I wanted to create my own expandable LED Matrix wall after seeing ones from govee and the twinkly squares ones.

These can be made for a fraction of the cost of store bought ones.

The big benefit of this design is you do not have to wire them all together before hanging them on the wall. You can print one, assemble it and mount it and when you get the time you can just keep printing and building more add-on panels. I use the Velcro command strips to mount them.

Using WLED software you can configure the up to 15 tiles as one long line of 15 tiles for a 120x8 grid, or 5x3 (landscape or portrait) tiles like I am starting in the picture which gives you a 40x24 grid (960 LEDs)

**** 11/22/23 **** Wled set up has now been added at end of assembly instructions, and updated instructions are uploaded at the end.

This runs off of an ESP32 with WLED installed in the master panel, and currently it can run up to 14 panels before needing to use another master panel with another ESP32 (they can then be grouped).

Everything but the Translucent Diffuser is printed in matte black PLA

The Translucent Diffuser needs to be printed in smoked translucent PLA.

- I used Atomic Filament brand.

RGB Led Lights are WS2812b addressable led light strips (Needs to be 60LEDs/Meter spacing, with black PCB)

I used JST-XH 3-Pin connectors to connect the panels.

Currently using a 5V 2A power supply (in WLED you can set the max amps drawn)

If you have any assembly questions, feel free to leave a comment and I will answer them right away. Once you get the first two wired and soldered, they really go together pretty quickly.

Assembly Instructions

1. Master Base Housing Wiring
   1. IMORTANT MAKE SURE ESP32 is fully set up with WLED installed and accessible via WiFi before gluing any pieces together!
   2. IT IS IMORTANT THAT THE LEDS ARE DIRECTLY POWERED BY THE POWER SUPPLY AND ONLY THE SIGNAL IS GOING FROM ESP32 TO THE DATA WIRE ON THE LED STRIPS
   3. When wiring the master base housing ensure the power supply hole is facing you for orientation.
   4. Wire the power in from power supply jack to both the exp32 as well as leaving 2 leads for the led panel power input.
   5. Use the data out pin from the ESP32 to the data in pad on the origin LED.
   6. Make sure the JST-XH female connectors are flush with the outside and the 2 slots are facing the top.

1. Add on Housing Wiring
   1. Crimp and insert (4) +5v wires together as well as (4) GND wires together and finally 1 data wire in to the JST-XH male connector.
   2. Before gluing the male connector into the housing, you will have to clip the top tabs off so it slides into the next panel. It should be oriented tabs side up
      1. 
   3. Wiring is similar to the Master Base Housing.

1. LED Panel wiring and assembly
   1. First peel the adhesive off the cut LED strips (they need to be cut precisely on the line between the contacts so they fold through the slots) and place them on the LED board in an alternating pattern. Fold the excess contacts around the back so they can be soldered.

1. Flip the board over so the origin point is now in the lower left hand side, and solder the jumper wires from the end of one strip to the beginning of the next.
   1. At the end of the panel you will need to combine 3 data wires together, and solder the combined end to the Data Out pad of the last LED in the panel.

1. Wiring should look like this when complete.

1. Use the Glue jig to glue the pieces together in this order (Be sure not to get glue from the panel pieces on the jig so you can remove them after finished gluing them, the jig is mainly for aligning the parts to get a nice fitting panel.)
   1. Apply Glue around the outside edge, then lay led board in correct orientation ensuring wires are folded neatly into the case.

1. Add glue to the highlighted sections

1. Before putting the diffuser grid on, watch for the solder joints on the board where the company joined their strips together. You will need to test fit the grid and use a knife to shave that part back a little bit, so it sits flush. Then you can glue the grid to the led board. Take note of the little tabs on the grid, they will slot right into the indents on the led board.

1. Finally, you can glue the translucent diffuser to the grid.

WLED set up.

1. Refer to https://kno.wled.ge/ for initial set up of WLED on the esp32 dev board.
2. Once installed, we need to set up the LED configuration.
3. Go to the Config icon, and then to LED Preferences.
   1. 
   2. Here you can set the automatic brightness limiter to match your power supply. (I am using a 5v 2amp, so if you were using a 15 amp you would set it to 15000mA)
   3. You need to set the Led Outputs to WS281x, order GRB, and set your length to the total amount of LEDs that you will be powering (I set mine right to 960 to equal the 15 panels). It should look like this.
   4. 
4. Before we set up the matrix, it is important that the panels be installed in a serpentine pattern, for example.
   1. 

1. Next go to “2D Configuration” in WLED config menu
   1. Here, set up the led panel dimensions which is 8x8 leds.
   2. Next set up your configuration for the wall mounting, for example I have 5 horizontal panels and 3 vertical panels, you could do 3 horizontal and 5 vertical panels for a portrait mode. Or you could do a 3x3, 2x2. This section is flexible as long as you maintain the serpentine pattern. This is where you set the 1st panel location as well.
   3. 
   4. Finally, we need to set the orientation of each of our panels, this is the reason when we build them the origin led is always at the bottom right of the panel with the male plug facing you. It is so they are the same on every panel, making this setup section much easier.
   5. When setting the orientation, just think of which way the light strip is running.
   6.