Pico-RGB-Matrix-P3-64x32

RGB LED Matrix Panel 64 × 32 Pixels 3.0mm Pitches

Introduction

This product is an RGB LED full-color multi-function digital clock, using the Raspberry Pi Pico master control, onboard a variety of peripheral resources, providing C++/Python demos and learning tutorials, open source software and hardware, suitable for makers or electronics enthusiasts to get started learning, or DIY secondary development into other desktop or wall-mounted display applications.

Features

Standard Raspberry Pi Pico header, supports Raspberry Pi Pico series.
Using P3 fine-pitch RGB LED matrix panel, with 2048 individual RGB LEDs, 64 × 32 pixels, 3mm pitch, allows displaying text, colorful images, or animation.
Onboard high precision RTC chip DS3231, with backup battery holder (battery included), maintains accurate timekeeping when main power is off.
- Real-Time Clock Counts Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Date of the Month, Month, Day of the Week, and Year with Leap-Year Compensation Valid Up to 2100.
- Optional format: 24-hour OR 12-hour with an AM/PM indicator.
- 2 x programable alarm clock.
- Digital temperature sensor output: ±3°C accuracy
Embedded photosensor for auto brightness adjustment due to the ambient light, power saving, and eye care.
Embedded buzzer for alarm or hourly ring, etc.
IR receiver, combined with the IR remote controller, supports IR wireless control.
5 x buttons for configuration, reset, and code programming.
High-quality acrylic back panel and dimmer panel, better looking, more comfortable displaying.
Comes with online development resources and manual (Raspberry Pi Pico C/C++ and MicroPython examples).

Usage Scenarios

Hardware Introduction

Introduction to Onboard Resources

Directions for Raspberry Pi

Please refer to github information: Demo, wiring reference
If the overall brightness of the indicator is dim, click setting to set the brightness.

User Guides for Pico

Pico connection pins

Board	Pico	Pin description
Pins used by RGB LED Matrix (HUB75 interface)
R1	GP02	R higher bit data
G1	GP03	G higher bit data
B1	GP04	B higher bit data
R2	GP05	R lower bit data
G2	GP08	G lower bit data
B2	GP09	B lower bit data
A	GP10	A line selection
B	GP16	B line selection
C	GP18	C line selection
D	GP20	D line selection
E	GP22	E line selection
CLK	GP11	clock input
STB/LAT	GP12	latch pin
OE	GP13	output enable

Board	Pico	Pin description
Pins used by other resources of the board
K0	GP15	KEY0 button, the MENU menu of the digital clock, can also be customized
K1	GP19	KEY1 button, + / Down button of digital clock, can also be customized
K2	GP21	KEY2 button,-/ UP button of digital clock, can also be customized
RUN	RUN	RESET button, can be used for Pico reset
BOOTSET	BOOTSET	BOOT button, can be used for Pico burning program (long press BOOT, then press RESET to enter the firmware download mode)
SDA	GP06	I2C data pin, used to control DS3231 RTC clock chip
SCL	GP07	I2C clock pin, used to control DS3231 RTC clock chip
BUZZ	GP27	Buzzer control pin
AIN	GP26	Photoresistor control pin
IRM	GP28	Infrared receiving control pin

See detailed hardware design of the circuit diagram.

Carrier Board	Pico	Pin Description
Pins used by other resources on the baseboard
K0	GP15	KEY0, MENU for the digital clock, can be customized
K1	GP19	KEY1, + / Down button for digital clock, also customizable
K2	GP21	KEY2, + / Down button for digital clock, also customizable
RUN	RUN	RESET key, can be used to reset Pico
BOOTSET	BOOTSET	BOOT key, which can be used as Pico programming, (Long press BOOT, then press RESET to enter firmware download mode)
SDA	GP06	I2C data pin, used to control the DS3231 RTC chip
SCL	GP07	I2C clock pin, used to control the DS3231 RTC chip
BUZZ	GP27	Buzzer control pin
AIN	GP26	Photoresistor Control Pin
IRM	GP28	IR receiver control pin

Click here to see schematic diagram.

Hardware Connection

Materials needed

Pico-RGB-Matrix-P3-64 x 32 (this product).
Raspberry Pi Pico (must be purchased separately, if not, it is recommended to buy a version with soldered headers, which is convenient for direct insertion and use).
Micro USB cable (must be purchased separately).

