Juan | Jan. 2, 2020

Kursat | July 3, 2018

Very good module, designed for the most common use case

For nRF52832 ANT+, Bluetooth 5, ARM Cortex-M4F, 30 I/O

I am using it to build a low volume product. I've tried to use several from other manufacturers, RFDuino, Simblee, Redbear.
None of them were good enough for several reasons. They are small, unreliable companies, their offerings were either not suitable or expensive. Even though this is made just by one person, it is designed for the common use case. It is apparently more reliable source because there is a long enough track of delivery.
Pros:
- Correctly designed, suits the most common use case.
- Reasonably priced.
- Certified
- The maker can even do the assembly, conformal coating etc. for your custom board.
Cons:
- Little to big. I would have considered providing one version w/o though holes.
The nano version is not yet certified, per blog expected to be on Q3 2018 and is also $2 more expensive.

Response from I-SYST | July 3, 2018

Thanks very much for the review. The Nano version passed FCC & CE certification testing already. We are in the process of completing the paperworks. The Nano is also designed for easy integration. All the pads are at the edge of the module for easy hand assembly during prototyping phase as well as mass production.

Mike | Jan. 24, 2018

Sabatini | Jan. 31, 2017

Florin | April 11, 2016

Florin | April 11, 2016

Mattias | Dec. 21, 2015

Nice product, gets the job done

For LED Matrix Multi-Display kit Duo for Arduino

This is a nice a complete platform for all my needs to create large Arduino-powered displays. The documentation is a bit weak, but the example project is a good starting point, but the instructions on how to wire everything up is a bit confusing I think. Eventually figured it out, so no biggie - but don't expect a good out-of-the-box. As I had fewer displays that the 8 mentioned in the example project I managed to mess everything up in the first attempts by deleting the non-used entries in the arrays.

Mounting the displays proved to be a bit difficult due to the placement of the CS1-4 DIP-switch. We mounted 2x2 on wooden bars using the holes, but then these DIP-switches are in the way and we needed to chip some wood of the bars. All other components are mounted between the flat-cable connectors and are out of the way. Would be nice if the next version would move the DIP-switches up to the area between the two segment connectors that don't have the U1 chip mounted (i.e. between the rows of R11/14/16/15/13 and R9/R12/R10).

Driving the displays seems to be a bit taxing taxing on the Arduino. I use a Dragino Yun shield to get the data to display and scrolling is a bit jumpy when the Dragino sends data on the RX/TX. I reverted to only use static messages which is fine for my application.

Providing power to the displays may be a problem with many displays. A separate powersupply on the LMXSHIELD for the displays would be nice not to overheat the Arduino converter.

The 5 mm version is clearly readable from at least 15 meters when the intensity is adjusted a bit. Too bright is a bit hard to read.

Response from I-SYST | Dec. 23, 2015

Thanks very much for the details explanation of your experiences with it.
- We take notes of the DIP switch to move it out of the way in the next revision of the board.
- We do have another shield that have onboard power supply that can drives up to 16 boards. This one here https://www.tindie.com/products/hnhoan/led-matrix-shield-display-for-arduino-and-imm-nrf51822/
- To reduce the heat on the Arduino converter, use a power adapter with lower voltage around 7v would do. The higher voltage adapter you use, the more it will heat up the Arduino due to it LDO converter nature.
- The displays and shield are wired by 2 ribbon cable. The cables have a notch so that you cannot plug it in reverse. One cable connect to 2 displays together, the other is to connect the display to the shield. There are no other wirings. There is also drawing in the user guide showing the connection between multiple display boards. Can you give a little more details of the wiring problem that you are having so we can add it to the user guide.
- The software source code showed you how to write scrolling routine. It was made on Arduino Uno. The scrolling need to adjust timing delay based your board and what you are running on. the jumpy scroll is due to the fact that your code is blocking on other things. You need to adjust the timing in your code to allow the display to refresh. Scrolling requires you to update the display, it is totally software, not hardware.
- The displays has 16 intensity levels you can set. The software library has all the functions to allow you to control it.

Thank you very much for your review.

Marcio | Sept. 8, 2015

Kris | Dec. 2, 2014