Pi Zero IOT Led Matrix Beamer- a Message on the Wall

When I saw This Lamp for children, I had no choice, I had to buy it and the optic of this lamp makes it perfect for this hack..

The result is a Led Matrix Beamer that can display Messages and Pics from the Internet to the wall. I think after a few more changes, it will be a nice Alarm Clock controlled over the Internet.

Link to the Video

• 1 Ikea Lamp Sprida
• 1 Raspberry pi zero
• 1 8x8 Matrix display kit based on the Max7219
• 1 Wifi stick
• 1 OGT cable
• 1 Micro usb cable
• Some wires, hot glue and imagination ;)

First of all, take it appart, and remove the led from the tail.

Connect the 8x8 martix Display to the Pi Zero.

attach the display with hot glue to the plastic frame from the lamp, where normaly you can place a colored foil.

The 8x8 Led module fits perfectly in the rectangle hole

Cut a long usb cable and pass it through the hole of the lamp tail. Make a node in the cable as cable relief.
Solder the cable together again.

Slide the plastic holder with the display in its anticipated space.

DO not forget to place the display upside down, othewise your letters will stand on the head

Fix the Pi Zero, the display, the wifi stick and the OGT cable with hot glue.

Put ther cover on it and the physical part is done

On the pi itself I run arch linux.

To control the Max7219 Display, I use the following Software: https://github.com/rm-hull/max7219

Here you can find all the information how to make the display work

Before you run the script setup.py, you have to change the code in the /max7219/led.py.

The origial code makes the messages scroll from right to left, but I put the display upside down, so I had to make it scroll from left to right.

In the script search for "def show_message(self, text, font=None, delay=0.05):"

From:

self.scroll_left(redraw=False)

self._buffer[-1] = value

Change to:

self.scroll_right(redraw=False)

self._buffer[1] = value

To control the IOT display I use an app called Raspberry SSH. You can simply execute commands on your pi from your phone.