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A simple DIY status display with a 8x32 RGB LED panel implemented with esphome.io and Home Assistant.

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geekofweek/EspHoMaTriXv2

 
 

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EspHoMaTriX version 2 (EHMTXv2)

Important information

If you like my work, please donate me a star on GitHub and consider sponsoring me!!

Introduction

A simple but very flexible DIY status display, built with a flexible 8x32 RGB LED panel, e.g., the ULANZI TC001 implemented with esphome.io

sample image

If you like to tinker, you can use the custom component even as a satellite voice control microphone for home assistant. Youtube

Special use cases or tips and tricks can be found in the WIKI

Background

There are some “RGB-matrices” status displays/clocks out there, the commercial ones from LaMetric and Ulanzi, also some excellent DIY-alternatives.

  • LaMetric commercial ~ €199
  • Ulanzi TC001 commercial ~ €50
  • AWTRIX (project has been discontinued after more than 4 years in August 2022)
  • Pixel It (project is under active development)
  • AWTRIX-Light From the developer of AWTRIX, optimized for the Ulanzi TC001 hardware

The solutions have their pros and cons. I tried some and used AWTRIX for a long time. But the cons are so big (in my opinion) that I started an esphome.io variant. Targeted to an optimized Home Assistant integration, without paid blueprints and the need of MQTT or uploading files to the ESP.

But it had to be extensible, e.g., for the use as a pool thermometer or as a media player. All done by the magical power of esphome.io.

Features

Based on a 8x32 RGB matrix, it displays a clock, the date and up to 24 other 'screens' provided by Home Assistant. Each screen (value/text) can be associated with a 8x8 bit RGB icon or GIF animation (see installation. The values/text can be updated or deleted from the display queue. Each screen has a lifetime, if not refreshed in its lifetime, it will disappear. Even 8x32 GIF animations are possible. You can control nearly everything of the component.

State

After the old component became favorite, there were some feature requests, which indicated that my old code was a mess. I reworked the whole code and restructured it, so it is now hopefully more extensible. This software is still heavily in progress, before updating check the breaking changes

Advice

If you have the choice to use an ESP32 device, there are conditions where the RAM size is too limited in a ESO8266 device, so I stripped out some features and these boards, e.g., the bitmap_screen.

How to use

The easy way

There is a little hype around the Ulanzi TC001 pixel clock. The easy way works with the Ulanzi TC001 hardware. For more customization and other hardware, look here.

In easy mode you'll have a clock with auto brightness control and after step 3 you can send states to the display and toggle on or off additional screen elements.

Step 1

Copy these files from the source folder copy2esphome:

  • ulanzi-simple.yaml
  • EHMTXv2.ttf

to your esphome directory (usually /config/esphome). In your esphome dashboard, you will find a new device named ulanzi-easy.

Step 2

Connect your Ulanzi device to your host with USB-C and flash the firmware.

Step 3

Copy the blueprints EHMTX_easy_*.yaml to your blueprint path (usually /config/blueprints/automation/) in a subfolder named ehmtxv2.

Reload your automations and have fun after configuring some automations with this blueprint.

Result

The device should boot

boot

and after a while (~30 seconds) it should display the correct time.

clock screen.

If not, check the esphome logs for further investigations.

The funny but more elaborate way

This is for the more advanced users. If you understand the concept of esphome, you can display nearly everything with this component. You can also create your own customized esphome based display with multiple sensors, or even use it as a microphone for the new voice assist feature from home assistant.

Concept

You can add screens to a queue and all these screens are displayed one after another. timing Each screen can display different information or animation or text, even in rainbow color. They all have a lifetime, if a screen isn't refreshed during its lifetime it will be removed from the queue. If there is nothing left in the queue, the date and time screens are displayed. Some screens can show additional features like an alarm or rindicator see elements. You can add screens from home assistant with service-calls or from esphome via lambdas in your YAML.

