LED Matrix Display Module/Backpack 16x8 Square/Green - Adafruit 2042

LED Matrix Display Module/Backpack 16x8 Square/Green - Adafruit 2042

Product information:

What's better than a single LED? Lots of LEDs! And what's better than lots of LEDs? Twice as many LEDs!

With the 16x8 LED matrix backpack, Adafruit has doubled the matrix capacity of your project by making it super easy to combine 2 single 8x8 matrices onto one handy board!

Matrices like this are 'multiplexed' - so to drive 64 LEDs you need 16 pins and for 128 LEDs you need 24 pins. That's a lot of pins, and there are driver chips like the MAX7219 that make it easier, but you still need quite a few pins. Adafruit thought along! Wouldn't it be nice if you could drive 2 matrices without a lot of wiring! That's where this 16x8 LED matrix backpack comes in handy. It works with Adafruit's matrices and makes adding a nice bright display to your project easy.

The 16x8 backpack is also great for making scrolling displays or small video displays. The backpack uses the HT16L33 driver chip which does all the heavy lifting. It uses a built in clock to multiplex the display. It also regulates the power to the LEDs for ultra-bright and consistent color (pictures were taken with the LEDs dimmed so as not to overload the camera!). The displays can be dimmed in 16 steps, all through a simple I2C interface. Each matrix backpack has 3 address select jumpers so you can connect up to 8 16x8 units to a single I2C bus.

This kit comes with:
- a fully tested and assembled 16x8 3cm large LED backpack.
- 2 ultra-bright square 8x8 green matrices
- 6-pin header

Some soldering is needed to attach the 2 matrices to the backpack but that is quite easy to do and only takes 10 minutes. If you do not want to solder the matrices to the backpack you can of course also put female header pins in between.

Specifications:

Backpack dimensions: 72mm x 32mm x 2mm
Matrix dimensions: 32mm x 32mm x 7mm
Pin length: 13mm

This board/chip uses I2C 7-bit addresses between 0x70 and 0x77, selectable with jumpers.

For a library and programming examples, see:
https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-LED-Backpack-Library

Click to view the product's website.