Just want to share this compact 4 x MAX7219 Modules board layout with 8x8 LEDs output each, so an overall of 4x64 = 256 LEDs output
Indeed they come with dedicated 64 LEDs matrix modules on each, though the whole can be diverted to use 256 individual LED output through a LED matrix shown below
The 4 x MAX7219 board module can also be chained
The only limitation to be aware and I've found, while performing testing, is we get some display issue starting from the 5th chained module, however it work fine up to 4 x chained whole 4 x MAX7219 board, so up to 4 x 256 = 1024 LEDs in one chain. I guess the issue is similar to the well known power line issue, so we have to separate the power line for each individual 4 x MAX7219, which I haven't done during my testing. Perhaps I'll have more time later, for a proper new testing with mentioned condition
This board requires MD_MAX72XX Library by majicDesigns https://github.com/MajicDesigns/MD_MAX72XX
The HARDWARE_TYPE has to be switched from default "MD_MAX72XX::PAROLA_HW" to "MD_MAX72XX::FC16_HW" in order to work properly
And MAX_DEVICES have to be set to the MAX7219 board to be used in the chain, where a single 4 x MAX7219 board count as 1 device only
Code: Select all
#define HARDWARE_TYPE MD_MAX72XX::FC16_HW
//#define HARDWARE_TYPE MD_MAX72XX::PAROLA_HW
#define MAX_DEVICES 16