Nodex Matrix · for Home Assistant
A 64×64 LED panel that Home Assistant drives. Solar output, the next bin day, who's at the door, how long the washing has left — if an automation can work it out, the Matrix can show it.
It arrives flashed and ready. Home Assistant finds it on your network, and every screen, colour and message is an entity you can automate.
Info — six rows pushed from an automation
Open config, Improv provisioning and over-the-air updates — the things the Made for ESPHome programme asks for. The full configuration is public, so none of this has to be taken on trust.
What it can show
The Screen entity switches between them, so an automation can change what's on the wall by time of day, or when something happens.
On top of all five, a notification can take over the whole panel for a set number of seconds and then put back whatever was there — for a doorbell, a leak, or the school run.
Each row is a label and a value you push from Home Assistant — energy prices, battery state, train times, whatever you already have an entity for. Set a title, set up to six rows, clear them when they stop mattering.
Rows aren't kept through a restart, so drive them from an automation on a timer. The repo ships a worked example that puts Octopus Energy readings on the panel.
The display appears in Home Assistant as a light: turn it off at bedtime, dim it, or ramp it with the sun. Theme colour sets the accent, so it can match the room rather than shouting at it.
Out of the box
It ships already flashed. There's no ESPHome dashboard to install and no YAML to write unless you want to.
Plug the Matrix Portal into USB-C power. The panel shows SETUP.
On your phone, join the WiFi network Nodex Matrix Setup — or scan the QR code on the panel.
A page opens; choose your network and enter the password.
You can do this over Bluetooth from the Home Assistant app instead, or over USB.
A New device discovered notification appears. Click Configure and every entity shows up at once.
Setup has to finish within fifteen minutes of plugging in. If the panel says SETUP TIMED OUT, unplug it and plug it back in.
Driving it
Call these from any automation or script. The device's own name is part of each action, for example esphome.nodex_matrix_a1b2c3_set_tile.
show_notificationTakes over the whole panel for that long, then restores the screen underneath.message, secondsclear_notificationRemoves a notification early.—set_info_titleSets the heading of the Info screen.titleset_tileSets one row of the Info screen.index 0–5, label, valueclear_tilesEmpties the Info screen.—In the ESPHome dashboard the device shows up as discovered. Click Take Control and the whole YAML is copied into your own ESPHome, where you can change anything — fonts, screens, pin assignments, the lot.
You're not locked out of hardware you bought. The config is public at github.com/TPS505/Nodex-Matrix.
When there's a new build, the device reports Firmware update available in Home Assistant. Click Install. No cable, no laptop, no re-flashing.
If you've taken control of the config, updates come from your own ESPHome instead — which is the point of taking control.
At a glance
Building your own from the config? 64×64 panels need the address E line: solder the E jumper on the back of the Matrix Portal S3 to pin 8. If the bottom half of the panel repeats the top half, that jumper isn't closed.
Get one
The Matrix isn't listed for sale at the moment — the rest of the range is. Send an email and you'll hear from us the day it goes up, or build your own from the config: it's all public.
Questions before you buy? Email hello@tps505.com — you'll get an answer from the person who built it.