Adafruit Holiday Gift Guide 2014: LEDs (strips, kits, individual)

Let there be light this Holiday Season! LED lights to be specific. We have an extensive product selection of LED kits, strips, and individual items to choose from here. Check out the list below for our recommendations of this year’s best and brightest, as well as some of our old time favorites! Don’t see what you’re looking for? Here’s a link to all of our LED products.


Available at Adafruit!


2026 04

32×32 RGB LED Matrix Panel – 5mm Pitch: Bring a little bit of Times Square into your home with this sweet 32 x 32 square RGB LED matrix panel. These panels are normally used to make video walls, here in New York we see them on the sides of busses and bus stops, to display animations or short video clips. We thought they looked really cool so we picked up a few boxes of them from a factory. (read more)


322 00

12mm Diffused Thin Digital RGB LED Pixels (Strand of 25) – WS2801: RGB Pixels are digitally-controllable lights you can set to any color, or animate. Each RGB LED and controller chip is molded into a ‘dot’ of silicone. The dots are weatherproof and rugged. There are four flanges molded in so that you can ‘push’ them into a 12mm drill hole in any material up to 1.5mm/0.06″ thick. They’re typically used to make outdoor signs. We also have flat-backed pixels that are essentially the same, but are not as long and thin. (read more)


2160 02

Quad Alphanumeric Display – Pure Green 0.54″ Digits w/ Backpack: Display, elegantly, 012345678 or 9! Gaze, hypnotized, at ABCDEFGHIJKLM – well it can display the whole alphabet. You get the point. This is a nice, bright alphanumeric display that shows letters and numbers in a beautiful pure green hue. It’s super bright and designed for viewing from distances up to 23 feet (7 meters) away. Digits have seven white segments on a black surface and we give you a set of two alphanumeric displays as well as a driver board so you can make a clock or a four letter word. (read more)


1605 00

BlinkyTape by Blinkinlabs: BlinkyTape is a very special LED strip, taking the smarts of NeoPixels and combining it with an Arduino-compatible for an all-in-one ready to go design. You don’t have to source your own microcontroller, power supply or connectors. Simply plug in a standard USB battery pack or wall charger, and you’re good to blink. (read more)


1616 00

Adafruit Trellis Monochrome Driver PCB for 4×4 Keypad & 3mm LEDs: This item is just for the Trellis driver PCB assembly: LEDs and buttons not included. Trellis is an open source backlight keypad driver system. It is easy to use, works with any 3mm LEDs and eight tiles can be tiled together on a shared I2C bus.

This PCB is specially made to match the Adafruit 4×4 elastomer keypad. Each Trellis PCB has 4×4 pads and 4×4 matching spots for 3mm LEDs. The circuitry on-board handles the background key-presses and LED lighting for the 4×4 tile. However, it does not have any microcontroller or other ‘brains’ – an Arduino (or similar microcontroller) is required to control the Trellis to read the keypress data and let it know when to light up LEDs as desired. (read more)


2177 01

5mm Chromed Metal Wide Convex Bevel LED Holder – Pack of 5: Keep your 5mm LEDs in place with these chromed metal LED holders. These are handy for projects using individual LEDs as they look sleek, and your LED won’t budge. Slot the LED through the opening, cork it with the plastic end, and screw on the washer for a secure grip.

We have LED holders in a bevy of sizes:


Comes as a pack of 5, and no LEDs are included. (read more)


Available Elsewhere!


1

Octolively Kit: This kit from Evil Mad Scientist is their newest interactive LED kit. The kit’s made with super bright 10mm LEDs and comes in 6 different colors! It comes programmed with 8 different modes. You’ll need to have some basic soldering skills to assemble the kit so its suited more for an intermediate maker as opposed to a beginner.

From Evil Mad Scientist:

Octolively modules are tileable, digital interactive LED surfaces filled with ultrabright LEDs that respond in complex and gentle ways to stimulus provided by human interaction.
Each Octolively module is 4 × 8 inches (10.16 × 20.32 cm) in size, and features eight huge (10 mm) ultrabright LEDs, spaced along a two-inch grid. Each Octolively module also has eight infrared proximity sensors— one for every LED —to detect nearby motion, even in total darkness. The modules can be tiled edge-to-edge, seamlessly, in any size or shape of rectangular array. You can cover a full wall, or just make a long strip as narrow as 4 or 8 inches wide.

Read more


Screen Shot 2014 11 30 at 10 11 17 AM

SPACE KIT from littlebits: While LEDs are only part of this awesome kit from littlebits, we couldn’t help but include it here. This kit was designed in a joint effort between little bits engineers and the folks at NASA. There’s a range of projects you can do with this kit – so really it’s the gift that keeps on giving. (read more)


Snowman LRG

Blinky The Snowman: This great little project from Spikenzie Labs is the perfect project for any young maker who’s in the holiday spirit.

From Spikenzie:

This is a basic easy to build electronics kit that blinks LEDs. Built around laser cut and etched acrylic this snowman really catches the light!

What would look cooler on your tree than this D.I.Y. Holiday Season Ornament?

Sized at about 3″ Wide, by 5″ Tall, this snowman is edge-lit by 10mm flashing green and red LEDs. Comes as a kit that is very easy to solder, CR2032 battery included.

Read more


Adafruit Holiday Shipping Deadlines 2014

Here are your 2014 shipping deadlines for ordering from Adafruit. Please review our shipping section if you have specific questions on how and where we ship worldwide for this holiday season.

The Adafruit Shipping Department works hard to get your orders out as quickly as we can, but once they’re in the hands of our carriers they’re out of our control.

Carriers have been struggling to keep up with the sharp rise in online orders. Last year UPS, FedEX, and USPS all experienced delivery delays.

So all the Adafruit Shippers say: Please be sure you get your gifts early! Order as soon as you can! Once you place your order we’ll ship like the wind!

UPS ground (USA orders): Place orders by Friday 11am ET – December 12, 2014 – There is no guarantee that UPS Ground packages will arrive in time for Christmas.

UPS 3-day (USA orders): Place orders by Wednesday 11am ET – December 17, 2014 – Arrive by 12/24/2014.

UPS 2-day (USA orders): Place orders by Thursday 11am ET – December 18, 2014 – Arrive by 12/24/2014.

UPS overnight (USA orders): Place orders by Friday 11am ET – December 19, 2014 – Arrive by 12/24/2014.

Please note: We do not offer Saturday or Sunday service for UPS or USPS.

Thursday, Dec. 25, 2014, Christmas, no UPS pickup or delivery service.
Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015, New Year’s Day, no UPS pickup or delivery service.

United States Postal Service, First Class and Priority (USA orders): Place orders by Friday– December 12, 2014 – Arrive by 12/24/2014 or sooner.

USPS First class mail international (International orders): Place orders by Friday – November 21, 2014. Can take up to 30 days ore more with worldwide delays and customs. Should arrive by 12/24/2014 or sooner, but not a trackable service and cannot be guaranteed to arrive by 12/24/14.

USPS Express mail international(International orders): Place orders by Friday – December 5, 2015. Can take up to 15 days or more with worldwide delays and customs. Should arrive by 12/24/2014 or sooner.

Gift Certificates are always available at any time.

When in doubt contact us!


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