Help with SmartMatrix SmartLED Shield (V4) with Teensy 3.2

jcs3632 · February 25, 2018, 4:34am

Hi,

I’m not sure if this is the correct place to ask this question but I am a noobie in need of help with the set up for this project (SmartMatrix Animated GIF Player). I was able to set up the Teensy 3.2, shield(v4) and the LED matrix like the picture here SmartMatrix SmartLED Shield (V4) for Teensy 3 : ID 1902 : $19.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits . Here’s a picture of what my setup is like.

My problem is that I cannot power on the LED matrix panel. I even connected the panel to another power supply (5V) and it still did not work. (I cannot show this because I cannot attach another picture because I am new)

I know that the Teensy works because I am able to upload sketches. I uploaded the “Blink” sketch and it worked. I also know that the LED matrix panel works because it would flash briefly when I moved the Teensy against the shield before it was soldered together.

Could you please help me with troubleshooting or point me towards the correct forum for troubleshooting? Is it possible that the problem is with the Shield? I tried uploading the “MatrixClock” and “FeatureDemo” sketch but after the upload was completed the LED matrix panel did not work.

Thanks,
JCS3632

Louis · February 25, 2018, 9:50am

Hi, did you uncomment the first line of the example sketches to include the file needed for the V4 shield?

Change this:

//#include <SmartLEDShieldV4.h>  // uncomment this line for SmartLED Shield V4 (needs to be before #include <SmartMatrix3.h>)

To this:

#include <SmartLEDShieldV4.h>  // uncomment this line for SmartLED Shield V4 (needs to be before #include <SmartMatrix3.h>)

I haven’t yet figured out a way for the sketch to give a visible warning that it’s configured for the wrong board, so the result of not uncommenting that line is a blank screen.

jcs3632 · February 26, 2018, 2:32am

This fixed the problem and it’s now working! I should have read the sketches before posting. Thank you so much!

Louis · February 26, 2018, 8:57am

Glad you got it working. It’s an easy thing to overlook and I’ve done it myself.

mattkh · March 1, 2018, 3:32pm

Hey,

I am trying to do a very similar project and was wondering if you could help me out as well. I am extremely new to this and don’t have much experience in this field. Any way you can show your setup?

jcs3632 · March 2, 2018, 4:50am

Sure. I’m not the most experienced but I can try to help. As you can see in the picture above, I already soldered my Teensy 3.2 to the shield. The next part I did was solder the microsd card adapter to wires and connected them to their corresponding slots on the shield. Here’s what they look like right now.

You can follow this guide for instructions on how to solder the MicroSD card.
Overview | SmartMatrix Animated GIF Player | Adafruit Learning System.
After that, it’s very simple. You simply uncomment a line of code just as Louis suggested and use Arduino to upload the AnimatedGIFs sketch. Make sure that you have 32x32 gifs on your microSD card.

On a side note, I think it would be best to order 3.5 or 3.6 because they already have a microSD card slot.