Published March 6, 2021 © CC BY-NC

YouTube subscriber and view counter using NodeMCU

A YouTube statistics display which shows subscriber and view counts on a 4 digit and 8 digit 7 segment display for that retro look.

IntermediateFull instructions provided2 hours660

YouTube subscriber and view counter using NodeMCU

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Maxim Integrated MAX7219/MAX7221 LED Display Drivers

NodeMCU V3 ESP8266-12E

Texas Instruments 74AHCT125

Resistor 10k ohm

Capacitor 100 nF

33uf 10V capacitor (generic)

YouTube counter custom made PCB

onsemi MAN74A Common Cathode LED 0.3" (or equivalent)

Software apps and online services

Arduino IDE

Story

This is my first project; a YouTube statistics counter I made from spare parts I had laying around and as I had a ton of spare 7 segment LED displays so I thought I’d put some of them to use and designed a YouTube stats counter that shows your current subscriber count and views to your YouTube page.

Now YouTube made some changes to how the subscriber counts are displayed last year and now instead of it showing you the exact number of subscribers you have they are now approximated and rounded down on a sliding scale. For example subscriber counts below 999 will show exact numbers and above 1000 they are rounded to the lowest 10 e.g 1234 subscribers will show 1230 or 1.23K depending on where it is displayed. This counter gets it’s statistics via the YouTube API which only returns numbers so in this case it would return 1230. So I decided that I would settle for a 4 digit display for subscribers and 8 digits for views. It is ideal for smaller channels with less than 10, 000 subscribers who want to keep an eye on their channel growing. When you are just starting every new subscriber counts and this will show it in relative real time; the counts are updated every 5 mins.

As you can see I decided to make my own PCB as I didn’t want to assemble it on prototype board and connect loads of wires as that would just take too much time and it’s a tedious process.

The circuit consists of an NodeMCU ESP8266-12E module, 2 MAX7219 chips and a 74ACHT125 buffer which serves to convert the 3.3V logic signals of the 8266 into the 5V the MAX7219 requires. Some vintage Fairchild MAN74A 7 segment LED displays finish the design for a retro look. Power is supplied via USB although I have provided PCB pads for a 5 volt standalone power supply.

###Setup instructions###

To get this project to work though you will need to obtain an API key from google. A very comprehensive guide to this can be found here https://www.slickremix.com/docs/get-api-key-for-youtube/ and the developer account you will need to create is free of charge. Once you have done this and built the project, flashed the firmware etc the counter will need to be set up.

First of all it will need to be connected to WiFi. I used the wifimanager library which automatically puts the counter into access point mode if WiFi isn’t configured or it can’t connect to the configured network. This creates an access point with SSID “YTcounterAP” and the default IP address is 192.168.4.1. To connect grab a smartphone and disconnect it from any WiFi network it is already connected to then scan for networks. Select YTcounterAP and when it asks you that you need to sign into the network enter the password “password” into the box; this will differ depending on what phone OS you are using. If you are using a laptop just use password for the wifi network. If on a phone a browser page will automatically open; on a laptop you will have to open it yourself. It’s formatted for phone screens so I’d recommend using a smartphone instead.

Once you have the webpage open (or manually gone to 192.168.4.1) you will be presented with a couple of buttons “configure WiFi” and “configure WiFi (no scan)” which will allow you to connect the counter to your network. Clicking the first option will make the counter scan for networks, second will require you to manually enter your router’s SSID and key / password. Assuming you chose the first option click on your router’s network name and fill in it’s key / passphrase / password. The counter will reboot and attempt to connect to the new network and the newly created YTcounterAP network will disconnect. You will be able to tell because your phone will disconnect and reconnect to the previous WiFi network it was connected to. The wifimanager github page is at https://github.com/tzapu/WiFiManager with sample screenshots and instructions.

The next step is to enter your API key and channel ID so the counter can get the statistics for your channel. First of all you will need to determine the IP address the counter is using. You can do this via the Arduino serial window and observing the boot diagnostic messages sent over the serial port. You can also use a terminal emulator program such as RealTerm set to 115000 baud, 8 data bits and one stop bit to the appropriate serial port.

Open up a web browser and point it to the IP address you found in the above step. Enter your Youtube details into the boxes provided and click submit. Your YouTube channel ID is the numbers & letters after the https://www.youtube.com/channel/ which usually starts with UC. Once this has been entered reboot your counter and stats will hopefully be displayed. If not check the serial monitor for any error messages as it will show standard HTTP codes as errors for example 403 is likely because your API key is incorrect or not activated.

