Cron Job turns off the matrix MAX7219 after finishing the script

Question

I have a script in python3 which executes and shows information in an 8x8 MAX7219 matrix and works perfectly. When I run the script directly from the .py file, the matrix does not turn off (and that's what I need).

The detail is in that I need this script to run every 5 minutes, I set a cronjob to execute the script but the problem is that the matrix is turned off when I finish running the .py file

I'm missing some command so that does not happen at the time of executing the .py file, I attach the cron job configuration

# daemon's notion of time and timezones.
#
# Output of the crontab jobs (including errors) is sent through
# email to the user the crontab file belongs to (unless redirected).
#
# For example, you can run a backup of all your user accounts
# at 5 a.m every week with:
# 0 5 * * 1 tar -zcf /var/backups/home.tgz /home/
#
# For more information see the manual pages of crontab(5) and cron(8)
#
# m h  dom mon dow   command
*/5   *    *    *    * /usr/bin/python3 /home/pi/Estacion.py

photo of the matrix and I need it does not turn off! :)

Estacion.py

import sys
import time
import datetime
import requests
import Adafruit_DHT
import os

#Librerias para la matriz LCD

import re
import argparse

from luma.led_matrix.device import max7219
from luma.core.interface.serial import spi, noop
from luma.core.render import canvas
from luma.core.virtual import viewport
from luma.core.legacy import text, show_message
from luma.core.legacy.font import proportional, CP437_FONT, TINY_FONT, SINCLAIR_FONT, LCD_FONT

#Libreria Camara
from picamera import PiCamera
from time import sleep

#libreria ftp
import ftplib

#SE INICIA PANEL LCD
# create matrix device
serial = spi(port=0, device=0, gpio=noop())
device = max7219(serial, cascaded=8, block_orientation=-90)
print("Created device")

#Fecha con formato DATETIME y con segundos en 00
fecha = str(datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M"))
nombre_foto = str(datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d%H%M"))

# mensaje en LCD
show_message(device, fecha, fill="white", font=proportional(CP437_FONT))

#Inicio, temperatura y humedad 1ro DHT22
humidity, temperature = Adafruit_DHT.read_retry(Adafruit_DHT.AM2302, 4)

temperatura = str('{0:0.1f}'.format(temperature)) + "C"

with canvas(device) as draw:
        text(draw, (11, 0), temperatura, fill="white")

#URL donde se reciben los datos por el medoto POST Yo uso codeigniter
url = 'lalalal my website here'
#Variables y valores enviadas por post
payload = {'fecha': fecha, 'temp': temperature, 'humedad': humidity, 'nombre_foto' : nombre_foto + ".jpg"}
#Ejecucion de la url y las variables
r = requests.post(url, data=payload)

if r.status_code == 500:
    print ('Vale pico el hosting error 500')
else:
    print("Subido Correctamente " + str(r.status_code))

print("sacando fotooo")

with canvas(device) as draw:
        text(draw, (0, 0), "FOTO! :)", fill="white")

camera = PiCamera()

camera.start_preview
camera.annotate_text = fecha
sleep(3)
camera.capture('/home/pi/Pictures/' + nombre_foto + '.jpg',resize=(1280,720))
camera.stop_preview()
camera.close()

with canvas(device) as draw:
        text(draw, (11, 0), temperatura, fill="white")

#se sube la foto

session = ftplib.FTP('lalalala my ftp url here','[email protected]','hueheuheumypass')
file = open('/home/pi/Pictures/' + nombre_foto + '.jpg','rb')                  # file to send
session.storbinary('STOR ' + nombre_foto + '.jpg', file)     # send the file
file.close()                                    # close file and FTP

#se borra la foto
os.remove('/home/pi/Pictures/' + nombre_foto + '.jpg')

session.quit()

Answer 1

I have solved this in a fairly simple and really a bit obvious way.

As the script runs every 5 minutes, I added a 4 minute sleep at the end of the code

sleep (240)

This allows only the matrix to be turned off for a short period of time until it is restarted again.