#81 PL9823 Round Neopixels as an alternative/replacement for LEDs on GPIOs with small currents

[@petermeiner3574]

oh.. da Du gerade "live" bist... ich schau mir schon die ganze Woche Deine Videos von Anfang an durch. Wirklich Klasse, was Du da machst. Kaum zu Glauben, dass Du auch noch einem Beruf nachgehst.... Danke Dir Vielmals! Wenn ich mal in der Nähe seine sollte, lade ich Dich mal zum Bier ein, auch wenn's in der Schweiz schon ein Vermögen kostet :-)

[@AndreasSpiess]

Danke for das Kompliment. Wir können auch gerne ein Bier trinken und ich bezahle selbst...

[@underwoodblog]

Cool, didn't know that these exists. These are easyer to install in a housing as the typical neo pixel. Thanks for sharing!

[@AndreasSpiess]

This is why I shared it. I only discovered them recently.

[@voltlog]

I like to use RGB leds in my projects whenever I need a cheap and simple way of indicating multiple states without using too much space or code. For example I used an RGB led in a GSM/GPRS project to indicate the status of the machine: green = connected/listening, red = booting, flashing red = error, blue = message in progress.

[@AndreasSpiess]

I have them, too, but I liked this one because it has less load on the GPIOs and less pins as an alternative. So far, it was always complicated to mount Neopixels...

[@MrFexelein]

True, thanks for sharing Andreas. I very much enjoy your videos too. I have these for this exact purpose. The official adafruit ones. www.adafruit.com/products/1938 Really happy you shared this, I didn't know they were on Ali.

[@AndreasSpiess]

I also discovered them recently.

[@BrianLough]

Thanks for this, especially the tip with the cap between din and ground, I couldn't figure out why it wasn't working for me on an esp8266 but was on a mega.

[@AndreasSpiess]

:-)

[@BrianLough]

Andreas Spiess do you mind me asking why/how the cap helps here? Even if there was link to something I could research myself that would be great

[@AndreasSpiess]

In this case, capacitors remove high frequency parts of a signal, because they form a so called "low pass filter". Sometimes, devices do not like high frequency...

[@BernhardHofmann]

Being new to this, I was hoping to see how to wire them on the breadboard and what connections they need to the ESP.

[@AndreasSpiess]

This is very simple and you find many tutorials about that. Just connect GND and VCC to each of the PL9823s (3.3 or 5V). Then, you connect the ESP/Arduino pin defined in the sketch to the Din of the first LED. The Dout of the first LED is then connected to the Din of the second LED. And so on. Because you define the number of LEDs in the sketch, you can just go on till you reached the number of LEDs in the sketch.

[@BernhardHofmann]

Merci vielmal. I noticed the link to a datasheet in the message from Pcbreflux that includes a simple schematic. I'm really enjoying the learning journey I'm on with all these electronic devices. ☺

[@jstro-hobbytech]

They are my favorite leds. I fancy myself an led collector. I got 600 of them today. You'd think their price would've dropped by now. I got the 8mm. I find they look nicer when lit.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thanks for the info. I did not know they have no several versions.

[@SamuelCarreira]

Useful video, I learned about a new component! I searched for that component on aliexpress and I've only found the pl9823

[@AndreasSpiess]

You are absolutely right. I made an annotation.

[@norm1124]

Merci Andi, passt prima. Ein Kollege will seine Bar mit Hilfe von WiFi beleuchten. Habe ihm das Video schon weitergeleitet.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Zumindest kann er die hier mit der Bohrmaschine montieren...

[@engineeringentropy8965]

Wow cool! Keep it up! Love your videos!

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thanks for your comment!

[@sinnoj]

I'm a little confused about how you wired this up

[@AndreasSpiess]

Exactly as the Neopixels, in series. Each LED has an input and an output pin (in addition to GND and VCC)

[@MrFexelein]

www.adafruit.com/products/1938

[@marcelobenitezabc]

Hi Andreas..let me ask you some... I have a small DIY with 4 RGBs I wanto feed directly from ESP ....I want to save me the mess of connecting 4 bc537 or similar....have your ever sourced (or drain) 24 mAmps from ESP continuosly?? (I mean..am I going to fry mi chip?)

[@AndreasSpiess]

The chip will most probably not fry because it will limit the current. The ESP8266 is specified to only 12 mA. So maybe your LED is dimmed. I would not recommend it.

[@pcbreflux]

excellent work. thank you.

[@MrAbrandao]

this afiliate link does not work anymore...

[@johnkg702]

Sir recently I received pl9833 leds 8mm from AliExpress. After uploading the the code the led just light up in only one colour . All the leds showings the same I did all the modification as per your video still same no change Pls help me I was trying to make led cube 5 5 5 using this

[@AndreasSpiess]

Unfortunately, I cannot do remote debugging.

[@DocMicha]

Hello, do you need a resistor to provide the correct current as for usual leds or is it already build in?

[@AndreasSpiess]

Normal LEDs need a resistor in series if you power them from 3.3 or 5 volts. Otherwise they get too much current.

[@marcel151]

Hi, does the trick with the capacitor work even with 125 LEDs (I got a 5x5x5 Cube)? Or do I need a Logic-Level-Converter?

[@AndreasSpiess]

I do not know. You have to try.

[@marcel151]

@@AndreasSpiess It does not work with the 220pf capacitor, the LEDs just stops working when connecting it to DIN from the first LED and ground.

[@txm100]

Unfortunately, compared with the 5050 LEDs they are 3x as expensive.

[@AndreasSpiess]

You are right. But they are still in the 20 cents ( in quantities of 50). For me, the easy mounting is an advantage. This is, why I made this video.

[@TornadoCrafter]

When they were a new item they were a bit more expensive because, for one, any new product is expensive until popularity grows thus increasing demand and production which lowers cost. These days they are about 30% more than SK6812 5050's and that makes sense because they still are not produced in nearly the quantities due to 5050 being surface mount thus a cheaper format for manufacturers to use in their final product production..

[@xiaomong8]

THIS GUY SAYS WRONG: Not NEO_GRB, NEO_GRB is for WS2812B, so NEO-RGB IS THE CORRECT ONE FOR PL9823!!

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thanks