How to Build a Massive LED Wall on a Budget

0:00behind me is a seven foot wide LED wall

0:02that I built for under five hundred

0:04dollars a giant LED display can add

0:06color and movement to your room making

0:08it feel more lively and fun you can use

0:10it to stay updated on important

0:11information like the time and weather or

0:14just leave your favorite GIF looping as

0:15a unique art piece I love using mine as

0:18a visualizer when I'm blasting my

0:19favorite music but it's also really cool

0:21in the background of streams or video

0:23calls since it can mirror your PC screen

0:25I'm Chris Parker and in this episode of

0:28tech random I'm going to teach you how

0:30to build your very own LED wall we'll go

0:32through every step you'll need to build

0:34the panels as well as my suggestions to

0:36make the project as beginner friendly as

0:38possible then I'm going to teach you how

0:40to use websockets to communicate with

0:42the display over Wi-Fi even if you've

0:44never used a microcontroller before this

0:46video is going to teach you everything

0:47you need to know let's get started

0:52this project uses a lot of 3D printed

0:54Parts if you've never used a 3D printer

0:57before then now is the best time to get

0:59into the hobby I just gotten any cubic

1:01Cobra for 250 dollars and it has some

1:03insane features like an auto leveling

1:05bed that makes it a huge upgrade from

1:08the printer I got during my sophomore

1:09year of college

1:10this is not sponsored I'm just really

1:12impressed by the printer at such a

1:14competitive price there are four

1:16different files you'll need to print

1:17you'll need eight of the 6x6 for each

1:20panel four of the six by four four of

1:23the 6x6 end piece and two of the 6x4 end

1:26piece multiply that by four and you'll

1:28have enough for the entire wall you'll

1:30need three and a half kilograms of black

1:32pla for the whole thing although most of

1:34this project can be built in a couple of

1:36days it took me almost a month to print

1:38all of the tiles I needed so make sure

1:40you start printing before you get too

1:42far ahead

1:45for each panel you're going to need four

1:47five meter rolls of 150 pixel

1:50ws2812b addressable LEDs a 5 volt 60 amp

1:54power supply an AC wall plug and an

1:57esp8266 microcontroller you'll also need

2:01a soldering iron solder 16 gauge wire a

2:04wire stripper duct tape the 3D printed

2:06tiles hot glue a light diffusing cloth a

2:10stapler and large sheets of cardboard in

2:13case you missed any of that all these

2:14things can be found in the description

2:15along with written instructions over on

2:17my instructables page

2:19before we get into the build remember to

2:21leave a like on the video for the

2:22YouTube algorithm when I started this

2:24channel I was a college student but now

2:26that I'm working full time as an

2:28engineer it's really hard to find time

2:29to work on these videos remember to

2:31subscribe and ring the bell if you don't

2:33want to miss out on any future projects

2:36[Music]

