Programmable rgb LED

Introduction

The LED components S2811/WS2812/WS2812B/APA104/APA106/SK6812 are available both as a single components, as modules with a single component, or as LED strips or matrices. They are very common. This post only shows how to wire a single LED.

Wiring of single LED

The figures below illustrate how to wire single LED modules. As all SMD 5050 components have the same controller chips, the sketches should work for all components/modules.

Breadboard wiring of a single SMD 5050 WS2811 component.

Direct wiring of a single SMD 5050 WS2811 component.

Wiring of a single SMD 5050 WS2811 module.

The sketch under the “Hide/Show” button works for all of the above wirings. The sketch is written for testing the amount of reflected (emitted) light in different wavelengths.


  
// Code for controlling single WS2812 LED, looping brightness for red, green, blue, yellow and white light
// Written By Thomas Gumbricht, Karttur AB

#include "FastLED.h"

#define DATA_PIN 7
#define LED_TYPE WS2812
#define COLOR_ORDER RGB
#define NUM_LEDS 1
#define BRIGHTNESS 120

CRGB leds[NUM_LEDS];

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  delay(1000); // initial delay is recommended
  FastLED.addLeds<LED_TYPE,DATA_PIN,COLOR_ORDER>(leds, NUM_LEDS).setCorrection(TypicalLEDStrip); // initializes LED strip
  FastLED.setBrightness(BRIGHTNESS);// global brightness
}

void loop() {

    // Loop red exponential brightness
  Serial.println();
  for (int x = 32; x <= 256; x = x * 2) {
    Serial.print("Red:"); Serial.println(x-1);
    FastLED.setBrightness(x-1);
    //leds[0] = CRGB::Red;
    leds[0] = CRGB( 255, 0, 0);
    FastLED.show();
    delay(500);
    leds[0] = CRGB::Black;
    FastLED.show();
    delay(100);
  }

  // Loop green exponential brightness
  Serial.println();
  for (int x = 32; x <= 256; x = x * 2) {
    Serial.print("Green:"); Serial.println(x-1);
    FastLED.setBrightness(x-1);
    //leds[0] = CRGB::Green;
    leds[0] = CRGB( 0, 255, 0);
    FastLED.show();
    delay(500);
    leds[0] = CRGB::Black;
    FastLED.show();
    delay(100);
  }

  // Loop blue exponential brightness
  Serial.println();
  for (int x = 32; x <= 256; x = x * 2) {
    Serial.print("Blue:"); Serial.println(x-1);
    FastLED.setBrightness(x-1);
    //leds[0] = CRGB::Blue;
    leds[0] = CRGB( 0, 0, 255);
    FastLED.show();
    delay(500);
    leds[0] = CRGB::Black;
    FastLED.show();
    delay(100);
  }

  // Loop yellow exponential brightness
  Serial.println();
  for (int x = 32; x <= 256; x = x * 2) {
    Serial.print("Yellow:"); Serial.println(x-1);
    FastLED.setBrightness(x-1);
    //leds[0] = CRGB::Yellow;
    leds[0] = CRGB( 255, 255, 0 );
    FastLED.show();
    delay(500);
    leds[0] = CRGB::Black;
    FastLED.show();
    delay(100);
  }

  // Loop white expontential brightness
  Serial.println();
  for (int x = 32; x <= 256; x = x * 2) {
    Serial.print("White:"); Serial.println(x-1);
    FastLED.setBrightness(x-1);
    //leds[0] = CRGB::White;
    leds[0] = CRGB( 255, 255, 255 );
    FastLED.show();
    delay(500);
    leds[0] = CRGB::Black;
    FastLED.show();
    delay(100);
  }

}

Component Module