jepler’s ready to light up your world with a new CircuitPython driver for TM1814 adressable LED pixels:
TM1814 is a four-channel constant current LED driver. Similar to the NeoPixel’s WS2812B, TM1814 uses one data line to control a string of daisy chained LEDs.
However, TM1814 is not compatible with the WS2812B, so it needs different software to drive it. Adafruit publishes Adafruit_CircuitPython_TM1814, a software library for CircuitPython that runs on RP2040 and RP2350 microcontrollers, including the Feather RP2040, Feather RP2350, Raspberry Pi Pico, and Raspberry Pi Pico 2.
Key facts about TM1814:
- TM1814 works with LED supply voltages up to 24V, vs about 5V for NeoPixels. A particular LED strip will have a design voltage, often 12V; refer to the LED strip supplier’s details and do not exceed them.
- TM1814 often controls more than one LED package. For instance, a 12V strip is likely to have 3 RGBW LEDs for every 1 TM1814. These 3 LEDs will all have the same color and act as a “single pixel” in your code.
- There is an overall LED current control, selectable from 6.5mA to 38mA in 0.5mA steps, that applies to all TM1814 in a strip
- TM1814 is designed for RGBW designs, while NeoPixel has both 3-color and 4-color variants
- TM1814 will display a test pattern when not actively driven by a microcontroller
- The waveform is very similar to an inverted NeoPixel waveform, but not exactly
Read more at Driving TM1814 addressable LEDs