PiGlow

by Pimoroni

PiGlow is a spiral nebula of 18 coloured, individually-controllable LEDs for your Raspberry Pi. Use it for all sorts of things. And, of course, it fits inside a Pibow case!

This diminutive board is compatible with all 40-pin Raspberry Pi models, and can be controlled really simply with our PiGlow Python library.

Use PiGlow for mood lighting / ambience, monitoring the status of your system, scripts, or daemons, Twitter mentions or emails, VESA-mounted behind your monitor or TV, or a zillion other things!

Features

  • 18 coloured LEDs (3x each red, orange, yellow, green, blue, white)
  • Driven by the SN3218 8-bit, 18-channel PWM LED driver
  • Uses I2C (address 0x54)
  • PiGlow pinout
  • Compatible with all 40-pin header Raspberry Pi models
  • Python library
  • Comes fully assembled

Software

Our PiGlow Python library makes controlling PiGlow a piece of cake. You can control the brightness of the different colour groups of LEDs, the arms of the nebula, or individual LEDs - flexible! There's also a handful of examples to show you what can be done.

Community software

A bunch of awesome folk have contributed code for PiGlow. Here's just some of it:

Gordon Henderson has added a PiGlow driver for wiringPi that you can find here: http://wiringpi.com/dev-lib/piglow/

Simon Walters has added PiGlow support for Scratch: http://cymplecy.wordpress.com/

Jason Barnett has put together a great Python class and a load of samples: https://github.com/Boeeerb/PiGlow

Ben Lebherz has forked Jason's project and tidied up the code a bit while adding gamma correction: https://github.com/benleb/PyGlow

Manuel Ernst has created a Node.js library: https://github.com/zaphod1984/node-piglow

Falldeaf has put together a nice XBMC hack to use the PiGlow as a status indicator: http://falldeaf.com/2013/11/the-xbmc-piglow-information-display-addon/

Jonathan Stowe has created a module for the Perl divers among you: https://metacpan.org/release/JSTOWE/Device-PiGlow-1.0

Toon Schoenmakers has gone as far as making a library for Golang: https://github.com/schoentoon/piglow

Bruce Beisel has created a Java package (with GUI simulator and example applications): https://github.com/brucebeisel/PiGlow4J

Robert Peake has made a simple, mobile-friendly, web-based interface, the PiGlow Web Controller : https://github.com/cyberscribe/piglowweb

Joris Vervuurt has created a lightweight Node.js module: https://github.com/jorisvervuurt/jvspiglow

Notes

  • Photo-sensitivity warning: flashing, strobing, and patterns of lights may cause epileptic seizures. Always take care and immediately stop using if you feel unwell (dizziness, nausea, affected vision, eye twitching, disorientation).