🎉  Happy 13th Birthday Raspberry Pi!   🎂   1,000+ deals in store!   🥳
🎉  Happy 13th Birthday Raspberry Pi!   🎂   1,000+ deals in store!   🥳

Rainbow HAT - Experimentation Board

by Pimoroni

Rainbow HAT has a buffet of sensors, inputs and displays. Use it as a weather station, a clock, a timer or stopwatch, a mood light, or endless other things.

We've worked with the Android Things team at Google to create this great add-on board that features displays, sensors, sound, and lots of LEDs! It's the perfect introduction to developing Android Things applications on the Raspberry Pi.

Rainbow HAT also has a full Python API for use on Raspberry Pi OS just like all of our other HATs that you know and love!

The MagPi said that "Rainbow HAT has an impressive number of features crammed into it, making it useful for all sorts of projects" in their four star review.

Rainbow HAT features:

  • Seven APA102 multicolour LEDs
  • Four 14-segment alphanumeric displays (green LEDs)
  • HT16K33 display driver chip
  • Three capacitive touch buttons
  • Atmel QT1070 capacitive touch driver chip
  • Blue, green and red LEDs
  • BMP280 temperature and pressure sensor
  • Piezo buzzer
  • Breakout pins for servo, I2C, SPI, and UART (all 3v3)
  • Rainbow HAT pinout
  • Compatible with all 40-pin header Raspberry Pi models*
  • Python library

* Please note that if you're using Rainbow HAT with a Raspberry Pi with PoE pins (that's models 3B+ and later), then you'll need to use a set of stand-offs to ensure that the new PoE pins do not contact components on the underside of Rainbow HAT.

The board is designed specifically to show off the wide range of protocols available on the Raspberry Pi, including SPI (the APA102 LEDs), I2C (the BMP280 sensor and 14-segment displays), GPIO (the capacitive touch buttons and LEDs), and PWM (the piezo buzzer).

Using Android Things?

Please note that Google are in the process of discontinuing Android Things. You can still use all the goodies on Rainbow HAT with our Python library!

For information on how to get started with Android Things and Rainbow HAT visit the official developer site for Android Things. To put the latest Android Things image on your SD card, see the instructions here. You can find the driver and samples published in the official GitHub organisation: https://github.com/androidthings 

Using Raspberry Pi OS?

You don't have to use Android Things with your Rainbow HAT, we’ve also put together our usual Python library to give you access to all its functions. You can find it here.

If you're interested in controlling your Rainbow HAT from a web page check out this tutorial - it shows you how to incorporate web app functionality into your Python code using Anvil's drag and drop app designer.

Notes

Temperature readings are affected by heat radiated from your Pi’s CPU and the onboard LEDs; calibration can help to correct temperature readings. bstrobl, on the Raspberry Pi forums, suggests to use the formula: corrected temp. = measured temp. - (CPU temp. - measured temp.) / 2. Using a Mini Black HAT Hack3r can also help.

13 customer reviews

3 years ago
Bought in a sale just for tinkering with. Great fun for learning and experimenting - has lots of useful inputs and outputs and excellent software support.
by DAVID about Rainbow HAT - Experimentation Board via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
La seule limite est notre imagination ! Autant de capteurs et afficheurs sur une si petite surface, c'est fantastique ! Et encore des connecteurs pour en ajouter quelques-uns ! Le seul petit regret : je n'ai pas trouvé dans les exemples un script qui affiche la pression atmosphérique en utilisant les LEDs multicolores qui sont pourtant déjà réparties sur une échelle de pressions de 970 à 1030hPa. Alors c'est un bon objectif à atteindre !
by Stephane about Rainbow HAT - Experimentation Board via REVIEWS.io
5 years ago
Very quick delivery from Pimoroni. The rainbowhat is full of different sensor and visual displays(alphanumeric,LEDs). Also sound facilities, although I found the piezo speaker sound very low but it could be my hearing. One word of advice to anyone who want to use it, do make use of the standoff to avoid shorting the board. Definitely one of the best hat I have purchased
by Valerio about Rainbow HAT - Experimentation Board via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
I like the board a lot, but where is the schematic? Also, use the apa102, it seems that the data has to be sent over SPI, twice before the leds behave correctly. Is that correct or am I doing something wrong? I've tried using multiple examples from github, but none of them seem to work correctly unless the data is sent to the leds twice in a row.
by Mario about Rainbow HAT - Experimentation Board via REVIEWS.io
8 years ago
I am an Android Developer, but not a huge hardware tinkerer. I was very interested in learning about Android Things, and this product is a perfect way to do that. The difficulties of working with hardware are reduced, since this all-in-one solution removes the need for breadboards, purchasing different hardware, and getting it all wired together. I wrote an Android Things project and app that exercises ALL the hardware on this device (which was pretty simple to do thanks to the terrific integration with Android Things, the drivers, and examples were easy to find and follow). Feedback about my "Rainbow HAT All The Things" demo are welcome: https://github.com/mwolfson/AndroidThings_RainbowHatDemo
by Mike about Rainbow HAT - Experimentation Board via REVIEWS.io
8 years ago
I'm loving being able to develop Android on a Raspberry Pi -- this is my two favourite bits of tech in one place. The starter kit is perfect (though I wish the SD card had come with Android image). Unfortunately the dev docs don't seem to mention the rainbow hat so it took me a while to figure out how to interact with it. The Quick Start / Hello World app I wanted to see can be found here: https://github.com/adamconnors/HelloRainbow
by Adam about Rainbow HAT - Experimentation Board via REVIEWS.io
8 years ago
If you want to learn python programing and logging data to the Internet, you will love the Rainbow Hat. It offers a wide range and it can be used for several types of projects. For me it made an excellent digital pressure gauge. Happy I made the choice to buy it. Recommended.
by Dean about Rainbow HAT - Experimentation Board via REVIEWS.io
8 years ago
A bit too large, doesn't fit my current case. But really a great HAT for developing sample application on Android Things. Also good for STEM education for young children.
by Fung about Rainbow HAT - Experimentation Board via REVIEWS.io
8 years ago
wow what can i say bright blinkys. 4 digit leds. pinouts and a hidden away piezo speaker and also works too with python. Glad i got this now. but looks like my other pimoroni boards may just take a backseat for a while in favour of this one.
by Blinded about Rainbow HAT - Experimentation Board via REVIEWS.io

1 user photo