Screen types a.k.a. what is possible

Date/Time screen

clock screen

Service via API

You can call this from, e.g., the developer tools service

clock_screen => {"lifetime", "screen_time", "default_font", "r", "g", "b"}
rainbow_clock_screen => {"lifetime", "screen_time", "default_font"}
date_screen => {"lifetime", "screen_time", "default_font", "r", "g", "b"}
rainbow_date_screen => {"lifetime", "screen_time", "default_font"}

The rainbow_* variants don't display the day of week bar.

Lambda

You can use these in lambdas in your esphome YAML.

all parameters have a default value.

void clock_screen(int lifetime=D_LIFETIME, int screen_time=D_SCREEN_TIME,bool default_font=true,int r=C_RED, int g=C_GREEN, int b=C_BLUE);
void rainbow_clock_screen(int lifetime=D_LIFETIME, int screen_time=D_SCREEN_TIME, bool default_font=true);
void date_screen(int lifetime=D_LIFETIME, int screen_time=D_SCREEN_TIME,bool default_font=true, int r=C_RED, int g=C_GREEN, int b=C_BLUE);     
icon screen

icon screen

Service via API
icon_screen => {"icon_name", "text", "lifetime", "screen_time", "default_font", "r", "g", "b"}
rainbow_icon_screen => {"icon_name", "text", "lifetime", "screen_time", "default_font"}
Lambda
void icon_screen(std::string icon, std::string text, int lifetime=D_LIFETIME, int screen_time=D_SCREEN_TIME,bool default_font=true,int r=C_RED, int g=C_GREEN, int b=C_BLUE);
void rainbow_icon_screen(std::string icon, std::string text, int lifetime=D_LIFETIME, int screen_time=D_SCREEN_TIME,bool default_font=true);
full_screen

For 8x32 icons or animations

full_screen

service via API
full_screen => {"icon_name", "lifetime", "screen_time"}
Lambda
void full_screen(string iconname, int =D_LIFETIME, int screen_time=D_SCREEN_TIME);
bitmap screen

This feature is only available on ESP32 platform!!!!!

For 8x32 images as text. You can generate these images with, e.g., Pixel Bitmap Creator (8x32)

service via API
bitmap_screen => {"[0,4523,0,2342,0,..... (256 values 16bit values rgb565)]", "lifetime", "screen_time"}
Lambda
void bitmap_screen(string text, int =D_LIFETIME, int screen_time=D_SCREEN_TIME);

Display Elements

elements

alarm

The alarm is displayed in the upper-right corner on all screen types! You can set its color and its size.

service
show_alarm => { "r", "g", "b","size"}
API
void EHMTX::show_alarm(int r, int g, int b, int size=2);

r, g, b: 0-255 color components size: 0-3 (zero turns it off)

To remove it, call:

Service
hide_alarm => no parameter
Lambda
void hide_alarm();
rindicator

The rindicator is in the lower-left corner, but not displayed in full screen 8x32 animations. You can set its color.

Service
show_rindicator => { "r", "g", "b","size"}
API
void show_rindicator(int r, int g, int ,int size=3);

r, g, b: 0-255 color components size: 0-3 (zero turns it off)

To remove it, call:

Service
hide_rindicator => no parameter
Lambda
void hide_rindicator();
lindicator

Same as above but in the lower-left corner, this is not visible while icons are displayed.

gauge

The gauge is displayed in the left most column. You can set its color and its value from 0-100, the resolution is limited to 8 pixels, so it is not a precision gauge.

service
show_gauge => {"value","r", "g", "b","bg_r", "bg_g", "bg_b"}
API
void show_gauge(int percent, int r, int g, int b, int bg_r, int bg_g, int bg_b);

percent: 0-100 (resolution: one pixel per 12.5%) r, g, b: 0-255 foreground color components bg_r, bg_g, bg_b: 0-255 background color components

To remove it, call:

service
hide_gauge => no parameter
API
void hide_gauge();

Installation of EspHoMaTriXv2 custom component

EspHoMaTriXv2 is a custom component, you have to include it in your YAML configuration. To always use the newest features, you should use the repo, to use a stable version, you copy a working version to your esphome installation.

