Hello,
I recently discovered the Pixelblaze project and find it very interesting. I would like to buy a controller to test it out, but I’m not sure if it will suit my needs.
I need to control 15 LED strips, (each with 30 Pixels), 450 total. Is this possible with a Pixelblaze Pico? Do I need an external power supply to power all the LEDs?
What do I need to buy ?
Thank you !
Hi @Damien -
Yes, the Pico can drive 450 LEDs, but usually with the Pico you drive all the pixels connected to each other in one long set, so the strips would need to be chained to each other (even if they aren’t physically arranged that way in space).
If you definitely need to wire the strips separately, for example in some sort of star configuration, you would use a Pixelblaze Standard and two output expanders (that’s a total of 16 outputs; they’re typically called “channels”).
You always need an external power supply for your LEDs with the Pico; the Standard can drive about 60 typical pixels just off it’s Micro USB power plug, and more if you reduce the max brightness or use sparse patterns. So for your project, you should definitely be planning on using an external power supply or battery.
If you’ve bought your strips already, a link to what you bought would help me be more specific. For example, we’d need to know if they’re 5V or 12V pixels, how much current each pixel can consume, and what pixel data protocol they use.
Then, for wiring advice (such as how to wire up your output expander, or whether chaining all 15 strips is likely to work), a physical diagram or description of how they’ll be arranged is helpful.
Welcome to the forums!