How to connect Digital Addressable RGB LED strip to the Raspberry Pi, offline wiring connection, online wiring connection

Interfacing sfleds's Digital Addressable RGB LED strip to the Raspberry Pi is super simple, requiring just a few connections between the board, strip and a DC power jack.

The board’s MOSI pin connects to the DI pin on the LED strip, and SCLK connects to the CI pin.

below is pictures of offline wiring connection and online wiring connection

APA102 RGB+White LED STRIP

By Shenzhen Shining Future LED Technology Co., Ltd.

RGB+White APA102 LED STRIP 

Working Voltage: DC5V

Led QTY: 60leds/M 

(30pcs RGB SMD5050 APA102 LED+ 30pcs White SMD5050 APA102 LED)

Power: Max 18W/M

Led Type: SMD5050

IC Type: APA102 Chip Built In RGB & White LED

Dimension: 5000mm*14.0mm*4.0mm (IP67 waterproof)

5000mm*12.0mm*3.0mm (IP65 waterproof)

5000mm*12.0mm*2.5mm(non-waterproof)

Pixel QTY: 60pixels/m ,each led addressable

PCB Color: White or Black color

Brightness Level: 256 level

Emitting Color: RGB color + White color

Emitting Angle: 160 Degree(120 Degree also available)

Waterproof IP grade:silicon tube IP67/glue sealing IP65/Non-waterproof

5050 APA102 APA104 White LED strips with addressable LEDs

Nowadays, more and more new bulid in ic RGB led chip is come out , our company develop a new White bulid in IC led chip ,They are APA102 APA104 WHITE LED CHIP . About white color , can be warm white , cool white , Nature white , Pure white . and now, they are very hot sales , can make amazing effection.
video of them is on the following
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvYHcm9yTWQ
 Datasheet of APA102 White led
http://www.sfleds.com/Blog/150.html#.Vl_0dy6MW1Y
 Datasheet of APA104 WHITE LED
http://www.sfleds.com/Blog/159.html#.Vl_0gi6MW1YA

the difference between apa102 ap104 led strip and ws2812b ws2811 led strip

Firstly you should know what is APA102 chip/APA104 chip/WS2812B chip, more details, pls click below tag for reference

APA102 Chip     APA104 chip       WS2812B chip

APA102 led strip          
(price: linda@sfleds.com)

APA104 led strip

WS2812B led strip 

(Left is WS2812B)

Below all analysis is get from our customer: 

"I contrast to the very timing-sensitive one-wire protocol of the WS2812,
the APA102 uses a standard two wire SPI protocol – one clock line and one data line.
Each LED has two inputs and two outputs which can be daisy chained. At the first
sight this may seem wasteful, but it has the advantage of being supported by standard
microcontroller periphery and it is insensitive to timing variations. Due to the critical
timing requirement it is not possible to control the WS2812 from SOCs with
multitasking operating systems, such as the Raspberry Pi. This should not be an issue
with the APA102. Furthermore, the data can be transferred at an almost arbitrary
clock rate. I was able to control the LEDs with 4 MHz SPI clock without any hitch. It
appears that the maximum speed is mainly limited by the parasitics of the wiring. The
data format is shown below.

 NE

Dream Color APA104 LED Strip:http://www.sfleds.com/products/shopmore.asp?id=83#.Vl_IXC6MW1Y

Each update consists of a start frame of 32 zeroes, 32 bits for every LED and an end

frame of 32 ones. I am not sure what the “End Frame” is good for, since its
encoding is indistinguishable from a LED set to maximum brightness and will simply
be forwarded to the next LED. In my experiments, omitting the end frame did not
have any impact.
One interesting addition is the “global” field for each LED, which allows to control
the brightness of the LED in 32 steps from 0 to 31. When trying different parameters,
I was quite surprised to observe that the LEDs did not show any visible

pulse-width-modulation (PWM) flicker at all when the global brightness was set to 31.This is quite different from the WS2812, which shows visible PWM flicker when
moving the LEDs.
Interestingly, the APA102 started to flicker once I set the global brightness to 30 or
below. To understand what was going on, I hooked up my scope to the power rails.
When the LEDs are turning on, they draw significantly higher current which leads to
a drop in voltage across the power rails. I previously used a similar method to
investigate the inner workings of candle flicker LEDs.

