Adafruit DotStar FeatherWing, 6 x 12 RGB LEDs

A Feather board without ambition is a Feather board without FeatherWings! This is the DotStar FeatherWing, a 6x12 RGB LED Add-on For All Feather Boards! Using Stacking Headers you can connect a FeatherWing on top or bottom of your Feather board and make your Feather board strut like a peacock at a rave.

Put on your sunglasses before staring into these 72 configurable RGB LEDs, they are super bright! Arranged in a 6x12 matrix, each 2mm by 2mm sized RGB pixel is individually addressable. Only two pins are required to control all the LEDs. On the bottom we have jumpers for the Data and Clock lines so you can change them from the defaults. Works with any/all of our Feathers! You can cut the default jumper traces and use any pins you like

To make it easy to start, the LEDs are by default powered from either the USB power line or Battery power line, whichever is higher. Two Schottky diodes are used to switch between the two. This power arrangement is able to handle 1 Amp of constant current draw and maybe 2A peak, so not a good way to make a flashlight. It's better for colorful effects. A power MOSFET is set up and connected to the ENABLE pin on the Feather so that when the Feather is disabled, the wing will also cut power.

For more info on DotStar LEDs, including code examples and power calculations, check our our detailed learning guide!

As of April 4, 2018 we have updated to use a new version of the APA102-2020 LEDs with a different brightness curve - you may notice the LEDs are dimmer (but consistantly so). Please update any firmware you have written to have brightness increased!