTC time chip with back-up battery, a TMP36 temperature sensor, a IR detector, and an arduino from scratch embedded on the broad. I tried to see how much stuff I could fit. :-) Let me know if you want the code, though it is not yet compatible with Arduino 1.0.
matt.e.jenkins in reply to matt.e.jenkinsDec 11, 2012. 9:53 AM
The code for this can be downloaded at
http://pastebin.com/giV2d8rZ
NOTE: This is not yet working with Arduino 1.0
If you convert this to 1.0 compatibility, please send it back to me at geekguymj@gmail.com
Thanks
Blaneparker in reply to matt.e.jenkinsJul 11, 2012. 6:31 AM
could you please PM or email me the code and schematic so i could experiment with it. blanepark@gmail.com
matt.e.jenkins in reply to BlaneparkerDec 11, 2012. 9:54 AM
sorry it took so long,
http://pastebin.com/giV2d8rZ
mzee233 in reply to matt.e.jenkinsFeb 28, 2012. 6:07 AM
thanks mate....yea...if you can..send me the code and the schematics.. :)
ohh..what should i make it to be compatible with arduino 1.0?
matt.e.jenkins in reply to mzee233Dec 11, 2012. 9:55 AM
sorry it took so long,
http://pastebin.com/giV2d8rZ
I don't have schematics but the pin locations can be found within the code.
Muraliraj1249 says: Nov 28, 2012. 9:25 AM
I have one doubt.....When i use another shift register can extend the led matrix as a 16*10 by using same code... i mean i shows 2 letters scrolling....
jughead63 says: Sep 24, 2012. 7:26 AM
Great instuctable!! i am trying to make a 6x12 using this code without a shift regiser, I can get the 6x8 to work but not the last 4 colums. Can you help me with the code to use the 10-13 pins to controle the last 4 colums. Thanks
jughead63 in reply to jughead63Oct 18, 2012. 10:20 AM
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
axeman911 says: Jul 16, 2011. 11:05 PM
what is the purpose of a decade counter, adn how does it work? also what are its syntaxes in the arudino language? please help!!
OCPik4chu in reply to axeman911Oct 12, 2012. 3:09 PM
Check the website he posted about the 4017 to start with it will give you the basics. http://www.doctronics.co.uk/4017.htm There isn't any Arduino 'syntax' this is just a logic IC.
Blaneparker says: Jul 10, 2012. 3:04 PM
is it possible to use a attiny 45/85 or 44/84 to control the shift resistors? http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?p=1706
KongDan says: Mar 6, 2012. 2:53 PM
First of all - great tutorial!
Might be a stupid question - how exactly do I connect the emitter pins of the transistors to the ground?
mzee233 says: Feb 22, 2012. 11:35 PM
hi..thanks alooot sir...i made the matrix today and works great...!!
i jus wana know is it posible to scroll texts vertically..?? i'm totally noob to programming..!! can u help me..?? plz...!!
Blaneparker says: Feb 17, 2012. 7:10 PM
Can someone send me code for a 8 x 32 matrix. I just started with coding so I need a jump start. Email me at blanepark@gmail.com
fizzypop55 says: Feb 2, 2012. 10:53 AM
I am trying to build an LED deisplay that responds to a sound through a microphone, would this LED matrix work for something like that?
zolibert00 says: Jan 23, 2012. 3:26 AM
sir, what is the code to flash real time, could you post it in one of your attachments...thx
sciguy102 says: Jan 22, 2012. 1:18 AM
hey my 10x8 led iz not workn well ...am using arduino 1280 mega and the pin 0-7 are not workng..........18-21 are workn only and it can only power 4 colums ....plzzzzzzzzzzzz some1 help......................................tnxxxx
matt.e.jenkins says: Dec 20, 2011. 1:03 PM
Can you tell me how to change the code for The Game of Life to start again after it dies out or gets stuck in a pattern. or after so many generations to start over. I am close to figuring it out but it eventually gets stuck and freezes on one generation. Any ideas?
matt.e.jenkins says: Dec 5, 2011. 12:24 PM
Can your two sketches be joined? Like scroll some words, then play a round of Game of Life, back to scrolling words. Can that be done? (with the shift register) Thanks.
siddeshwar says: Nov 26, 2011. 3:40 PM
hey thats a nice one
bonhalt says: Nov 24, 2011. 4:19 PM
that work is wonderful! i dont know much about arduino.programming it en such.where can i get materials 4 such in details,am working on ma final year project 4 my degree so i need alot of stuff on micro controllers.y arduino?as in are there other micro controllers and which language do i need to learn to program most of the common ones in the market?help me out please.
matt.e.jenkins says: Nov 7, 2011. 7:40 AM
Can someone tell me how to tweak the code to make it scroll from top to bottom so i can turn it on it's side and make it a 10x8 and not a 10x8? I want the words to go lengthwise. I figure that the letter code would have to be changed too. Thanks
asethi5 says: Oct 26, 2011. 10:32 AM
newbie here......what does a shift register do and is it necessary for scrolling text??Please help!!!!!!! ANYBODY!!!
EZELab in reply to asethi5Oct 30, 2011. 8:16 AM

