Lightshow Wiring – Piper

HOW DOES YOUR LIGHTSHOW WIRING WORK?

The RED connection brings the LED matrix power from the 5V Pin to the VCC LED Pin

The YELLOW connects CLK pin from the LED matrix to the SCK pin

The GREEN connects CE pin from the LED matrix

The BLUE connects the MOSI pin on the LED matrix to the MOSI pin

The BLACK connection is the ground wire for the LED matrix

Okay, so let's plug those connections in!

Are you plugging your Lightshow pins into the Arduino Micro? If you're doing the ARDUINO + COMPUTER or ARDUINO + PI setup, click Arduino below.

Are you plugging your Lightshow pins into the Raspberry Pi? If you're doing the PI ALONE setup, click Raspberry Pi below.

ARDUINO



Lightshow Wiring

Let's put our Gamer Bundle (Command Center + Light Show) through our fancy schmancy digitizer to look at the wiring!
As a reminder, our digitizer is Tinkercad, a super powerful, free tool which lets you build Arduino circuits and simulate how the circuits will work when you write code.

Note: The mockup below is useful for understanding the wiring. The simulation and coding features are not functional.  Hitting "Start Simulation" will give you a compile error here, because there is no microUSB for power in this mockup. Use this embedded Command Center and Light Show to understanding the wiring connections.

 

After all of the connections are plugged in, use your microUSB cable and plug into the USB port on either your COMPUTER (ARDUINO + COMPUTER) or PI (ARDUINO + PI)

RASPBERRY PI

Lightshow Wiring

Let's put our Raspberry Pi and Light Show Matrix through our fancy schmancy digitizer to look at the wiring!
As a reminder, our digitizer here is Fritzing, an open-source hardware initiative that makes electronics accessible as a creative material for anyone. They allow people to document their prototypes, share them with others, teach electronics in a classroom, and layout and manufacture professional printed circuit boards.

Note: The mockup below is useful for understanding the wiring and seeing which pins are plugged into. Super important note, the exact LED matrix we use is NOT in the Fritzing library, so we're using a different one with 6 pins.This is meant to just show you the wiring connections, not perfectly replicate the circuitry setup you.

You have 5 pins! Follow the colors on the diagram below!

 

Lightshow Wiring
Lightshow Wiring

Note: Here's precise guidance on the LED board that you have in front of you: https://wiki.52pi.com/index.php/RPI-RGB-LED-Matrix_SKU:EP-0043#How_to_use_it

Just want a quick guide on how to plug in all of the pins? Here's a handy table:

Lightshow Wiring

For reference, remember that the Raspberry Pi and Arduino Pins are labeled like this

  • Raspberry Pi
  • Arduino
Lightshow Wiring
Lightshow Wiring