Active pixels flash once at max brightness every minute

[scfede]

I noticed that whenever the minute changes, all active pixels flash once at max brightness and then dim again to stay on the desired/set brightness. Saw that with "Big Clock" but also with other plugins, so i'd guess this is a global issue.

How to reproduce: Use the plugin "Big Clock", set brightness to a very low value and wait until the minute flips to the next one.

[dahabakuk]

i noticed this too. still looking around in the source to get a better understanding why this happens.... its really annoying :)

[TheMysticle]

Hey, sorry to be bringing this back from the dead but I just got this setup and really like the clock running on this. However, it's really annoying in the dark when the entire thing flashes at a higher brightness just before a change. Did you ever get this fixed?

[BrookeDot]

I recently experienced this too, I think it could be that the brightness is being set to 255 when DrawBigNumbers is called:
https://github.com/ph1p/ikea-led-obegraensad/blob/main/include/screen.h#L75

The solution could be as simple as passing the current brightness in when drawing the numbers:
https://github.com/ph1p/ikea-led-obegraensad/blob/main/src/plugins/BigClockPlugin.cpp#L30C16-L30C30

[TheMysticle]

I recently experienced this too, I think it could be that the brightness is being set to 255 when DrawBigNumbers is called: https://github.com/ph1p/ikea-led-obegraensad/blob/main/include/screen.h#L75

The solution could be as simple as passing the current brightness in when drawing the numbers: https://github.com/ph1p/ikea-led-obegraensad/blob/main/src/plugins/BigClockPlugin.cpp#L30C16-L30C30

Okay, so I actually tried this and replaced:

void BigClockPlugin::loop()
{
  if (getLocalTime(&timeinfo))
  {
    if (previousHour != timeinfo.tm_hour || previousMinutes != timeinfo.tm_min)
    {
      std::vector<int> hh = {(timeinfo.tm_hour - timeinfo.tm_hour % 10) / 10, timeinfo.tm_hour % 10};
      std::vector<int> mm = {(timeinfo.tm_min - timeinfo.tm_min % 10) / 10, timeinfo.tm_min % 10};
      bool leadingZero = (hh.at(0) == 0);
      Screen.clear();
      if (leadingZero)
      {
        hh.erase(hh.begin());
        Screen.drawBigNumbers(COLS / 2, 0, hh);
        Screen.drawBigNumbers(0, ROWS / 2, mm);
      }
      else
      {
        Screen.drawBigNumbers(0, 0, hh);
        Screen.drawBigNumbers(0, ROWS / 2, mm);
      }
    }

    previousMinutes = timeinfo.tm_min;
    previousHour = timeinfo.tm_hour;
  }
}

With

void BigClockPlugin::loop()
{
  if (getLocalTime(&timeinfo))
  {
    if (previousHour != timeinfo.tm_hour || previousMinutes != timeinfo.tm_min)
    {
      std::vector<int> hh = {(timeinfo.tm_hour - timeinfo.tm_hour % 10) / 10, timeinfo.tm_hour % 10};
      std::vector<int> mm = {(timeinfo.tm_min - timeinfo.tm_min % 10) / 10, timeinfo.tm_min % 10};
      bool leadingZero = (hh.at(0) == 0);
      Screen.clear();
      if (leadingZero)
      {
        hh.erase(hh.begin());
        uint8_t currentBrightness = Screen.getCurrentBrightness();
        Screen.drawBigNumbers(COLS / 2, 0, hh, currentBrightness);
        Screen.drawBigNumbers(0, ROWS / 2, mm, currentBrightness);
      }
      else
      {
        uint8_t currentBrightness = Screen.getCurrentBrightness();
        Screen.drawBigNumbers(0, 0, hh, currentBrightness);
        Screen.drawBigNumbers(0, ROWS / 2, mm, currentBrightness);
      }
    }

    previousMinutes = timeinfo.tm_min;
    previousHour = timeinfo.tm_hour;
  }
}

But unfortunately that just causes the screen to flicker like crazy on brightness values lower than 50. Would be amazing to get this solved but I'm actually not that good at bugfinding. If anyone has any ideas though I'm happy to test.

[BrookeDot]

Thanks for testing @TheMysticle, the brightness change must be further up in the stack then :-/

[TheMysticle]

All good, I'll keep trying to get it working but I don't know if I'll be able to. This isn't my strong point 😂 It seems I'm able to eliminate the flashing by using entirely software PWM, however then a new issue arises because the entire thing flickers subtly and randomly at lower brightness. It's subtle but it's definitely there and constant.

[TheMysticle]

Thanks for testing @TheMysticle, the brightness change must be further up in the stack then :-/

Okay, good news. I have found the issue. It's actually a lot easier than we may have thought. It's the loop that looks for messages once a minute. That's what causes it. So just remove the line:

Messages.scrollMessageEveryMinute();

From main.cpp

If you need to actually project messages onto the display a much better way would be to make a plugin specifically for that purpose :)

[BrookeDot]

I have found the issue. It's actually a lot easier than we may have thought. It's the loop that looks for messages once a minute.

Great find!
Did you remove the entire conditional?
https://github.com/ph1p/ikea-led-obegraensad/blob/main/src/main.cpp#L244-L248

If you need to actually project messages onto the display a much better way would be to make a plugin specifically for that purpose :)

There was some discussion on this in #142 that came to the same conclusion. I don't use the messages feature personally but would like to hear from those who do.

It may also be good to see if a PR should be made to totally refactor the messages functionality into a plugin or simply remove it.