Ducky LED effects, looking for LED matrix controllers. Any advice?

[nandop]

I would like to design a PCB using this Fio: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11520

Would I have a matrix for the switches, and a separate matrix for each LED? In this FIO, are there any limitations to this? I ask because it has a AT32U4 chip so it is compatible with Hasu's firmware. Plus, I could import it into my 40% design or 60%, to save time.

Any advice would be great!

[neverused]

There are likely current limitations on each on so even if you map a matrix for the keys, driving LEDs directly or with pwm will probably draw too much. Also it seems to be 3.3V so you may need to consider that too. I didn't get a good look at the details, just a quick glance on my phone while feeding my daughter.

It may be a good idea to look into one of their led driver boards on that site for controlling an led matrix. Just my ¢2

[dorkvader]

I see about 23 IO pins so you can candle a quite large KB matrix. Note that this is 3.3V instead of 5V. The main reason to use this instead of a teensy or arduino pro micro is that it has a battery charger onboard? Do you plan to use bluetooth and a battery?

For the LED: you will need a separate matrix for them or an IO expander chip driving the LED matrix or some other way of getting more IO available. Another option is to do it like the corsair RGB and have dedicated LED controller chips (of which there are many). The downside of that though is having to modify the firmware to support.

edit: ninja'd by neverused. Glad to see we both have the same recommendations.

[nandop]

Thanks guys!! I found a led matrix with sample codes. I'll mess around with that.

[nandop]

There are likely current limitations on each on so even if you map a matrix for the keys, driving LEDs directly or with pwm will probably draw too much. Also it seems to be 3.3V so you may need to consider that too. I didn't get a good look at the details, just a quick glance on my phone while feeding my daughter.

It may be a good idea to look into one of their led driver boards on that site for controlling an led matrix. Just my ¢2

Thank you! I have some concerns.



This is a schematic for this LED Matrix kit, using that MAX7219 chip. In their example code I can see they have assigned the individual LEDs to form the specific letter.

My question is, how do I communicate with this chip through the teensy? I know the D2/D3 ports are RX TX and I could use them for that. Because I know that if I want to make patterns like ducky's ripple effect, the software would need to send code through that MAX7219 chip so that the LEDs light up in that specific pattern. For the time being, I'm sure my limited coding knowledge can allow all LEDs to light up and eventually have a great soul help with the pattern coding. I'm not too strong with the software side, I apologize if I'm not making sense.

[nandop]

I see about 23 IO pins so you can candle a quite large KB matrix. Note that this is 3.3V instead of 5V. The main reason to use this instead of a teensy or arduino pro micro is that it has a battery charger onboard? Do you plan to use bluetooth and a battery?

For the LED: you will need a separate matrix for them or an IO expander chip driving the LED matrix or some other way of getting more IO available. Another option is to do it like the corsair RGB and have dedicated LED controller chips (of which there are many). The downside of that though is having to modify the firmware to support.

edit: ninja'd by neverused. Glad to see we both have the same recommendations.

Thank you so much Dorkvader, you are always very helpful. If possible, could you link me to some of these LED matrix controllers? I have linked one above, if you could give me your 2 cents, that would be great!

My biggest doubt is how I would communicate with that separate controller to let it know how to behave. Would a simple RX/TX connection suffice? I'm sure I can make them all light up and even increase/decrease light intensity through the software (given that sample code), but making the effects would be quite a challenge for me that I could not commit at the moment.

[nandop]

I could use this controller for simplicity. It has a great layout I could implement directly on the board.

[neverused]

Rather than using that breakout board, you could just use a teensy, it should be cheaper and will documented here. With regards to communication between the MCU and the MAX7219, you may be able to just hook up the equivalent pins (VCC, CLOCK, DIN, GND, and CS)  to the teensy and run the code along side the tmk / soarer/ etc iteration that you choose. I have never done this myself, but I know there must be some here with more useful input than myself. I'm more BME than EEE.

