Multiple output expander wiring / timing signal question

Troubleshooting
1

hiya folks – question on using multiple output expanders, with 4-wire LEDs (APA102 or whatever). i’ve read that when using LEDs with a dedicated clock wire on a PB expander, you need to set one of the output channels as the clock signal channel; when doing so, is that output channel still available for use in driving any LEDs, or is it now solely a timing signal channel?

i have a PB v3 and a pair of output expanders, to which i need to connect 16 LED channels, which will max out all available outputs on both of these expanders; in this instance, am i restricted to using a 3-wire type LED (WS281x)? if not, how would i distribute a timing signal to all 8 channels on both expanders?

thanks muchly!

2

You’d need at least 3 expanders to drive 16 apa102 type LEDs.

You’d have to dedicate at least one channel to clock out, but it can usually be shared. So the most you can get is 7 APA102 type LED strips. You might need more, depending on wiring. Long runs split off might be an issue.

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