Make your own smart LED arrangement with the same integrated LED that is used in our new fancy DotStar strips. This tiny 5050 (5mm x 5mm) SMD LED is fairly easy to solder and is the most compact way possible to integrate multiple bright LEDs to a design. If you want to prototype with these, we recommend our 5050-size LED breakout PCBs, solder them on for a breadboard-friendly package
They're also a great upgrade for people who have loved and used NeoPixels for a few years but want something even better. DotStar LEDs use genertic 2-wire SPI, so you can push data much faster than with the NeoPixel 800 KHz protocol and there's no specific timing required.
Like NeoPixels, DotStar LEDs are 5050-sized LEDs with an embedded microcontroller inside the LED. You can set the color/brightness of each LED to 24-bit color (8 bits each red green and blue). Each LED acts like a shift register, reading incoming color data on the input pins, and then shifting the previous color data out on the output pin. By sending a long string of data, you can control an infinite number of LEDs, just tack on more or cut off unwanted LEDs at the end. The PWM is built into each LED-chip so once you set the color you can stop talking to the strip and it will continue to PWM all the LEDs for you
On NeoPixels, this PWM rate happens 400 Hz, whereas the SK9822 version of DotStars have a 1.2 KHz PWM rate for a smoother look.
Comes in a package with 10 individual LEDs.
We have a tutorial showing wiring, power usage calculations, example code for usage, etc. Please check it out!
Technical Details
Please note: we are currently shipping a version that has DOTSTAR_BGR color order. You can select the color order in your Arduino sketch. Check the DotStar tutorial for details on how to do this! The LED colors are otherwise identical, you just have to pipe the data to it in a slightly different order.
- Single LED: 5mm x 5mm / 0.2" x 0.2"
DotStar Addressable 5050 RGB LED w/ Integrated Driver - 10 Pack (SK9822)