The picture above shows the current modulation for RGB=255,255,255 and the
global brightness set to 16 (50%). The pulse width modulation is clearly visible in
the voltage signal at a frequency of 580 Hz, very similar to the 430 Hz of the

WS2812.
Next, I set the RGB value to 128,128,128 and kept the global brightness at 50%. The
result is shown above. Two PWM modulation schemes are superimposed in this
configuration. The global brightness is still modulated at ~582 Hz, while RGB value
is modulated at an approximately 32 times higher frequency, 19.2 kHz. This
frequency is significantly above the flicker fusion threshold, even when moving the
LED around, leading to an apparent constant brightness.
The very high PWM frequency is a pretty nice feature of these LEDs. In combination
with the higher update speed due to the SPI interface, they should be much better
suited for persistance-of-vision applications than the WS2812.
In summary, the APA102 show significant promise compared to the de-facto standard

WS2812:
       They can be controlled with a standard SPI interface. No critical timing
           required and much faster than the one wire protocol.
        They have an extremely high PWM frequency, allowing flicker-free POV
            applications.

        They are available in a special package with better heat sinking."

Posted by Linda Tan
http://www.sfleds.com

PixelPusher BetterPixel 72LED/M Strip, IP67

The PixelPusher BetterPixel LED strip utilizes a new LED package called the APA102. The APA102 has controlling circuitry built into the LED package itself which removes the need for external components. The APA102 features 4 wire signaling unlike other all in one packages, and has much more robust signaling IP67: Suitable for immersion to one meter (three feet), this strip is sealed inside a silicone tube, and comes with mounting clips. These LED strips are five metres long , just over 15 ft. They can be cut at single LED intervals and rejoined by soldering. There are 72 LEDs per metre. Each pixel is individually controllable. What are the width's of the strips? IP67 are approx 9/16" wide, 5/32 thick. IP67 is encased in a continuous high-temperature silicone tube, and IP68 is set in solid silicone. The strips are flexible but must not be kinked; the minimum bend radius is about three inches. The strips may be daisychained, but performance suffers. We get much better performance by driving them in parallel. You can daisy chain shorter segments if you want but we recommend a max of 480 pixels on any one controller port. Each controller has eight ports. More silicone sealant is recommended if these strips will be used outdoors. More information about the PixelPusher is available at www.sfleds.com

LED strip repair kit - for APA102 Dotstar strips or WS2812B led strip

Working with digital LED strips, and want to cut them into smaller pieces? It can be a huge pain to solder wires back on, so we developed this LED strip repair kit to make things stronger. Solder one of the included reinforcement shims to the end of your strip, and never have a bad connection again!

This kit is compatible with the following strip types:

• APA102 Dotstar LED strips buy from www.sfleds.com

Click here to check out the step-by-step instructions and tutorial.

4MM 60 LED SK6812mini SMD3535 RGB pixel LED strip

4MM 60 LED SK6812mini SMD3535 RGB pixel LED strip

 sfleds3535RGB60T-MINI-5V

  
  
Overview: SK6812mini is the inbuild RGB chipset, the same package with SMD3535, a smaller type of SK6812-5050 RGB. 
   
Emitting color:
RGB
 
Parameter1. Input DC5v, Max 12 watts/meter 

2. sk6812mini, 1 LED = 1 pixels 

3. 60 LEDs/m, SMD3535 RGB  

4. Greyscale=256/color, 24 bits for RGB 

5. WHITE FPC 
6. FPCB width =4mm

7. 2meters/roll 

8. Cables: DC5V, DATA, GND 

http://www.sfleds.com/products/216.html#.Vlk6tC6MW1Y

To update datasheet: 
http://www.sfleds.com/products/158.html#.Vlk7AC6MW1Y

APA102-2020 LED SMD

APA102-2020 LED SMD

APA102-2020 SMD LED is a new type of APA102 integrated led for three channels RGB color emitting.

