If you've ever played with multiplexed RGB matrices, you may have wondered "hey, could we make them on a circuit board thin enough to be flexible? This LED panel is like 64x32 style rigid panels, but without plastic supports. This matrix has a thin, foldable PCB support that can be gently bent and bent around surfaces.

Caution: Flexible printed circuits are not designed for repeated bending! Although we believe this product can work in portable or architectural lighting fixtures, or in other situations where the matrix is curved, we offer no warranty or refund if you end up cracking the LEDs or circuits! This is only for advanced makers, who are comfortable with high current requirements and who protect the matrix from damage. There is no return, refund or replacement for damaged products.

This version is the flexible 64x32 RGB LED matrix with 5mm pitch. Please note that you cannot use an Arduino UNO to control this size, it is much too big! Use an Arduino Mega, Raspberry Pi, BBB or other device that can handle display to RGB arrays and has lots of RAM.

This matrix is composed of 2048 bright RGB LEDs arranged in a 64x32 grid on the front panel. At the rear, there are two IDC connectors (one input, one output: in theory, you can chain them together) and 12 latch 16 bits that allow you to drive the display with a scan frequency of 1:16.

These screens are technically'chainable' - connecting one output to the next input - but our Arduino code example does not (yet) support it. It is best to use a Raspberry Pi or other fast computer that can drive RGB arrays.

These panels require 13 digital pins (6 data bits, 7 control bits) and a good 5V power supply, up to 4A per panel.


Delivered with:

    Single panel RGB 64x32 RGB
    An IDC cable
    A pluggable power cable

Keep in mind that these displays are designed to be driven by FPGAs or other high-speed processors: they have no built-in PWM control. Instead, you are supposed to redraw the screen over and over again. On a 16 MHz Arduino Mega, we managed to compress 12-bit color (4096 colors) with 40% CPU usage but this screen would really shine if it was driven by an FPGA, CPLD, Propeller, XMOS or any other high-speed multi-core controller. The good news is that the screen is pre-white balanced with a nice uniformity, so if you turn on all the LEDs, it's not a particularly tinted white.

Of course, we wouldn't leave you with a data sheet and a "good luck"! We have a complete wiring diagram and Arduino library code with examples of pixel drawings, lines, rectangles, circles and text. You'll get your color in less than an hour! On an Arduino, you will need 16 digital pins and about 3200 bytes of RAM to buffer the 12-bit color image.

Please note

    The color of the back of the matrix may vary.
    There may be reworked pixels with flux, we do not guarantee perfectly intact panels.
    This product can be supplied with one or two power connections.

Characteristics

    LED pitch: 5mm
    Voltage: 5V
    LED size: 2.1x2.1mm
    MBI5124 Driver ICs ICs
    For indoor use only
    IDC cable length ; ~170mm
    Power cable ~500mm
    Product dimensions 320.0mm x 160.0mm x 13.0mm / 12.6" x 6.3" x 0.5" x 0.5".
    Product Weight: 93.0g / 3.3oz

Documentation

32x16 and 32x32 RGB LED Matrix