NEW PRODUCTS – Pimoroni Pi Zero W Projects Packs: Pirate Radio / Mood Light / Scroll Bot / Pi Zero W Starter Kit
We’ve got 4 – that’s right, FOUR! – awesome new kits from Pimoroni, all featuring the ever-coveted Raspberry Pi Zero W.
First is the Pimoroni Pirate Radio – Pi Zero W Project Kit:
Build your very own internet-connected radio with Pimoroni’s Pirate Radio Kit!
This kit has just-about-everything you’ll need: Pimoroni’s flashy new pHAT BEAT DAC and stereo amp, a 5W speaker, and a beautifully retro acrylic enclosure to make it look the business. It even includes a Pi Zero W. All you need is to add your own micro-SD card and USB power supply. It’ll take you around 30 minutes to assemble everything (check out Pimoroni’s assembly guide for details).
Kit includes:
- Pi Zero W
- pHAT BEAT DAC and stereo amp with VU meter and six buttons
- Male and female 2×20 pin headers
- Single 5W 4Ω speaker
- Blue acrylic enclosure
- 50cm USB A to micro-B cable
- USB A (female) to micro B (male) adaptor
- Mini to full-size HDMI adaptor
- Sticker sheet (personalize your Pirate Radio!)
- Comes in a reusable kit box
Pirate Radio uses the new pHAT BEAT DAC and stereo amp to drive the single speaker (left and right channels are mixed when you flip the DIP switch on the underside to mono mode). pHAT BEAT uses the same I2S mono DAC and amplifier that Pimoroni uses on Speaker pHAT and Picade HAT and… adds a second one for stereo goodness! The two rows of 8 APA102 RGB LEDs make the perfect VU meter, and there are 6 buttons along the edges to control your audio.
This kit takes advantage of the built-in wireless LAN and Bluetooth on the Pi Zero W, meaning that there’s no need for a USB Wi-Fi dongle.
Pimoroni has put together three different software projects for your Pirate Radio: an internet radio, a Spotify streaming box, or an AirPlay speaker.
Features
- Dual I2S DAC/amplifiers (MAX98357A)
- 3W per channel
- 2x push fit speaker terminals
- DIP switch to select blended mono or stereo modes
- 16 RGB LED pixels (APA102) in 2 rows of 8
- 6 edge-mounted push buttons
- Software installer and ALSA VU meter plugin
- 5W 4Ω speaker with pre-soldered wires
- 3-layer blue acrylic enclosure
- Pi Zero W with single core CPU and built-in wireless LAN and Bluetooth
- Adaptor kit
- 50cm USB A to micro-B cable (power your Pi from an existing charger or computer)
- Python library
- Female and male headers require soldering
Next up is the Pimoroni Mood Light – Pi Zero W Project Kit:
Our Pimoroni pals have curated a beautifully modern Mood Light Kit that’ll look great on your bedside table, bookcase, or desk. It’s even internet-connected!
This kit has just-about-everything you’ll need: Pimoroni’s Unicorn pHAT board with 32 programmable RGB Neopixel LEDs, diffuser, power adapter, and a beautifully acrylic enclosure to make it look like a lamps. It even includes a Pi Zero W. All you need is to add your own micro-SD card and USB power supply. It’ll take you around 30 minutes to assemble everything (check out Pimoroni’s assembly guide for details).
Set it to a single color, have it fade through all the colors of the rainbow, or harness the built-in wireless LAN on the Pi Zero W.
Kit includes:
- Pi Zero W
- Unicorn pHAT with 32 programmable RGB Neopixel LEDs
- Male and female 2×20 pin headers
- White and yellow pendant light stand and diffuser
- 50cm USB A to micro-B cable
- USB A (female) to USB OTG adapter
- Mini to full-size HDMI adapter
- Sticker sheet (personalize your Mood Light!)
- Comes in a reusable kit box
Mood Light uses the popular Unicorn pHAT board, with 32 programmable RGB Neopixel LEDs, giving you a veritable rainbow full of color possibilities. The stand cleverly mounts the Pi Zero W and Unicorn pHAT at just the right angle to cast the light through the pendant light cutout and diffuse it beautifully.
The built-in wireless LAN on the Pi Zero W opens up a wealth of opportunities: connect it to your Twitter feed and track the mood of your recent tweets, or fade through the sunset and sunrise colors once you’ve pulled the daily sunset/sunrise times from your favorite weather server.
