Addressable LEDs (Neopixels are one type) operate through three wires: a ground wire or GND, a data signal wire or DI (for “data in”), and a power wire (+5v on these LEDs). They’re called “addressable” because even though you might have a string of several LEDs, you can program them to light and color individually based on how far along they are on the string. Because each LED has its own controller, you can cut the string to make it whatever length you like. The LEDs will keep track of whether they’re first, second, third, and so-on because of how they’re designed to pass the signal along to the next one in the chain.
Look closely at a single LED. You’ll see it has six wires (some will double up on the +5v and GND to make powering them easier – we’ll get to that, but you can ignore it for now). Three are the input wires, and three go to the next LED in the chain. If you’re looking at the LED and you can see the labels and the arrow, congratulations! You’re looking at the input side of the LED. The data wire on that side is for input.
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In the 4th photo I’m holding the LED by its three output wires, covering them up. You can see three wires, blue (GND), white (DI), and red (+5v) stuck together. The two extra wires are blue and red. Ignore those for now; they’re designed for people who have a specific kind of power device to plug into, but they’re just duplicates of the
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FIND THE START OF YOUR STRING. Even if you have cut the string previously, you can identify the start of the string because it will be the first LED in the string that has wires coming into the side that is labeled GND, DI, and +5v with an arrow pointing “in” or toward the LED light. If you turn over the LED so that you can see the back side of the board, you’ll see there’s no arrow on that side.
Always wire your LED string so that the data signal (DI) is coming in to the first LED in your string. The data will only work flowing in one direction – the direction of the arrow.
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Category: HOW
