HariFun

Beautifully made! Thanks for sharing Vincent!

Jarosin69, yes, that was a bug that was found and fixed by Gius-8 in Shared branch.The time server I picked was not as reliable as google's time server, he also made the retry sooner when it fails to get epoch.I've now merged it to master branch too. Could you please try redownloading source from github and reupload it to the NodeMCU?Sorry for the frustration. I should have merged the fix to master sooner.

Hi PerryC4!Sorry you ran into that WiFi issue. :-(I was unable to duplicate this problem until user SteveR254 kindly sent me a NodeMCU with this issue.What seems to happen is that some NodeMCU boards are unable to effectively multitask between WiFi and driving the matrix. All is fine with WiFi sample code because WiFi was all that it had to do. The matrix is also fine. But when code needs to do WiFi AND matrix updating at the same time the WiFi fails :-(The experimental version decreases the time spent updating the matrix to allow more time for WiFi. Matrix is not as bright but WiFi now has more time to do its job while still updating the matrix.

Hmm, that is an odd one. Not even two colons?I can only think of two reasons (both unlikely) for completely blank screen:1. No power to the matrix. Please check the power that is plugged directly to the matrix (not the ESP).2. Signal is not getting from ESP to the matrix. Please check all wires from ESP to matrix.Also, try pressing the reset button on the ESP after everything is powered.Finally, you can see debug messages on Arduino IDE serial window and maybe that would tell us how far in the boot process it got. Good luck!

Hi Spodgy,I have not tried the code on an ESP32. I don't know if the ESP8266WiFi library is compatible with the ESP32 or not. Even if that library is not compatible, it should be possible to modify the code to use ESP32 libraries.

Awesome!And I like the improved wiring photo! Do you mind if I include it in the Instructable?

eburman, yes, WifiManager stores the wifi credentials in an area of memory of the ESP that acts like a flash drive. It does not get erased as you upload new programs.

That is a much better way to set timezone than the way I did it. I will check out your code when I get back from my trip. Thank you for sharing!

First, congratulations to those of you who recently posted your success!Second, just FYI, I am currently on a business trip and will not be able to respond to Instructable posts as quick as I normally could. I will be back in a week and will try to catch up. Sorry...

Yes, unfortunately, it appears that you are still not getting reliable wifi connection. The MorphClk syncs with time server every hour. I thought I've fixed the issue with it using the wrong time offset when it cannot connect, but it appears to be still a problem. Unfortunately, I won't be able to look into this until I return from my business trip. If you're impatient, you can see the github branches and history to see how I tried to fix it in NTPClient.cpp. Sorry...

kd6not, thanks for sharing that parameter. It'd be useful for others to know that at least it worked for one ESP board out there. :-)My theory is that when the ESP is setup as an access point (during setup), it requires more WiFi processing, so I had to set refresh pretty infrequently (larger value of 0.025). But once it is setup and the ESP only has to connect to home wifi, it has more time to update the matrix so your value of 0.010 works. Just a theory. Glad you got yours working and brighter. Thanks for sharing your success.

No, that is not normal. It should remember all settings once you set them.The debug output reports that it tries to connect to your home wifi, but could not so it setup the ESP AP to let it configure it even it already have the parameters saved.I suspect this is the same bug that WiFi is getting interrupted too much.These two numbers worked for me, but maybe you need to increase refresh even higher for your ESP board :-(#define refreshRate 0.025 // higher allows more time for WiFi, but makes the display dimmer. Originally 0.002#define persistenceMicroSeconds 280 // Higher = brighter. Originally 70

Congratulations BillM73 !Thank you for sharing your success. Enjoy the clock! :-)

Oh that's wonderful!Could you tell me the parameters you used to make it 2x brighter?I will take a look at adding date. No promises though :-)

refreshRate is how often the matrix would be refreshed. The number is in seconds, that's why it is such a small number.This is how often an interrupt is fired. I suspect if the interrupt fires too often the WiFi routines get confused.Faster refresh (smaller number) of course is better, but doing it too often is what appears to break WiFi on some boards.persistenceMicroSeconds is how long a pattern is held still before we replace it with another. If this number is low, then the display would be very dim because as we decrease the refreshRate above, the matrix will be "on" less and less.So, I increased persistenceMicroSeconds so eventhough we do not update it very frequently, each time it does, we hold the pattern for longer period of time.Again, if we hold it too long, then w...