Hardware connection steps

Align the pin header which is marked in red and then connect the RGB LED Matrix panel to the driver board.
Cut the adapter cable (about 10cm) by plier
Connect the cable which is cut in the last step to the RGB LED Matrix and the driver board
Assemble the Acrylic backplane and fix it with magnetic screws
Optional: If you feel that the RGB LED Matrix is too bright, you can stick the black Acrylic font panel on the Matrix.

1. Assemble Matrix panel
2. Cut the cable
3. Connect the cable
4. Assemble Acrylic backplane
5（optional） Assemble Acrylic font panel

Example display

Multi-Features Digital Clock

This example is developed based on the C++ SDK. In order to quickly demonstrate the effects and functions of the example, you can skip the steps of "#C++ SDK Development Tutorial" and "Program Debugging and Development" and directly "#Download and burn programs". After the burning is completed, the effect of the instance running is shown in the following figure:

【Function Description】

Time display screen:
- Display date, day of the week, hour, minute, lunar calendar and temperature
Function setting menu
- Date setting
- time setting
- BEEP setting (buzzer setting)
- Auto brightness
- Language setting (under development)

Fruit machine

This example is developed based on CircuitPython^[1] , and the program is downloaded^[2] . The effects and functions of the example are as follows:

【Function Description】

The display can display a variety of fruits or other small BMP icons
Automatically scroll icons at regular intervals, and randomly display the results of the scrolling

↑ CircuitPython is a fork of MicroPython， For specific usage, please refer to the RGB-Matrix related CircuitPython tutorial
↑ Pico must first install CircuitPython，and then copy the corresponding CircuitPythond code to the recognized U disk to complete the download.

Infrared transceiver test

This example is developed based on CircuitPython,and the example effects and functions are as follows:

【Function Description】

The infrared serial code generated by the corresponding button of the infrared remote control can be recognized

C++ SDK Development Tutorial

Development environment setup

For a complete tutorial on how to get started with the C/C++ SDK, You can directly refer to the Offical manual of Raspberry Pi.

Raspberry Pi development environment setup

If you plan to develop for Pico on the Raspberry Pi, you can quickly set up the C/C++ toolchain by running our "setup script" from the command line.
Instructions: Before running the installation script, you should make sure that the operating system on your Raspberry Pi is up to date.

Windows development environment setup

For Windows development environment construction, please refer to:

Raspberry Pi official introductory tutorial P38~P44

Download and burn programs

C++ SDK program programming

The following is an example of programming a simple "blinking LED" program:

Download blink.uf2 ("Blink LED" flash file)
Press and hold the BOOTSEL button, then plug the Pico into the USB port of your Raspberry Pi or other computer.
It will be mounted as a mass storage device named "RPI-RP2". Drag and drop the blink.uf2 binary onto the "RPI-RP2" drive letter. The Pico will restart and the onboard LEDs should start blinking.

Check out the Github source code for "Blink LED"

CircuitPython Development Tutorial

If you are not familiar with CircuitPython, you can first study the official recommended guide "Introduction to CircuitPython for Raspberry Pi Pico".
This guide covers the basics of getting started with CircuitPython and using the editor.

Development environment setup

In order to facilitate the programming, development and debugging of CircuitPython, it is recommended to use the "Mu Editor" development software. You can use Mu Editor for Pico's CircuitPython development on Windows.
The following describes the development and use of Mu Editor under Windows.

Windows development environment (Mu Editor) build and use

Download Mu Editor and follow the steps to install
After the installation is complete, it is the first time to configure the language and select the mode. Since we are using CircuitPython, pay attention to the mode selection CircuitPython option.
After the configuration is complete, it will show that the device cannot be found, that is because Pico has not downloaded the CircuitPython firmware library.
Download the CircuitPython firmware library and burn it into Pico

Download the CircuitPython UF2 file.
Press and hold the BOOTSEL button, then plug the Pico into the USB port of your Raspberry Pi or other computer. Release the BOOTSEL button after connecting the Pico.
It will be mounted as a mass storage device named "RPI-RP2".
Drag and drop the CircuitPython UF2 file onto the "RPI-RP2" volume. Your Pico will reboot, a new disk drive named CIRCUITPY will appear, and you're done.
The new disk drive will have a default code.py file, you open it with Mu Editor, the content is: "print("Hello World!")", the specific opening steps are shown in the last figure.

