jollifactory

For this project, there is no need to get a potentiometer with high power rating as we are not expecting any high current going through it. A 100mW potentiometer will be good.

Our Arduino sketch works with the old Arduino IDE 1.0.5. If you are using newer Arduino IDE 1.6.0 and above, you may download our amended sketch at https://sites.google.com/site/jollifactory/JF_Parola_Zone_TimeMsg_V1_1.zip?attredirects=0&d=1 to see if it works for you. We have not tested it with all the hardware connected.

This project uses the PCB we designed for building a single color LED cube.The circuit diagram can be found under Step 2 of our instructables available at https://www.instructables.com/JolliCube-an-8x8x...The boards are available at https://www.tindie.com/products/Nick64/jollicube-8...

Thanks for pointing out. Link should be working now.

Separately we have tried to troubleshoot with George CosminS and he managed to resolve his issue after using Arduino IDE 1.0.6 to compile and download our program into his Arduino board. He was previously using Arduino IDE 1.8.2 when he encountered the problem.

You may download the code in the link under Step 7.

Have you resolved the problem? If not, can you email us and we will see if we are able to help you with the troubleshooting.

Yes. Using the Arduino Pro mini 5v version board should be fine. We prefer to use the Arduino Nano though it is a bit bigger for ease of programming and also to power up the entire LED cube.

The kit is available at https://www.tindie.com/products/Nick64/jollicube---8x8x8-led-cube-spi-diy-kit/.

You will need to use the bi-color LED Matrix module which is available at https://www.tindie.com/products/Nick64/60mmx60mm-bicolor-led-matrix-driver-module-diy-kit/ for this project. It looks like you are using single color LED Matrix modules which is why you are having displays on alternate LED Matrix modules.

It is possible to do so and not too complicated to edit the code if you are familar with the program code.

Are you using the jolliCube kit set for your project or did you build it yourself?

It is available as a basic kit with PCB and electronics components bundled together at https://www.tindie.com/products/Nick64/jf-slomo-slow-motion-frame-diy-kit/. We used a Nano for the project as our intention is for hobbyist to experiment and enhance it with more features.

If you are referring to the glue to join all the acrylic parts for the Back Mount frame, it is a solution used for joining acrylic parts together which should be available at Art shops in small quantities. The solution simply 'melts' the surface of the acrylic parts and joins them together effectively.

Thanks for pointing out the mistakes in our drawing. We have already amended them.

Are you using the Arduino board for this project and which Arduino IDE ver are you using? We compiled using Arduino IDE Ver1.05 without any issues as the library should already be included.

Yes. We supply 5V to Arduino as well as to all the panels via the USB port on the Arduino. Note that only a maximum of 8 LEDs will be lit at any time for each panel which is handled by the MAX7219 IC used. The quick switching of LEDs on and off is so fast that we may think that a lot of LEDs are lit due to Persistence of Vision.

You may our Demo code downloaded from Step 7 here to drive jolliCube using an Arduino Mega without any changes. However, you will need to use digital pin 51 instead of 11 for DIN and digital pin 52 instead of 13 for CLK.

Are you using the kit set available at https://www.tindie.com/products/Nick64/large-8x8-l...or did you wire up the circuit yourself? If you are using the kit set, then VCC, GND, DIN, CLK AND LOAD are labelled at J1 on the provided PCB board. You will need to connect these 5 terminals to 5V, GND, D11, D13 and D10 respectively on your Arduino UNO board. You will need to connect a 10K/12K pull down resistor between LOAD and GND. Check out the wiring connections at Step 6.

If everything is correct and you suspect your laptop is unable to provide sufficient power to drive it, then use an external USB power adapter rated at 1A and above to drive it. If you are still unable to get it to work, then you may need to attach some photos of your wiring connections with the 8x8 LED matrix.

You should amend the Adafruit_SSD1306.h file found in your Arduino IDE libraries/Adafruit_SSD1306 folder and not the Arduino sketch itself. Search for something like the followings in the file and comment out the displays you are not using; #define SSD1306_128_64// #define SSD1306_128_32// #define SSD1306_96_16

Sorry for the late reply. Push button is to be connected to the red dots.

