breadboard-friendly neopixels: series or parallel connection

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zitong0301
 
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breadboard-friendly neopixels: series or parallel connection

Post by zitong0301 »

Dear Adafruit staff,

I saw in one picture of the breadboard-friendly neopixels that they are connected in series. Does this not dim the brightness? Should they not be connected in parallel?

Thank you.
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michaelmeissner
 
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Re: breadboard-friendly neopixels: series or parallel connec

Post by michaelmeissner »

Each individual neopixel LED has a microprocessor in it. When you program a microprocessor to use neopixels, it sends commands down the entire series to give the RGB power levels for each LED. Each individual LED then does a PWM action to set the power level (PWM turns the LEDs on/off fast enough that it appears the power level is at a particular level, when it really is just on for some number of microseconds and then off for a different number of microseconds).

So the answer is you must wire neopixels in series fashion.

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zitong0301
 
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Re: breadboard-friendly neopixels: series or parallel connec

Post by zitong0301 »

Thank you, I understand now how the neopixels work connected in series fashion, but "must" they be in series fashion? Can they also be connected in parallel when there isn't enough space on the breadboard and I want to fit as many neopixels as possible?

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Disciple
 
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Re: breadboard-friendly neopixels: series or parallel connec

Post by Disciple »

Hi there. Look at the picture again. Each NeoPixel mini-board has both a positive voltage and ground connection to the next board in line. They are being powered in parallel. I think the + and G pins on each board are single connections, duplicated for wiring convenience, and powering them in series is not an option. Only the data line has distinct in and out pins, and must be chained in an open-ended series arrangement to work properly. At least, that's how my non-breadboard NeoPixels behave. Hope this helps.

Hallelujah!
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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: breadboard-friendly neopixels: series or parallel connec

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The power and ground pins must be connected in parallel.
The signal pins must be connected in series as shown. If you connect 2 or 3 in parallel, they will not be separately addressable. If you connect more than that in parallel, they most likely won't work at all.

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michaelmeissner
 
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Re: breadboard-friendly neopixels: series or parallel connec

Post by michaelmeissner »

Depending on what you are trying to create, I would imagine using neopixel strips, sticks, or matrixes would give you more density then a breadboard setup, and you would just need to link the ends, as internally they are all inter-connected.

Depending on your soldering skills, using a perfboard that is NOT interconnected might be easier that using breadboards or perma-proto boards, in that you would place the lights, and underneath solder each connection. It would likely get very tedious.

Just what are you trying to create?

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