Adafruit 32x64 led matrix - rgb bonnet - rpi zero 2 w not lighting up

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1

Hardware:
64x32 RGB LED 2mm pitch from Adafruit (2.5-16S-V1.0)
Adafruit RGB Matrix Bonnet
Raspberry pi zero 2 w

I am powering the the bonnet with 5v 4a and the pi with a separate microusb power supply.

No matter what I seem to try the matrix does not turn on and no leds light up. I followed all the install instructions here Driving Matrices | Adafruit RGB Matrix Bonnet for Raspberry Pi | Adafruit Learning System I have also tried re-installing the rgb matrix library a few times with no luck. I’ve tried running a few different of the demo scripts from the library.

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I’ve checked the connectivity of almost every solder and they seem fine, I also confirmed that the matrix is receiving power.

Any ideas on other things to try or is something defective?

2

Hey @Collin297761,

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for sharing the details of your setup. Let’s try a minimal test to help isolate the issue.

  1. Create a new Python file named test.py with this code:
import time
from rgbmatrix import RGBMatrix, RGBMatrixOptions

options = RGBMatrixOptions()
options.rows = 32
options.cols = 64
options.chain_length = 1
options.parallel = 1
options.hardware_mapping = 'adafruit-hat'  # Or try 'adafruit-hat-pwm'

matrix = RGBMatrix(options=options)

while True:
    matrix.Fill(255, 0, 0)
    time.sleep(1)
    matrix.Fill(0, 255, 0)
    time.sleep(1)
    matrix.Fill(0, 0, 255)
    time.sleep(1)
  1. Run the script with:
sudo python3 test.py
  1. Check for errors

After running the script, check for any system messages with:

dmesg | tail -n 30

Note any errors or warnings that appear and include them in your reply.

Let us know how that goes.

3

That works! The demo functions still don’t work but that’s fine. I think everything is working except the demos, maybe I should’ve tried that before… Thanks for the help @Ryan !!

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4

Hey @Collin297761,

Glad to hear it’s working! Nothing more frustrating than the demo code not working. I haven’t looked through the demo code, but they may require this line:
options.hardware_mapping = 'adafruit-hat' # Or try 'adafruit-hat-pwm'
Some matrix versions require -pwm to function properly depending on timing or signal type.

Best of luck with your project.

2 Likes