The Adafruit Blue Mini 0.7" 8x8 LED Matrices take the pain out of using matrix displays by including an I2C backpack to do the constant current driving and multiplexing. Connecting displays like this can be quite expensive in precious GPIO pins, but with the added backpack they only use the 2 x I2C signals plus 2 x power connections. They are great for microcontrollers with limited outputs such as the Adafruit Trinkets which only have 5 x IO pins. They're also handy for grown up boards like the Raspberry Pi which have better things to do with their time than multiplex LEDs. Applications such as electronic jewellery, animated signs and badges or VU meters suddenly become much simpler.
Each board has address selection jumpers allowing you to have 4 x of these displays attached to a single I2C bus. There are I2C commands to write to a pixel and to adjust the brightness. As you would expect Adafruit have also published a free library and a tutorial to get you off to a quick start. Supplied with a 4-way strip of header pins for you to solder on as required for your project.
- Add an 8x8 matrix display to your project using only 2 x I2C lines
- Built-in constant current drivers and multiplexers
- 15 levels of brightness control for the ultra-bright LEDs
- Suitable for 3.3 and 5V power supplies
- Dimensions 20 x 28 x 4mm (0.8 x 1.1 x 0.2in.)
- Mounting holes: 12 x 22mm (0.5 x 0.9in.)
- Adafruit part no.: 959
Please note that some soldering is required to mount the display on the backpack board, a total of 16-pins. You may also want to solder on the supplied 4-pin header or wire directly to the board.
Alternatively, we supply Adafruit 4-digit 7-segment displays which also have I2C backpacks, great for meters, clocks etc.
*Customers looking to resell on eBay or Amazon should contact Adafruit directly.
*Customers looking to resell on eBay or Amazon should contact Adafruit directly.