It has very little size with 2.0mm*2.0*0.9mm,which has much more advantage for the smaller than 5050 led with 5.0*5.0mm.

and many new applications will be available for the tiny size.

apa102 2020 also use the APA102 as the driver IC to control the color dimming.

Also high brightness too,for each apa102-2020 led is 0.1W.

It can be widely used in apa102 2020 digital rgb led strips,apa102 2020 dotstar,also apa102 led pixels,and the full color led display.

Kindly check the link for more detail:

http://www.sfleds.com/products/211.html#.VlV3AC6MW1Y

APA102 APA104 APA106 LED

SK6812 LED STRIP

Nowadays, NEW Build IN led SK6812 LED is come out , and it have been a big competitor for WS2812B , So our factory not only have WS2812B LED STRIP , But also develop SK6812 LED STRIP , it can be 30leds 60leds 72leds 144leds per meter.
there are some parameter of sk6812 led strip

Main Application Field:

● Full color LED string light, LED full color module, LED super hard and soft lights,

LED guardrail tube, LED appearance / scene lighting

● LED point light, LED pixel screen, LED shaped screen, a variety of electronic products,

electrical equipment etc..

Mechanical Product Size (unit mm):
● Top SMD internal integrated high quality external control line serial cascade constant current IC;

● control circuit and the RGB chip in SMD 5050 components, to form a complete control of pixel,

color mixing uniformity and consistency;

●built-in data shaping circuit, a pixel signal is received after wave shaping and output waveform

distortion will not guarantee a line;

●The built-in power on reset and reset circuit, the power does not work;
●gray level adjusting circuit (256 level gray scale adjustable);
● red drive special treatment, color balance;
● line data transmission;

● plastic forward strengthening technology, the transmission distance between two points over

10M;

●data transmission frequency up to 800Kbps, when the refresh rate of 30 frames per second,

a cascade of not less than 1024;

● built-in powerpolarity protection module, powerpolarity will not damage.

Learn more SK6812 LED, please visite www.sfleds.com

APA102 5050 RGB LED with Integrated Driver Chip

This item is sometimes sold under the made up name 'Dotstar' - but this is just a name. We are factory sell directly: www.sfleds.com

Make your own smart LED arrangement with this tiny APA102 5050 RGB LED with Integrated Driver Chip (5mm x 5mm), easy to solder and the most compact way possible to integrate multiple bright LEDs to a design.

These LEDs use genertic 2-wire SPI and are able to transfer data much faster than previous versions (800 KHz protocol) like the WS2812S RGB LEDs. They also have much higher PWM refresh rates, and improved Persistence-of-Vision (POV) with less flickering, particularly at low brightness levels.

The APA102 LEDs are 5050-sized with an embedded microcontroller inside the LED. You can set the colour/brightness of each LED to 24-bit colour (8 bits each red green and blue). Each LED acts like a shift register, reading incoming colour data on the input pins, and then shifting the previous colour data out on the output pin. By sending a long string of data, you can control an infinite number of LEDs, just tack on more or cut off unwanted LEDs at the end. The PWM is built into each LED-chip so once you set the colour you can stop talking to the strip and it will continue to PWM all the LEDs for you.

The APA102 has a high PWM rate. You only have to set the 24-bit colour data for each pixel LED once, and then the LED+built-in-chip will handle the PWMing of the red, green and blue. They have a 20 KHz PWM rate, so even when moving the strip around, you won't see the pixelation, the color blending is very smooth.

Adafruit DotStar LED Strip - APA102 Warm White - 30 LED 5m - ~3000K

Move over NeoPixels, there's a new LED strip in town! These fancy new DotStar LED strips are a great upgrade for people who have loved and used NeoPixel strips for a few years but want something even better. DotStar LEDs use generic 2-wire SPI, so you can push data much faster than with the NeoPixel 800 KHz protocol and there's no specific timing required. They also have much higher PWM refresh rates, so  you can do Persistence-of-Vision (POV) and have less flickering, particularly at low brightness levels.