2:37I'm going to start by cutting the

2:39cardboard down to 48 by 21 inches if you

2:42can get a cheap four foot level it'll be

2:44your best friend for the duration of

2:45this build cutting each of the LED

2:47strips into 436 pixel segments was

2:50actually a lot of fun and only took

2:52about five minutes I used two of the

2:54leftover strands at each end of the

2:55cardboard to make sure the strips were

2:57evenly spaced then I use my level to

2:59make sure each strip stayed straight the

3:01whole way across if you're making your

3:03own make sure you start with a connector

3:05piece you'll always need to pay

3:07attention to the arrows on the strips

3:08and make sure you alternate the

3:10direction of each strip as you place

3:12them down once all the strips are down

3:14you'll have a very satisfying sheet of

3:16pixels but they won't be able to do

3:17anything until we wire them up you can

3:19use whatever wire you want for this but

3:21I just scavenged all the extra wire that

3:23came with the LEDs make sure you save at

3:26least one of these connectors for later

3:27though

3:29the soldering was definitely the most

3:30tedious part of this project but a good

3:32stripper and soldering station made

3:34quick work of it we need to connect all

3:36the strips together in a snaking pattern

3:38so that we end up with one continuous

3:40strip I used a bit of solder to Tin each

3:42pad then tinned the wires and touch them

3:45together with the iron make sure you use

3:47pliers since the wires will get very hot

3:49before turning off your soldering iron

3:51take the connector we set aside earlier

3:53and connect it to the esp8266 red goes

3:57to 5 volts white to ground and green

3:59goes to D4 now it's finally time to run

4:02our first test I'm going to show you the

4:04whole process to make this project less

4:06daunting for beginners so bear with me

4:08if you've done this before

4:11foreign start by grabbing the Arduino

4:14IDE from the download section of their

4:16website while it's installing head to my

4:18GitHub Link in the description and

4:20download the zip file in the folder open

4:22link.txt and copy its contents now open

4:26Arduino and go to file preferences and

4:29paste into additional boards manager if

4:32you already have stuff here just

4:33separate them with a comma Now go to

4:35tools manage libraries and install the

4:38fast LED Library once that's done you

4:41can navigate back to the GitHub folder

4:43and open fast ledtest.ino

4:46click tools board

4:50esp8266 boards then select lowland wemos

4:53D1 mini clone then go down to the port

4:56and observe a list of options plug in

4:59your esp8266 using a micro USB cable

5:03close and reopen tools port and you

5:05should see a new Option select that port

5:08and press upload

5:09with the

5:11esp8266 still connected to your computer

5:13plug it into the LED panel and you

5:16should see a red LED running up and down

5:18the strip

5:20now that we know the individual pixels

5:23work let's connect our power supply so

5:24we can drive all of the pixels at once

5:27[Music]

