Thanks for the overview Robert! Realized after watching most of the video, that I'd met you several years ago at the New York Maker Faire - hope all is well!
Great video. Have you tested if the SK6812MINI and the SK6812MINI-e have the same pinout? What I find from the datasheet is that the terminal pads are not pointing in the same directions
Damn, why would they make the pinout different? I was really hoping for something for these SK6812MINI mid mount leds on a keyboard kit I'm working on. So frustrating
This is just a thought but, I was wondering if it would be possible to use them in a 12mm LED AV momentary switch to have RGB colour change, and great video.
Thanks for the wiring info, should this circuit include any sort of resistor? I have a few individual Neopixels that I want to use on the hot end of my Ender 3 and you my friend have got me one step closer. thank you.
Hi Adam. In general with a stable 5 volt supply you wont need any resistors. A small value resistor (50-150 ohm) on the VDD pin can be used to improve the protection of the LED from voltage spikes. Also having extra capacitors right beside the LED can help to reduce flicker.
@@PartFusion Really good video, and nice craftmanship for this tiny parts. Thank you! A Question. You say "having extra capacitors beside the LED", but I haven't found any information which capacity they should have. In the datasheets I've seen, the values are unreadable. I would greatly appreciate a recommendation.
@@obertan_1 A surface mount 0.1uF (0.1 microfarad = 100 nanofarad) decoupling capacitor is recommended beside each LED. I don't believe the the physical size of the decoupling capacitor or the capacitance value really matters. I've had circuits that didn't need any capacitors and others where I needed to add multiple capacitors per LED to get stable operation. Probably the type of power supply/length of power connections had a bearing. In your circuit design leave some space for adding capacitors every 5 to 10 LEDs and see how it goes.
The AdaFruit NeoPixel library on Arduino, but any NeoPixel library should work. You'll get some functionality with a couple of LEDs on 3.3v. Blue LEDs need more then 3.3v to light up correctly, and voltage drop will be a big issue.
Decoupling capacitors aren't always required (probably a factor on power supply quality, length of cables). A starting capacitance value of 0.1 uF (microfarad), physical size can be any practical size. In your circuit design in for some decoupling capacitors every 5 to 10 LEDs, and see how it goes.
The 12 in the SK6812 means 12mA per LED color. So with all three LEDs at full brightness each pixel will need about 36mA. I also just tested this with a multimeter and got 12mA for one LED on, 35mA for all three LEDs on, and 0.5mA for no LEDs on.
Hi! Do you know how low of a current the SK6812 Mini-E can run at? I'm trying to drive 91 of these from USB (for a mechanical keyboard) but it seems like that'll only work if each one draws around 4mA. I know it has been done on keyboards before, so I'm assuming its bright enough, but I'm not too sure.
I think you would want to use USB-C on your keyboard and negotiate for high current draw. The datasheet I found was vague on some of the current values, but it looked like with the LED off, it would draw 1mA and all on it could draw 12mA. I wouldn't want to design a keyboard around the hopes that my code would need put the LEDs in a configuration that could draw too much power.
@@neltzroth5744 that's a good idea, I would have to use some sort of control board to do that since i doubt my microcontroller supports something like that.
I've been using these addressable LEDs in my projects and products since about November 2012. At the time I bought them they were referred to as the WS2812 and came in a 6 pin package. A while later the WS2812B became available and was in a 4 pin package. A number of years later (I'm not sure when) the WS2813 became available which was also in a 6 pin package.
I used stripboard for prototyping the circuit, which consists of a 2.54mm grid of holes and copper strips. I was able to carefully cut between four of the holes and then used a small file to clean up the edges.