refreshRate is how often the matrix would be refreshed. The number is in seconds, that's why it is such a small number.This is how often an interrupt is fired. I suspect if the interrupt fires too often the WiFi routines get confused.Faster refresh (smaller number) of course is better, but doing it too often is what appears to break WiFi on some boards.persistenceMicroSeconds is how long a pattern is held still before we replace it with another. If this number is low, then the display would be very dim because as we decrease the refreshRate above, the matrix will be "on" less and less.So, I increased persistenceMicroSeconds so eventhough we do not update it very frequently, each time it does, we hold the pattern for longer period of time.Again, if we hold it too long, then we'll end up taking too much of the ESP's time to draw the matrix and the WiFi got sad :-(I don't know why this only seem to be a problem with some ESP. TrungH32 said that he/she was able to make it brighter by playing with the param. Hopefullly he/she will share the magic numbers.

It looks like something is wrong with the storage. Let's try resetting it.In NTPClient.cpp uncomment this line:wifiManager.resetSettings(); // Uncomment this to reset saved WiFi credentials. Comment it back after you run once.Upload and run the above, save the timezone, then comment the above line and reupload.Also make sure that SPIFF is set to 1M instead of 3M. This is in the tools menu.

That's wonderful! Good detective work!I wonder what the repeater does that the ESP-12E does not like.time.nist.gov is in USA. whereas time.google.com probably resolve to a closer server in Spain.

CharlyBoy, that's great!Thank you for doing that and sharing!

I don't know why it does not work for you.If you'd like to help debug, please open serial monitor, press reset on the ESP and post what it says. Hopefully it would show us where it is failing.

Hmm, I wonder if they no longer sell the ESP-12.Interrupting WiFi less by lowering the refresh rate is the only way I have been able to fix it on the ESP-12E. You can try playing with those two variables, maybe you could find a brighter balance. Just leave the serial monitor open and you should see that it could not setup AP or get time when the refresh rate is too high and wifi stops working :-( Good luck!

That's strange..It sounds like it is not saving timezone.Could you please open Serial Monitor in the Arduino IDE, then press reset on the ESP and tell me what it thinks the timezone is set to?

Wow, that sure looks like all is well but the time server is not responding.May I ask where in the world you are located?When you ping time.google.com how quickly does it respond?Maybe we need to increase the timeout?

Niko1971 and kd6not,I've just made two quick adjustments:1. Use more available time server (time.google.com). I suspect the reason it is stuck on the two colons is because it could not reach the time server.2. Fixed the midnight showing as 00 when non-military time is chosen.Another thing I noticed is that sometimes instead of MorphClk, the ESP's Access point is named ESPxxxxx, If that happens, go ahead connect to it with your phone anyway. The WiFiManager should still allow you to configure the clock.https://github.com/hwiguna/HariFun_166_Morphing_Cl...

I suspect that you cannot reach the time server from where you are.Some other makers reported they have better luck with time.google.com.Search for:const char* ntpServerName = "time.nist.gov";and replace it with:const char* ntpServerName = "time.google.com";Good luck!

Yes, you need a separate 2Amp power supply to power the display -- USB is only to power the ESP.The best way to debug is by opening the Serial Monitor in Arduino IDE, make sure it is set to 9600 baud, then pressing reset on the ESP.If you see gibberish, that's probably incorrect baud rate on serial monitor, or bad compile option. Try both the ESP12 and ESP-12E. Make sure SPIFFS is set to 1M.You SHOULD see progress messages from the ESP as it starts up, and where it got stuck.If the message says that wifi is setup ok, but you still cannot see wifi access point please try this branch. I discover that the display refresh rate is too fast and it interrupts the WiFi too much. This branch is my attempt to fix thathttps://github.com/hwiguna/HariFun_166_Morphing_Cl...

