LED SHIM

by Pimoroni

28 tiny RGB LED pixels in a single row that just slip right onto your Pi's pins, no soldering required! LED SHIM is ideal for status updates, notifications, a VU meter, or as a bar graph for sensor readings.

The really nifty thing about LED SHIM is that it doesn't require any soldering. We've engineered a new friction-fit header that slips securely onto the Pi's pins. Because LED SHIM's PCB is just 0.8mm thick, like our other SHIMs, you can use it at the same time as HATs and pHATs, and it'll stick out and be visible at the top of your Pi. Of course, if you want to solder LED SHIM to your Pi's pins or solder a female header to it, then you can do that too.

These are similar (but even smaller) to the RGB LEDs that we use on Unicorn HAT HD, being driven by the same IS31FL3731 LED matrix driver chip that's on Scroll pHAT HD. Coding LED SHIM is just like coding a Blinkt! with more pixels, so if you've used Blinkt! then it'll be very familiar to you.

Features

  • 28 RGB LED pixels
  • IS31FL3731 LED matrix driver chip
  • Solderless, friction-fit header*
  • Super-slim SHIM-format board
  • 0.8mm thick PCB
  • Can be used with HATs and pHATs
  • Compatible with all 40-pin header Raspberry Pi models
  • Python library

* Note that variation in manufacturing tolerances on both headers and boards can affect the tightness of the friction fit. If you find that yours is not making a good connection, you could try bending the two rows of GPIO pins away from each other very slightly to improve the fit.

Soldering the SHIM (either to the Pi's GPIO directly, or to a socket header) will provide the most robust connection.

Software

We've put together a one-line installer to install the LED SHIM Python library. You'll be up-and-running in a jiffy! There's a bunch of example programs to show you what's possible with LED SHIM, that you can learn from and adapt to your needs.

To install the software, open a terminal and type curl https://get.pimoroni.com/ledshim | bash to run the one-line-installer.