Features
Also on the shelves is the Pimoroni Scroll Bot – Pi Zero W Project Kit:
A robot friend to sit on your desk and scroll the news, weather, or your Twitter feed – it’s the Pimoroni Scroll Bot!
The Scroll Bot Kit combines the Pi Zero W with the new Scroll pHAT HD board, and masquerades as a friendly orange robot, perfect for sitting on your desk or on a shelf. It’s ideal for scrolling messages or for simple animations and, of course, it takes advantage of the built-in wireless LAN on the Pi Zero W. It’ll take around 30 minutes to assemble everything (check out Pimoroni’s assembly guide for details). All you need to add is your own micro-SD card and a USB power supply.
Kit includes:
- Pi Zero W
- Scroll pHAT HD with 17×7 individually dimmable white LEDs
- Male and female 2×20 pin headers
- Orange robot stand and diffuser
- 50cm USB A to micro-B cable
- USB A (female) to micro B (male) adaptor
- Mini to full-size HDMI adaptor
- Sticker sheet (personalize your Scroll Bot!)
- Comes in a reusable kit box
Scroll Bot uses the new Scroll pHAT HD board, a dense matrix of 17×7 (119 total) bright white LEDs. Each pixel’s brightness can be controlled individually, meaning that it’s possible to create stunning animations or even anti-aliased text. The LED matrix sits behind Scroll Bot’s mouth, and the frosted orange acrylic diffuses the LEDs beautifully.
Use the built-in wireless LAN to make your Scroll Bot internet-connected and have him/her/it inform you of the latest news, weather, track hashtags or mentions on Twitter, or much, much more.
Features
- 17×7 matrix of bright white pixels (119 total)
- Individual PWM brightness control of each pixel
- Uses the IS31FL3731 LED matrix driver chip
- 3-layer orange robot stand and diffuser
- Pi Zero W with single core CPU and built-in wireless LAN and Bluetooth
- USB and HDMI adapter kit
- 50cm USB A to micro-B cable (power your Pi from an existing charger or computer)
- Python library
- Female and male headers require soldering
Finally there’s the Pimoroni Pi Zero W Starter Kit:
This great bundle from Pimoroni provides everything you need to get up and running with the new Pi Zero W!
It’s got an SD card with operating system pre-loaded, a smart and colorful Pibow Zero W case, and even one of Pimoroni’s lovely Blinkt! multicolor LED strips to take your first steps with coding in Python!
Kit includes:
- Pi Zero W (header requires soldering, or try a no-solder hammer header)
- Pibow case
- 8GB micro-SD card with operating system pre-loaded
- Blinkt! multicolor LED strip
- Male 2×20 pin header
- 50cm USB A to micro-B cable
- USB A (female) to micro B (male) adaptor
- Mini to full-size HDMI adaptor
- Sticker sheet (personalize your Pibow!)
- Comes in a reusable kit box
The built-in wireless LAN and Bluetooth on the Pi Zero W frees up the micro-USB port, and makes for a really tiny package when using the Zero W in embedded, headless Internet of Things projects. Or why not use a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, and hide your Pi behind your monitor or TV?
Pimoroni’s beautiful Pibow case will keep your Pi Zero W protected from bumps and bruises. It has a clear top layer, and frosted red, purple, and blue layers. The clever design leaves the GPIO pins free, letting you attach our add-on boards like the Blinkt! while your Pi is still safely ensconced in its case. You can use the included sticker sheet to personalize your Pibow!
The included 8GB micro-SD card comes pre-loaded with the Raspbian operating system. Just remove it from the larger SD card adapter, pop it into the slot on your Pi Zero W before putting it into the Pibow case, and you’ll be up-and-running in next to no time.
The Blinkt! multicolor LED strip is the perfect way to take your first steps with coding in Python. Pimoroni’s Getting Started with Blinkt! guide will teach you the basics, and there’s a bunch of code examples in the Blinkt! GitHub code repository to give you an idea of what’s possible.
Features
- Blinkt! with eight APA102 RGB LEDs
- Pi Zero W with single core CPU and built-in wireless LAN and Bluetooth
- Pibow Zero W acrylic case
- 8GB micro-SD card with NOOBS pre-loaded
- USB and HDMI adapter kit
- 50cm USB A to micro-B cable (power your Pi from an existing charger or computer)
- Python library
- Female and male headers require soldering