Via josh.com.
Everyone loves Raspberry Pi and everyone loves NeoPixels, so let’s get a NeoPixel directly under your Raspberry Pi’s control!
The Pi can set the NeoPixel to any RGB color and you can create scripts to update it up to 100 times per second.
For a few cents worth of parts (actually just one part!) and a single IO pin, you can give your Pi…
- an animated multicolor status light
- an i-style breathing power indicator
- an adorable single pixel Ambilight back-light behind your tiny screen
- a sunrise-synchronized night light
The possibilities are endless!
Make it Blink!
To get this working, all you need is…
- a Raspberry Pi
- a NeoPixel
- some wire
I got my NeoPixel by snipping it off the end of a long string of NeoPixels, but you can use any kind of WS2812B NeoPixel including the new handy single pixel size.
Connect the NeoPixel to the PI like this…
The NeoPixel is getting power from the Pi’s 3V3 pin and data from Pi’s P1-08 pin. The ground connection from the NeoPixel can connect to any GND pin on the Pi, I just used P1-06 because it was close. Note that you will leave the NeoPixel’s data out (DO) pin unconnected.
Once you have everything hooked up, you will need some software to drive it. I’ve written a little command-line utility called neouart that lets you set the color of the connected NeoPixel and even animate it.
Read the full tutorial here!
Featured Adafruit Products!
Adafruit NeoPixel Digital RGB LED Strip – White 60 LED – 1m: You thought it couldn’t get better than our world-famous 32-LED-per-meter Digital LED strip but we will prove you wrong! You wanted twice the LEDs? We got it (well, its 1.875 times as many but that’s within a margin of error). You wanted thinner strips? Now only 12.5 mm wide, 10 mm if you remove the strip from the casing. You wanted less noticable strip color – this strip has white-colored flex PCB, which will be less visible against white-painted walls. This is the strip with white flex PCB, its identical to the black 60 LED/meter except it has a different color mask on the flex strip. Read more.
NeoPixel Diffused 5mm Through-Hole LED – 5 Pack: LOLwut? NeoPixels in 5mm through-hole variety? Oh yes, we haz them! If you like NeoPixel strips you’ll luv these 5mm diffused through-hole NeoPixels. All the single-pin-controlling-hundreds-of-LEDs goodness in a breadboard friendly format. Each LED looks just like a shorter version of the classic through-hole 5mm RGB LED with 4 legs, but instead of just red/green/blue there’s a little chip inside that can control the LED with high speed PWM for 24-bit color. Read more.
Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Adafruit has the largest and best selection of Raspberry Pi accessories and all the code & tutorials to get you up and running in no time!