LED strips for dummies

[dynamicdave]

I posted a tutorial about controlling NeoPixels, in Share Your Projects, a couple of years ago.

Controlling NeoPixels

Controlling NeoPixels I've just finished writing an instruction sheet, for my IoT students, on how to control NeoPixel strips. Note: This exercise uses a WeMos D1 Mini, Node-RED and MQTT (mosquitto) and of course a NeoPixel strip. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Regards from David. PS: The document, in the above link, has been updated to implement the comments from various people.

I used a Wemos D1 Mini, flashed with ESP Easy, as ESP Easy has device drivers for Neopixels built-in, so it's very easy to implement and control the lights using MQTT.

Three things to note about the tutorial.

1. The leading slash ( / ) sould be removed in the MQTT references.
2. The Wemos works off of 3.3v so for reliable operation you might need a level shifter to drive the 5v strips. You may find the logic-1 level (from the Wemos) is high enough to trigger the Din of the Neopixels so you may get away without a level shifter. More details are in the tutorial.
3. Neopixels consume a lot of current and need to be powered from an external power supply.