Looking for advice to make an epic matrix

EngiNeenan

EngiNeenan

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Nov 28, 2025
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Hey guys I'm new here. Going deep in the rabbit hole. i might be one of the only people in Darwin crazy enough to join this hobby and community 🤣

Ive spent hours and hours scraping AliExpress to find the right product for a large matrix

Im wanting a size around 5m x 1.5m and a 2.5cm pitch for greater detail on effects.

I was looking to buy six 20px x 50px each 250cm x 50cm.

This is the product:
a.aliexpress.com

2025-NEW! 20 pixels/50cm Wide DC12V 2.5cm Pitch Addressable RGB Smart LED Seed Flexible Matrix Grid Screen Lights P67 - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
a.aliexpress.com a.aliexpress.com

This appears to use WS2811 seed pixels. They only draw 8mA so my concern is they may not be bright enough. The street we live on is relatively dark, although has one street light 30m away. Across the road from my house is a large green oval so the house can actually be seen from distance of +100m.
 
Oh they'll be bright enough to be seen alright. .008A * ~9V = .072W, * 400 nodes is 30W of LED light (for a mere 20x20 panel... you are looking at 6000 pixels which would be 400+W of LED light). 10W is typical for an LED household bulb, and those can be seen from 100m easily enough.

The real questions are more a practical consideration of using that style of matrix section to make a big enough matrix to make out detail, viewing distance, etc. Your math isn't mathing for me. You said 6 panels of 20x50 - at 2.5cm pitch that is 6*20*2.5 = 3m x 1.5m; this is under your 5mx1.5m goal by 50%. 1000 pixels on a panel is also a bit of a challenge, that'd be 8A through the small connector (though I guess only 4A from each side of it), and 1000 pixels limits your frame rate, so I'd be tempted by smaller ones, but that means more parts to deal with. (Also, get spares.)
 
Thanks so much for the input.

My bad, You are right. That's weird the product page says a 20 x 50px matrix is 50cm x 250cm but with a 2.5cm pitch it would actually be 50cm x 1.25 so the dimensions on the listing would be 5cm pitch. Its looks like the seller did a copy paste from their 5cm pitch listing.

Now I'm crunching the numbers this would mean 12 channels which is sounding difficult. Would most people use a 5cm pitch for this size matrix?

At a 5cm Pitch id be looking at 6 channels which is sounding more practical. I was just worried a 5cm pitch be be to far apart.
 
Last edited:
A lot of people would use 2.5cm pitch, and a lot of people would use 5cm pitch (especially depending on how close anyone ever gets to it).
Controllers have 16-17 ports :)
My first (and definitely ill-advised) matrix was 150x96 - 48 ports of 300 pixel strip. (Suitcase-sized controller enclosure now sits in attic patiently awaiting a new mission.) Yours will be better either way.
 
I was concerned about seed pixels not being bright enough too - I can confirm they are surprisingly bright for their size. I have them on my house with bullet pixels in the mix and you really don't see a difference.
 
I note the 'epic' in your topic. With that in mind, I'd suggest the 2.5cm spacing rather than 5cm. I've got a 4m x ~1.8m matrix with seeds 20mm seeds.
There is certainly no need to worry about brightness.

Patterns as per the youtube video below look great up close and far away (also for reference, the hedge matrix to the right is 10cm spacing 12mm pixels)

View: https://youtu.be/W1rzlWplkuI?si=dPmlAq1zrPLhHmz5&t=100


If you're going for animations (e.g. Bluey / Disney), they look great from my typical ~10m viewing distance, but I feel you need to be at least 5m+ away to get a good effect.
photos.app.goo.gl

4 new photos · Nov 26, 2024âââMay 6, 2025 ð¸

Tap to view!
photos.app.goo.gl photos.app.goo.gl

Whilst I've gone for the clear wire, you may want to consider black insulation for better longevity with UV exposure. Mine are east facing in Sydney, and only in their second season. No issues so far - time will tell how long they last...
 
EngiNeenan said:
Hey guys I'm new here. Going deep in the rabbit hole. i might be one of the only people in Darwin crazy enough to join this hobby and community 🤣

Ive spent hours and hours scraping AliExpress to find the right product for a large matrix

Im wanting a size around 5m x 1.5m and a 2.5cm pitch for greater detail on effects.

I was looking to buy six 20px x 50px each 250cm x 50cm.

This is the product:
a.aliexpress.com

2025-NEW! 20 pixels/50cm Wide DC12V 2.5cm Pitch Addressable RGB Smart LED Seed Flexible Matrix Grid Screen Lights P67 - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
a.aliexpress.com a.aliexpress.com

This appears to use WS2811 seed pixels. They only draw 8mA so my concern is they may not be bright enough. The street we live on is relatively dark, although has one street light 30m away. Across the road from my house is a large green oval so the house can actually be seen from distance of +100m.
Click to expand...
Seed are great - i only run mine at 30% brightness

Some of the ali express suppliers can make custom size matrix which might be better than getting stuck with standard sizes
 
Kent said:
I note the 'epic' in your topic. With that in mind, I'd suggest the 2.5cm spacing rather than 5cm. I've got a 4m x ~1.8m matrix with seeds 20mm seeds.
There is certainly no need to worry about brightness.

Patterns as per the youtube video below look great up close and far away (also for reference, the hedge matrix to the right is 10cm spacing 12mm pixels)

View: https://youtu.be/W1rzlWplkuI?si=dPmlAq1zrPLhHmz5&t=100


If you're going for animations (e.g. Bluey / Disney), they look great from my typical ~10m viewing distance, but I feel you need to be at least 5m+ away to get a good effect.
photos.app.goo.gl

4 new photos · Nov 26, 2024âââMay 6, 2025 ð¸

Tap to view!
photos.app.goo.gl photos.app.goo.gl

Whilst I've gone for the clear wire, you may want to consider black insulation for better longevity with UV exposure. Mine are east facing in Sydney, and only in their second season. No issues so far - time will tell how long they last...
Click to expand...

That’s a great display Kent. Well done on getting it up
 
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