###Example screenshots###

###Youtube video###

Schematics

Code

Firmware

// This program will create an access point to configure wifi. SSID "YTcounter", password is "password"
// Connect to this AP with an Android or IOS phone and sign in to the network. Config box will appear.
// Once wifi is established go to IP address displayed at boot and enter youtube channel ID and API key.

// If re-flashing this code please see below.
// use ESP8266 community V2.6.0 and change stack size to #define _stackSize (6748/4) 
// in stackthunk.cpp in the ESP8266 core files otherwise it just crashes with later 
// versions of the libraries. Stackthunk.cpp is in local appdata/arduinoxx where xx version no

// Subscriber counts above 999 will be rounded down to lowest 10 e.g 1003 subs will show 1000 subscribers.
// this is a change Youtube implemented and nothing can be done about this. Realistically only for small channels.

// Written for NodeMCU version 1.0 on ESP-12E V3 module. Should work with others, pin assignments may need changing.
// Settings: CPU clock 80Mhz, flash size 4Mb, V2 lower memory, Vtables=flash, erase flash: only sketch, legacy

// Troubleshooting; use a terminal program such as terraterm to monitor serial output. Any error messages
// will be shown such as HTTP status codes plus any debug messages from the NodeMCU RTOS and / or debugger.
// Serial settings: 115200 baud, 8 bits, no parity, one stop bit. First line will show garbage, that's normal.
// If no stats are shown error 403 is generally incorrect / expired API key. 400 or 404 is wrong channel ID.

// V1.02 - fixed HELP message not displaying if it can't connect to network

#include <WiFiManager.h> // https://github.com/tzapu/WiFiManager
#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <WiFiClientSecure.h> // for connecting to SSL sites
#include <EEPROM.h>
#include <YoutubeApi.h>
#include <ArduinoJson.h>
#include <stackthunk.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <LedControl.h>

// MAX7219 SPI pins
// data GPIO 13 (D7)
// clock GPIO 14 (D5)
// CS GPIO 15 (D8)

////Webpage start////

const char MAIN_page[] PROGMEM = R"=====(
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<h2>Config Settings<h2>
<h3>Youtube Counter V1.0</h3>

<form action="/action_page">
  Channel ID:<br>
  <input type="text" name="Channel ID" value="">
  <br>
  API key:<br>
  <input type="text" name="API Key" value="">
  <br><br>
  <input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form> 

</body>
</html>
)=====";

////Webpage finish////

ESP8266WebServer server(80); //Server on port 80

uint IDaddr = 0; // eeprom starting address for channel ID
uint APIaddr = 32; // eeprom starting address for API Key

char API_KEY[48] = ""; // leave blank - data will be copied from eeprom later
WiFiClientSecure client;
YoutubeApi *api;

unsigned long timeBetweenRequests = 300000; // poll Youtube every 5 mins (300,000 milliseconds)
unsigned long nextRunTime;

byte  subsdigits[] = {0, 0, 0, 0};
byte  viewsdigits[] = {0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0};
unsigned long subs;
unsigned long views;

// nodeMCU ESP8266 boards use D followed by pin number printed on the module PCB.
// others such as the wemos D1 use the GPIO pin numbers to reference I/O pins e.g D7 is GPIO 13.
LedControl lc=LedControl(D7,D5,D8,2); // data,clock,load,no of chips

void setup() 
{
    // brightness 12-15 best for MAN74A LED modules. If using modern high efficency LED's reduce to 6-8.
    lc.shutdown(0,false); // MAX7219 always starts in shutdown so have to wake it up
    lc.setIntensity(0,12); // device address 0-7, brightness value range 0-15 (min-max)
    lc.shutdown(1,false); // MAX7219 always starts in shutdown so have to wake it up
    lc.setIntensity(1,12); // device address 0-7, brightness value range 0-15 (min-max)
    WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA); // explicitly set mode, esp defaults to STA+AP
    Serial.begin(115200);
    EEPROM.begin(512); // start eeprom emulation and allocate 512 bytes. That is plenty.
    WiFiManager wm;
    wm.setAPCallback(configModeCallback);

    //reset settings - wipe credentials for testing
    //wm.resetSettings();

