3D Xmas Tree for Raspberry Pi

The perfect stocking filler for any geek with an interest in electronics and Raspberry Pi. Build it into a Santa detector, use it as an advent calendar or just have it twinkling beneath the tree.

Designed by our very own Rachel Rayns, this 3D Christmas tree add-on board for the Raspberry Pi has 25 LEDs, each controlled by its own GPIO pin. The tree can be used with any 40-pin Raspberry Pi and is especially cute on the Raspberry Pi Zero W!

Versions

There are two versions of this product (via the "options" dropdown above):

• Pre-soldered Kit - The ultimate Christmas gift for the Raspberry Pi enthusiast in your life. There is no soldering required for this kit, we've done it all for you. Simply snap the pieces out of their PCB frame and plug into your Raspberry Pi!
• Contents - 1x 3D Xmas tree - Ready to rock & roll! Simply snap out of the PCB frame and plug into your Raspberry Pi!

• Soldering Kit - Looking for more of a challenge? This version requires full assembly, you'll need to solder on the components before you snap the pieces out of their PCB frame and plug into your Raspberry Pi. Don't worry though, we changed the components in this kit to use nice, easy to solder through hole components and you can find step-by-step instructions in the tab above!
• Contents - 1x 3D Tree PCB, 24x Red 3mm LED, 1x White 3mm LED, 25x 120 ohm resistors, 1x Right angle 2x20 header, 1x Right angle 20 way snap off headers

*Warning - Do NOT place the Xmas Tree on your Raspberry Pi backwards... Bad things will happen!*

Assembly instructions

Assembly instructions available here!

Software

The easiest way to control your XMAS board is with GPIO Zero. This is pre-installed in Raspbian Stretch

sudo apt-get install python-gpiozero python3-gpiozero

This example sets all the red LEDs to flicker randomly:

from gpiozero import LEDBoard
from gpiozero.tools import random_values
from signal import pause
tree = LEDBoard(*range(2,28),pwm=True)
for led in tree:
 led.source_delay = 0.1
 led.source = random_values()
pause()

Schematic + Pin Numbers

Download the Schematic Here

Pin numbers used

• Star = GPIO 2
• Tree Lights = GPIO 4, 15, 13, 21, 25, 8, 5, 10, 16, 17, 27, 26, 24, 9, 12, 6, 20, 19, 14, 18, 11, 7, 23 and 22.
• Physical pin #6 is used for GND