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The idea supported by customer Alan Zhao
We will be making a stock ticker that can display real time prices of stocks, cryptocurrencies, ETF, and indices.
This stock sticker consists of six 8x32 LED matrices tiled in 2 columns x 3 rows pattern. The LED matrices then will be mounted on a 3D printed frame. Twelve Data's free Basic plan is required to get real time stock prices over REST API. Wemos D1 mini is used as controller.
Each LED consumes about 20 mA and 0.1 watt of power per color. For all 3 colors (RGB), a LED consumes about 60 mA and 0.3 watt when on full power (in white on 100% brightness). We have total of 1,536 LEDs (256 per matrix x 6), therefore, the total power consumption is 92160 mA or 92 Amps (1,536 LEDs x 60 mA per LED) and 460 watt (1,536 LEDs x 0.3 watt per LED) when on full power.
As you can tell, our 200 watt and 50 Amps power supply will be insufficient for full power consumption. The manufacturer states that the LED matrix PCB is not designed to withstand the heat it generates when on full power, AKA this is not a device used for lighting. Therefore, you should NEVER use it under full power. We can reduce the power consumption by reducing the LED brightness and the number of lit LED at one time.
The LED matrix is made out of flexible material, to interconnect all 6 matrices, a frame is required for support. I designed and 3D printed six brackets to be interconnected as frame. I added passthrough channels to the bracket so that wires can be trapped and routed cleanly within. Two brackets are needed to mount a LED matrix; 12 brackets are needed in total. The brackets then will be screwed together with a few M3 screws, nuts, and washers. Screw plugs are also required for screwing brackets together. Screw plug allows you to connect brackets in both row and column orientations. STL files are provided below. Support is not required to print them.
Once you have everything mounted, you should have something look like below.
WeMos D1 mini is used as controller. D5 pin is used for data. See wiring diagram below.
Test every LED matrix for defects, it's easier to replace the defect ones now than after they're mounted. You want to make sure there are no dead pixels, and all colors are light up correctly.
Install
Select the correct board under menu
To test the colors, upload the code below to the controller and attach each LED matrix to test. Uncomment each line of
| /** * 32x8 LED matrix quality test * * by MakerAL.com 2021. */ // // Pins // // D5 pin // LED board configurations // // Instantiated matrix // https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide/neomatrix-library // Adafruit_NeoMatrix matrix = Adafruit_NeoMatrix( LED_BOARD_WIDTH, LED_BOARD_HEIGHT, LED_PIN, NEO_MATRIX_TOP + NEO_MATRIX_LEFT + NEO_MATRIX_ROWS + NEO_MATRIX_ZIGZAG, NEO_GRB); // Colors struct RGB { byte r; byte g; byte b; }; // Define some colors we'll use frequently RGB off = { 0, 0, 0 }; RGB white = { 255, 255, 255 }; RGB red = { 255, 0, 0 }; RGB yellow = {255, 255, 0}; RGB blue = {0 , 0, 255}; RGB green = {0, 255, 0}; RGB teal = {0, 255, 255}; RGB purple = {255, 0, 255}; RGB pink = { 255, 74, 150 }; void setup() { matrix.begin(); matrix.setBrightness(30); matrix.setTextWrap(false); } void loop() { // Clear screen, display nothing //matrix.fillScreen(matrix.Color(off.r, off.g, off.b)); matrix.fillScreen(matrix.Color(red.r, red.g, red.b)); //matrix.fillScreen(matrix.Color(green.r, green.g, green.b)); //matrix.fillScreen(matrix.Color(blue.r, blue.g, blue.b)); //matrix.fillScreen(matrix.Color(white.r, white.g, white.b)); matrix.show(); delay(5000); } |
LED matrices are tiled together. There are different ways to tile them. Below is how I laid out the six LED matrices, I found wiring is simpler and shorter with this configuration. You can read more on Neomarix Library.
Red and black wires located in the middle of the LED matrix are used to supply additional voltage for daisy chained LED matrices. Due to voltage drop, LED matrices can display uneven brightness, flickering and random colors. Depends on the capacity of your power supply, this power might have to come from a separate power supply.
Next, I mounted LED matrices temporarily on the frame with painter's tape. You will see that the first matrix is now located on the top right corner after I flipped the whole panel. I marked each matrix with numbers on painter's tape to avoid confusions.
