If you don't need a full graphical display, you can use our LED matrix/segment Wings. These can be good for simplified displays where you don't need the complexity and pins of a graphical TFT or OLED. They all use I2C only, so they won't take up extra pins or interfere with other Wings if you want to stack them up or use them side-by-side.
We have a ton of options, with various displays and colors!
These Wings use I2C only for the interface, and work with all Feathers. You can change the addresses used to have multiple displays, and they can be used with other Feathers as well - just make sure there are no I2C address conflicts.
Just want to display some numbers? The 7-Segment FeatherWing has 4 digits and looks nice and bright. Comes in 5 bright colors!
Each Wing has an HT16K33 chip, which does all the multiplexing for you. The address is 0x70 but can be changed to 0x70-0x77 so up to 8 displays can be used at once.
This Wing is a step up from just 7-segments. With 2x as many segments! You can have both letters and numbers displayed, with big bright digits. Comes in 6 different color varieties
Like the 7-segment, each Wing has an HT16K33 chip, which does all the multiplexing for you. The address is 0x70 but can be changed to 0x70-0x77 so up to 8 displays can be used at once.
The most segments possible! This Wing has two tiny 8x8 matrices side-by-side to make an 8x16 grid. Great for little scrolling displays. These have a nice diffusion for a lovely dotted look.
Comes in 6 colors.
Like the 7-segment and alphanumeric, each Wing has an HT16K33 chip, which does all the multiplexing for you. The address is 0x70 but can be changed to 0x70-0x77 so up to 8 displays can be used at once.
The Charlieplexed wings are similar to the 8x16 wings above, but use a different chipset. Instead of the HT16K33, we use the IS31FL3731. Now, you might be wondering, who cares what chipset is used? But there's some things you can do with the IS31FL3731 that you can't with the HT16K33.
Unlike the simple HT16K33, the IS31 can drive the individual LEDs in a grid at different brightnesses. This means you get a full 8-bit PWM individual brightness per pixel. This is great for when you want to make artistic LED displays that aren't just 'on and off'. But, the IS31 requires the LEDs to be in a certain arrangement, so we use individual 0603 LEDs rather than the 8x8 modules above
The tradeoff is you get individual LED control, and a sparkly look, but not the nice diffusion of the 8x16. Also, there's smaller number of LEDs because we couldn't fit a full 8x16 grid.These come in 6 colors (warm white isn't shown above). The I2C address can be set to 0x74 or 0x77 so you can, in theory, have two of these at a time.
Page last edited May 11, 2017
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