If you've ever done any live video streaming before, you may have heard of the Stream Deck. It allows you to customize the live streaming experience for your viewers such as showing the number of viewers, running custom keyboard commands, or showing animations. It allows you to customize the buttons too with whatever graphics you want.

But did you know there's other non-streaming uses for the Stream Deck such as controlling lights in a house, open applications, or open web pages in a browser window? You can even write custom plugins to extend the capabilities.

This project uses a custom Stream Deck plugin to communicate directly with the Adafruit IO REST API. It works by posting a specific value to a feed and each button will post a different value to the feed allowing you to easily change messages.

The message panel itself is driven by the Metro M4 Express Airlift Lite. It will connect to local WiFi and read the value of the message straight from your feed. It even allows some basic formatting such as color and text size. The feed values are limited to 50 characters, so the more formatting you apply, the less text you can show. Fortunately, the message panel can hold a maximum of 40 characters.

Parts

Adafruit Metro M4 Airlift Lite dev board with SAMD51 an ESP32 Wifi Co-processor.
Give your next project a lift with AirLift - our witty name for the ESP32 co-processor that graces this Metro M4. You already know about the Adafruit Metro...
$34.95
In Stock

On top of the Metro M4 Express Airlift is an Adafruit RGB Matrix Shield.

Adafruit RGB Matrix Shield for Arduino connected to a LED Matrix that reads "Adafruit Industries LED MATIX! 32x64 *RGB*"
Our RGB matrices are dazzling, with their hundreds or even thousands of individual RGB LEDs. Compared to NeoPixels, they've got great density, power usage and the...
$5.95
In Stock

For this project, the 64x32 RGB Matrix was used and it is available in 4 different pitches. The smaller the pitch is, the smaller the LEDs are, but also the closer together they are.

Vide of assembled and powered on 64x32 RGB LED Matrix Panel - 4mm pitch. The matrix displays "Black Lives Matter" alongside the Raised Fist.
Bring a little bit of Times Square into your home with this sweet 64 x 32 square RGB LED matrix panel. These panels are normally used to make video walls, here in New York we see them...
$39.95
In Stock

You will also need a 5V power adapter that can drive a lot of current. We stock a nice 4 Amp model which was used for this project.

5V 4A switching power supply brick with figure 8 power port.
Need a lot of 5V power? This switching supply gives a clean regulated 5V output at up to 4 Amps (4000mA). 110 or 240 input, so it works in any country. The plugs are "US...
$14.95
In Stock

If you plan on 3D printing the Backing, you will also need these Heat-set Inserts.

pile of 50 Brass Heat-Set Inserts for Plastic - M3 x 3mm.
Wanna improve the connection strength between your project's 3D-printed parts, and also have nice clean surfaces? Instead of gluing bits together, or screwing plastic screws...
$5.95
In Stock

You also may want this tool for the heat-set inserts.

Heat-Set Insert tool For Soldering Irons #4-40 / M3 Inserts.
Wanna improve the connection strength between your project's 3D-printed parts, and also have nice clean surfaces? Instead of gluing bits together, or screwing plastic screws...
$9.95
In Stock
4 x M3x6mm Screw
McMaster-Carr M3x6mm Socket head screw for mounting Metro M4 Airlift

M3x8mm should also work fine if that's what you have available.

The only other hardware you will need are some nice long wood screws (about 1.5" or longer) for mounting in the wall. It is very important that these are steel screws because the magnetic screws will need to stick to them.

This guide was first published on Aug 21, 2019. It was last updated on Mar 15, 2024.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

Text editor powered by tinymce.