Support for large matrix in future

Hardware
1

Earlier this year I built a large 16x16 (9162) LED matrix which wouldn’t work with WLED due to the size. I split it in to two managable inner and outer matrices across 2 ESP32’s both running seperate instantances of WLED.

I’ve never really been happy with it as it’s really sluggish but there aren’t any alternatives I can find that will run a large WS2812b matrix like this with something like WLED.

Does anyone think that future newer faster versions of the ESP32 will be supported by WLED which might be able to handle large a matrix?

The only alternative I’ve found is a product callled a pixblaster but this doesn’t currenty support the WS2812b matrices and it requires the VGA input from a PC.

2

I would not hold my breath , what could be a practical option ( that would also use wled effects in many ways ) is using FFP on a pi .

3

No. CPU power to calculate anything beyond 4096 pixels is just not there on ESP.
There may be effects that will play ok, but those are in minority.

4

But won’t newer ESP32’s have faster CPU’s and more RAM? The current batch of ESP32’s that are widely available are pretty old and I read somewhere a new faster version is coming soon.

5

first is my math Wrong 16x16 =256Led
you are taking at 9k

there are tennsys out low level at 14k the things driving the ADS at soccer gamefield

what is your main attention at this size of display

6

ESP32 is nearly at the end of its lifecycle. There will probably not be any “new faster” ESP32.
There are other variants line S2, S3, C3 etc. Except S3, none is as fast as regular ESP32.

BTW RAM is fixed on all chips.

7

first is my math Wrong 16x16 =256Led
Yeah sorry I wasn’t very clear, my setup is: 6x6 panels (36 in total) with 256 LED’s per panel giving a total of 9,216 LED’s/pixels.

WLED won’t accept a matrix of that size so I’ve broken it in to two across two ESP32’s that work independently. I can use some effects which make it look like one big panel but ultimately I want to drive the whole panel from a single source at a decent frame rate.

8

mind explaining to a WLED noob about this FFP on a Pi. I make some Pi covers and made a “ufo” cover and thought It’d be neat to have a circular led to ad some eye candy.

9

Falcon Player(FPP) can be installed on a pi yes and it is tightly integrated with xlighx . In short ( it is more involved subject for this post ) from xlights you can load your effects into FPP which includes wled effects . Also there is a plugin for FPP that includes wled effects .

Take it step by step first as said both ffp and xlights is more advanced then using an esp as in wled case but will work fine on large setups , but some quick references for you that might help you get started

10

thanks for the short and simple response, appreciate it.

11

If connecting pixels directly to a Pi you will likely need to buy a Flacon Player license.

12

There are a lot of pixel mapping programs out there.
I’ve used Jinx! with 53.000 pixels . Problem it still lives in the DMX / Artnet world.
So you only get 170 pixels per output / universe. But it’s free and simple.
With a PC you could play your scene directly from xlights. Xlights supports DDP for longer strips.
You then would then use the ESP32s with WLED as node.
Colleagues also use mad mapper, but I haven’t tried it.