I was messing with that branch again earlier today, not sure if you got the latest or not. You might want to try getting this branch again. MorphClk.ino should have this:#define refreshRate 0.025 // higher allows more time for WiFi, but makes the display dimmer. Originally 0.002#define persistenceMicroSeconds 280 // Higher = brighter. Originally 70If it still does not show MorphClk AP, last resort is to enter it in NTPClient.cpp//== PREFERENCES == (Fill these appropriately if you could not connect to the ESP via your phone)char homeWifiName[] = ""; // PREFERENCE: The name of the home WiFi access point that you normally connect to.char homeWifiPassword[] = ""; // PREFERENCE: The password to the home WiFi access point that you normally connect to.char timezone[5] = &...

I was messing with that branch again earlier today, not sure if you got the latest or not. You might want to try getting this branch again. MorphClk.ino should have this:#define refreshRate 0.025 // higher allows more time for WiFi, but makes the display dimmer. Originally 0.002#define persistenceMicroSeconds 280 // Higher = brighter. Originally 70If it still does not show MorphClk AP, last resort is to enter it in NTPClient.cpp//== PREFERENCES == (Fill these appropriately if you could not connect to the ESP via your phone)char homeWifiName[] = ""; // PREFERENCE: The name of the home WiFi access point that you normally connect to.char homeWifiPassword[] = ""; // PREFERENCE: The password to the home WiFi access point that you normally connect to.char timezone[5] = "-5"; // PREFERENCE: TimeZone offset. Go to https://www.timeanddate.com/time/map to find your timezone offsetchar military[3] = "N"; // PREFERENCE: 24 hour mode? Y/N

That is an error in WiFiManager library:https://github.com/tzapu/WiFiManager/issues/650I didn't run into this. Have you tried updating WiFiManager library?There is also a hotfix branch of the WiFiManager:https://github.com/tzapu/WiFiManager/tree/hotfixesGood luck!

Yay! That's great!Yes, please tear it apart and play with the code. I'm certain it could be much improved. The 00 instead of 12 for midnight bug has been there forever. Maybe you could help me fix it? :-)

Thanks to SteveR254, I've been able to duplicate the issue that some of you were having with some NodeMCU versions. This is the narrower version that appears to be based on ESP-12E rather than ESP-12. I had to set the board to NodeMCU 1.0 (ESP-12E Module) otherwise although the upload would succeed, serial monitor would show garbage even at the correct baud rate.I was not successful in figuring out why this ESP is having WiFi issues, out of desperation, I started commenting out the matrix code and lo and behold it started working! Eventually, I deduced that the interrupt routine that is updating the matrix is interfering with WiFi.I decreased the refresh rate of the matrix (so it is less frequent), therefore giving more time for WiFi. That made the WiFi work (both as client and AP),...

Thanks to SteveR254, I've been able to duplicate the issue that some of you were having with some NodeMCU versions. This is the narrower version that appears to be based on ESP-12E rather than ESP-12. I had to set the board to NodeMCU 1.0 (ESP-12E Module) otherwise although the upload would succeed, serial monitor would show garbage even at the correct baud rate.I was not successful in figuring out why this ESP is having WiFi issues, out of desperation, I started commenting out the matrix code and lo and behold it started working! Eventually, I deduced that the interrupt routine that is updating the matrix is interfering with WiFi.I decreased the refresh rate of the matrix (so it is less frequent), therefore giving more time for WiFi. That made the WiFi work (both as client and AP), but the display became very dim.So, I increased the length of time the display is enabled. That broke the WiFi again!So I had to decrease that parameter. Eventually, I found a decent balance.If you want to try it it is in this branch:https://github.com/hwiguna/HariFun_166_Morphing_Cl...

In theory, you should be able to do so. The PxMatrix library uses Adafruit GFX library, so I think if you could figure out how to wire it up and you don't run out of memory, it should work. If you get it to work, I'd love to include your code to step 14 where I share other mods that other users have created.