It shouldn't be the power problem.Ensure your LED's anode and cathode legs are soldered correctly. Do you have a pull-down resistor connected between the LOAD and GND?Are your connections to your Arduino board correct (LOAD to D10, DIN to D11 & CLK to D13)?

You need to connect your push button switch to the two terminals labelled as SW1 on the PCB which is located just below the USB socket of the Arduino Nano if it is inserted onto the board.

The display we are using is 5V-ready, so we can connect them directly to the Arduino Nano. You will need a level shifter for the larger OLED display from Adafruit which should be included with the purchase.The larger display uses driver chip SSD1305 which can communicate in three ways: 8-bit, I2C or SPI. You will need to check out their tutorial on how to convert it for I2C communications which is what we are using for this project.You will also need to modify our code to use the SSD1305 driver library instead of the SSD1306 driver library we are using.

Thanks for pointing out the mistake. We have already amended the diagram.

Did you managed to resolve the issue whereby one led seems to stay lit all the time? Is this happening while running the Test program? How many 8x8 matrix layers have you completed?

Great. The Arduino Uno and Nano are very much the same except for the form factor so this should not be the issue.What are the errors you are getting?

Sorry. We cannot provide the PCB files to you.

Please check Step 4: Programming the Arduino Board. You may need to modify the MD_MAX72xx.h file for it to work with your Matrix Display module.

The pull-down resistor is referring to another 12K resistor. Please check the image under Step 6: Test LED Matrix.

We should think the 7x7x7 circuit should be similar to ours in Step 2 except not connecting the D7 row of LEDs and maybe the DP column of LEDs. You will need to figure out the program to drive it.

Need more info from you - Did you build it using a purchased kit set or did you wire the circuit up yourself? Did you connect a pull-down resistor between the LOAD and GND lines? How many 8x8 matrix display did you connect together? Did you connect the switch for message selection and tried toggling it to display the stored messages?

Sure. The challenge is to write/modify the program code to drive it.

The Raspberry Pi is more than capable for this task. If you are new to electronics stuff, we would suggest you start with the Arduino board as the learning curve is less steep.

It is available at https://www.tindie.com/products/Nick64/jollicube---8x8x8-led-cube-spi-diy-kit/

The Arduino sketch for this project can be downloaded under Step 7.

The program code can be downloaded in Step 3: Arduino Sketch

The code can be downloaded in Step 2: Programming the Arduino Board

If you are still encountering errors during compilation, you may want to check the folders for these downloaded libraries and copy all the files in the src folder one level out of the folder.

See our reply to Rudyard on the errors during compiling.

Some changes in the new libraries is causing errors during compiling.Please download our amended program at https://sites.google.com/site/jollifactory/JF_Paro...It compiles successfully using the following library versions but we have yet to test it with the actual hardware used for the project:(Parola library v2.4) (Max72XX LED Matrix Display Library v2.9) (DS1307 Real Time Clock Library v1.2)

Could you provide the version number for the following libraries as they may not be the same as those we are using? We will try to re-create the error and see if we can help.MD_Parola Library (Parola library v2.1)MD_MAX72xx Library (Max72XX LED Matrix Display Library v2.6)MD_DS1307 Library (DS1307 Real Time Clock Library)

No. That LED matrix display is a single color display. We are using a bi-color LED matrix display for this project which we are able to make it light up in three colors . You may find online for Tetris games implemented using a single color display or modify our Arduino sketch to work with it. We prefer the bi-color LED matrix display for implementing this game as it makes the game look more interesting.

The entry level Arduino UNO should be a good choice. It is very similar to the Nano except for the size.