The Shift register is a way to increase the micro controller output pins, you can find more information here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shift_register and here http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ShiftOut
EZELab says: Oct 11, 2011. 1:53 PM
Attaching my ONE ( :

Could you give us a Code to display only a one pattern ?

Nice Instructable ( :
Thank you
Photo0650.jpg
Syst3mX (author) in reply to EZELabOct 12, 2011. 1:09 AM
Congratz on the working matrix, looking great !

Yeah I will put a code till the end of the week.
axeman911 in reply to Syst3mXOct 19, 2011. 6:04 PM
are the transistors really neccesary?
axeman911 says: Oct 16, 2011. 8:56 PM
are the transistors really neccesary? also i edited the code to work with a 8x8 matrix but something is wrong?

int DataPin = 9;
int LatchPin = 11;
int ClockPin = 10;
int clock = 13;
int Reset = 12;
//x,y for the loop
int x;
int y;
// here the definion of all the letter(big and small) and numbers
#define A {B01111110,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01111110,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010} //done
#define B {B01111000,B01000100,B01000100,B01000100,B01111000,B01000100,B01000100,B01111000} //done
#define C {B00111000,B01000100,B01000010,B01000000,B01000000,B01000010,B01000100,B00111000} //done
#define D {B01111000,B01000100,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000100,B01111000} //done
#define E {B01111110,B01000000,B01000000,B01000000,B01111100,B01000000,B01000000,B01111110} //done
#define F {B01111110,B01000000,B01000000,B01111000,B01000000,B01000000,B01000000,B01000000} //done
#define G {B00111100,B01000010,B01000000,B01000000,B01000110,B01000010,B01000100,B00111000} //done
#define H {B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01111110,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010} //done
#define I {B01111110,B00011000,B00011000,B00011000,B00011000,B00011000,B00011000,B01111110} //done
#define J {B01111110,B00001000,B00001000,B00001000,B00001000,B01001000,B01001000,B00110000} //done
#define K {B01000100,B01001000,B01010000,B01100000,B01010000,B01001000,B01000100,B01000010} //done
#define L {B00100000,B00100000,B00100000,B00100000,B00100000,B00100000,B00100000,B00111110} //done
#define M {B01000010,B01100110,B01011010,B01011010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010} //done
#define N {B00000000,B01000010,B01100010,B01010010,B01001010,B01001010,B01001010,B01000110}
#define O {B00000000,B00111100,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010}
#define P {B00000000,B00111100,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01111100,B01000000,B01000000}
#define Q {B00000000,B00111100,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000110}
#define R {B01111000,B01000100,B01000100,B01000100,B01111000,B01010000,B01001000,B01001000} //done
#define S {B00000000,B00111100,B01000010,B01000000,B01000000,B00111100,B00000010,B01000010}
#define T {B01111110,B00011000,B00011000,B00011000,B00011000,B00011000,B00011000,B00011000} //done
#define U {B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B00100100,B00011000} //done
#define V {B00000000,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B00100100}
#define W {B00000000,B10000010,B10000010,B10000010,B10000010,B10010010,B10010010,B10101010}
#define X {B00000000,B01000010,B01000010,B00100100,B00011000,B00011000,B00100100,B01000010}
#define Y {B00000000,B10000010,B01000100,B00101000,B00010000,B00010000,B00010000,B00010000}
#define Z {B00000000,B01111110,B00000010,B00000100,B00001000,B00010000,B00100000,B01000000}
#define lit_a {B00000000,B01111110,B00000010,B01111110,B01000010,B01000010,B01111110,B00000000} //done
#define lit_b {B00000000,B00100000,B00100000,B00100000,B00111100,B00100100,B00111100,B00000000} //done