    // Automatically connect using saved credentials,
    // if connection fails, it starts an access point with the specified name ( "YTcounterAP"),
    // if empty will auto generate SSID, if password is blank it will be anonymous AP (wm.autoConnect())
    // then goes into a blocking loop awaiting configuration and will return success result

    bool res;
    res = wm.autoConnect("YTCounterAP","password"); // password protected ap
  
    Serial.print("*NET: IP address: "); 
    Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());
    Serial.print("*YTC: Channel ID:");
    String IDstr;   
    for(int i=0;i<32;i++) // channel ID is 24 characters long, allow up to 32 characters
     {
       IDstr = IDstr + char(EEPROM.read(IDaddr+i));     
     }  
    Serial.println(IDstr);  
    Serial.print("*YTC: API Key:");
    String APIstr;   
    for(int i=0;i<48;i++) // API key is 40 characters long, allow up to 48 characters
     {
       APIstr = APIstr + char(EEPROM.read(APIaddr+i));     
     }  
    Serial.println(APIstr);  
    Serial.println("*NET: Waiting for data...");

    server.on("/", handleRoot);      //Which routine to handle at root location
    server.on("/action_page", handleForm); //form action is handled here
    server.begin();                  //Start server
    client.setInsecure(); // required for version 2.5 and above
    strcpy(API_KEY, APIstr.c_str());
    api = new YoutubeApi(API_KEY, client);

}

void loop() 
{
      server.handleClient(); // code for webserver config menu to set youtube parameters 
      getstats(); 
      displayDigits();
}

// functions

//===============================================================
// This routine is executed when you open webpage in a browser
//===============================================================
void handleRoot() 
{
 delay(10); // delay required otherwise it crashes and reboots when entering data.
 String s = MAIN_page; //Read HTML contents
 server.send(200, "text/html", s); //Send web page
}
//===============================================================
// This routine is executed when you press submit
//===============================================================
void handleForm() 
{
 String ChannelID = server.arg("Channel ID"); 
 String APIkey = server.arg("API Key"); 

 for (int i = 0; i < 512; i++) 
    {
      EEPROM.write(i, 0); // erase eeprom before writing new data
    }
    
    EEPROM.commit();
    delay(500);

 Serial.print("Channel ID:");
 Serial.println(ChannelID);
 
   for(int i=0;i<ChannelID.length();i++)
  {
    EEPROM.write(IDaddr+i, ChannelID[i]); 
  }
   
 Serial.print("API Key:");
 Serial.println(APIkey);
 
  for(int i=0;i<APIkey.length();i++)
  {
    EEPROM.write(APIaddr+i, APIkey[i]); 
  }

 EEPROM.commit();
 String s = "<a href='/'> Stored! You can close your browser tab or click on this text if you made a mistake. </a>";
 server.send(200, "text/html", s); //Send web page
}

void displayDigits() 
{
 
  // separate individual digits using mod math
  subsdigits[3] = (subs % 10); // ones
  subsdigits[2] = (subs / 10) % 10; // tens
  subsdigits[1] = (subs / 100) % 10; // hundreds
  subsdigits[0] = (subs / 1000) % 10; // thousands

  if (subs <10)

  {
    subsdigits[0] = 0x20; // print a space (blank character)
    subsdigits[1] = 0x20;
    subsdigits[2] = 0x20;
  }

  else if (subs <100)

  {
    subsdigits[0] = 0x20; // print a space (blank character) 
    subsdigits[1] = 0x20;
  }

  else if (subs <1000)

  {
    subsdigits[0] = 0x20; // print a space (blank character)
  }

  // write the digits to MAX7219 at address 1
  // (digit 0 on the left unlike the cheap Chinese modules where it's on the right)
  for (int i = 0; i <= 4; i++)
  {
    lc.setChar(1, i, subsdigits[i], false); 
  }

    // Seperate digits out using mod math

    viewsdigits[7] = (views % 10); // ones
    viewsdigits[6] = (views / 10) % 10; // tens
    viewsdigits[5] = (views / 100) % 10; // hundreds
    viewsdigits[4] = (views / 1000) % 10; // thousands
    viewsdigits[3] = (views / 10000) % 10; // 10 thousands
    viewsdigits[2] = (views / 100000) % 10; // 100 thousands
    viewsdigits[1] = (views / 1000000) % 10; // 1 millions
    viewsdigits[0] = (views / 10000000) % 10; // 10 millions

  if (views <10)

