will this LED sign work with BL LED or homeseer? (or what do i need to look for)

[fischb22]

hi,

What do i need to look for in an LED sign? will this work?

https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions...sAnswered=true

thanks!

[outbackrob]

BLLED works with BETABRITE signs. I don't think they are manufactured anymore, but you can still buy them new (Very expensive) or get them used from eBay or other places online. I purchased one new in early 90's. Bought 2 more off eBay when I found HS and the old LEDAM plug-in. And I think I bought 1 or 2 more when BLLED came out. I have 5 and all of them are still functioning.

[Michael McSharry]

it is unlikely you will find any current technology sign that has a HS plugin. Interesting that it is Windows that has software for it. If the manf is willing to provide details then the API may be something from which script or plugin can be developed. For more hardcore hacker then Wireshark to reverse engineer.

The was a very similar thread a few weeks ago by rsquare and included one that was built by a user who used python to drive it and was looking to interface with HS.

I will be playing with some of the LED matrix panels used to build these signs, but again a DIY for physical mounting the panels in a case. I will be using MQTT over WiFi for interface. MQTT has HS plugins.

[fischb22]

i have so far built my own LED sign panel, its all in python and controlled by a pi, if i can find the motivation, i'm hoping to work on some type of communication to homeseer.

right now the script picks a random quote, shows the time, and shows the weather.

if i can (somehow) get it talking with homeseer(vba and sockets?), i'm hoping to do priority control/takeover, so that some events will be able to take over the display, or just add to the messages(for example, show the song title of currently playing song, or complete takeover for urgent weather update, or whatever)

this has been a journey in building it, as well as learning yet another language(python). not to mention, i've got to upgrade from a pi zero, to something larger as my script is using about 90% of the CPU on the zero (i'm going to guess the arrays i'm using is the cause, but cannot think of another way of handling that)

once i get further along, i'll be glad to share my (sloppy) code, wiring, and assorted stuff

[Michael McSharry]

MQTT is a very simple protocol and standard across many platforms. It is a much cleaner approach than building some one-off protocol. I did receive my LED matrix panels from China this week, but now in middle of doing Bluetooth tracking addition to mcsMQTT plugin. The LED panel is next and would be happy to collaborate.