#define lit_c {B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00111100,B01000000,B01000000,B01000000}
#define lit_d {B00000000,B00000100,B00000100,B00000100,B00111100,B00100100,B00111100,B00000000} //done
#define lit_e {B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00111000,B01000100,B01000100,B01111000,B01000000}
#define lit_f {B00000000,B00011000,B00100100,B00100000,B00100000,B01110000,B00100000,B00100000}
#define lit_g {B00000000,B00011100,B00100010,B00100010,B00011110,B00000010,B00000010,B00010010}
#define lit_h {B00000000,B01000000,B01000000,B01000000,B01000000,B01111000,B01000100,B01000100}
#define lit_i {B00000000,B00000000,B00010000,B00000000,B00010000,B00010000,B00010000,B00010000}
#define lit_j {B00000000,B00000000,B00010000,B00000000,B00010000,B00010000,B00010000,B01010000}
#define lit_k {B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B01001000,B01010000,B01100000,B01100000,B01010000}
#define lit_l {B00000000,B01000000,B01000000,B01000000,B01000000,B01000000,B01000000,B01000000}
#define lit_m {B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00110100,B01001010,B01001010,B01001010,B01001010}
#define lit_n {B00000000,B01000000,B01111100,B01000100,B01000100,B01000100,B01000100,B00000000} //done
#define lit_o {B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00011100,B00100010,B00100010,B00100010}
#define lit_p {B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00011100,B00100010,B00100010,B00111100,B00100000}
#define lit_q {B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00111000,B01000100,B01000100,B00111100,B00000100}
#define lit_r {B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00111000,B01000000,B01000000,B01000000,B01000000}
#define lit_s {B00000000,B00000000,B00111000,B01000100,B01000000,B00111000,B00000100,B01000100}
#define lit_t {B00000000,B00100000,B00100000,B00100000,B01111000,B00100000,B00100000,B00100010}
#define lit_u {B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B01000100,B01000100,B01000100,B01000100}
#define lit_v {B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B01000100,B01000100,B01000100,B01000100,B00101000}
#define lit_w {B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B01000100,B01000100,B01010100,B01010100}
#define lit_x {B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00100100,B00011000,B00011000}
#define lit_y {B00000000,B00000000,B01000100,B01000100,B00111100,B00000100,B00000100,B00000100}
#define lit_z {B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B01111100,B00001000,B00010000,B00100000}
#define space {B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00000000,B00000000}
#define num_0 {B00000000,B00111100,B01000110,B01001010,B01001010,B01001010,B01010010,B01100010}
#define num_1 {B00000000,B00001000,B00011000,B00001000,B00001000,B00001000,B00001000,B00001000}
#define num_2 {B00000000,B00111100,B01000010,B00000100,B00001000,B00010000,B00100000,B01000000}
#define num_3 {B00000000,B01111110,B00000010,B00000010,B00011100,B00000010,B00000010,B01000010}
#define num_4 {B00000000,B00000100,B00001100,B00010100,B00100100,B01000100,B01111110,B00000100}
#define num_5 {B00000000,B01111110,B01000000,B01000000,B00111100,B00000010,B00000010,B00000010}
#define num_6 {B00000000,B00111100,B01000000,B01000000,B01111100,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010}
#define num_7 {B00000000,B01111110,B00000010,B00000100,B00001000,B00010000,B00010000,B00010000}
#define num_8 {B00000000,B00111100,B01000010,B01000010,B00111100,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010}
#define num_9 {B00000000,B00111100,B01000010,B01000010,B01000010,B00111110,B00000010,B00000010}
#define times {B00000000,B00000000,B01000010,B00100100,B00011000,B00011000,B00100100,B01000010}

