This is the easiest way possible to add small, bright RGB pixels to your project. We took the same technology from our Flora NeoPixels and made them breadboard-friendly, with two rows of 3 x 0.1" spaced headers on each side for easy soldering, chaining and breadboarding. These ultra-bright LEDs have a constant-current driver cooked right into the LED package! The pixels are chainable - so you only need 1 pin/wire to control as many LEDs as you like.
These pixels have full 24-bit colour ability with PWM taken care of by the controller chip. Since the LED is so bright, you need less current/power to get the effects you want. The driver is constant current so it's OK if your battery power changes or fluctuates a little.
Each pixel draws as much as 60mA (all three RGB LEDs on for full brightness white). An Arduino can drive up to 500 pixels at 30 FPS (it will run out of RAM after that). Using ribbon cable you can string these up to 6" apart (after that, you might get power droops and data corruption)
Each order comes with 5 (used to be 4) individually controllable pixels. In the photos above we show the pixels with headers soldered on, but the pixels do not come with any headers. You can pick up some in the shop if you need
Our detailed NeoPixel Uberguide has everything you need to use NeoPixels in any shape and size. Including ready-to-go library & example code for the Arduino UNO/Duemilanove/Diecimila, Flora/Micro/Leonardo, Trinket/Gemma, Arduino Due & Arduino Mega/ADK (all versions)
Note: Breadboard and cables are NOT included
Revision History
As of September 5th, 2024- We are no longer able to get the old 9V-compatible WS2812S chips, this now comes with the SK6812 which is 5V max, but it's a better LED overall and doesn't have power-up flashes and is less sensitive to input level voltages. We now include 5 rather than 4 breakouts! We also updated this PCB with Adafruit Pinguin to make a lovely and legible silkscreen.
Specifications
Dimensions: 0.4" x 0.5" x 0.1" / 10.2mm x 12.7mm x 2.5mm
0.5" (12.5mm) diameter circle PCB, 0.1" (2.5mm) total thickness
800 KHz speed protocol
Chainable design
5-9VDC power (can run at 3.5V but color will be dimmed), constant current 18.5mA per LED (~55mA max total per pixel)
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