Led Matrix With Neopixel Ws2812b Arduino Nano and Esp8266 - 01

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Neoconverter is a free android application that is live on Google Playstore .

This is Lite version of Neoconverter (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.VitoGusmano.NeoConverterLite).

Neoconverter is the definitive guide on the creation of LED matrices with Neopixel WS2812B controlled by Arduino (Nano) and ESP8266-01 so that you can manage everything on the net with WiFi.

In this guide (download pdf) you will find all the instructions to create a WS2812B LED matrix, so you will have the list of components to use, schemes to create your circuit and finally the possibilities offered by Neoconverter, which, create sliding text lists, images and effects, including visualization of hour and date.

Neoconverter creates a database in your mobile phone where you can store your controls in different lists. The possible types of commands are sliding text, image and effects. The play and stop buttons are used to start playing the control list on led matrix or stop it in real time. All without ever programming Arduino or other hardware, once downloaded to Arduino and Esp8266 the software that you can download through the application, the game is done.

Why use neoconverter?

On the net there are hundreds of tutorials to create an LED matrix with the Ws2812b and Arduino.

Once you go into these tutorials, different problems come out, like, Arduino has too limited memory, requires medium-advanced computer skills to be managed and is clear from the first examples that are on the Internet, which you cannot have infinite Images on your LED matrix, or memorize infinite sliding writings. Furthermore, whatever programs on your Arduino cannot be changed in real time unless you use very few data to store it. It is clear that by "infinite" we mean a considerable quantity of sliding text, images and effects that normally cannot be programmed due to the low amount of memory available with Arduino. The gap is overcome using an Android device (today equipped with a considerable memory ..) which will allow you to store your data on database in an organized, modifiable and displayable way in real time.

First of all naturally you must download Neoconverter at this link; https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.VitoGusmano.NeoConverterLite.

All instructions are inside pdf that you can download after install the application on your phone.

Docs and softwares are inside Settings menu. Click on the relative buttons and find them on your phone.

After click on relative button inside Settings menu, connect your phone via usb to a pc and retrieve files inside the folder where is installed Neoconverter. If you see at attached images you can understood where are the files (path usually is inside android/data/name_of_application/files).

After find manual in pdf format you are in a good way. Consider that updated manual can be finded always inside via the link that is in this menu of Neoconverter.

Let's start immediately from the initial screen (the images can differ graphically from the final version) in which 3 sections are clearly seen.

Section 1: SETTINGS.

By clicking on the Settings button, the connection screen with the ESP8266-01 card will open. On the ESP8266-01 the server that will receive the commands has been installed previously (see specific section in the manual), there is also a wifi manager (read the documentation on https://github.com/tzapu/wifimanager) to facilitate the connection to your wifi network. To obtain these data it is necessary to connect the ESP8266-01 to a wifi network. At the first ignition

use the WiFi network search from your mobile phone and you will notice a network with ESPXXXX name. Click on this network to connect and wait for the Wifimanager screen to appear on your browser (see Figure 1). When this does not automatically happen, know that the IP of the network card is generally 192.168.4.1 which you can type on the browser in order to access the Wifimanager web page. From this web page you will choose the name of your network and put the access password. Wait for the reference IP to be displayed (if your sign is connected well and the wifi connects to your network for the first time, or look for the screen of your modem / router which IP has been assigned to the network card. screen (provisional) on the management of the connection, fill the data of the requested fields and press the "Connect to the LED matrix" button.