const int numPatterns = 17;//this is the number of patterns you want to display
byte patterns[numPatterns][8]={H, A, ,P, P, Y };// the patterns order
void setup(){
pinMode(DataPin,OUTPUT);
pinMode(ClockPin,OUTPUT);
pinMode(LatchPin,OUTPUT);
//simple stuff here
pinMode(clock,OUTPUT);
pinMode(Reset,OUTPUT);
//reseting the 4017 IC, you have to do this
digitalWrite(Reset,HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(5);
digitalWrite(Reset,LOW);
}

void display_pattern(int loops)//int loop acts like a delay, it take 8 mSecands to scan all of the rows so int loops = 15 is a good time for it
{
for(x=0;x for (int z=0;z<8;z++){ //scrolls one bite at a time
for(int t=0;t for(y=0;y<10;y++){// loops over the array of bytes
byte temp = patterns[x][y];
byte temp_2=patterns[x+1][y];
digitalWrite(LatchPin, 0);
shiftOut(DataPin, ClockPin,MSBFIRST,((temp<>7-z)));//writes digital outputs, Z is for how much bites it need to scroll
digitalWrite(LatchPin, 1);
delayMicroseconds(800);
digitalWrite(LatchPin, 0);
shiftOut(DataPin, ClockPin,MSBFIRST,0);
digitalWrite(LatchPin, 1);
digitalWrite(clock,HIGH); digitalWrite(clock,LOW);
}
}
}
}
}

void loop(){
display_pattern(15);// calls for the display_pattern function and says that int loop = 15(if you do more loop the pattern whould scrrol slower).
}
Nikira says: Oct 13, 2011. 3:26 AM
Does it matter which Arudino model I choose? They have so many O.o
Syst3mX (author) in reply to NikiraOct 13, 2011. 5:51 AM
Nop,this project will work with any kind
lmacarayo says: Oct 6, 2011. 3:53 PM
hi i just want to ask if i can use one ardiuno... in 3 kind of led. coz i wanna make an interactive traffic light or just pedestrian traffic light... that would display the word GO SLOW and STOP... i really dont know how to use and make it... but i really want to know it as soon as possible... thank you very much in advance :D
Syst3mX (author) in reply to lmacarayoOct 7, 2011. 2:11 AM
It's possible to make but I don't recommend using a matrix for this project.
You can just pre-wire the LEDs in such way that you will have 3 control pins that light up the whole word.
lmacarayo in reply to Syst3mXOct 9, 2011. 8:22 AM
hhmmnnn thank you for the reply..

but how will i pre wire in and how is the conection for a tri-color led.. i only knew one color led connection..

and what will be the size of the led..
Syst3mX (author) in reply to lmacarayoOct 9, 2011. 11:11 AM
So this is the idea I had in mind.
You can use RGB LEDs which are basically 3 LEDs in one.
They are pretty much the the same as normal LEDs but they have 4 pins and not 2.
They are very simple to use you have a pin for each color and one pin that is the ground.
You don't have to use the RGB kind in this project you can just put the different color LED next to each other and cover the whole display in some plastic so people wouldn't see the LEDs but only the light.
The connections are also simple you connect all the colors of the word together i.e. all off the positive pins and give power to all of them.

The size of the LEDs is up to you.
Idea.jpg
jbwkz says: Sep 19, 2011. 7:11 AM
hi, nice tutorial..is it possible to extend it to a 16x8 instead of a 10x8? Cause I am doing this a part of my school project and 10x8 is a bit small...
mmorrell-stinson in reply to jbwkzSep 29, 2011. 11:44 AM
just make it a 10x14 (there are only 14 output pins on the arduino and the 10 can be attached to IC4017) and edit the code a bit... or alot!
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