Now is the time to wire everything together. You must add wire extensions to connect matrices in between rows and columns, because the factory wires soldered on are too short. I chose to add JST connectors to all the wires to make everything maintainable (sorry, but I don't have a picture to show this). You can also unsolder the factory wires and add longer ones.
Don't mount the LED matrices to the frame with double-sided tape yet. Go ahead upload the final code in sections below and test out everything first. Again, it's way easier to fix issue now than after LED matrices are mounted permanently. Well, semi-permanently, with double-sided tape everything is still removeable but it's just going to be a lot harder.
Once everything is working as expected, cut double-sided tape into shorter strips, apply to frame, and peel. Carefully align LED matrix with the bracket and apply it on the tapes. Do this one LED matrix at a time. This will be time consuming. Be patient and pay attention to the wires making sure you channel them through the holes and not getting them trapped on the tapes.
I found Twelve Data to be an awesome API provider for real time stock prices. It supports stocks, cryptocurrencies, ETFs, and indices. Their free Basic plan allows for 800 requests per day with maximum 8 requests per minute. With proper throttling, I could get real time prices all day long without exceeding the limit. Each symbol lookup is considered as one request, a batch call of 8 symbols therefore is 8 requests which is also the maximum allowed number of requests per minute. To respect the 800 requests per day limit, I can make one batch call of 8 requests on a 15-minutes interval for a total of 768 requests per day (1,440 mins a day / 15 mins x 8 requests).
I am totally happy with a refresh rate of every 15 minutes. If you want more frequent update of the prices, either reduce the number of symbols or pay for a better plan. I'll leave the math of figuring out
Now go sign up for a Twelve Data account and grab the API key. Read API documentations here.
Install
Select the correct board under menu
| /** Stock Ticker by MakerAL.com 2021. */ // LED data pin // LED matrix configurations // // Start configs // // WIFI const char* ssid = "your-ssid"; const char* password = "your-password"; // API info const String apiUrl = "https://api.twelvedata.com/quote"; const String apiKey = "your-api-key"; // Stock symbols const String symbols[] = { "SPX", "DJI", "IXIC", "ARKK", "AAPL", "TSLA", "DOGE/USD", "BTC/USD" }; // Ticker interval and duration unsigned long lastTime = 0; unsigned long timerDelayMins = 15; unsigned long tickerDurationSecs = 10; // // End configs // // Colors struct RGB { byte r; byte g; byte b; }; // Define some colors we'll use frequently RGB white = { 255, 255, 255 }; RGB red = { 255, 0, 0 }; RGB yellow = {255, 255, 0}; RGB blue = {0 , 0, 255}; RGB green = {0, 255, 0}; RGB teal = {0, 255, 255}; RGB purple = {255, 0, 255}; RGB off = { 0, 0, 0 }; // // Instantiated matrix // https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide/neomatrix-library // Adafruit_NeoMatrix matrix = Adafruit_NeoMatrix( LED_BOARD_WIDTH, LED_BOARD_HEIGHT, LED_TILE_COLUMN, LED_TILE_ROW, LED_PIN, NEO_MATRIX_TOP + NEO_MATRIX_LEFT + NEO_MATRIX_COLUMNS + NEO_MATRIX_ZIGZAG + NEO_TILE_TOP + NEO_TILE_LEFT + NEO_TILE_COLUMNS + NEO_TILE_PROGRESSIVE, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800); // WIFI client WiFiClient client; // HTTP client HTTPClient http; // API results DynamicJsonDocument apiResults(4096); const int symbolLength = ARRAY_SIZE(symbols); void setup() { Serial.begin(115200); // Connect WIFI networkConnect(); // Ignore HTTPS //client->setInsecure(); // Begin matrix matrix.begin(); // Matrix info showMsg("Matrix width: " + String(matrix.width())); showMsg("Matrix height: " + String(matrix.height())); } void loop() { playLed(); // Get stock data every X minutes if (lastTime == 0 || (millis() - lastTime) > (timerDelayMins * 60 * 1000)) { getStocks(); lastTime = millis(); } } void playLed() { // If API results are present // https://arduinojson.org/v6/api/jsondocument/ if (!apiResults.isNull()) { // Go through all symbols with delay for (uint16_t i = 0; i < symbolLength; i++) { const String symbol = symbols[i]; String