use of local copy

If you download the components-folder from the repo and install it in your esphome you have a stable installation. But if there are new features, you won't see them. If needed, customize the YAML to your folder structure.

external_components:
   - source:
       type: local
       path: components # e.g. /config/esphome/components
use from repo

Use the GitHub repo as a component. Esphome refreshes the external components “only” once a day, perhaps you have to refresh it manually. In this mode, there may be breaking changes, so read the changelog and check the logs while installing the firmware.

external_components:
  - source:
      type: git
      url: https://github.com/lubeda/EspHoMaTriXv2
      ref: stable # optional select a special branch or tag

Addressable_light component

The EspHoMaTriXv2 component requires a 8x32 pixel addressable_light, it is referenced by the ID matrix_component.

See the default options

There are some different matrices-types on the market, to adapt them to EspHoMaTriXv2 you have to find the proper pixel mapper. If there is garbage on your display, try the other pixel_mapper. Here are the most common types for flexible 8x32 matrices:

Type 1

Common for 8x32 RGB flexible matrices.

Under the display tag, specify this pixel mapper:

display:
  - platform: addressable_light
    .....
    pixel_mapper: |-
      if (x % 2 == 0) {
        return (x * 8) + y;
      }
      return (x * 8) + (7 - y);
    .....
Type 2 (e.g., Ulanzi TC001)

Under the display tag, specify this pixel mapper:

display:
  - platform: addressable_light
    .....
    pixel_mapper: |-
      if (y % 2 == 0) {
        return (y * 32) + x;
      }
      return (y * 32) + (31 - x);
    .....
Type 3 (daisy-chained 8x8 panels)
display:
  - platform: addressable_light
    .....
    pixel_mapper: |-
      return ((int) (x/8 * 64)) + x % 8 + y * 8;
    .....
How to configure the pixel_mapper

You have to configure this lambda under the display: section to use the EspHoMaTriXv2 component

display:
  - platform: addressable_light
    id: ehmtx_display
    .....
    auto_clear_enabled: true
    lambda: |-
      id(rgb8x32)->tick();
      id(rgb8x32)->draw();

Light component

The light component is used by the addressable_light component and referenced by ID under addressable_light_id:.

To use the light component directly from home assistant, add the sample lambdason_turn_on and on_turn_off to the light component.

Sample

light:
  - platform: neopixelbus
    id: ehmtx_light
    ....
    on_turn_on:
      lambda: |-
         id(ehmtx_display)->set_enabled(false);
    on_turn_off:
       lambda: |-
         id(ehmtx_display)->set_enabled(true);

To hide the light component in home assistant use: internal: true

light:
  - platform: neopixelbus
    id: ehmtx_light
    internal: true
    ...

Time component

Since it is a clock, you need a time component, e.g., home assistant. It is referenced by its ID under time_component: The display shows !t! until the time source is synchronized and valid.

Font

In the easy configuration is a TTF-font included, it is based on this font. Or you can search for a font you like more.

Not all fonts are suitable for this minimalistic display. There are public domain fonts which work well on the display, e.g., DMDSmall, details on alternative fonts are here.

You can configure two fonts if you like.

DarkPoet78 is also providing special fonts for 8x32 matrices in his repo

For Europeans starters, you can use the font EHMTXv2.ttf of the copy2esphome folder.

font:
  - file: EHMTXv2.ttf
    id: default_font
    size: 16
    glyphs:  |
      !"%()+*=,-_.:°0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz€@

Icons and Animations

Download and install all needed icons (.jpg/.png) and animations (.GIF) under the ehmtxv2: key. All icons have to be 8x8 or 8x32 pixels in size. If necessary, scale them with gimp, check “as animation” for GIFs.

You can also specify a URL to directly download the image file. The URLs will only be downloaded once at compile time, so there is no additional traffic on the hosting website.

The icons and animations from the AWTRIX and AWTRIX-light could be used, but have to be scaled down to 8x32 or 8x8 pixels. Check the license before using them!

