DMD – SuperHouse Automation

Posted on May 13, 2017May 13, 2017 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Hockey Sin Bin Management System

At SuperHouse Automation we love it when our fans share their own projects with us. Ben Lennard from Lennard Electronics recently got in touch and shared his great project. Using four Freetronics dot matrix displays, Ben has built a sin bin management display for the National Hockey Stadium in Wellington. Whilst the system is used to display the time and various advertisements, the primary use is to keep track of how long different players have been in the sin bin.

Ben’s project uses four DMD’s which are chained together and controlled by an Arduino Uno. The Uno receives commands from a Raspberry Pi powered touchscreen controller box, via a Bluetooth link. The outdoor display is housed in a custom built fiber glass case, which has special vents built into it to allow air to flow in and out whilst still keeping dust and water out. Thanks Ben for sharing!

Want to keep in the loop about the latest in home automation? Subscribing to SuperHouse Automation on YouTube is the best place to start!

Inspired to start work on this project? Are you working on a project you would like us to feature in this blog? The team at SuperHouse Automation would love to know! Tell us about it in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.

Posted on January 4, 2017 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Dot Matrix Display MQTT Message Client

The Freetronics dot matrix displays are very versatile. Toby Robb has put together a great video showing how he has set up the display to read messages from MQTT. If your home automation system incorporates MQTT this could be a great way to display information about your home.

If you are looking for an LED dot matrix display why not check out the Freetronics range of displays. They are simple to use, yet very bright for indoor and outdoor situations. Available in various colours, the 32 x 16 LED matrix can display text and graphics easily, and can be daisy-chained together for extended displays. For more information, checkout the Freetronics Dot Matrix Displays here.

Want to keep in the loop about the latest in home automation? Subscribing to SuperHouse Automation on YouTube is the best place to start!

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Build Your Own Scoreboard

Wouldn’t it be cool to build your own full sized outdoor scoreboard? This is exactly what joevpt has done. The scoreboard uses 24 DMD displays which are controlled by 6 Arduino boards. Impressively the scoreboard updates automatically from an iPhone app which is used to keep track of the scores at joevpt’s rugby club. If you want to read more about this project checkout this thread on the Freetronics forum.

If you are impressed by this project and want to build your own scoreboard, why not checkout the range of displays offered by Freetronics. They are simple to use, yet very bright for indoor and outdoor situations. Available in various colours, the 32 x 16 LED matrix can display text and graphics easily, and can be daisy-chained together for extended displays. For more information, find out more about the Freetronics Dot Matrix Displays here.

Want to keep in the loop about the latest in home automation? Subscribing to SuperHouse Automation on YouTube is the best place to start!

Inspired to start work on this project? Are you working on a project you would like us to feature in this blog? The team at SuperHouse Automation would love to know! Tell us about it in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.

Posted on August 7, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

DIY Public Transport Tracker

Are you someone who is always running late? Are you frustrated when you miss a train or bus and are left waiting outside for the 20 minutes before the next service? With this cool project you can use a DMD (dot matrix display) to display the upcoming times for public transport services you regularly use. You can put this display up on your wall at home and, (assuming public transport is GPS tracked in your city) automatically display the upcoming train or bus time predictions. This is sure to give you the motivation you need to make sure you are ready on time! You could even use this project to display upcoming weather forecasts so that you can make sure to dress appropriately for your trip. This project runs of a Raspberry Pi but could easily be adapted to fun off an Arduino if you prefer. To find out more about this awesome project check out the following link!

If you are looking for an LED dot matrix display to use in this project the team at SuperHouse Automation recommends the Freetronics range of Dot Matrix Displays.

Want to keep in the loop about the latest in home automation? Subscribing to SuperHouse Automation on YouTube is the best place to start!

Are you are thinking about making your own thermal imaging camera? Have a project you would like us to feature in this blog? The team at SuperHouse Automation would love to know! Tell us about it in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.