Smart Matrix Clock

CircuitPython clock for a Waveshare 64x32 RGB matrix kit with Raspberry Pi Pico W, buttons, DS3231 RTC, buzzer, light sensor, Wi-Fi, NTP time sync, and weather status.

Main Features

• Shows large hour/minute clock on the left side of the matrix.
• Shows day and date on the right side.
• Shows the company logo in the bottom-right corner.
• Shows Wi-Fi status next to the logo.
• Shows a simple weather icon next to the Wi-Fi symbol:
  • yellow sun
  • white cloud
  • blue raindrop
• Shows the Jedi Dog splash image on startup and once every hour.
• Plays a short "woof woof" buzzer pattern on startup and at configured hourly bark times when beeps are enabled.
• Syncs date and time from NTP over Wi-Fi.
• Saves Wi-Fi settings across restarts.
• Gets current weather from Open-Meteo using latitude and longitude in location_config.txt.

Buttons

The clock uses three buttons:

• MENU: enter/select/advance
• DOWN: move backward or decrease a value
• UP: move forward or increase a value
• Long-press UP: go back/exit

To return to the clock face from a menu, long-press UP until you are back at the clock.

Settings Menu

Short-press MENU from the clock face to open the settings list.

Available settings:

• TIME SET: manually set hour, minute, second
• DATE SET: manually set year, month, day
• BEEP SET: enable or disable button beeps and the dog bark
• autolight: enable or disable automatic brightness
• BRIGHT: adjust display brightness from 1 to 10

Use UP and DOWN to move through the settings list. Press MENU to enter the selected setting.

Setting Time And Date

In TIME SET or DATE SET:

• MENU: move to the next field
• UP: increase the selected field
• DOWN: decrease the selected field
• Long-press UP: save and go back

When Wi-Fi is connected, the clock will also sync time from NTP automatically.

Wi-Fi Setup

Wi-Fi settings are stored in:

wifi_config.txt

Example:

enabled=1
ssid=YourWiFiName
password=YourWiFiPassword

Edit this file directly from your computer to configure Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi credentials are not edited from the clock menu.

The Wi-Fi status icon on the clock face shows:

• green Wi-Fi mark: connected
• red X: not connected

If Wi-Fi is enabled but disconnected, the clock retries the connection about every 60 seconds.

Weather And Location

Weather settings are stored in:

location_config.txt

For Sarasota, Florida:

latitude=27.3364
longitude=-82.5307
timezone_offset=-4
timezone=US/Eastern

The timezone=US/Eastern setting automatically handles daylight saving time. timezone_offset is kept as a fallback.

Weather is fetched from Open-Meteo about every 30 minutes.

Files On The Device

Important files:

• code.py: main program
• displaySubsystem.py: clock/menu display pages
• wifiManager.py: Wi-Fi connection and saved credentials
• ntpManager.py: NTP time sync and daylight saving logic
• weatherManager.py: weather fetch and weather-code mapping
• wifi_config.txt: saved Wi-Fi credentials
• location_config.txt: latitude, longitude, timezone
• bark_config.txt: hourly dog bark schedule
• brightness_config.txt: display brightness level from 1 to 10
• startup.bmp: Jedi Dog startup/hourly splash image
• logo.bmp: company logo
• boot.py: controls whether the Pico or computer can write to the filesystem

Editing Files From A Computer

The clock normally owns write access to the filesystem while it runs. This lets runtime files be saved reliably.

To make the CIRCUITPY drive writable from your computer:

1. Unplug or reset the Pico W.
2. Hold the MENU button.
3. Plug in or reboot the Pico W while holding MENU.
4. The computer should now be able to edit files on CIRCUITPY.

If you are using Mu Editor, open the Serial console and press Ctrl+C to stop the running program and enter the REPL.

Brightness

Brightness is stored in:

brightness_config.txt

Default:

level=3

Use the BRIGHT menu to adjust brightness from 1 to 10. Long-press UP to save and go back. If autolight is enabled, the light sensor can dim the display, but this brightness level is still used as the normal on-brightness.

Dog Bark Schedule

Dog bark hours are stored in:

bark_config.txt

Default:

enabled=1
hours=12,17

Set enabled=0 to disable the dog bark. The dog image still appears on startup and hourly.

Hours use 24-hour time, so 12 is noon and 17 is 5 PM. The startup bark plays when both enabled=1 and BEEP SET is on, even if the current hour is not listed.