Open the serial port, click the blank area and press Ctrl+C, then press Ctrl+D or click the blank area of the code interface and press Ctrl+S to run the program. You can observe the running effect in the CircuitPython REPL window.

select mode
loader
Select program file
Open serial port
run program

User Guides of ESP32-S2-Pico

Environment Setting Up

The demo is based on Arduino, please refer to Arduino Environment.

Examples

Note: A Pico baseplate is required for use here. Click to download the program, after the download is complete, go to Pico-RGB-Matrix-P3-64x32-Demo\ESP32-S2-Pico\Arduino,

Copy RGBMatrix-master to the libraries in the Arduino installation directory;
Go back to RGB-Matrix-P3-64x32-Demo\\ESP32-S2-Pico\Arduino, open the .ino file in EzTimeTetrisClockESP32S2 and follow the steps below to download

Display Effect

【Function】

Time display interface:
- Display date, week, hour, minute, lunar calendar, and temperature
Function setting menu
- Date setting
- Time setting
- BEEP setting (beep setting)
- Auto Brightness
- Language settings

Resources

Document

Development Software

Pico Getting Started

Firmware Download

MicroPython Firmware Download

C_Blink Firmware Download

Introduction

Raspberry Pi Pico Basics

MicroPython Series

Install Thonny IDE

In order to facilitate the development of Pico/Pico2 boards using MicroPython on a computer, it is recommended to download the Thonny IDE

Download Thonny IDE and follow the steps to install, the installation packages are all Windows versions, please refer to Thonny's official website for other versions
After installation, the language and motherboard environment need to be configured for the first use. Since we are using Pico/Pico2, pay attention to selecting the Raspberry Pi option for the motherboard environment

Configure MicroPython environment and choose Pico/Pico2 port
- Connect Pico/Pico2 to your computer first, and in the lower right corner of Thonny left-click on the configuration environment option --> select Configture interpreter
- In the pop-up window, select MicroPython (Raspberry Pi Pico), and choose the corresponding port

Flash Firmware

Click OK to return to the Thonny main interface, download the corresponding firmware library and burn it to the device, and then click the Stop button to display the current environment in the Shell window
Note: Flashing the Pico2 firmware provided by Micropython may cause the device to be unrecognized, please use the firmware below or in the package
- Pico firmware library
- Pico2 firmware library
How to download the firmware library for Pico/Pico2 in windows: After holding down the BOOT button and connecting to the computer, release the BOOT button, a removable disk will appear on the computer, copy the firmware library into it
How to download the firmware library for RP2040/RP2350 in windows: After connecting to the computer, press the BOOT key and the RESET key at the same time, release the RESET key first and then release the BOOT key, a removable disk will appear on the computer, copy the firmware library into it (you can also use the Pico/Pico2 method)

MicroPython Series

【MicroPython】 machine.Pin class function details
【MicroPython】machine.PWM class function details
【MicroPython】machine.ADC class function details
【MicroPython】machine.UART class function details
【MicroPython】machine.I2C class function details
【MicroPython】machine.SPI class function details
【MicroPython】rp2.StateMachine class function details

C/C++ Series

For C/C++, it is recommended to use Pico VS Code for development. This is a Microsoft Visual Studio Code extension designed to make it easier for you to create, develop, and debug projects for the Raspberry Pi Pico series development boards. No matter if you are a beginner or an experienced professional, this tool can assist you in developing Pico with confidence and ease. Here's how to install and use the extension.

Official website tutorial: https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/pico-vscode-extension/
This tutorial is suitable for Raspberry Pi Pico, Pico2 and the RP2040 and RP2350 series development boards developed by Waveshare
The development environment defaults to Windows. For other environments, please refer to the official tutorial for installation

Install VSCode

First, click to download pico-vscode package, unzip and open the package, double-click to install VSCode

Note: If vscode is installed, check if the version is v1.87.0 or later

Install Extension

Click Extensions and select Install from VSIX
Select the package with the vsix suffix and click Install
Then vscode will automatically install raspberry-pi-pico and its dependency extensions, you can click Refresh to check the installation progress
The text in the right lower corner shows that the installation is complete. Close VSCode

Configure Extension

Open directory C:\Users\username and copy the entire .pico-sdk to that directory
The Copy is completed

