Best LED for your Arduino Projects
With so many types of LEDs out in the market, how do you pick one that suit your Arduino project the most? No worries, as we have come up with a guide to help you pick the right LED for your project!
Today, through this blog, we are going to cover:
- Best LEDs for Arduino
- LED Drivers with Arduino
- Arduino LED Project ideas
Best LEDs for Arduino
There are many types of LEDs for Arduino including RGB LEDs, LEDs with integrated circuits, addressable LEDs and they also come in many forms like strips and matrix allowing Arduino users to be able to create colourful and bright projects. Here is our list of the best LEDs for Arduino:
Arduino LED Project ideas
Grove – RGB LED Stick (10 – WS2813 Mini) ($5.4)
- Do you want a LED stick that is able to create hundreds and thousands of light effects easily with your Arduino? With the Grove – RGB LED stick, it is possible!
- It has 10 full-colour RGB LEDs on this stick with only one signal pin which allows you to control all 10 LEDs easily.
- All the LEDs are WS2813 Mini, which is an intelligent control and highly cost-effective LED.
- What’s more, the WS2813 supports signal break-point continuous transmission, which means you can continue using other LEDs with one broken lead.
- As long as no two or more adjacent LEDs are broken, the remaining LEDs will be able to work normally.
You can check out our Wiki Page for more information and a tutorial on how to connect these with an Arduino!
Grove RGB LED Rings($10.3)
- Other than RGB LED Stick, we also Grove RGB LED Rings that come in all shapes and sizes!
- Each LED is chainable so you can keep the chainable pads on the back of the LED rings cascade several LED rings to make it even cooler. Since all those Grove – RGB LED Rings are based on WS2813 Mini, you can also connect the rings of different diameters together!
- On top of that, with the onboard Grove connector and cable, all these wonderful things only need to be plugged and unplugged and easily connected with the Arduino!
- They come in:
WS2813B Digital RGB LED Flexi-Strip 60 LED – 1 Meter ($7.35)
- Want to add a colourful LED strip to your project? Well, Seeed WS2813B Digital RGB LED Flexi-Strip 60 LED – 1 Meter is going to satisfy your project needs with is an intelligent light source which consists of WS2813B RGB LED with an integrated driver chip. The control circuit and RGB chip are integrated into a package of 5050ok
- This LED flexible strip is a full-colour that has external control for each lamp bead with high brightness and achieves effects of full-color running water, chasing and scanning.
- The RGB LED chips feature low driving voltage, environmental protection and energy saving, high brightness, a scattering angle is large, good consistency, low power, long life and other advantages.
- This is just a 60 LED strip. We also offer a 144 LED strip here depending on your project needs!
On the other hand, we also offer a Grove – WS2813 RGB LED Strip Waterproof – 30 LED/m – 1m and Grove – WS2813 RGB LED Strip Waterproof – 60 LED/m – 1m here! Here is a video of it in action:
Grove – RGB LED Matrix w/Driver ($16.40)
- Want to display images with RGB LEDs? With our Grove – RGB LED Matrix w/Driver, you can do just that with its 64-pixel LEDs and 255 colors for each pixel!
- Afraid that the wiring for the matrix is complicated? No!
With the Grove – RGB LED Matrix w/Driver, you can leave all the complex wiring and soldering behind, and use just one single grove connector to control the RGB 8×8 LED matrix easily with your Arduino. - We also offer a similar product: Grove – Red LED Matrix w/Driver which can display red coloured simple numbers and images.
You can check out our Wiki Page for more information and a tutorial on how to connect the Grove – RGB LED Matrix w/Driver with an Arduino!
Not what you are looking for? We also offer 38mm 8*8 square matrix LED matched with Grove- Blue Common Anode and Grove – Green Common Anode
Grove – Chainable RGB Led V2.0 ($6.6)
- Want to create a colourful project but find out that it is not easy and complicated to connect all the LEDs together? No worries, as with our Grove – Chainable RGB Led V2.0, you can easily chain up to 1024 RGB LEDs together!
- Grove-Chainable RGB LED V2.0 is based on the P9813S14 chip which is a full-color light source driver chip that can provide three constant current drivers and 256 greyscale modulation outputs.
- By connecting the output grove connector of one LED to the input grove connector of another one, you are able to chain 1024 RGB LEDs at most!
You can check out our Wiki Page for more information and a tutorial on how to connect the Grove – Chainable RGB LED with an Arduino!
Grove LED ($2.1)
- This is your general purpose LED module in Grove form factor!
- So you may be wondering what is so special about these LEDs, here are some reasons why!
- The PCB of this module has mounting holes which can be mounted on the required surface of your prototype.
- Has a potentiometer on board to manage the power requirements of the LED
- Ingenious PCB design enables you to bend the LED to any position you want, which makes it easy to use it standalone, horizontal or Panel Mount
- They are available in:
- Other than Grove LEDs, we also offer 3mm LED Red, 3mm LED Green, and 3mm LED Blue in 25 PCs pack here!
0.8 Inch 16 Segment LED($1.5)
- Do you want to display simple numerical values or alphabetical values with LEDs?
