These lights come with connectors that have 3 wires: yellow, blue, and red.
The red wire is +12v, blue is G, and yellow is data. These wires will go through the cable gland on the case and connect to the screw terminal at the base of the board. There are markings on the PCB showing which terminal is which. It's set up with three 3-pin strip connections in mind, and each strip has its own power and ground connection. The GPIO pins are labeled: 19, 22, and 21, and they're in the middle of each block of 3 wires.
We'll use pin 19 for this guide but you can add other lights to your Sparkle Motion on the other pins if you'd like.
The IN end of your light strand is the one with the male connector: it has visible pins inside instead of holes.
A Word About Connectors
It's possible to direct-wire your LED strips or pixels into the screw terminal, but I find it easier and more convenient to use 3-pin JST connectors that can be permanently affixed to the Sparkle Motion board with strain relief so they don't pull out. Then I can simply plug in whatever LED strip or strand I want to use.
LED strips often come with these connectors already attached, but there seems to be no standard for whether the factories attach the male or the female connector on the "in" end. For my own peace of mind, I try to be consistent and always use the male side of the connectors on the microcontrollers, and the female on the "in" end of my LED strip. Data is flowing "out" from the microcontroller and "in" to the strip, so the male/female metaphor makes good sense in this arrangement.
There is also no standard as to which way the color coding is wired on these connectors. Some have a red wire on the left side, some on the right side. Some have no color coding at all. Hooking your strips up "backwards" (accidentally connecting a red wire to a black wire) can damage your board and your LEDs, so it's important to be really careful when you're setting up your connectors. Be as consistent as possible with color coding and throw away any connectors you've got in the drawer that are wired "backwards" from the rest.
Screw Terminal Connections
Use a tiny precision flat head screwdriver to carefully and gently open the ports on the screw terminal. These are pretty easy to break so be gentle. Look carefully at the openings as you turn the screws. When you see a square opening appear, stop turning.
Strip about 1/8" of wire from the 3 connector wires and insert carefully into the screw terminals. Use red for +, the middle wire for data, and the remaining wire for -. Gently tighten the screw until it's snug: about 5 turns -- it shouldn't turn freely, if it does, you've got the wire in the wrong part of the hole so pull it out and try again.
Cut the connector off your power supply, feed the wires through the cable gland and re-solder so the terminal is on the inside of the box.
If your power supply doesn't come with a 2.1mm connector, we've got them in stock. Just screw it onto the wires with a tiny phillips head screwdriver.
Connect the female side of the JST connector to your LEDs, making sure the wire order matches the male connector in your screw terminal: +5v should match up to +, data IN to GPIO, and G to G. Plug in your strand and power up the board. The board comes pre-loaded with a rainbow animation so your lights should come on if you've got everything hooked up right.
Page last edited March 05, 2025
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