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External LED boards

LedManager is not married to the Raspberry Pi Pico. Its principle: it decides what to display, never how — GPIOs, USB channels, vendor SDKs and network APIs all live in each board's sender.

APIExpose
  → LedManager.exe
     → generic commands (SLOT 1 RED, ALL WHITE…)
        → sender adapted to your board
           → SDK / USB / serial / HTTP / UDP

Two integration methods

If your LED program already accepts simple text commands, only edit [CommandTemplates] in LedManager.ini:

[CommandTemplates]
SetSlot=slot {slot} {color}
All=all {color}
Clear=clear

Rare, but very clean when the target program already speaks a close dialect.

For USB/SDK/API boards, write a small executable that reads commands on its standard input and translates them for the hardware:

[CommandSender:P1]
Name=External LED Board P1
Executable=ExternalLedSender.exe
Arguments=daemon --ini "ExternalLedSender.ini" --sender P1
UseStdIn=true

The sender receives SLOT 1 RED, looks up its mapping (RGB:1,2,3) and applies the values to the board.

Your sender can be any program

Executable= and Arguments= are free-form: a compiled exe, a Python script (Executable=python.exe), Node, or even PowerShell if you insist. The only rule: read commands line by line on standard input. Prefer a compiled executable though — antivirus software closely watches long-running PowerShell scripts ("ClickFix" heuristics), which is precisely why the official Pico sender uses native serial access.

Realistic target boards

These integrations are not shipped ready-made: they are realistic targets for an adapted sender.

Board Strengths Typical integration
Ultimarc PacLED64 64 channels, per-channel brightness sender → Ultimarc SDK
Ultimarc PAC-Drive Simple ON/OFF: START, coin lamps sender → Ultimarc SDK
Ultimarc I-PAC Ultimate I/O Combined inputs + LED outputs sender → Ultimarc SDK
LED-Wiz 32 PWM outputs, a cabinet classic sender → LED-Wiz API
WLED / ESP32 Strips, matrices, addressable effects sender → HTTP JSON
Arduino / Teensy / custom serial Pico Closest to the current architecture minimal serial sender

WLED: for ambience, not for buttons

WLED shines for STRIP, MATRIX, topper and cabinet lighting. For individual arcade buttons needing very low latency, prefer a direct serial link.

The minimum sender contract

Your sender must understand (or cleanly ignore while logging) the following:

SLOT 1 RED
SET START ORANGE
BATCH SLOT 1 RED;SLOT 2 BLUE;SLOT 3 BLACK
ALL WHITE
CLEAR
FLASH 6 YELLOW 80
MATRIXSCORE MATRIX1 12345 GREEN
MATRIXTEXT MATRIX1 WHITE READY

And its mapping file describes the hardware:

[Slots]
1=RGB:1,2,3
2=RGB:4,5,6

[Outputs]
START=LED:25

[Addressable]
MATRIX1=MATRIX:16x16:60-315

Design rule: if a logic depends on the hardware, it belongs in the sender. The color table (RED=255,0,0…) lives in the board's sender, never in LedManager.ini — every board interprets intensities its own way.

Integration checklist

  1. Identify the control mode: serial, USB SDK, HID, HTTP, UDP.
  2. Create the sender and its mapping INI.
  3. Plug the sender into LedManager.ini.
  4. Test in order: SLOT 1 RED → SLOT 1 BLACK → BATCH → START/SELECT → ALL WHITE → CLEAR.
  5. Test MAME lamps if the board drives lamps.
  6. Measure latency; add batching/dedup in the sender if needed.