  {
    viewsdigits[0] = 0x20; // print a space (blank character)
    viewsdigits[1] = 0x20;
    viewsdigits[2] = 0x20;
    viewsdigits[3] = 0x20;
    viewsdigits[4] = 0x20;
    viewsdigits[5] = 0x20;
    viewsdigits[6] = 0x20;
  }

  else if (views <100)

  {
    viewsdigits[0] = 0x20; // print a space (blank character) 
    viewsdigits[1] = 0x20;
    viewsdigits[2] = 0x20;
    viewsdigits[3] = 0x20;
    viewsdigits[4] = 0x20;
    viewsdigits[5] = 0x20;
  }

  else if (views <1000)

  {
    viewsdigits[0] = 0x20; // print a space (blank character)
    viewsdigits[1] = 0x20;
    viewsdigits[2] = 0x20;
    viewsdigits[3] = 0x20;
    viewsdigits[4] = 0x20;
  }

  else if (views <10000)
  {
    viewsdigits[0] = 0x20; // print a space (blank character)
    viewsdigits[1] = 0x20;
    viewsdigits[2] = 0x20;
    viewsdigits[3] = 0x20;
  }

  else if (views <100000)
  {
    viewsdigits[0] = 0x20; // print a space (blank character)
    viewsdigits[1] = 0x20;
    viewsdigits[2] = 0x20;
  }

  else if (views <1000000)
  {
    viewsdigits[0] = 0x20; // print a space (blank character)
    viewsdigits[1] = 0x20;
  }

  else if (views <10000000)
  {
    viewsdigits[0] = 0x20; // print a space (blank character)
  }

 // write digits to MAX7219 at address 0

     for (int i = 0; i <= 8; i++)
     {
      lc.setChar(0, i, viewsdigits[i], false);
     }


}  

void getstats()

{
  String IDstr;   
    for(int i=0;i<32;i++) // channel ID is 24 characters long, allow up to 32 characters
     {
       IDstr = IDstr + char(EEPROM.read(IDaddr+i));     
     }  
  
   if (millis() > nextRunTime)  {
    if(api->getChannelStatistics(IDstr))
    {
      Serial.println(F("---------Stats---------"));
      Serial.print(F("Subscriber Count: "));
      Serial.println(api->channelStats.subscriberCount);
      Serial.print(F("View Count: "));
      Serial.println(api->channelStats.viewCount);
      Serial.print(F("Comment Count: "));
      Serial.println(api->channelStats.commentCount);
      Serial.print(F("Video Count: "));
      Serial.println(api->channelStats.videoCount);
      Serial.println(F("------------------------"));
           
      Serial.printf("Free heap size: %u\n", ESP.getFreeHeap());
      Serial.printf("Free cont stack size: %u\n", ESP.getFreeContStack());

      subs = api->channelStats.subscriberCount;
      views = api->channelStats.viewCount;
    
    }
    nextRunTime = millis() + timeBetweenRequests;
  }
}

void configModeCallback (WiFiManager *myWiFiManager) 
    {
    Serial.println("Entered config mode");
    Serial.println(WiFi.softAPIP());
    Serial.println(myWiFiManager->getConfigPortalSSID());
     lc.setChar(1,0,'H',false); // display HELP on subs display to indicate can't connect to wifi
     lc.setChar(1,1,'E',false);
     lc.setChar(1,2,'L',false); 
     lc.setChar(1,3,'P',false);
    }

Credits

Adrian Smith

6 projects • 3 followers

Electronics engineer for around 10 years, repair electronic LED signs and other old electronics from the 1980 / 1990's.

Thanks to Brian Lough and Tzapu.

YouTube subscriber and view counter using NodeMCU

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

###Setup instructions###

###Example screenshots###

###Youtube video###

Custom parts and enclosures

PCB design files (KiCad)

Schematics

Schematic

PCB CAD files (KiCad)

Code

Firmware

Credits

Adrian Smith

Comments

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YouTube subscriber and view counter using NodeMCU

YouTube subscriber and view counter using NodeMCU

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

###Setup instructions###

###Example screenshots###

###Youtube video###

Custom parts and enclosures

PCB design files (KiCad)

Schematics

Schematic

PCB CAD files (KiCad)

Code

Firmware

Credits

Adrian Smith

Comments

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