5:29I cut three equal lengths of 16 gauge

5:32wire about four feet long

5:34strip one of the ends and Tin the tips

5:36then solder the red wire to 5 volts and

5:39the black wire to ground space these out

5:41as evenly as possible so you can get an

5:43even amount of power to each row of

5:45pixels then use small strips of duct

5:48tape to secure these wires down to the

5:50bottom of the cardboard and wrap the

5:52cables together where they meet in the

5:53middle now you can cut the other ends to

5:55the same length and strip them on the

5:57longest setting your stripper has twist

5:59each Freight end and bend them at a 90

6:01degree angle before we can connect the

6:03power supply we'll also have to take a

6:06standard AC power cable and cut the end

6:08off exposing the three wires inside you

6:11should see a white black and green cable

6:13if you're in the US

6:14strip twist and bend these cables as

6:17well then you can use a screwdriver to

6:19connect the green to ground black to

6:21neutral and white to live finally attach

6:24the three red wires to plus v and the

6:26three black wires to minus V on the

6:28supply

6:31now we can run our test with the ESP

6:33board disconnected from your panel plug

6:35into your computer and open the sketch

6:38maxcurrent test.inl click upload and

6:41once the upload is finished unplug the

6:43ESP from your computer and plug it back

6:45into the panel now you can plug the

6:47panel into power and verify that all of

6:49your LEDs are bright white

6:51with the power supply tested it's time

6:52to begin the final assembly

6:56I laid out all the 3D printed tiles to

6:58make sure I had the right number of each

7:00part the end pieces should provide

7:02clearance for the solder joints on each

7:04strip using a high heat hot glue gun I

7:06apply four drops of hot glue to the

7:08bottom of a tile then press it firmly

7:11into the panel for about 10 seconds

7:13I like to start at the bottom and work

7:15my way up one side so I can make sure

7:17each tile is square

7:18with all the tiles attached I used a box

7:21knife to trim down any excess cardboard

7:23and make the sides flush with the 3D

7:24printed parts

7:25to add the diffuser flip the panel onto

7:28a trimmed sheet of light box cloth using

7:30a stapler secure the cloth to the back

7:33of the cardboard alternate sides As you

7:35move down the panel making sure to pull

7:37the cloth as tight as possible for best

7:38results

7:39once the sides are done you can do the

7:41same thing at the top and bottom

7:43remember to cut a slit for the cloth to

7:45wrap around the power wires at the

7:47bottom and just like that you have your

7:48first wall panel done to attach them to

7:51the wall I used four large velcro

7:53command strips per tile to make sure

7:55each one is secure but also removable I

7:57mounted mine up against a corner but you

7:59can also use a level to make sure your

8:01panels are straight you're going to need

8:03four panels in total to get the complete

8:05seven foot wide wall but if you only

8:07want to make one that's fine too I've

8:09had a single panel mounted for the past

8:10year while I procrastinated this and it

8:13looked really good on its own no matter

8:14how many panels you make you're probably

8:16wondering how I'm driving Graphics to

8:18four panels that aren't connected

8:19together in any way

8:23YouTuber Tyler teemoj made an amazing

8:26program called LED Matrix Control

8:28software HD or LMC shd for short

8:31this application allows you to mirror

8:33your screen play gifs and images and

8:35even use your Matrix as an audio

8:37visualizer all the data gets sent to the

8:40USB port and can be read directly by our

8:42ESP boards unfortunately there were a

8:45few issues with this software that

8:46needed to be addressed before I could

8:48put anything on the screen in Tyler's

8:51repository the vertical pixel

8:52orientation is completely broken and

8:54results in this messy image thankfully

8:57since the software is open source I was

8:59able to modify the code and fix this

9:01issue I made sure to include the working

9:03version in the project files Linked In

9:04the description below so you won't have

9:06to face the same problems if you make a

9:08display like this of your own the other

9:10issue is that this program only outputs

9:12to a single serial Port but I have four

9:14panels that all need different data on

9:16top of that my LED wall is all the way

9:18across the room from my PC and I don't

9:20want to run ugly cables everywhere my

9:22solution to this problem was to use my

9:24existing Wi-Fi network and the websocket

9:27protocol to send to the serial data

9:29wirelessly to each of the panels

9:32websockets allow for real-time

9:34communication between a website and a

9:36user's web browser rather than the

9:38client having to continuously request

9:40new data from the server this allows the

9:42server to push data to the client as

9:44soon as it becomes available

9:45with multiple clients we can program a

9:48server that receives a frame from the

9:50serial Port then splits that frame into

9:52four separate frames and sends each

9:54frame to the correct panel this all

9:56happens multiple times per second to

9:58give our display a high refresh rate and

10:00low latency

10:01let's first experiment with a single

10:03panel to prove that this will work then

10:05we can test all four panels together

10:09plug the esp8266 into your computer then

10:13open the file single LED wall receiver

10:16you'll need to set your Wi-Fi SSID and

10:18password in here then you can upload it

10:20to your board plug the ESP back into

10:23your panel but don't power it on just

10:24yet you're now going to take a fresh

10:27esp8266 and plug it into your computer

10:29open the file single LED wall source and

10:33once again set your Wi-Fi SSID and

10:35password click upload and wait for it to

10:38finish then power on your panel you

10:40should see a white light indicating

10:41power followed by a red or purple light

10:44indicating a connection run

10:47lmcshd.exe and click serial connect

10:50select the com Port your ESP is on and

10:53set the baud rate to 921600 this is the

10:57fastest speed the esp8266 can reliably

11:00communicate it

11:01the matrix dimensions should Auto

11:03populate but if they don't enter a

11:06height of 36 and a width of 16.

11:09go to edit pixel order and change the

11:11following settings orientation vertical

11:13origin bottom left and new line snake

11:16finally we can press Start capture and

11:19see a squished version of our screen

11:20being mirrored onto the panel

11:25getting all four panels to work is just

11:27as easy you'll need the four ESP boards

11:29we used for the panels plus a fifth

11:31board that we use for the server open

11:34the file multi-led wall receiver and set

11:37your Wi-Fi SSID and password you'll also

11:39need to find the function websocket

11:41event and modify the line

11:45websocket.sendtxt device 4. connect the

11:48first board write device 1 then upload

11:52once that's complete connect the second

11:53board and right device 2 and upload

11:55continue until all four boards are

11:58flashed with their proper device number

12:00go ahead and plug each of the boards

12:02into their respective panel one on the

12:04left and four on the right but wait to

12:06power on the display until we're done

12:07with the next step connect the final ESP

12:09to your computer and open the file multi

12:12LED wall source set your SSID password

12:15and click upload scroll down until you

12:18see the line that says set a static IP

12:21address open a web browser and enter

12:26192.168.1.121 and you'll see this

12:28webpage showing the connection status of

12:31each panel power on the display and wait

12:34for each screen to connect if one or

12:36multiple aren't connecting press the

12:38reset button on the side of the board

12:39and it will try to connect again once

12:42all the screens are connected run

12:44lmcshd.exe and click serial connect

12:48select the com Port your ESP is on and

12:51set the baud rate to 921600

12:54you'll also need to set the color mode

12:56to 16 BPP running all four panels

12:59requires a lot of data over the network

13:01and you're going to notice a low frame

13:03rate if you try running 24 bits per

13:05pixel

13:06the matrix dimensions should Auto

13:08populate but if they don't enter a

13:10height of 36 and a width of 64. go to

13:14edit pixel order and change the

13:16following settings orientation vertical

13:18origin bottom left and new line snake

13:21finally we can press Start capture and

13:23see an exact copy of our computer screen

13:25on the LED wall and that's it you are

13:28now the proud owner of a Jumbotron you

13:31can use the wall to watch videos or play

13:33gifs and press party guests with a music

13:35visualizer or even challenge yourself to

13:37beat some video games at a very low res

13:39in the future I think it would be really

13:42awesome to use a webcam to turn this

13:44into an interactive art display I also

13:47think it'd be cool to write code to

13:48display Spotify album artwork in real

13:50time this project is far from over so

13:53let me know down in the comments below

13:54what you would like to see me do with

13:56this wall in the next video if you made

13:58it all the way to the end I really

13:59appreciate you I could not have finished

14:01this project without all the support you

14:03guys leave in the comments remember the

14:06only thing limiting your creativity is

14:08your own imagination so don't be afraid

14:10to try new things take risks and embrace

14:12the unknown stay creative keep making

14:15new things and I'll see you in the next

14:17video

14:27[Music]

14:29[Applause]