- Here at Seeed, we offer various 0.8 Inch 16 Segment LEDs in common anode or common cathode and they can not only display 1234567890 but also ABCDEFGHIJKLM!
- They are compatible with the breadboard and can easily work with your Arduino by adding some current limiting resistors if you want to add a 16 Segment LED to your project!
- Take note of which version you buy as the current through a diode can only flow from the anode to the cathode so it is important that you know which version it is and connect the diode in the right direction for the LED to work.
- For Anode, we offer:
- For Cathode, we offer:
Grove LED Bar v2.0 ($4.3)
- Do you want a LED indicator for your remaining battery life, voltage, water level, music volume or many more values? This Grove LED bar is just for you!
- It is composed of a 10 segment LED gauge bar and an MY9221 LED controlling chip.
- There are 10 LED bars in the LED bar graph: one red, one yellow, one light green, and the rest green. Demo code is available to get you up and running quickly. It lights up the LEDs sequentially from red to green, so the entire bar graph is lit up in the end.
- As each LED segment can be controlled individually via code, you can easily code your own effect!
- They can also be cascaded for a larger display.
LED Drivers with Arduino
With LEDs, you will require LED drivers which helps users design energy-efficient systems. They are also necessary as they help to prevent damage to your LEDs when using it with the Arduino as it regulates the voltages where it will change with temperature to avoid thermal runaway while delivery a constant current to the LED.
Take note that although all LED light source requires a driver, some of them are already integrated within the bulb and do not need a separate driver.
Without further ado, this is a list of LED drivers that we offer!
Grove – LED Strip Driver ($10.9)
- This LED Strip Driver with 4-pin Grove interface provides easy connectivity to your standard Arduino device or Seeed Stalker.
- It can help you control the luminance of a single-color LED strip, as well as the color and the luminance of an RGB LED strip through Arduino or Seeeduino.
- It has 2 terminals and 2 Grove interfaces. The power for the LED strip comes in through the 2-pin terminal. And the LED controlling voltages output through the 4-pin terminal.
- It can drive an LED strip 1 to 2 meters long with 9 V, while 1 to 5 meters long with 12 V. The driver in conjunction with the colorful LED strips can add a wonderful effect to indoor or outdoor usages. Here is an example:
Grove – LED Matrix Driver (HT16K33) ($8.95)
- LED Matrix is low-cost and usually used to display simple numbers and images.
- The Grove – LED Matrix Driver is the I2C-based product which allows you to control the LED matrix with our prepared and easy-to-use libraries, or you can create your own library to control it to satisfy your need.
- The 8*8 LED Matrix can be assembled and unassembled from the driver board easily, so it is convenient to change the different color of LED matrix displays based on your need.
- We also offer another matrix driver called Grove – LED Matrix Driver v1.0
Now you’ve got your LEDs and LEDs driver, what’s next? Arduino LED project ideas! Here are some Arduino LED projects to get you started!
Interactive Christmas Tree
Since Christmas is around the corner, why not make an Interactive LED Christmas Tree that changes due to movement and sound!
What do you need?
- Seeeduino V4.2
- Base Shield V2
- Grove – Adjustable PIR Motion Sensor
- Grove – Loudness Sensor
- Grove – WS2813 RGB LED Strip Waterproof – 60 LED/m – 1m
- Arduino IDE software
Interested? You can check out the full tutorial here at Hackster.io!
Owl with Light Eyes
Do you want to up your fashion game with a macrame knitted owl that has eyes that can light up!? Well, then this project is for you!
What do you need?
- Arduino Uno Rev3
- Base Shield V2
- Grove – RGB LED Ring (20 – WS2813 Mini)
- Grove – I2C Hub
- Grove – Button
- Grove – Universal 4 Pin Buckled 20cm Cable (5 PCs pack)
- Arduino IDE software
- Cotton strings, scissors and wooden beads (For knitting)
You can check out the full tutorial here!
Security Access Using Seeeduino Lotus
Don’t you just wish when you knock on the door or when you are close to the door, the door will open automatically? With this security system, it has 2 modes! They are:
- The first one is when you are outside, the door will unlock automatically once you knock on the door with precise frequency and force.
- Another one is when you are inside, with our ultrasonic sensor, the door can be opened automatically and the right will be lighted up at the same time when the distance between people and the door is less than 100 centimetres.
What do you need?
- Seeeduino Lotus v1.1
- Grove – Loudness Sensor
- Grove – Ultrasonic Distance Sensor
- Grove – Chainable RGB Led V2.0
- Grove – Button
- Grove – Green LED
- Grove – Universal 4 Pin Buckled 50cm Cable (5 PCs Pack)
- Arduino IDE software
Interested? You can check out the full tutorial here!
Summary
That’s all for the Best LED for your Arduino Projects! We have covered various LEDs and various forms from LED Strips, LED Bar, chainable RGB LED, segment LEDs, LED Sticks, LED Rings and also RGB LED matrix! Through this list, we hope that I have helped you find the LED that suits your project the most! If you have any questions, do feel free to comment in the comments section down below!
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