name = apiResults[symbol]["symbol"]; name.replace("/USD", ""); const float closePrice = apiResults[symbol]["close"]; const float percentChange = apiResults[symbol]["percent_change"]; showMsg(name); showMsg(String(closePrice, 5)); showMsg(String(percentChange, 5)); showMsg("--------"); RGB priceColor = percentChange > 0 ? green : red; String plusSign = percentChange > 0 ? "+" : ""; showStockPrices(name, blue, String(closePrice, 3), white, plusSign + String(percentChange, 3) + "%", priceColor); delay(tickerDurationSecs * 1000); } } } void getStocks() { showMsg("Getting stocks..."); const String stockUrl = apiUrl + "?symbol=" + (implodeString(symbols, String(","))) + "&apikey=" + apiKey; showMsg("Stock URL"); showMsg(stockUrl); // https://arduinojson.org/v6/how-to/use-arduinojson-with-httpclient/ http.useHTTP10(true); if (http.begin(client, stockUrl)) { int code = http.GET(); if (code == HTTP_CODE_OK) { showMsg("Got result:"); //String payload = http.getString(); //showMsg(payload); // https://arduinojson.org/v6/how-to/deserialize-a-very-large-document/ StaticJsonDocument<1024> filter; filter["status"] = true; for (uint16_t i = 0; i < symbolLength; i++) { const String symbol = symbols[i]; filter[symbol]["symbol"] = true; filter[symbol]["close"] = true; filter[symbol]["percent_change"] = true; } // Clear previous results apiResults.clear(); // Populate results here // Use getStream() instead of getString() for memory efficiency, // also apply filter to minimize RAM consumption deserializeJson(apiResults, http.getStream(), DeserializationOption::Filter(filter)); const String status = apiResults["status"]; showMsg("Status:"); showMsg(status); if (status == "error") { showMsg("Unable to read stocks, most likely API request rate has been reached"); // Clear previous results apiResults.clear(); } } // Disconnect http.end(); } else { showMsg("Unable to get stocks, most likely network error"); // Clear previous results apiResults.clear(); } } void showStockPrices(String line1Text, RGB line1Color, String line2Text, RGB line2Color, String line3Text, RGB line3Color) { matrix.fillScreen(matrix.Color(off.r, off.g, off.b)); matrix.setBrightness(LED_BRIGHTNESS); matrix.setTextWrap(false); // Line 1 matrix.setCursor(0, 0); matrix.setTextColor(matrix.Color(line1Color.r, line1Color.g, line1Color.b)); matrix.print(line1Text); // Line 2 matrix.setCursor(0, 8); matrix.setTextColor(matrix.Color(line2Color.r, line2Color.g, line2Color.b)); matrix.print(line2Text); // Line 3 matrix.setCursor(0, 16); matrix.setTextColor(matrix.Color(line3Color.r, line3Color.g, line3Color.b)); matrix.print(line3Text); matrix.show(); } void networkConnect() { WiFi.begin(ssid, password); while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) { delay(500); showMsg("*"); } showMsg("You're connected to the network"); printWifiStatus(); } void printWifiStatus() { // Print the SSID of the network you're attached to showMsg("SSID: " + String(WiFi.SSID())); // Print your WiFi shield's IP address IPAddress ip = WiFi.localIP(); showMsg("IP Address: " + ipToString(ip)); // Print the received signal strength long rssi = WiFi.RSSI(); // -60dBm and higher to be considered as good showMsg("Signal strength: " + String(rssi) + "dBm"); } String ipToString(const IPAddress& ipAddress) { return String(ipAddress[0]) + String(".") + \ String(ipAddress[1]) + String(".") + \ String(ipAddress[2]) + String(".") + \ String(ipAddress[3]); } const String implodeString(const String values[], String join) { String string = ""; for (uint16_t i = 0; i < symbolLength; i++) { string += values[i] + join; } return string; } void showMsg(String msg) { Serial.println(msg); } |
Find symbols supported by Twelve Data:
Update variables below and upload code.
Here is the final product. The controller will fit snuggly in the groove of the frame. I also applied hot glue to reinforce the double-sided tape but I found it's to be an overkill.
You can either hang the MakerAL stock ticker or put it on stand. 3D printable stand STL file can be downloaded below. You will need 4 of them and glue them together.
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You have customers waiting to talk with you right now… don’t keep them waiting.
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