MLB Scoreboard Project | 6 Screens

[mattvm98]

I am working on a project based on the MLB LED Scoreboard project.

 

My goal is to have 6 Adafruit RGB LED 64 x 32 - 4mm screens. Each screen will display a different MLB game score. They will all be mounted on a board with the wires and PI's hidden on the back. I also plan to use the Adafruit RGB Matrix HAT.

 

I would like to have these wired together as nicely as possible, which leads me to my 2 issues.

 

Issue 1:

• I do not want to have 6 power bricks. How can I wire all of this together to gave one power source?

 

Issue 2:

• Not as major. If anyone happens to have any suggestions on how I can do this without having 6 Pis that would be appreciated.

 

I appreciate any help anyone can give on this project. Not the best with wiring everything. If you can think of any way that this project can be improved please share!

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, mattvm98 said:

I am working on a project based on the MLB LED Scoreboard project.

 

My goal is to have 6 Adafruit RGB LED 64 x 32 - 4mm screens. Each screen will display a different MLB game score. They will all be mounted on a board with the wires and PI's hidden on the back. I also plan to use the Adafruit RGB Matrix HAT.

 

I would like to have these wired together as nicely as possible, which leads me to my 2 issues.

 

Issue 1:

• I do not want to have 6 power bricks. How can I wire all of this together to gave one power source?

 

Issue 2:

• Not as major. If anyone happens to have any suggestions on how I can do this without having 6 Pis that would be appreciated.

 

I appreciate any help anyone can give on this project. Not the best with wiring everything. If you can think of any way that this project can be improved please share!

Issue 1: why not? Soooo much simpler…. Sure it would reduce down time (think raid0 but with 6 drives.  I’d order another couple of bricks and keep them around as cold swap) but the 6 bricks isn’t just a no solder solution it’s a near $0 solution.  You’d basically have to build two custom power supplies.  One as in use and another as backup.  It would be big and heavy and not conducive to climbing up a ladder.  A brick you can stick in your back pocket.
 

issue 2. Just run them on any PC (apple, Linux, win10 all work) and do an extended desktop with a massively reduced custom resolution. (Gonnna have to fit all 6 on one video card and they don’t make 20k cards.  You’ll want a big video card btw.  Its power will determine your resolution, and it’s got to have at least six output ports).  You can even add 1 more monitor that isn’t part of the billboard on that same desktop to manipulate stuff from and set things.

 

Plus you could run video games on it…

Edited June 15, 2022 by Bombastinator

[mattvm98]

11 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

Issue 1: why not? Soooo much simpler…. Sure it would reduce down time (think raid0 but with 6 drives.  I’d order another couple of bricks and keep them around as cold swap) but the 6 bricks isn’t just a no solder solution it’s a near $0 solution.  You’d basically have to build two custom power supplies.  One as in use and another as backup.  It would be big and heavy and not conducive to climbing up a ladder.  A brick you can stick in your back pocket.
 

issue 2. Just run them on any PC (apple, Linux, win10 all work) and do an extended desktop with a massively reduced custom resolution. (Gonnna have to fit all 6 on one video card and they don’t make 20k cards.  You’ll want a big video card btw.  Its power will determine your resolution, and it’s got to have at least six output ports).  You can even add 1 more monitor that isn’t part of the billboard on that same desktop to manipulate stuff from and set things.

 

Plus you could run video games on it…

Issue 1:

- Ideally this hangs on a wall like a picture frame so I really do not have room for 6 power bricks.

 

Issue 2:

- This is low powered adafruit LED screens connecting them to a PC #1 would be difficult/ and again limit the ability to have this as a picture frame.

[Bombastinator]

2 hours ago, mattvm98 said:

Issue 1:

- Ideally this hangs on a wall like a picture frame so I really do not have room for 6 power bricks.

 

Issue 2:

- This is low powered adafruit LED screens connecting them to a PC #1 would be difficult/ and again limit the ability to have this as a picture frame.

LED screen can mean a few different things.  With monitors it means an LCD screen with a LED backlight (vs. fluorescent which isn’t really made any more) you might mean a non-miniLED screen though. A LED array. I saw 40-60” and thought you were doing a football field or something. Would be using big screen TVs. Not indoor stuff.  How big are these power bricks?  Are they more like wall warts?

Edited June 15, 2022 by Bombastinator

[mattvm98]

1 hour ago, Bombastinator said:

LED screen can mean a few different things.  With monitors it means an LCD screen with a LED backlight (vs. fluorescent which isn’t really made any more) you might mean a non-miniLED screen though. A LED array. I saw 40-60” and thought you were doing a football field or something. Would be using big screen TVs. Not indoor stuff.  How big are these power bricks?  Are they more like wall warts?

Click on the link I posted and you can see what I am talking about. Not 40-60"... 64 x 32 pixels.

 

The power bricks are the size of laptop power bricks.

[Bombastinator]

3 hours ago, mattvm98 said:

Click on the link I posted and you can see what I am talking about. Not 40-60"... 64 x 32 pixels.

 

The power bricks are the size of laptop power bricks.

That’s wild.  I wonder if they’re massively over powered and were used because they were made for something else and therefore cheaper.    Power draw may better be taken off the devices rather than the brick itself as is more common then.  You may not have to match the bricks that closely. Barrel plugs?  Do you want to use the plugs or rewire them from the board and use your own connector?