Open vscode and configure the paths for the Raspberry Pi Pico extensions

The configuration is as follows:

Cmake Path:
${HOME}/.pico-sdk/cmake/v3.28.6/bin/cmake.exe

Git Path:
${HOME}/.pico-sdk/git/cmd/git.exe    

Ninja Path:
${HOME}/.pico-sdk/ninja/v1.12.1/ninja.exe

Python3 Path:
${HOME}/.pico-sdk/python/3.12.1/python.exe

New Project

The configuration is complete, create a new project, enter the project name, select the path, and click Create to create the project
To test the official example, you can click on the Example next to the project name to select
The project is created successfully
Select the SDK version
Select Yes for advanced configuration
Choose the cross-compilation chain, 13.2.Rel1 is applicable for ARM cores, RISCV.13.3 is applicable for RISCV cores. You can select either based on your requirements
Select default for CMake version (the path configured earlier)
Select default for Ninjaversion
Select the development board
Click Complie to compile
The uf2 format file is successfully compiled

Import Project

The Cmake file of the imported project cannot have Chinese (including comments), otherwise the import may fail
To import your own project, you need to add a line of code to the Cmake file to switch between pico and pico2 normally, otherwise even if pico2 is selected, the compiled firmware will still be suitable for pico
set(PICO_BOARD pico CACHE STRING "Board type")

Update Extension

The extension version in the offline package is 0.15.2, and you can also choose to update to the latest version after the installation is complete

Arduino IDE Series

Install Arduino IDE

First, go to Arduino official website to download the installation package of the Arduino IDE.
Here, you can select Just Download.
Once the download is complete, click Install.

Notice: During the installation process, it will prompt you to install the driver, just click Install
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Arduino IDE Interface

After the first installation, when you open the Arduino IDE, it will be in English. You can switch to other languages in File --> Preferences, or continue using the English interface.
In the Language field, select the language you want to switch to, and click OK.

Install Arduino-Pico Core in the Arduino IDE

Open the Arduino IDE, click on the file in the top left corner, and select Preferences

Add the following link to the attached board manager URL, and then click OK

https://github.com/earlephilhower/arduino-pico/releases/download/4.0.2/package_rp2040_index.json

Note: If you already have an ESP32 board URL, you can use a comma to separate the URLs as follows:

https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json,https://github.com/earlephilhower/arduino-pico/releases/download/4.0.2/package_rp2040_index.json

Click Tools > Development Board > Board Manager > Search pico, as my computer has already been installed, it shows that it is installed

Upload Demo at the First Time

Press and hold the BOOTSET button on the Pico board, connect the pico to the USB port of the computer via the Micro USB cable, and release the button after the computer recognizes a removable hard disk (RPI-RP2).
Download the program and open D1-LED.ino under the arduino\PWM\D1-LED path
Click Tools --> Port, remember the existing COM, do not click this COM (the COM displayed is different on different computers, remember the COM on your own computer)
Connect the driver board to the computer using a USB cable. Then, go to Tools > Port. For the first connection, select uf2 Board. After uploading, when you connect again, an additional COM port will appear
Click Tools > Development Board > Raspberry Pi Pico > Raspberry Pi Pico or Raspberry Pi Pico 2
After setting it up, click the right arrow to upload the program

If issues arise during this period, and if you need to reinstall or update the Arduino IDE version, it is necessary to uninstall the Arduino IDE completely. After uninstalling the software, you need to manually delete all contents within the C:\Users\[name]\AppData\Local\Arduino15 folder (you need to show hidden files to see this folder). Then, proceed with a fresh installation.

Open Source Demos

MircoPython video demo (github)
MicroPython firmware/Blink demos (C)
Raspberry Pi official C/C++ demo (github)
Raspberry Pi official micropython demo (github)
Arduino official C/C++ demo (github)

Support

Technical Support

If you need technical support or have any feedback/review, please click the Submit Now button to submit a ticket, Our support team will check and reply to you within 1 to 2 working days. Please be patient as we make every effort to help you to resolve the issue.
Working Time: 9 AM - 6 PM GMT+8 (Monday to Friday)

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[1] CircuitPython is a fork of MicroPython， For specific usage, please refer to the RGB-Matrix related CircuitPython tutorial

[2] Pico must first install CircuitPython，and then copy the corresponding CircuitPythond code to the recognized U disk to complete the download.

[1]

[2]