Woohoo! That's great! Love seeing people enjoying the clock.Did I forget to connect the ground pins?If you like, there is an "I made this" button where you could post your build. If you do mods and would like to share, I've added step 14 just to share mods that people have made. Let me know and I can add yours there if you like.Thanks for sharing your successful build! That makes me happy.

I love the idea of a clock floating in space. Well done! Voted!

I wonder if it is timing out, or maybe it I'm trying to get time before the ESP is ready. I do not have time to check right now, but I will look into that. Thank you for the feedback.

ChristopherM72, I bet the line that it's complaining about is not line 45, but something above that. Maybe an accidentally deleted semicolon? I'm not familiar with platform.io. Maybe it doesn't know about one or more include files? How does it deal with nested includes? pxMatrix.h includes Adafruit_GFX.h, arduino.h, and SPI.h.

ChristopherM72 , thanks for digging into that and sharing the workaround. Good luck finding the root cause!

First, congratulations! Second, I don't see how changing the color would break getting current time.Have you tried just pressing reset on the ESP so it would try getting time again?

OMG! Finally! I'm very happy for you.I think you were one of the first users to try to build this. Sorry for all the headaches. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong in my code that makes it incompatible with some boards. Please let me know if you learn more about this issue.Thank you for your patience and persistence! I'm glad you got it working!

Thank you for the links. That is great insight!It looks like there is a fix for it in this branch:https://github.com/tzapu/WiFiManager/tree/hotfixesB0SC0, JonathanT165 Please let me know if the above WiFiManager fixes the unable to connect to NodeMCU bug.I will also test when I receive the "broken" NodeMCU from SteveR254.

Thanks for the feedback. I will make sure json lib is listed in the instructable.When you get a chance, could you please try redownload latest MorphClock code from github? In my attempt to fix the Access Point issues that some people are having, I may have broken the saving of timezone and time mode. I have since undone the change in that saving area. Please let me know if your problem still persist with latest code. Thank you!

Oops, sorry about that B0sc0. You are correct. The clock is unaware of DST. I do not know how DST is decided every year. I should add a Daylight Savings Time checkbox, so at least it would be more intuitive instead of messing with TimeZone. Thx for reminding me.

Wow, it just got better and better! Well done! I love it!Do you have any insight to why some are unable to connect to the NodeMCU WiFi Access Point?

B0SC0, do I recall correctly that you were able to connect to "AutoConnectAP" when you ran WiFiManager/AutoConnect example? If yes, then there must be something that I'm doing wrong in MorphClock code. If not, then there's probably something wrong with the NodeMCU itself. :-(If AutoConnect example works, could you please try changing this line:wifiManager.autoConnect("AutoConnectAP");to this:wifiManager.autoConnect("MorphClk","HariFun");And see if you could connect to "MorphClk"?Thanks for your help debugging this.

Jonathan, thanks for the detailed report. I've updated the NodeMCU purchase link to another one that someone has confirmed to work. BTW, if you use the version below and enter your home wifi credentials IN THE SKETCH, you do not need a phone etc. It will simply use the info you put in the sketch to connect to your home wifi. I posted more detail instruction last night in separate post.https://github.com/hwiguna/HariFun_166_Morphing_Clock/tree/DefaultConfig

Wow! That's a lot of data to cram!Very nice... Thanks for sharing.

Steve, sorry that I led you astray with the AliExpress link. I purchased mine from AliExpress, but the link was no longer valid, so I picked that one instead. Apparently either it is a different model or bad seller/batch. Sorry...I've replaced the link with the one you provided so others won't run into the same issue.If you're in USA, I'll buy those faulty NodeMCU from you. I'm interested in seeing what's different about them. My gmail address is the letter h and my last name: Wiguna

Ok, I think we have a workaround now.If you cannot configure MorphClk via your phone and WiFiManager, please download this branch:https://github.com/hwiguna/HariFun_166_Morphing_Cl...Then go to the NTPClient.cpp tab.Scroll down to this section://== PREFERENCES == (Fill these appropriately if you could not connect to the ESP via your phone)char homeWifiName[] = ""; // PREFERENCE: The name of the home WiFi access point that you normally connect to.char homeWifiPassword[] = ""; // PREFERENCE: The password to the home WiFi access point that you normally connect to.char timezone[5] = "-2"; // PREFERENCE: TimeZone offset. Go to https://www.timeanddate.com/time/map to find your timezone offsetchar military[3] = "Y"; // PREFERENCE: 24 hour mode? Y/NEnte...

