We want to make a 7.5" high x 60" wide display by connecting eight P2.5 SMD Indoor RGB LED modules (160mm160mm 6464pixels hub75 port 1/16 Scan drive full color high resolution video led screen) and control it with an Arduino Mega. The screen will be part of an exhibit that allows people to share a graphic or some text via a web page and we're going to connect the display via a WIFI shield to the web content.
There are some decent tech docs on connecting a small RGB LED but very little about connecting to a series of LEDs.
We know that we'll have to get a 5 VDC switching power supply (20 volt?) and wire the LEDs to create a linear series, but we're trying to figure out all of the parts that will be needed as well as any programming advice for multiple displays. Any help would be fabulous!
I'm not the person who usually does the programming and assembly work so I may not be presenting as well as others would, but we have all done research on serializing the panels into one big display. It's okay if you don't have any advice - but civility is welcome.
but we have all done research on serializing the panels into one big display
But you said:-
and wire the LEDs to create a linear series
LEDs are not the same as panels.
It's okay if you don't have any advice
Maybe you missed it but my advice to you was that your thinking was wrong. We get a lot of people here who are beginners and get the fundamentals wrong, part of are "job" here is to correct those misconceptions. We only have your words to go off and if you use the wrong words we can't second guess what you actually meant to say. Or would you rather us say you are differently correct? I am a bit too old for politically correct stuff like that.
but civility is welcome.
Civility is a relative term, we are mainly engineers giving free advice, if you want to pay then sure we can dress it up and pretend that you know more than you actually do, but I can't see the point in that, can you?
If you have more technically minded individuals in your group, then this is the place where they should represent the group. I'm sure you have different talents which would (and will) outshine theirs in other situations. A good team needs a mix of talents, everyone knows that.
A Mega may be able to drive one, perhaps two, of these panels, if you limit the colour palette to 7 colours. The problem is that although a Mega has more than enough pins and a reasonable amount of memory, it's processing speed is not adequate for much more than that. If it has to deal with WiFi communications as well, it's going to be swamped, resulting in terrible stuttering and flickering of the displays. This kind of panel needs constant attention from the MCU to maintain a smooth bright display, and the more panels you connect and the more colours you want, the more processing power you will need.
To maintain a smooth display on multiple panels, and a responsive WiFi interface, you probably need two processors. Any project like that is going to be a serious challenge for an experienced engineer.
To make such LED video screens, you might not need much experience like an engineer. The good news is that there is a lot of led digital signage manufacturers that provide all necessary led display spare parts with guidance, you can do this with minimum efforts.
