WS2812B Fun Board
Ken Gracey
Posts: 7,392
Hello,
Visiting our SMT line today I noticed they were putting a new product into production: a small breakout for the WS2812B LED. They seem to be building 5,000 units for you. This was originally produced by Jon Williams followed with a quick update by Daniel one afternoon.
Jen has some marketing tricks in mind to get these to you for free, but we'll also sell them to you. I'm hoping that our price is $1.00 to $1.50, but I'm not certain until I see our final costs.
Couple of questions you might like to answer so we can do this properly:
Thanks,
Ken Gracey
Visiting our SMT line today I noticed they were putting a new product into production: a small breakout for the WS2812B LED. They seem to be building 5,000 units for you. This was originally produced by Jon Williams followed with a quick update by Daniel one afternoon.
Jen has some marketing tricks in mind to get these to you for free, but we'll also sell them to you. I'm hoping that our price is $1.00 to $1.50, but I'm not certain until I see our final costs.
Couple of questions you might like to answer so we can do this properly:
- The PCB can accept a right-angle or straight-through header pin. With two right-angle connectors you could chain them together for a string of LEDs using our servo-extension cables. With the straight-through connector they'll be great for quick experimentation in a breadboard. Because of your varied uses, and with a goal of keeping costs down, we won't install any header pins. Okay with that?
- What would be your ideal volume pack purchase? 5, 10, 25 in a bag? I'll stock them exactly the way you'd like.
- Headers. So that everybody can open the bag and blink the LED, we'll at least include a straight-through header. We would also offer packages of right-angle headers for your string-o-light ideas.
Thanks,
Ken Gracey
640 x 480 - 147K
Comments
Paul
Yes, I noticed! I'll send you some early next week for your efforts and to make sure you're working with our production parts.
Ken Gracey
The LEDs are being placed on our PnP machine. It's actually cheaper for us to mount them than take them from a tray or tape and reel and bag them. However, if you want to try your hand (or luck) at SMT I could always pull some parts for you.
As for the assembled unit, we need to make a choice on the headers. Maybe the best solution is two additional products: a 10-pack of right angle or 10-pack of straight headers. You choose.
What kind of Power Supply should I have for 5 or 10 of these in a row?
They look really handy, and small too.:thumb:
-Tommy
The power supply is more important than one would expect. WS2812B LEDs are one of the few 5V devices which don't always work well with 3.3V logic. I've found the quality of the 5V supply is important. If I have nice clean power, the LEDs work pretty well with 3.3V logic but when I use a switching regulator, I end up with all sorts of extra flashes on the LEDs.
I haven't tried it yet, but I'm guessing if the LEDs were powered with a lower voltage (it can be as low as 3.5V according to the datasheet), I'd imagine 3.3V logic would be less of an issue.
I think JonnyMac agrees with me (or I agree with him) that a logic level shifter is a good thing to use with these.
I don't think I measured the current on these and I don't see it listed in the datasheet, but I think you'd want at least 60mA of current available for each LED.
If you really want to practice SMT soldering, these WS2812B LEDs are a good device to practice on. The four side tabs make these LEDs reasonable easy to solder by hand.
I attached the gerber files to my version of a small WS2812B board to post #23 of my thread about my experiments with WS2812(B) LEDs.
To have bare PCBs made you could submit the zip file to OSH Park. The WS2812B LEDs are available on ebay and you'll also need a 0603 ceramic 0.1uF capacitor for each board (kind of makes one start to think about just ordering a completed board from Parallax).
In case any of you are unaware of these LEDs, they are a lot of fun. JonnyMac's driver make these really easy to use with a Propeller.
BTW, I think it's safe to say none of the Basic Stamps will be able to drive these LEDs. The communication protocol is to time dependent for the BS.
Coincidentally, I am currently working on a PCB design for a 3 watt RGB LED. Call it a NeoPixel on steriods that will need to come with a blindness hazard warning..........
As long as they are powered or not updated. I realize my code is fairly simple, but I use these things every day in client projects (just did one the other day that controls four strings of 160 lights, using DMX input as the controlling factor [built-in animations and effects]) -- this forces me to focus on features that I'm using. Also keeps things easy for others to follow.
Uninstalled pin headers would actually be really great. I like Tailspin's idea of splicing LEDs into servo cables as desired.
I am curious though about the marketing of these. Adafruits "neopixels" are really popular right now. The also offer a single "breadboard friendly" design. Hopefully there is enough interest in these that competition is irrelevant.
Also, I have not had any problems using 3.3 volt logic with these so far. If there is not a 300-500 ohm resistor between the Propeller and the first DI, sometimes the first LED acts strangely. But with the series resistor all the LEDs work great at 3.3 volts. I have not tried this with very large runs of LEDs, nor have I tried this with long distances between the Propeller's I/O pin and the first LED.
I am actually using some of these as lighting for an apparatus I am working on. They are insanely bright and diffuse well through a thin layer of white plastic. As far as DC lighting goes, the cost isn't bad for the amount of control you get, especially for small production runs. I think the only time I won't use these is when I want control of the PWM rate.
Duane, I had the same issue (random LED flashing) with some WS2811 boards that I bought on ebay. Adding 33 ohm resistors in series with the data signal fixed the issue. It's suggested to do so in the (badly translated, of course) datasheet.
Walter
Do these breakouts include a cap along with the LED on board?
Others:
Regarding power requirements, they draw about 50ma when you set them to full bright white. Although you really shouldn't do that, at least not for very long because it'll reduce the lifetime of the LED significantly.
I've been working with these WS2812B devices a bunch lately with the pinball side project I've been doing with FAST Pinball. I've got a pile of the Adafruit neopixel boards (many rings, 8x8 grid, etc.), and I've popped a few fuses pushing 184 of them up to bright levels.
Actually I could easily connect the LEDs up to a prop board and use Jon's driver to whip up something, so I'll do that and make a video. That way it's appropriate for here.
Thanks, and excellent!
Ken Gracey
Uhh, and JonnyMac (it's your design, pal).
I'll post a video here later tonight of this in action. I had to take about ten videos at my desk to capture one without a bunch of internal top-secret audio about the Propeller 2 design or somebody making complaints about me. I don't have any time to strip out audio and try to keep this simple.
Ken Gracey
If each one isn't solar powered and doesn't have a laser attached, you're just hoarding!
Let's seem I probably NEED 99 of them......
Haha! And people around here REALLY need to ask what "Forum Friends" are????