Small 1.2" 8x8 Bright Square LED Matrix + Backpack

by Adafruit

This kit comes with everything you need to add a 8x8 square pixel display to your project.

What's better than a single LED? Lots of LEDs! 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. The folks at Adafruit 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 - they work perfectly with the matrices Adafruit stock and make adding a bright little display trivial.

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 color, 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

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

Matrix Dimensions:

  • 31mm x 31mm x 7mm / 1.2" x 1.2" x 0.3"
  • Height without Pins: 7mm / 0.3"
  • Weight: 7.65g

Revision History:

  • As of October 30, 2024 – Adafruit updated this PCB with Stemma QT connectors on the I2C lines for plug-and-play usage, as well as with Adafruit Pinguin to make a lovely and legible silkscreen.

RoHS 2 2011 65 EU CompliantRoHS 2 2015 863 EU Compliant

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