There are maximum 90 icons possible.

Sample

emhtx:
  icons: 
    - id: boot 
      file: icons/rocket.GIF
      duration: 75     
    - id: temp 
      file: temperature.png
    - id: yoga
      file: icons/yoga-bridge.GIF
      pingpong: true
    - id: jackshome
      url: https://awtrix.blueforcer.de/animations/JackHomePage
      resize: 32x8
    - id: garage
      lameid: 1234
      duration: 100
    - id: homeassistant
      url: https://github.com/home-assistant/assets/raw/master/logo/logo-special.png      

The ID of the icons is used later to configure the screens to display. So, you should name them wisely. If you like to group icons, you should prefix them, e.g., with “weather_” (see Service del_screen)

The first defined icon will be used as a fallback icon, in case of an error, e.g., if you use a non-existing icon ID.

GIFs are limited to 110 frames to limit the used amount of flash space.

All other solutions provide ready-made icons, especially Lametric has a big database of icons. Please check the copyright of the icons you use. The maximum number of icons is limited to 90 in the code and also by the flash space and the RAM of your board.

See also icon parameter

Configuration

ehmtxv2 component

This component is highly customizable.

Example

ehmtxv2:
  id: rgb8x32
  show_seconds: true
  matrix_component: ehmtx_display
  time_component: ehmtx_time
  icons2html: true
  default_font_id: default_font
  default_font_yoffset: 6
  special_font_id: special_font
  special_font_yoffset: 7
  brightness: 80 # percent
  time_format: "%H:%M"
  date_format: "%d.%m."
  rtl: false # write vom left to right
  week_start_monday: true # false equals sunday
  scroll_count: 2 # scroll long text at least two times
  scroll_interval: 80 # milliseconds
  rainbow_interval: 32 # milliseconds
  icons: 
  .....

Parameters

id (required, ID): Manually specify the ID used for code generation and in service definitions.

date_format (optional, string): formats the date display with strftime syntax, defaults "%d.%m." (use "%m.%d." for the US)

show_seconds (optional, boolean): toggle/blink an indicator-pixel each seconds while the clock is displayed (default: false)

time_format (optional, string): formats the date display with strftime syntax, defaults "%H:%M" (use "%I:%M%p" for the US)

default_font_yoffset (optional, pixel): yoffset the text is aligned BASELINE_LEFT, the baseline defaults to 6

default_font_xoffset (optional, pixel): xoffset the text is aligned BASELINE_LEFT, the left defaults to 1

special_font_yoffset (optional, pixel): yoffset the text is aligned BASELINE_LEFT, the baseline defaults to 6

special_font_xoffset (optional, pixel): xoffset the text is aligned BASELINE_LEFT, the left defaults to 1

rtl (optional, boolean): if true write text (but only the scroll direction, the words and numbers aren't changed!) from right to left (Arabic, Hebrew etc.). Default is false

matrix_component (required, ID): ID of the addressable display

show_date (optional, bool): show the date in the loop (rainbow and normal), defaults to true.

show_dow (optional, bool): draw the day of week rindicator on the bottom of the clock screen. Disable, e.g., if you want larger fonts, defaults to true.

time_component (required, ID): ID of the time component. The display shows !t! until the time source is valid.

default_font (required, ID): ID of the default font

special_font (required, ID): ID of the special font, you can reuse your default font, but occasionally, it's nice to have a special font to minimize scrolling

week_start_monday (optional, bool): default Monday is first day of week, false => Sunday

default_clock_font (optional, boolean): If true, use the default font for clock and date otherwise use the special font. (default = true)

scroll_interval (optional, ms): the interval in ms to scroll the text (default=80), should be a multiple of the update_interval of the display

clock_interval (optional, s): the interval in seconds to force the clock display. By default, the clock screen, if any, will be displayed according to the position in the queue. If you set the clock_interval close to the screen_time of the clock, you will only see the clock! (default=0)

icons2html (optional, boolean): If true, generate the HTML-file (filename.html) to show all included icons.  (default = false)

Example output: icon preview

icons

Parameters See icon details

  • frame_duration (optional, ms): in the case of a GIF-file, the component tries to read the default interval for each frame. The default/fallback interval is 192 ms. In case you need to override the default value, set the duration per icon.

