OctoPlus

The OctoPlus can also be ordered from Wired Watts along with panels and mounting brackets and power supplies for a more complete system.

What is it?

It’s a cape for the BeagleBone that provide 8 HUB75 output connectors for driving standard P10/P5 panels. It also contains a real time clock, temperature sensor, and connector for an OLED status display.

Why did you make it?

P10 and P5 LED panels have become a popular method of displaying images, text, and effects for animated Christmas Light displays. Traditionally, the community has been using a standard “Octoscroller” on a full Beaglebone Black for driving the panels. This cape provides same functionality, but adds new features such as RTC, temperature sensor, OLED display and more.

What makes it special?

The OctoPlus has 8 output connectors, each of which can drive more that 12 P10 1:8 scan panels for a total panel count of 96. It supports the 1:4 scan P10 panels, 1:8 scan P5 panels, and 1:16 scan P5 panels. Other panels types that use the 1:8 or 1:16 scan rates are also supported.

The FPP software that runs on the BeagleBone is capable of playing sequences off the local SD card, but can also accept e1.31 or DDP data via the network adapter or WIFI adapter plugged into the USB port. Any software that can output e1.31 should be able to send effects to the OctoPlus for display on the Panels.

The FPP software uses both PRU’s on the BeagleBone to drive the panels. This allows a very high refresh rate while freeing up the main CPU to handle the network IO and general panel layout.

All software and PRU code is open source and available on github.

The cape provides:

• 8 HUB75 output connectors.
• 3.5mm screw terminal for providing 5v power. This provides power to the BeagleBone.
• PFC8523 Real Time Clock with battery backup (CR1220).
• LM75 I2C Temperature Sensor.
• OLED Display.

You will need:

• A good quality SD card with the latest FPP image installed on it. The latest FPP images can always be found at https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/releases