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I have a pet project I have been meaning to work on: 1. Lookup the local transport API to see bus arrival timings for the stop near my home 2. Display the tim

I have a pet project I have been meaning to work on: 1. Lookup the local transport API to see bus arrival timings for the stop near my home 2. Display the timings for three main buses so that can either be a bigger display or three smaller displays, one for each bus. Don't have to be high res but relatively larger and bright e.g. a 7 segment display (3 segments for bus number and 4 for showing arrival time in mins) - basically family members should be able to view it from a distance a glance. 3. I should be able to update this over wifi (or via a some low-powered device like arduino/raspberry pi etc. connected to it). If it can run via AA batteries, even better. I know how to do the first but no idea about the second - I have never even soldered anything in my life. Would be great if more knowledgeable folks can provide some pointers.

masto 3y ago
ESPHome is a good start, as it provides a great framework for layering components together. For example, you could assemble what you want out of: * The display component that handles drawing into a grid of pixels (https://esphome.io/components/display/ https://esphome.io/components/display/) * The text renderer * addressable_light platform (https://esphome.io/components/display/addressable_light https://esphome.io/components/display/addressable_light) to create a display matrix on top of an addressable LED driver (https://esphome.io/components/light/neopixelbus https://esphome.io/components/light/neopixelbus) * An inexpensive 8x32 LED panel (https://www.google.com/search?q=8x32+ws2812b https://www.google.com/search?q=8x32+ws2812b) * You can make multiples of these, or chain the panels together, for more space Of course, rather than reinventing any wheels, you can follow guides like https://community.home-assistant.io/t/led-matrix-with-esphome-homeassistant/472603 https://community.home-assistant.io/t/led-matrix-with-esphom... There's not a lot of soldering needed, especially if you go the route of repurposing existing hardware like an Ulanzi. It's mostly about making the right data connections and providing the right power.
- noisy_boy 3y ago
  I appreciate your response. I wish there were guides for software developers like me that are also hardware noobs - ESPHome looks very powerful but I don't want to write yaml; I would rather write code for hardware that is easy to assemble and has an sdk. I feel like that will be more fun for me to setup.
  - alexk307 3y ago
    Just dive into it and learn slowly. You can write the software in Python if you want, and use whatever regular IDE you normally use.
tredre3 3y ago
Since you're (seemingly) already familiar with Arduino, just use that as your framework. You can program the ESP32 in Arduino and access any library you're familiar with as well as handle Wifi. You can buy an RGB matrix on Adafruit and they sell esp32 boards that can drive them directly,so it's essentially plug and play, no hardware knowledge necessary. If you prefer to DIY but still need some guidance, check out this project that documents both hardware and software to achieve something similar to what you want to do (cool looking wifi-connected text display): https://github.com/BlueAndi/esp-rgb-led-matrix https://github.com/BlueAndi/esp-rgb-led-matrix

masto 3y ago

ESPHome is a good start, as it provides a great framework for layering components together. For example, you could assemble what you want out of: * The display component that handles drawing into a grid of pixels (https://esphome.io/components/display/ https://esphome.io/components/display/) * The text renderer * addressable_light platform (https://esphome.io/components/display/addressable_light https://esphome.io/components/display/addressable_light) to create a display matrix on top of an addressable LED driver (https://esphome.io/components/light/neopixelbus https://esphome.io/components/light/neopixelbus) * An inexpensive 8x32 LED panel (https://www.google.com/search?q=8x32+ws2812b https://www.google.com/search?q=8x32+ws2812b) * You can make multiples of these, or chain the panels together, for more space Of course, rather than reinventing any wheels, you can follow guides like https://community.home-assistant.io/t/led-matrix-with-esphome-homeassistant/472603 https://community.home-assistant.io/t/led-matrix-with-esphom... There's not a lot of soldering needed, especially if you go the route of repurposing existing hardware like an Ulanzi. It's mostly about making the right data connections and providing the right power.

noisy_boy 3y ago
I appreciate your response. I wish there were guides for software developers like me that are also hardware noobs - ESPHome looks very powerful but I don't want to write yaml; I would rather write code for hardware that is easy to assemble and has an sdk. I feel like that will be more fun for me to setup.
- alexk307 3y ago
  Just dive into it and learn slowly. You can write the software in Python if you want, and use whatever regular IDE you normally use.

tredre3 3y ago

Since you're (seemingly) already familiar with Arduino, just use that as your framework. You can program the ESP32 in Arduino and access any library you're familiar with as well as handle Wifi. You can buy an RGB matrix on Adafruit and they sell esp32 boards that can drive them directly,so it's essentially plug and play, no hardware knowledge necessary. If you prefer to DIY but still need some guidance, check out this project that documents both hardware and software to achieve something similar to what you want to do (cool looking wifi-connected text display): https://github.com/BlueAndi/esp-rgb-led-matrix https://github.com/BlueAndi/esp-rgb-led-matrix