NEW PRODUCTS – 16×8 1.2″ LED Matrix + Backpack – Ultra Bright LEDs Round And Square In A Variety Of Colors

Untitled

NEW PRODUCTS – 16×8 1.2″ LED Matrix + Backpack – Ultra Bright LEDs Round And Square In A Variety Of Colors

What’s better than a single LED? Lots of LEDs! And what’s better than lots of LEDs? TWO TIMES AS MANY LEDS!!!

With the 16×8 LED Matrix Backpack we’ve doubled your project’s matrix capacity by making it super easy to get two separate 8×8 matrices onto one handy board! Matrices like these are ‘multiplexed’ – so to control 64 LEDs you need 16 pins and to control 128 LEDs, you’d need 24 pins. That’s a lot of pins, and there are driver chips like the MAX7219 that can control a matrix for you but there’s a lot of wiring to set up and they take up a ton of space. Here at Adafruit we feel your pain! After all, wouldn’t it be awesome if you could control two matrices without tons of wiring? That’s where this lovely 16×8 LED matrix backpack comes in. It works perfectly with the matrices we stock in the Adafruit shop and makes adding a bright little display trivial.

The 16×8 backpack is also great for making scrolling displays or small video displays. In our example, we set it up so words flow from one matrix to the other – kind of like a sign in front of a miniature car dealership. We powered the demo with a Trinket – not included – so it all comes in a nice compact package.

NewImage

The backpack uses a HT16K33 driver chip that does all the heavy lifting for you. This chip has a built in clock so they multiplex the display. It uses constant-current drivers for ultra-bright, consistent color (the images above are photographed at the dimmest setting to avoid overloading our camera!), 1/16 step display dimming, all via a simple I2C interface. Each matrix backpack comes with three address-selection jumpers so you can connect up to 8 x 1.2″ 16×8’s together on a single I2C bus.
This kit comes with:

A fully tested and assembled 16×8 1.2″ LED Backpack
2x ultra-bright round 8×8 round or square matrices in a variety of colors
4-pin header
A bit of soldering is required to attach the two matrices onto the backpack but its very easy to do and only takes about 10 minutes.

Of course, in classic Adafruit fashion, we also have a detailed tutorial showing you how to solder, wire and control the display. We even wrote a very nice library for the backpacks so you can get running in under half an hour, displaying images on the matrix or numbers on the 7-segment. If you’ve been eying matrix displays but hesitated because of the complexity, this is the solution you’ve been looking for!


All in stock and shipping now!


Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards

Join Adafruit on Mastodon

Adafruit is on Mastodon, join in! adafruit.com/mastodon

Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.

Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.

Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!

Join over 36,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord

CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org


Maker Business — “Packaging” chips in the US

Wearables — Enclosures help fight body humidity in costumes

Electronics — Transformers: More than meets the eye!

Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Silicon Labs introduces CircuitPython support, and more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi

Adafruit IoT Monthly — Guardian Robot, Weather-wise Umbrella Stand, and more!

Microsoft MakeCode — MakeCode Thank You!

EYE on NPI — Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey

New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — #NewProds 7/19/23 Feat. Adafruit Matrix Portal S3 CircuitPython Powered Internet Display!

Get the only spam-free daily newsletter about wearables, running a "maker business", electronic tips and more! Subscribe at AdafruitDaily.com !



No Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.