Ok, I think we have a workaround now.If you cannot configure MorphClk via your phone and WiFiManager, please download this branch:https://github.com/hwiguna/HariFun_166_Morphing_Cl...Then go to the NTPClient.cpp tab.Scroll down to this section://== PREFERENCES == (Fill these appropriately if you could not connect to the ESP via your phone)char homeWifiName[] = ""; // PREFERENCE: The name of the home WiFi access point that you normally connect to.char homeWifiPassword[] = ""; // PREFERENCE: The password to the home WiFi access point that you normally connect to.char timezone[5] = "-2"; // PREFERENCE: TimeZone offset. Go to https://www.timeanddate.com/time/map to find your timezone offsetchar military[3] = "Y"; // PREFERENCE: 24 hour mode? Y/NEnter your home wifi name (SSID) and credentials.Enter the desired timezone and Y if you prefer 24 hour mode.Then upload it.After it's done. You may have to press reset once.Good luck!

Bosco, I may have found and fixed the bug. Could you please redownload the code and try reuploading it? Thank you.

Sorry you are having issues. The failed to open config is normal for first run since we have not saved a config file yet, but it should find one on subsequent resets.Pressing ReSeT twice on the ESP it should put it in the config mode where you can try entering your home WiFi id and password again. Both are case sensitive.When you are in WiFi Manager, don't forget to click Save.That should save it and switch the ESP from being an access point to being a WiFi client connecting to your home WiFi network.If it got stuck there, press RST (reset) on the ESP once and it should say "Connecting" on the display and attempt to connect to your home WiFi.it will then display two colons while it gets the current time. Then the clock should start working.You're not the first person having...

Sorry you are having issues. The failed to open config is normal for first run since we have not saved a config file yet, but it should find one on subsequent resets.Pressing ReSeT twice on the ESP it should put it in the config mode where you can try entering your home WiFi id and password again. Both are case sensitive.When you are in WiFi Manager, don't forget to click Save.That should save it and switch the ESP from being an access point to being a WiFi client connecting to your home WiFi network.If it got stuck there, press RST (reset) on the ESP once and it should say "Connecting" on the display and attempt to connect to your home WiFi.it will then display two colons while it gets the current time. Then the clock should start working.You're not the first person having trouble with the configuration. I do not know why it is not working for some people and work for me and some others. I'm tempted to upload another version of code that you would have to configure in the Sketch.

As it is now, it gets the current time from the Internet once every hour, so it does require WiFi.It should not be too difficult to modify the project to use a battery backed up Real Time Clock (RTC) module. Let me know if you need further help.

Could you open serial monitor, then press reset twice and share the serial monitor output?Maybe that would give us some clues. Thx.

Aargh!I will review the difference between my NTPClient.cpp and WiFiManager examples. I must be using WiFiManager incorrectly.I'm sure we can figure this out. I'll work on it tonight. Sorry for the headache and thank you for reporting it.

Oh sorry about that.When I had runtime issue, it was due to the 1M SPIFFS.So, yours must be a different problem. Have you found and tried this?https://www.esp8266.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=6571

Sorry you're having problems. I think I've seen that issue before.Please click the screenshot of the Tools menu on step 11. Make sure your Flash Size is set to 4M(1M SPIFFS). Let me know how it goes.

What do you mean? He gets the time using this call:sendNTPpacket(timeServerIP); // Send an NTP requestIs there a better way?