The Arduino sketch for this project written then works with Arduino IDE version 1.0.5. If you are using Arduino IDE version 1.6 and above, you may check out the amended sketch found in the link below;https://sites.google.com/site/jollifactory/JF_Parola_Zone_TimeMsg_V1_1.zip?attredirects=0&d=1

Our Arduino sketch works with the old Arduino IDE 1.0.5. If you are using newer Arduino IDE 1.6.0 and above, you may download our amended sketch at https://sites.google.com/site/jollifactory/JF_Parola_Zone_TimeMsg_V1_1.zip?attredirects=0&d=1 to see if it works for you. We have not tested it with all the hardware connected.

What are the compilation errors you encountered?

Thanks for pointing out the mistake. We have already amended the image.

Yes. It should be possible to connect a separate LCD for display. Use a I2C LCD Display for ease of interfacing though it is a bit more expensive. You will need to modify the code yourself to implement score display and game difficulty.

You should most probably receive the additional resistor.

You will need to amend the program code for it to work on single color MAX7219 matrix modules.

Check out the Youtube video in step 4 on how to test each 8x8 matrix layer before they are soldered onto the PCB and video in step 5 after each layer is soldered onto the PCB. BTW, we will include another 12k Pull-down resistor in the kit set from now onwards.

There is only one way to install the LED Matrix layer as in the photo after you have soldered in all the electronics components.

You should be able to find these LEDs at most shops selling electronics components. For our LED cube, we recommend 3mm diffused LEDs with legs longer than 24mm. You may also purchase them with our basic LED cube kit set.

It is available only as a basic kit set at https://www.tindie.com/products/Nick64/jollicube---8x8x8-led-cube-spi-diy-kit/.

Yes, theoretically you may chain as many matrices as you want together provided you supply sufficient power to your setup and ensure that the CLK, DIN and LOAD signal lines are not deteriorated too badly for the setup to work. How many matrices do you intend to chain them together? Up to 12 matrices should not pose any problem.Search for #define MAX_DEVICES 8 in the code and change the number 8 to the number of matrices chained together.

Your problem probably lies with the Arduino board you are using. You may need to check with your Arduino vendor on how to install the driver for your board especially if your Arduino board is a clone.

Since we are using the Arduino Nano, we do not need any programmer to program our Arduino. If you are using Arduino IDE 1.0.6 for program upload, then under Tools -> Board, simply select Arduino Nano w/ ATmega328 and then upload the program to our Arduino board by selecting File -> Upload.

We used perf-boards with copper dough-nuts and solder thin wires for point to point connections.

Are you using the exact Bi-color LED Matrix modules as in thus project?

Glad you managed to find and rectify the fault. This bi-color LED Matrix module is designed to be modular so you may chain them up to form longer displays if your project requires longer displays. Check out our other instructables using this LED Matrix module and also other interesting projects by searching using jollifactory as the search keyword here. Cheers!

First test each of your modules separately to make sure they are working.You may go to Step 3: Programming the Arduino Board to download the jolliFactory_Bi_Color_LED_Matrix_Test_Check.ino sketch for testing.The display should light up RED, GREEN and ORANGE in sequence row by row to fill up the entire display repeatedly.BTW, did you connect the 10K pull-up resistors?

We send the items via SingPost and normally takes 6 to 12 working days for items to be delivered after shipping which should be around 3 weeks.

Thanks for your interest in our product. We ship our products via SingPost and it normally takes 6 to 12 working days for delivery baring any unforeseen circumstances. We are sorry we are unable to provide you our PCB design.

We may have misunderstood your intention to use our JF Stereo Audio Spectrum board with the jolliCube LED cube. Yes, you do not need any MSGEQ7 ICs if you just intend to display animations on the cube which are not reacting to the audio input.

Connection depends on whether you would like to control animation display separately or together for the left and right audio channel. You may even just control animation display based on either just the left or right audio channel.The simplest way is to display animation based on just one audio channel. If you are using our JF Stereo Audio Spectrum Interface board, just connect J3 to the first set of jolliCube base board's J1 or J2. The 2 jolliCube boards shall then be joined as in our 8x8x8 LED cube. This way, you will only need to install just one MSGEQ7 IC to either IC1 (Left audio channel) or IC2 (Right audio channel).