RGB LEDs: Daisychaining WS2812b Panels on the Raspberry Pi
58I previously showed how to use the ubiquitous WS2812b LED panels or LED strips (aka Neopixel) together with the Raspberry Pi. I was asked if I could show how to use two of these on the Pi. Nothing easier than that! A few small adjustments in the code and a couple of wires to connect both panels to one another and we can easily drive two panels, or even more.
Make sure to get a strong power supply!
Note: While I skipped on the level shifter in this version of the setup, in general you need to shift from the Pi's 3.3V GPIO pins to 5V, if the other device uses that. The WS2812b will trigger with the 3.3V from the Pi anyway, but putting 5V on a Pi INPUT pin will likely destroy the Pi. I think I said something along the lines "you don't need the level shifter" in the video, but that is not quite correct.
Pi 3.3V GPIO: http://www.mosaic-industries.com/embedded-systems/microcontroller-projects/raspberry-pi/gpio-pin-electrical-specifications
Original video: https://youtu.be/csw5YyiPuXE
Installation instructions for library: https://www.root42.de/blog/?p=250
Sourcecode: https://gist.github.com/root42/4f5cc0b389ef09283ec5afc1ba2d873a
3A power supply: https://amzn.to/2R0Nhf7
WS2812b panel: https://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_nkw=ws2812b+8x8+panel