Choose the Best Board to Animate Your LEDs

A specialized control board can really expedite your addressable LED project. Features like signal level shifting and reverse polarity protection reduce your component count, while pattern-managing software makes animations easy. Which board’s best? Depends on how many LEDs you’re driving, their power requirements, and sensor integration. These boards offer many features to streamline your illuminated marvel.

Pre-Programmed Boards

Beyond the Matrix

The ESP32-based Pixelblaze V3 Standard ($39) and smaller V3 Pico ($35) run proprietary browser-based software with a JavaScript pattern editor that updates LED animations in real time. Patterns from a library can arranged into playlists, and because pixel-mapping is separate from pattern code, the same animations display consistently on any arbitrary arrangement of pixels in 3D space. The Pico has a 6-axis IMU, while the Standard takes an add-on board with IMU, microphone, and light sensor. For big jobs, an output expander (sold separately) for the Standard supports multiple strips in parallel, and a simple software setting synchronizes multiple Pixelblaze controllers. These boards work with many addressable LED types, beyond the typical NeoPixel/DotStar variants, for a flexible, expansible, and powerful LED control system.

Perfectly Powered

ESP32-based QuinLED Dig2Go ($27) and Dig-Uno ($33) provide simple solutions for managing a project’s patterns and power. Both come pre-flashed with free, open-source WLED software containing mix-and-match color palettes and LED animations that can be arranged into playlists via WLED’s browser-based interface. Both provide substantial regulated 5V power directly through the board (3A for Dig2Go, 15A for Dig-Uno), and can cut power to the LEDs to save energy when patterns are not displayed. The Dig-Uno connects easily to 3- and 4-pin LED strips via screw terminals. The Dig2Go has a mic for sound reactivity and a sturdy enclosure with 3-pin JST LED output and USB-C power input terminals, making it a great choice for NeoPixel wearables.

DIY Codeable Boards

Plenty of Pixels in Parallel

The Adafruit Feather RP2040 Scorpio board provides eight pairs of level-shifted signal pins with ground pins to easily control eight LED strips at once. Combined with Adafruit’s code library (C++ or CircuitPython), the RP2040’s PIO processors can quickly push LED signal data to eight NeoPixel strips simultaneously while freeing the main processor for other tasks. As part of Adafruit’s Feather ecosystem, the Scorpio is compatible with dozens of add-on boards, and while you must code your own LED patterns, helpful examples on Adafruit’s website will get your project running quickly.

Perfect for Prototyping

Pimoroni Plasma boards come in RP2040, RP2040W, and RP2350 varieties and feature screw terminals with two level-shifted data pins for quickly reusable connections to 3-pin and 4-pin LED strips. The USB-C connector provides up to 3A of current at 5V to the LEDs. Two user buttons and lots of I/O pins make it easy to connect peripherals, and the speedy RP2040 and RP2350 processors have plenty of power to run intensive computations (C/C++ or MicroPython) while still animating the LEDs.

Need more details? This table provides a direct comparison of the above LED control boards.

LED Control Board Comparison Matrix

This article appeared in the Boards Guide in Make: Volume 91.