Electronics Assembly
The 144/m NeoPixel strip likely comes with wires already soldered onto the IN end. Look closely for arrows printed on the strip pointing the direction of data flow and be sure the arrows are pointing away from the end you're soldering to.
Cut off the connector with wire cutters and strip about 1/8" of shielding from the red, black, and white wires. The second black wire is unneeded for now.
Connect the wires to the Mini Sparkle Motion as shown: Red (+5v) to the 5v pin, green (DI) to pin 33, and white/black (some lots have different color coding) to G.
These strips are cuttable at any point. I recommend leaving the strip long until you know exactly how many lights you'll be using in your project, and cutting to length during final assembly.
The assembly is the same on the version of the board with no screw terminal -- simply solder the wires directly into the +5v, G and 33 holes.
If you think you want to use this controller for more than one project, connect a 3-pin JST connector between the Mini Sparkle Motion and the LED strip. Now you can just unsnap the connector and use the controller with other strips or projects.
If you're new to soldering strips, check out our How to Solder NeoPixels guide here.
You'll be able to power the lights directly through the onboard USB port, and the microphone is already integrated -- so that's all the wiring which needs to be done!
Page last edited January 21, 2026
Text editor powered by tinymce.
