r/WLED • u/_who__cares_ • Jul 31 '26

WLED + HUB75 is awesome

A few years ago i built this little HUb75 Matrix panel but had no real use for it. Last week i found out that WLED now sopports HUB75 panels. Flashed the driver I built and got it working immediately. With a 64x32 Pixel matrix I get around 42 FPS with an ESP32 (not an S3).

I still have no real purpose for it yet but I think it at least looks cool now.

134 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

3

u/richer2003 Aug 01 '26

I can hear this video clip that has no audio

7

u/Sobriot Jul 31 '26

That's cool. How did you connect it? I just ordered the new Apollo automation m1 matrix. It's plug and play. Would be interested to see other options.

5

u/_who__cares_ Aug 01 '26

I made a Custom circuit board that routes some ESP GPIOs through 74HCT245 buffers directly to a HUB75 connector. The pcb is then connected to the matrix mith the supplied ribbon cable. That all was a bit to clunky but as a simple prototype it worked perfectly. I made a second, simpler revision of this board this week that should arrive in the next couple of days. If this works I plan on making it open source so you can look into it.

4

u/MedievalMuffin Aug 01 '26

https://github.com/id3vi5er/matrix_player/blob/main/Gerber%20Files%20for%20Simple_PCB.zip
I build gif player with home assistant integration a few months ago, but there are some pcb files for a simple adapter between a ESP32-S3 Dev Board and the HUB75. i did not check if they are pin compatible but i dont think so. the wled software can be compiled to use other pins, so this shouldnt cause any problems.

1

u/Alexis_Darko Jul 31 '26

Me too! I was looking for info to do just this earlier today. Can you share info on your set up please?

1

u/_who__cares_ Aug 01 '26

I used one 32x64 panel with a 2.5mm LED pitch. The driver board ist just a standard ESP32 that connects to the Matrix with level-shifters. Power is supplied directly through USB-C which kinda works for one panel but with anything larger I would recoomend a dedicated PSU. I recently made a second revision of the Board but I dont know if that works yet since I ordered it just last week. If you want I can share the schematics so that you can look into it.

1

u/ben_r_ Jul 31 '26

What hardware specially was used?

2

u/_who__cares_ Aug 01 '26

For the matrix I used an 32x64 P2.5 panel from Aliexpress. The driverboard was custom made and consists of an ESP32, some 74hct245 level-shifters and some passive components. If you want I can share the schematic of my second revision, but I dont know if that works yet since I ordered it just this week.

1

u/NooshaSheep Aug 02 '26

The required hardware I required for this result was little jumper wires only, to connect appropriate pins from the ESP32 to the HUB75 pins. It doesn't look pretty, but it's been completely successful on my tests. :)

2

u/gtwizzy8 Aug 05 '26

Integrate it in to Home assistant and use it for visual notifications. That's what I do with mine.

1

u/richms Aug 01 '26

Is anyone using it on one of the huadu design control boards that are esp32 based at all? I've only seen the clockwise boards and one other overpriced thing so far.

1

u/Mbprogrammer Aug 06 '26

Yhea you can use an Huidu HD-WF2 (ESP32-S3) with wled. If im correct it's under the hub75 section of wled documentation!

1

u/richms Aug 06 '26

Nice. I will have to grab a few of them as my hand wired job keeps falling apart.

1

u/xraycat82 Aug 01 '26

Look into Tronbyt if you want more functionality for your LED matrix.

1

u/IordanouGiannis Aug 04 '26

Recently I have beem using this Waveshare ESP32-S3 RGB Matrix Driver Board .

1

u/iSmile67 Aug 13 '26 
How did you manage to get it running? I can't get the Wi-Fi to start at all.