Status Boards

Simple means of showing status of Hackspace stuff on web and physical boards.

• NodeMCU (ESP8226) with Arduino core for WiFi-enabled status board
• NodeJS server for HTTP access
• https://github.com/msemtd/nodemcu-statusboard

• Physical Prototype
• 
  First A4 lasercut prototype with 8 bits of data

The driving of the 16 LEDs poses an interesting problem due to the limited number of digital outputs on the NodeMCU: we are looking for a simple low-cost solution so after looking at various ICs to perform the task I decided to throw in another inexpensive micro with plenty of I/O and control it with I2C, serial or similar.

Using a cheap ProMicro for I/O

The NodeMCU can tell the ProMicro what outputs to drive with a simple serial protocol: -

• ASCII for human convenience and same parsing code on both micros
• same interface on both UARTS - USB and HW for simplicity and testing
• The ESP8266-E is not 5v tolerant on the UART so I shall use a voltage divider
  • https://cdn-shop.adafruit.com/product-files/2471/0A-ESP8266__Datasheet__EN_v4.3.pdf