What is it?

This is a Addresable LED controller board based on ESP8266 microcontroller.

Why did you make it?

Neopixel LEDs aka WS2812b addressable RGB LEDs are very easy to use, because it has built in driver IC which allows us to control tons of such LEDs using only one Data line from the microcontroller. That certainly a great advantage over regular LEDs. But What more interesting is that if it can be control over the internet. With that in mind I made this Neopixel LED driver board.

What makes it special?

Size : The board is tiny enough to fit inside any small enclosure. The size of the PCB is 25x50mm which is great for both indoor and outdoor applications. despite of having small size it has some great features to offer.

WiFi Connectivity As the heart of the project is ESP8266, a powerful WiFi enabled microcontroller, so we don't need to change the program every time we want to try some new animations or effects. We can simply do that from a web browser on our smartphone or desktop. This allows us to install the LED strips anywhere without any problem.

Supported LED types PixyMaster supports various kinds of LED types such as WS2811, WS2812/WS2812b (aka NeoPixel), WS2813, WS2815, SK6812 RGB or RGBW, and WS2801 LEDs are also supported. It is capable of supporting up to 5,000 APA102 LED or 2500 WS2812 LEDs. also any wiring configuration is supported, including strips, matrix panels, or other custom configurations.

Sensors Talking about the sensors, It has a LDR connected to Analog input of the ESP8266. Which can be used to adjust the brightness or dim the LEDs, depending on the ambient light. It also has a DHT11 sensor for getting the current temperature value. Besides there is push button for charging the modes or anything else. Plus there is a I2C Pinouts for connecting additional sensors like DS3231 RTC or MPU6050 Accelerometer and Gyro Sensor.

Power For powering the module there is DC barrel jack connector which can also power up the LEDs.

Programming You need to install Adafruit NeoPixel Library in order to run the LEDs. For more additional freatures checkout WS2812FX library. There are more than 55 different effects and animation to choose from. And you will get a nice web interface to change the speed, brightness of the LEDs and the animations over the air. Also you can customize it and set your own custom effects as well.