41 customer reviews

2 years ago
Perfect for testing out I/O ports along with a couple of Button Shims for inputs ... shame they don't do an 8-switch Button Shim, or even a combined I/O Shim with 8 LEDs and 8 buttons.
by John about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
2 years ago
This is perfect for testing software in unfashionable languages that needs to manipulate the GPIO.
by Jonathan about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
2 years ago
If you need a mess-free LED control without breadboards, resistors and jumper cables to deal with this is a perfect solution. You will however need to use its library if you're coding in Python. It will also need some additional coding to control directly from a GPIO pin unlike a simple on/off state through code. Plenty of examples are provided to use as a starter for any custom programming. For this price, it's highly recommended.
by Anonymous about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
The shim led work great even on a slim mod of gpio pins
by Anonymous about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
The press fit is awesome, saves time and allowed me to add led status lights to my project in like 20 minutes.
by Jack about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
LED Shim worked perfectly and arrived within days in Canada from the UK. Couldn't be happier! This is a great addition to my robot and will give visual insight into what the sensors are seeing. thanks!
by Marcel about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
This works very nicely and the Python examples provided are a great starting point for my own ones. I calculated though that using it to count seconds in binary would take about six years! If I hadn't read earlier reviews I might have been surprised at the small size and lack of brightness of the LEDs but I have other high-brightness displays so this is perfect for me. Pimoroni also seem to have cracked getting post through to the EU without problems which is great. Some other suppliers are still struggling.
by Anonymous about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
I fitted the led shim to a Pi Hut "Ethernet and USB HUB HAT", that I had attached to Pi Zero. The fit wasn't perfect and required a bit of persuading - probably not the led shim's fault. I use it to flag the status of other devices in the internal network, with different colours to indicate "good response", "slow response" and "no response". Some colours are better than others, but choose the right ones and it works well
by Ian about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
Great little SHIM. I do wish though there would be more form factors and sizes.
by Michael about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
Great value for the price, glad that it works without soldering!
by Michael about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
Very cool shim. Several examples, or code your own. Easy setup.
by Mark about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
Easy to program, and easy to attach to a bare pi, but very hard to fit with certain cases. The fillets near the GPIO connections don't fit into the GPIO cutouts on a lot of cases. Assuming there isn't a case in the way, the fitment is fantastic and it's really easy to add these LEDs into your program
by Tom about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
I love this little device. It's really easy to install, comes with great code and docs. I will be buying more of them.
by Daniel about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
Il me convient parfaitement. J'ai pu l'adapter sans problèmes avec un HAT. J'aime bien son faible encombrement. Il faut juste être attentif à sa coordination lors de l'empilage physique ET soft.
by Raphael about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
5 years ago
Great concept at a very reasonable price. Once the sample code is understood, there is a lot of flexibility in controlling brightness, colors and movement. Note that it won't fit in all enclosures though.
by Anonymous about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
5 years ago
Small, compact and full of bright LEDs! Especially like the no-solder press-fit.
by Anonymous about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
5 years ago
It’s amazing. I can control color and position. easy and beautiful.
by Kenzo about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
5 years ago
Perfect upgrade after the blinkt! Pins are available for stacking, the LEDs are wonderfully bright and colorful. One small note: if you want to use it stacked together with other HATs, you have to cut or file the Pibow cases a bit. No problem if you use it alone.
by Niedermayer about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
This is the first pimoroni product I am actually disappointed by. Bought 4 and was going to use it in a Pi Stack with POE hats, but the fit rules out using standoffs for this product. Did not notice that, or saw that in the information. The led itself is great, the examples is great. But really wished it would work while using other hats, hats that usually requires standoffs to be used. I'm going to try and cut some of the corners, see if I can get it to fit without breaking it. But i still love Pimoroni, and will continue to buy everything they release :)
by David about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
Perfect! Friction fits perfectly onto the pins of any naked Pi. It doesn't fit on any of my Pis in Coupe Pibows which is a shame, but it will do if I use a GPIO extender. I'd love to be able to use it at the same time as one of my HATs, but it's not compatible with the standoffs without attempting to file/cut down the SHIM. One day I'd hope to see a slightly-differently-shaped board which fits alongside a HAT on standoffs. Still, I have a pHAT Stack I can use it with and it's excellent!
by Arianne about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
Great for experimenting. It fits easily and does not impede other hats. I currently have an InkyPhat installed on top of this LEDshim. The bright LEDs give eye-catching alerts and the InkyPhat provide further details when required. The library code is straight-forward and uses the same function names as other hats, so it is possible with a single line change to use the blinkt instead (allowing for the difference in LEDs of course). Very pleased with this board.
by Colin about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
Very happy with this product. Very easy to use and very easy to connect w/out a requirement for any soldering. Led's are bright, but not too bright.
by Zak about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
Bought this along with some other bits. Love it! Playing with the example for the minute, the CPU and Memory ones didn't work at first because they need psutils Installing via apt-get doesn't work you'll need to do: sudo apt-get install build-essential python-dev python-pip sudo pip install psutil sudo python -c "import psutil" If I can do it anyone can.
by Peter about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
This is by far one of the easiest to use addressable RGB LED setups I've seen. First - the I2c setup means it doesn't use many pins and the example code and libraries are brilliant. None of the faff associated with the WS2812's. No level shifting required. Second - the friction fit requires no soldering and unlike other hat types, being a shim, the gpio pins are still available for other purposes. Third - the tiny size and positioning of these 24 LED's mean they look great. And it's rigid, instead of trying to get LED strips to stick (and stay stuck) on the robots. I am really very impressed by this tiny board.
by Danny about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
Works as advertised. It's very handy to be able to add and remove it without soldering. Installing and using the python driver is dead easy.
by Richard about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
Pros: Oooh, pretty! And for 28 RGB LEDs, it's really cheap, even if they are tiny. Also it's easy to fit - just push onto the pins. Very nice! Cons: The LEDs are really tiny, no mood light projects with this widget. The push-fit joints might not be too reliable if the Pi will be jiggling about. Install script only works on Raspbian (and variants). I wrote up how to fix that last one ... http://projectarc.co.uk/grav/fingers-in-many-pis/pimoroni-led-shim-on-kali-linux
by Adam about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
Nice bit of kit. Just about squeezes between the layers of a Pibow case although it's tight and bends slightly so don't overtighten the nuts on the case - as another reviewer says, a little bit of cutting of the case would give it that last bit of room. I have this running as an air quality display with a BME680 Breakout on top, working nicely, the 28 LEDs give a good horizontal range for a graph and you have all the colours to play with too. Not having to solder it avoids issues with shorter header pins, as unless you're really neat and very sparing with the solder on shims it can reduce how far the pins can go into pHAT sockets on top unless you use a header with longer pins. Having said that, I have a Button SHIM soldered on another Pi Zero W with the normal length header and a Unicorn pHAT on top of that and it makes sufficient contact without a problem.
by Andy about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
W00t! Got this today and after some finagling around on the command line I finally got this working on Kali Linux (which the install script says isn't supported). Very pretty lights, which will soon be used to indicate Kali network scanning info :-) BTW, getting it working on Kali wasn't too hard, rough summary was: 1. enable i2c via some edits to /etc/modules and /boot/config.txt (if "sudo i2cdetect -y 1" shows a little table with a 75 in it, you're good). 2. apt install a bunch of python3 libs for i2c and rpi development (python3-rpi.gpio, python3-smbus, python3-setuptools) 3. clone the github repo for led-shim into ~/Pimoroni/led-shim 4. run the led-shim installer script 5. apt install any bits you missed (think I got them all above) 6. reboot for great glory
by Adam about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
Trivial to install, simple to use, lovely bit of kit for the money
by Tom about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
ordered rather quickly without reading, just needed a board with some leds for notifications, however when this arrived not only were the leds tiny, the board was too and doesnt need soldering. Best bit is the leds are red green blue meaning it can be programmed to display any colour. All the software you need is easily downloaded and installed with a couple of commands and can be up and running in minutes, this is what i love about pimoroni products. next it comes with a huge library of examples to get you started, another great product from the ninjas, pirates, monkeys and not forgetting the robots.
by Paul about LED SHIM via REVIEWS.io

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