Hmm, I do not have those options?! (See image)Here are my paths in preferences, I wonder if you're getting the board information from a different URL?http://arduino.esp8266.com/staging/package_esp8266com_index.jsonhttps://adafruit.github.io/arduino-board-index/package_adafruit_index.jsonhttps://github.com/stm32duino/BoardManagerFiles/raw/master/STM32/package_stm_index.json

Hi Mocraft.Oh, you do not need to even look at code, let alone modify it.Please refer to step 12 (Configuration). There is a more images button on the corner of the photos of that step.Basically, press reset twice on the ESP, use your phone to connect to MorphClk access point again, click the wifi configuration button and enter -5 for timezone, then click Save. Don't forget to set your phone back to your normal wifi after this :-)

Yes, we need ArduinoJson. That's my bad for not including it in the instructions. Sorry... I will correct it tonight.Someone said that the latest beta does not work with my code. I am using version 5.6.7.

Hi Bosco,I do not know what variant you're referring to. :(I needed to connect to the ESP as AP after testing a new upload, so I recorded the process. Hopefully it gives you insight on something that I'm doing differently than what you've been doing when trying to connect to the ESP.

No problem. I need to breakdown the steps into smaller pieces. Instructable hides the extra pictures when a step has more than 3 photos.As they say: "A picture is worth 1000 words" :-)Glad you got it working.

Vincent, that is wonderful! Thank you for sharing.The case is nice too. My clock is still naked :-)

Hmm, that's odd... shouldn't we see AdaFruit GFX library there?I'm not on my PC now, but I don't think I had Arduino_xyz directories either...

Can you help me debug this?Could you try -5 for me? That's where I am and it works for me.Which timezone(s) did you try?What does it say for Timezone when you press reset?

I can see the video now. Very nice! Thanks for sharing!

I will add that to troubleshooting tips. Thank you!

Wow that was fast! Would love to see it, but the link doesn't work for me. :-(Clicking it shows some HTML, saving it says there is no such file. :-(

Fantastic! Thank you for sharing your build. It is fun to see others enjoying it too.

I hope so. It is very rewarding to see others enjoy it too. Thanks again for the JSON tip!

ok. I managed to "fix" the font issue by going back to "PxMatrix_LED_MATRIX_for_Adafruit_GFX-1.0.0"I did this by removing "PxMatrix_LED_MATRIX_library" from this path (NOT the AppData where the zip files are): C:\Users\hwiguna\Documents\Arduino\librariesSo it appears that Dominic added a feature so now the text will go to next line if it hits right of screen. Unfortunately for me, what used to fit on one line no longer does. I'll fix it.I still don't know why you're having WiFi AP issues though. Maybe you can backup the libraries folder I mention above and run with minimal libs?

Fantastic! I wonder how the specs of the Huzzah compared to the NodeMCU. Apparently good enough :-) I know what you mean about loosing track of pins, so thank you for sharing that too.

Well Bosco! I think we finally made progress!I managed to break the graphics by removing all my zip except for the four you showed. Alas the network code STILL works. I had to press the reset twice after the upload was completed, but as you can see MorphClk AP showed up and I was able to connect to it.I will continue digging into your other screenshots and see if I can figure out why the last character does not fit anymore.

That's a great idea! There's so much real estate remaining.Were you thinking of adding sensors or reading weather off the internet?

Can you tell me what version of the libraries you are using?AdaFruit Gfx library 1.1.5PxMatrix by Dominic Buchstaller 1.0.0WiFiManager by Tzapu 0.12.0DoubleResetDetector by Stephen Denne aka Datacute. 1.0.2Good luck!

I don't have good news for you :-(I updated my AdaFruit gfx and PxMatrix to same version as yours.Mine still works :-(I noticed that right after the upload, although it connected to my WiFi AP fine, it did not show time (just two colons). Pressing reset once fixed it.You said the example sketch was also garbled. I wonder if you have a bad wire?!Do you have a multimeter to test it?

I should have thought of that others might want to change the color and setup one variable for it, but as it stands now, you have to search for this:display.color565(0, 0, 255)and change those three numbers everywhere they appear :-(First zero is level of red, then level of green, and of course the last one is level of blue.Maybe you could create one variable and use it everywhere. Not difficult, just tedious. Sorry...