  • pingpong (optional, boolean): in the case of a GIF-file, you can reverse the frames instead of starting from the first frame.

  • file (Exclusive, filename): a local filename

  • url (Exclusive, url): a URL to download the icon

  • lameid (Exclusive, number): the ID from the LaMetric icon database

  • resize (Optional, "8x8" or "32x8"): If the source file hasn't the right dimensions.

Example

    - id: jackshome
      url: https://awtrix.blueforcer.de/animations/JackHomePage
      resize: 32x8

Control your display

Numerous features are accessible with services from home assistant and lambdas you can use in your YAML.

Public functions/services

 

service parameter result
get_status none write some status information to the esphome logs
display_on none turn display off
display_off none turn display on
hold_screen none show the screen that is currently displayed for the number of seconds longer
hide_rindicator none hides the rindicator
hide_gauge none hides the gauge
hide_alarm none hides the alarm
show_gauge" "percent", "r", "g", "b" set the height of the gauge according to the percentage in the given color
show_alarm "r", "g", "b", "size" shows the color with the given size in the upper-right corner
show_rindicator "r", "g", "b", "size" shows the color with the given size in the lower-right corner
set_clock_color "r", "g", "b" set the default color for the clock/date display
set_today_color" "r", "g", "b" set the special color for today in the day of week line
set_weekday_color" "r", "g", "b" set the default color in the day of week line
del_screen "icon_name", “mode” deletes the specified icon screen from the queue, the mode is a filter
force_screen "icon_name", “mode” displays the selected the specified icon screen from the queue, the mode is a filter
full_screen "icon_name", "lifetime", "screen_time" show the specified 8x32 icon as full screen
icon_screen "icon_name", "text", "lifetime", "screen_time", "default_font", "r", "g", "b" show the specified icon with text
rainbow_icon_screen "icon_name", "text", "lifetime", "screen_time", "default_font" show the specified icon with text in rainbow color
text_screen "text", "lifetime", "screen_time", "default_font", "r", "g", "b" show the specified text
rainbow_text_screen "text", "lifetime", "screen_time", "default_font" show the specified text in rainbow colors
clock_screen "lifetime", "screen_time", "default_font", "r", "g", "b" show the clock
rainbow_clock_screen "lifetime", "screen_time", "default_font" show the clock in rainbow color
blank_screen "lifetime", "screen_time" "show" an empty screen
date_screen "lifetime", "screen_time", "default_font", "r", "g", "b" show the date
brightness "value" set the display brightness

Parameter description

"r", "g", "b": Color components for red, green, and blue 0..255 "size": The size of the rindicator or alarm, 1-3 "percent": values from 0..100 "icon_name": the id of the icon to show, as defined in the YAML file "text": a text message to display "lifetime": how long does this screen stay in the queue (minutes) "screen_time": how long is this screen display in the loop (seconds). For short text without scrolling it is shown the defined time, longer text is scrolled at least scroll_count times. "default_font": use the default font (true) or the special font (false) "value": the brightness 0..255

Local lambdas

Add screen to your display queue

You can add screens locally and display data directly from any local sensor. See this sample:

Lambda

Take care that the char text[30]; has enough space to store the formatted text.

sensor:
  - platform: bh1750
    id: sensorlx
    ...
    on_value:
      then:
        lambda: |-
          char text[30];
          sprintf(text,"Light: %2.1f lx", id(sensorlx).state);
          // 5 Minutes,each time at least 11 seconds,no alarm
           id(rgb8x32)->icon_screen("sun", text); // uses default values for color etc.
Force screen

Force the selected icon_screen icon_name to be displayed next. Afterward, the loop continues from this screen. e.g., helpful for alarms. Or after an update of the value/text.