Make your own smart Warm White LED arrangement with the same integrated LED driver that is used in our new fancy DotStar strips.  Unlit, the color resembles an egg yolk. Lit up these are insanely bright (like ow my eye hurts) and can be controlled with 24 bit high-frequency PWM. The phosphor helps diffuse the 3 white dies inside together for a very bright but consistant light, compared to what you get by trying to mix RGB to make white (which never quite looks right)

However, unlike NeoPixels, these LEDs have 2 wires (input and output) for sending data - one clock pin and one data pin. That means you need two pins, not one, to control DotStars. Because the clock and data is separated, you can use any processor speed or type to control these strips, and you don't have to worry about being careful with the timing. Hardware SPI support is handy but not required. This makes them excellent for use with any microcontroller or microprocessor, including Arduino, Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, Propeller, SparkCore, and any 'raw' microcontrollers/microprocessors. It's very easy to port the library, and you can send data to the pixels at up to 32MHz clock rate!

They're also a great upgrade for people who have loved and used NeoPixels for a few years but want to use the same kind of technology for monochromatic lighting. DotStar LEDs use generic 2-wire SPI, so you can push data much faster than with the NeoPixel 800 KHz protocol and there's no specific timing required. They also have much higher PWM refresh rates, so you can do Persistence-of-Vision (POV) and have less flickering, particularly at low brightness levels.

This is the 30 LED-per-meter version of our DotStar strips, on white flex PCB. 

The strip is made of flexible PCB material, and comes with a weatherproof sheathing. You can cut this stuff pretty easily with wire cutters, there are cut-lines every 1 LED. Solder to the 0.1" copper pads and you're good to go. Of course, you can also connect strips together to make them longer, just watch how much current you need! You must use a 5V DC power supply to power these strips, do not use higher than 6V or you can destroy the entire strip

These strips come in 5 meter reels with a 4-pin JST SM connector on each end. 

We have a tutorial showing wiring, power usage calculations, example code for usage, etc. Please check it out!

TECHNICAL DETAILS

• The manufacturer of the APA102C smart LED used in this strip used to be GRB order, and has changed in 2015 to have BRG color order. This means if you are using our DotStar library, you'll need to change the initialization to tell it which you are using. Check the tutorial for details on how to do this! The LED colors are otherwise identical, you just have to pipe the data to it in a slightly different order.

  • Width of Strip: 12mm / 0.5"
  • Thickness of Strip: 4mm / 0.2"
  • 30 LEDs per meter
  • Pixel Pitch: 33mm / 1.3"
  • Operating Temperature: -40°C - 40°C
  • Storage Temperature: -10°C - 50°C

  APA102C Datasheet 

  • Single LED: 5mm x 5mm / 0.2" x 0.2"
  • We don't have any more specifics about this particular LED other than it is ~3000K color temp and seems to have 3 white LEDs in place of the normal Red/Green/Blue

1 5M New APA102 White Individually Addressable 5050 Pixel LED Strip Light DC 5V ,Waterproof Rated:Non-waterproof;FPCB Color:WHITE;Length:1*3meter

1 5M New APA102 White Individually Addressable 5050 Pixel LED Strip Light DC 5V 
Waterproof Rated:Non-waterproof
FPCB Color:WHITE
Length:1*3meter

8x8 Neo Pixel Neo Matrix ws2812b 64 RGB LED Pixel Matrix

Put on your sunglasses before wiring up this LED matrix - 64 eye-blistering RGB LEDs adorn the NeoMatrix for a blast of configurable color!!!

apa102 white color 5050SMD addressable led strip 144Pixel/m 72Pixel/m 60Pixel/m 32Pixel/m available

http://www.sfleds.com/products/190.html#.VjhwmrnvOSo
apa102 white led strip
Woking Voltage: 5V DC
Pixel QTY: 32pixel/m,48pixel/m,60pixel/m,66Pixel/m,144Pixel/m
IC Type: APA102 Chip-built-in
Emitting color: Warm white, Natural white, Pure white

diy digital led screen display by ws2812b and apa102 led strip

If you have enough knowledge of electronics, you can diy a digital led display. Use ws2812b led strip can be used to create simple text, if you need to have a perfect graphics, you'd better use apa102 led strip. Blackboard apa102 flexiable led stripe perfect to meet your ability.
You can buy raw materials in the following Chinese led factories.
www.sfleds.com