Adafruit Small 1.2" 8x8 LED Matrix w/I2C Backpack

by Adafruit

What's better than a single LED? Lots of LEDs!

A fun way to make a small display is to use an 8x8 matrix or a 4-digit 7-segment display. Matrices like these are 'multiplexed' - so to control 64 LEDs you need 16 pins. That's a lot of pins, and there are driver chips like the MAX7219 that can control a matrix for you but there's a lot of wiring to set up and they take up a ton of space.

At Adafruit they feel your pain! After all, wouldn't it be awesome if you could control a matrix without tons of wiring? That's where these lovely LED matrix backpacks come in. We have them in three flavors - a mini 0.7" 8x8, these small 1.2" 8x8 and a 4-digit 0.56" 7-segment.

The matrices use a driver chip that does all the heavy lifting for you: They have a built in clock so they multiplex the display. They use constant-current drivers for ultra-bright, consistent colour (the images are photographed at the dimmest setting to avoid overloading the camera!), 1/16 step display dimming, all via a simple I2C interface. These 1.2" matrix backpacks come with three address-selection jumpers so you can connect up to eight 1.2" 8x8's together (or a combination, such as four 1.2" 8x8's and four 7-segments, etc) on a single I2C bus.

The product kit comes with:

A bit of soldering is required to attach the matrix onto the backpack but its very easy to do and only takes about 5 minutes.

Of course, in classic Adafruit fashion, they also have a detailed tutorial showing you how to solder, wire and control the display. They even wrote a very nice library for the backpacks so you can get running in under half an hour, displaying images on the matrix or numbers on the 7-segment. If you've been eying matrix displays but hesitated because of the complexity, this is the solution you've been looking for!

TECHNICAL DETAILS

This board/chip uses I2C 7-bit addresses between 0x70-0x77, selectable with jumpers.

Datasheets, Fritzing object, EagleCAD PCB files and more in the tutorial!

3 customer reviews

6 years ago
The order was received in due time and in the condition as expected.. The item worked as expected.. Having things happen as expected is something seldom expected from life.. Would definitely come back to shop from PiMoroni..
by Saurav about Adafruit Small 1.2" 8x8 LED Matrix w/I2C Backpack via REVIEWS.io
9 years ago
I ordered a pair of the 8x8 LED matrices from Pimoroni the LED are super bright but it's the speed they got here that impressed me 3 day I kid you not. THANKS Pimoroni your great, and I will be ordering more goodies soon.
by Ben about Adafruit Small 1.2" 8x8 LED Matrix w/I2C Backpack via REVIEWS.io