What's cooler than a single LED? A whole bunch of them! And even better? Having twice as many LEDs!!! With our 16x8 LED Matrix Backpack, we've made it a breeze to double your project's matrix capacity. You can easily fit two separate 8x8 matrices on one convenient board. These matrices are multiplexed. Usually, controlling 64 LEDs needs 16 pins, and 128 LEDs would need 24 pins - that's a lot of pins! Driver chips like the MAX7219 can help, but they involve a lot of wiring and take up a lot of space. At Adafruit, we get your pain. What if you could control two matrices without all that wiring? That's where this amazing 16x8 LED matrix backpack comes in. It works great with the matrices in our Adafruit shop and makes adding a bright display super easy. This backpack is perfect for scrolling displays or small video displays. In our example, words flow from one matrix to the other, just like a sign at a mini car dealership. We powered the demo with a Trinket (not included), so it's all in a compact package. The backpack uses a HT16K33 driver chip. It has a built - in clock for multiplexing the display. It uses constant - current drivers for ultra - bright, consistent color (the images are taken at the dimmest setting to avoid overloading our camera!), and 1/16 step display dimming, all through a simple I2C interface. Each matrix backpack has three address - selection jumpers, so you can connect up to 8 x 1.2' 16x8's on a single I2C bus. This kit includes a fully tested and assembled 16x8 1.2' LED Backpack, 2 ultra - bright round 8x8 red matrices, and a 4 - pin header. You'll need to do a bit of soldering to attach the two matrices to the backpack, but it's easy and only takes about 10 minutes. We also have a detailed tutorial on how to solder, wire, and control the display. We've written a great library for the backpacks, so you can start displaying images on the matrix or numbers on the 7 - segment in under half an hour. If you've been wanting a matrix display but were put off by the complexity, this is the answer you've been waiting for!
Using the 16x8 LED Matrix with Backpack is easy. First, if you got the kit, you'll need to solder the two ultra - bright round 8x8 red matrices onto the fully - assembled 16x8 1.2' LED Backpack. It only takes about 10 minutes. After that, you can use the provided 4 - pin header for wiring. The backpack uses a simple I2C interface, which makes it easy to connect to your project. You can connect up to 8 of these 1.2' 16x8 units on a single I2C bus using the address - selection jumpers. For powering the display, you can use a Trinket (not included) like in our demo. We've also written a nice library for the backpacks. You can use it to display images on the matrix or numbers on the 7 - segment in under half an hour. Just follow our detailed tutorial on soldering, wiring, and controlling the display. As for maintenance, keep the display away from extreme heat or moisture. If you notice any dimness or color inconsistency, check the connections and make sure the I2C interface is working properly.