[nandop]

Rather than using that breakout board, you could just use a teensy, it should be cheaper and will documented here. With regards to communication between the MCU and the MAX7219, you may be able to just hook up the equivalent pins (VCC, CLOCK, DIN, GND, and CS)  to the teensy and run the code along side the tmk / soarer/ etc iteration that you choose. I have never done this myself, but I know there must be some here with more useful input than myself. I'm more BME than EEE.

Cool, thank you so much for your input. I have a good place to start now. the problem with the teensy is that I'll have to dedicate pins from the pcb. With sparkfun, I can import eagle files and have resistors and capacitors soldered from factory and only have to solder the atmega32u4 chip on the pcb. Honestly, I'm really trying to cut corners. But everything I create I'll make it one source and available to anyone.

[SuperBobKing]

There are likely current limitations on each on so even if you map a matrix for the keys, driving LEDs directly or with pwm will probably draw too much. Also it seems to be 3.3V so you may need to consider that too. I didn't get a good look at the details, just a quick glance on my phone while feeding my daughter.

It may be a good idea to look into one of their led driver boards on that site for controlling an led matrix. Just my ¢2

Thank you! I have some concerns.

Show Image

This is a schematic for this LED Matrix kit, using that MAX7219 chip. In their example code I can see they have assigned the individual LEDs to form the specific letter.

My question is, how do I communicate with this chip through the teensy? I know the D2/D3 ports are RX TX and I could use them for that. Because I know that if I want to make patterns like ducky's ripple effect, the software would need to send code through that MAX7219 chip so that the LEDs light up in that specific pattern. For the time being, I'm sure my limited coding knowledge can allow all LEDs to light up and eventually have a great soul help with the pattern coding. I'm not too strong with the software side, I apologize if I'm not making sense.

I looked at the manufacturers website on that LED controller, and it is meant for driving seven segment displays. You can individually control the segments so it will work for controlling 64 LEDs individually. But I didn't see any mention of it having brightness control, and considering its intended application it doesn't make sense for it to have it. You could still make something similar to the effects on a ducky, but IMO they wouldn't look as good without the fading. If you want to make a board with more than 64 keys you could control each column (or control pairs, but that doesn't seem very useful) but your effects would be limited to always on or off, breathing and wave.

[neverused]

Does anyone have a ducky board that can look up which chip they use?

[nandop]

There are likely current limitations on each on so even if you map a matrix for the keys, driving LEDs directly or with pwm will probably draw too much. Also it seems to be 3.3V so you may need to consider that too. I didn't get a good look at the details, just a quick glance on my phone while feeding my daughter.

It may be a good idea to look into one of their led driver boards on that site for controlling an led matrix. Just my ¢2

Thank you! I have some concerns.

Show Image

This is a schematic for this LED Matrix kit, using that MAX7219 chip. In their example code I can see they have assigned the individual LEDs to form the specific letter.

My question is, how do I communicate with this chip through the teensy? I know the D2/D3 ports are RX TX and I could use them for that. Because I know that if I want to make patterns like ducky's ripple effect, the software would need to send code through that MAX7219 chip so that the LEDs light up in that specific pattern. For the time being, I'm sure my limited coding knowledge can allow all LEDs to light up and eventually have a great soul help with the pattern coding. I'm not too strong with the software side, I apologize if I'm not making sense.

I looked at the manufacturers website on that LED controller, and it is meant for driving seven segment displays. You can individually control the segments so it will work for controlling 64 LEDs individually. But I didn't see any mention of it having brightness control, and considering its intended application it doesn't make sense for it to have it. You could still make something similar to the effects on a ducky, but IMO they wouldn't look as good without the fading. If you want to make a board with more than 64 keys you could control each column (or control pairs, but that doesn't seem very useful) but your effects would be limited to always on or off, breathing and wave.

Thank you SuperBobKing! I'll continue to look for one. I'm at work right now, but when I get out I'll search more thoroughly. :)