NeoPixels & WS2812 LEDs
NeoPixels are Adafruit’s brand of super clever chainable, addressable full-colour RGB LEDs, but we also stock compatible WS2812/WS2813 products from other brands including our very own Illuminate range!
The mighty WS2812 LED succeeds where others fail. Traditional LEDs require lots of wires, resistors and code, and even with an LED driver, running lots of them is still not as simple as we’d like it to be. They also restrict makers to a certain number of lights before hitting the usual blockers.
In contrast, WS2812 LEDs take away all of the hassle and inconvenience of standard LEDs. With an integrated driver chip mounted on every LED, they require just 3 wires to control as many as you desire (with the usual limitations), whilst allowing you to select colours, sequences or whatever your project demands.
Each individual WS2812 LED draws up to 60mA when at full brightness (white) and typically run at 5V. To estimate power supply requirements, multiply the number of LEDs by 20, then divide that by 1000 for a “rule of thumb” power rating in Amps. Use 60 instead of 20 if you want to guarantee sufficient power for all scenarios.
Read more about NeoPixels here: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide/the-magic-of-neopixels