    id(rgb8x32)->force_screen("homeassistant");
Change configuration during runtime

Configuration variables/functions:

Experienced programmers can use these public methods:

Local triggers

To use the display without home assistant automations, you may use the advanced functionality with triggers. The triggers can be fired by sensors, time or by the ehmtxv2 component.

on_add_screen

There is a trigger available to do some local magic. The trigger on_add_screen is triggered every time a new screen with an icon is added to the queue. In lambda's you can use two local variables:

icon (Name of the icon, std::string): value to use in lambda

mode (mode of the screen, uint8_t): value to use in lambda

See the examples:

Write information to esphome log
ehmtxv2:
  ....
    on_add_screen:
    then:  
      - logger.log:
          format: 'add screen: %s, mode: %d'
          tag: "EHMTXv2 sample"
          args:
            - icon.c_str()
            - mode

on_icon_error

The trigger on_icon_error is triggered if you try to add a screen with a non defined icon. In lambda's you can use one local string variable:

icon (Name of the icon, std::string): value to use in lambda

See the examples:

ehmtxv2:
  ....
  on_next_screen:
    lambda: |-
        ESP_LOGD("Check CONFIG","Iconname: %s",icon.c_str());

on_next_screen

The trigger on_next_screen is triggered every time a new screen is displayed (it doesn't trigger on the clock/date display!!). In lambda's you can use two local string variables:

icon (Name of the icon, std::string): value to use in lambda

text (displayed text, std::string): value to use in lambda

See the examples:

Write information to esphome log
ehmtxv2:
  ....
  on_next_screen:
    lambda: |-
        ESP_LOGD("TriggerTest","Iconname: %s",icon.c_str());
        ESP_LOGI("TriggerTest","Text: %s",text.c_str());
Send an event to Home Assistant

To send data back to home assistant, you can use events.

ehmtxv2:
  ....
  on_next_screen:
    - homeassistant.event:
        event: esphome.next_screen
        data_template:
          iconname: !lambda "return icon.c_str();"
          text: !lambda "return text.c_str();"

Result

events

on_next_clock

The trigger on_next_clock is triggered every time a new clock display circle starts. See the examples:

Change something for each clock circle
ehmtxv2:
  ....
  on_next_clock:
    lambda: |-
      id(rgb8x32)->.......

(D) Service brightness

Sets the overall brightness of the display (0..255)

parameters:

  • brightness: from dark to bright (0..255) (default = 80) as set in the light component by color_correct: [30%, 30%, 30%]

There's an easier way, by using a number component:

number:
  - platform: template
    name: "LED brightness"
    min_value: 0
    max_value: 255
    step: 1
    lambda: |-
      return id(rgb8x32)->get_brightness();
    set_action:
      lambda: |-
        id(rgb8x32)->set_brightness(x);

(D) Service del_screen

Removes a screen from the display by icon name. If this screen is actually displayed while sending this command, the screen will be displayed until its "show_screen"-time has ended.

Optionally, you can suffix a * to the icon name to perform a wildcard delete, which will delete all screens beginning with the icon_name specified.

For example, if you have multiple icons named weather_sunny, weather_rain & weather_cloudy, you can issue a del_screen weather_* to remove whichever screen is currently in a slot and replace it with a new weather screen.

Parameters:

  • icon_name: Icon id defined in the YAML (see installation)
  • mode: The mode is for internal purposes use 5  for icon_screen
modes
mode value
MODE_BLANK 1
MODE_CLOCK 2
MODE_DATE 3
MODE_FULL_SCREEN 4
MODE_ICON_SCREEN 5
MODE_TEXT_SCREEN 6
MODE_RAINBOW_ICON 7
MODE_RAINBOW_TEXT 8
MODE_RAINBOW_CLOCK 9
MODE_RAINBOW_DATE 10

(D) Service display_on / display_off

Turns the display on or off

There's an easier way in using a switch component:

Sample

switch:
  - platform: template
    name: "$devicename Display"
    icon: "mdi:power"
    restore_mode: ALWAYS_ON
    lambda: |-
      return id(rgb8x32)->show_display;
    turn_on_action:
      lambda: |-
        id(rgb8x32)->set_display_on();
    turn_off_action:
      lambda: |-
        id(rgb8x32)->set_display_off();

Service skip_screen

If there is more than one screen in the queue, it skips the actual displayed screen to the next screen.

e.g., on the Ulanzi TC001

binary_sensor:
  - platform: gpio
    pin:
      number: $left_button_pin
      inverted: true
    on_press:
      lambda:
        id(rgb8x32)->skip_screen();

Service hold_screen

Displays the current screen for a configured amount (see hold_time) (default=30) seconds longer.

e.g., on the Ulanzi TC001

binary_sensor:
  - platform: gpio
    pin:
      number: $right_button_pin
      inverted: true
    on_press:
      lambda:
        id(rgb8x32)->hold_screen(120);

(D) Service get_status

This service displays the running queue and a list of icons in the logs

[13:10:10][I][EHMTX:175]: status status: 1  as: 1
[13:10:10][I][EHMTX:176]: status screen count: 3
[13:10:10][I][EHMTX:181]: status slot: 0 icon: 36  text: 47.9°C end: 400
[13:10:10][I][EHMTX:181]: status slot: 1 icon: 23  text: Supa langer Text end: 310
[13:10:10][I][EHMTX:181]: status slot: 2 icon: 1  text: 10.3°C end: 363
[13:10:10][I][EHMTX:186]: status icon: 0 name: boot
[13:10:10][I][EHMTX:186]: status icon: 1 name: temp
[13:10:10][I][EHMTX:186]: status icon: 2 name: garage
[13:10:10][I][EHMTX:186]: status icon: 3 name: wind
[13:10:10][I][EHMTX:186]: status icon: 4 name: rain

Integration in Home Assistant

To control your display, it has to be integrated in Home Assistant. Then it provides several services, all prefixed with the configured devicename e.g.,, "ehmtx". See the default services marked as (D) above, but you can add your own (see alarm and screen).

Services

All communication with Home Assistant use the homeasistant-api. The services can be provided by default or also defined additionally in the YAML. To define the additional services, you need the id of the ehmtx-component e.g. id(rgb8x32).

Use in Home Assistant automations

The easiest way to use ehmtx as a status display is to use the icon names as trigger id. In my example, I have an icon named “wind” when the sensor.wind_speed has a new state, this automation sends the new data to the screen with the icon named “wind” and so on.

alias: EHMTX 8266 Test
description: ''
trigger:
  - platform: numeric_state
    entity_id: sensor.wind_speed
    id: wind
  - platform: state
    entity_id: sensor.actual_temperature
    id: temp
  - platform: state
    entity_id: sensor.wg_cover_device
    id: cover
condition: []
action:
  - service: esphome.ehmtx8266_icon_screen
    data:
      icon_name: '{{trigger.id}}'
      text: >-
        {{trigger.to_state.state}}{{trigger.to_state.attributes.unit_of_measurement}}
mode: queued
max: 10

Tips

Display precision after home assistant 2023.3.0

See templating for possibilities to optimize the output e.g. {{ states(sensor.solarpower, rounded=True) }} kWh

Specific icons per condition

Add an icon per weather condition to the ehmtxv2 component

  - id: weather_clear_night
      lameid: 52163
    - id: weather_cloudy
      lameid: 25991
    - id: weather_fog
      lameid: 52167
    ......

