# Cannot get Panel to light up

**URL:** <https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/cannot-get-panel-to-light-up/269>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [July 1, 2021, 1:06pm UTC](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/cannot-get-panel-to-light-up/269 "2021-07-01T13:06:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ctt528](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ctt528](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/u/ctt528)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 1:06pm UTC](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/cannot-get-panel-to-light-up/269/1 "2021-07-01T13:06:00Z")

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I have 6 16x32 LED matrix panels. 5V 10A power supply for the panels.  
I have a Rasberry Pi 4.  
My objective is to make a stock ticker(1 row of 6 panels).

I can’t get any of the demo’s to show on my panel chain. The LED’s have never lighted up, which makes me think it is a wiring issue, but I have done exactly the wiring HZeller says.

I have tried to light only 1 panel, to simplify things, but still no luck.

I run “Sudo ./demo -D 1 runtext.ppm” in terminal and it says it is going, but when I look at the panels, nothing happens.

Thank you so much for any help that you have.

 ![wiring](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/rpi_rgb_led_matrix/original/1X/609bc1c3aa0cb720d1880249e9d4fe2ecc18bac0.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![yaturner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/c37758/32.png) [@yaturner](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/u/yaturner)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2021, 7:19pm UTC](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/cannot-get-panel-to-light-up/269/2 "2021-07-05T19:19:42Z")

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Rather than directly wire the panel to the Pi, as it appears that you have done, I ordered an Adafruit RGB Matrix hat form Adafruit, plus the standard connectors. This allows you to connect an external 5V power supply for the LED Panel. I suspect the problem is that the Pi can’t power itself and the panel both. This arrangement allowed me to use a 2x2 panel display for my project. You can get more details at my project’s website

> **[yaturner/myWeatherPanel](https://github.com/yaturner/myWeatherPanel)**
>
> A Raspberry Pi based python3 application to display weather and RSS information on a RGB LED Matrix - yaturner/myWeatherPanel

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**Author:** ![marcmerlin](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/marcmerlin/32/40_2.png) [@marcmerlin](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/u/marcmerlin)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2021, 7:46pm UTC](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/cannot-get-panel-to-light-up/269/3 "2021-07-05T19:46:44Z")

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there is also a level shift problem, not all panels will work with 3.3V signals when they expect 5V signals (you can cheat by powering them with 4.5V instead, but that’s not great)  
Definitely use a pre-made board. It can be done with direct wiring but if you value your time, get an electrodragon board, or the adafruit one