Sample automation to show the weather with local temperature

alias: EHMTX weather
description: weather with icon per condition
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: weather.metno
action:
  - service: esphome.ulanzi_del_screen
    data:
      icon_name: weather_*
      mode: 5
  - service: esphome.ulanzi_icon_screen
    data:
      icon_name: weather_{{ trigger.to_state.state }}
      text: >-
        {{ states("sensor.external_actual_temperature") }}°C
      ....

or another sample automation for the trashcan type

alias: "EHMTX Müllanzeige"
description: Anzeige welche Tonne raus muss. iconnamen gekürzt
trigger:
  - platform: time
    at:
      - "06:30"
      - "08:30"
      - "10:30"
      - "15:00"
      - "17:00"
      - "19:00"
condition:
  - condition: numeric_state
    entity_id: sensor.mulltrigger
    below: "3"
action:
  - service: esphome.ulanzi_del_screen
    data:
      icon_name: trash_*
      mode: 5
  - service: esphome.ulanzi_icon_screen
    data:
      icon_name: >-
        trash_{{ states("sensor.mulldetails") | replace("Biotonne",   "brow")|
        replace("Papiertonne","blue")| replace("Restmüll",   "grey")|
        replace("gelbe Tonne","yell|") | truncate(4,true,"")  }}     
      text: >-
        {{ states("sensor.mulldetails")|replace(" in","")|replace(" days","
        Tagen") | replace ("0 Tagen","heute") | replace ("1 Tagen","morgen")}}
      lifetime: 120
      ...

Integrate in Home Assistant UI

Add entities to the Home Assistant UI for interactive control of your display

Brightness

number:
  - platform: template
    name: "$devicename brightness"
    min_value: 0
    max_value: 255
    step: 1
    lambda: |-
      return id(rgb8x32)->get_brightness();
    set_action:
      lambda: |-
        id(rgb8x32)->set_brightness(x);

Display switch

switch:
  - platform: template
    name: "$devicename Display"
    icon: "mdi:power"
    restore_mode: ALWAYS_ON
    lambda: |-
      return id(rgb8x32)->show_display;
    turn_on_action:
      lambda: |-
        id(rgb8x32)->set_display_on();
    turn_off_action:
      lambda: |-
        id(rgb8x32)->set_display_off();

automatic brightness

Awtrix and PixelIt have hard-coded functionality. EHMTX is also capable of building something like that by lambdas. But this is all your freedom. See the Ulanzi simple YAML as a guide.

Example: automatic brightness control with a bh1570 sensor

sensor:
  - platform: bh1570
    # ...
    on_value:
      then:
         lambda: |-  
            if (x > 200)
            {
               id(rgb8x32)->set_brightness(50);
            } else {
               id(rgb8x32)->set_brightness(250);
            }

Breaking changes

2023.6.3

Due to this change these values are fixed, e.g. you can not change the date or timeformat during runtime anymore!!

  • changed *_interval to be set only on compile time
  • change scroll_count to be set only on compile time
  • change font_offsets to be set only on compile time
  • change date/time_format to be set only on compile time

2023.5.0

  • renamed indicator to rindicator because there is now also a lindicator

EspHoMaTriX in the media

See this German tutorial video with information on setting up your display RGB-LED Status Display für Home Assistant mit ESPHome | ESPHoMaTrix.

Another german tutorial video focused on the Ulanzi Smarte Pixel Clock über Home Assistant steuern - Entitäten / Icons und mehr in der Ulanzi

See this nice article about EsphoMaTrix on a Ulanzi TC001 from blakadder.

Short video on Instagram @blak_adder

See these english discussions: Share your projects ESPHOME

It was also mentioned in the blog Building the Open Home and in the home assistant livestream

Or in German: Showroom

Disclaimer

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, use at your own risk!

Thanks

  • blakadder for his contribution (cleanup README.md, fixed sample)
  • andrew-codechimp for his contribution (display on/off & del_screen "*" & show_clock with 0)
  • jd1 for his contributions
  • aptonline for his work on the Ulanzi hardware
  • wsbtak for the work on the Ulanzi hardware
  • ofirsnb for his contributions
  • darkpoet78 for his work on optimized fonts and user support and work on the wiki
  • pplucky for his 8x32 GIF animation
  • dennisse Auto brightness for the Ulanzi
  • hco fixing documentation
  • geekofweek fixed sample YAML
  • Everybody who found bugs/issues and reported them!

Special thanks to all sponsors

About

A simple DIY status display with a 8x32 RGB LED panel implemented with esphome.io and Home Assistant.

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