Interfacing NeoPixels with Raspberry Pi Pico Using Programmable IOs

One of the main reasons for the popularity of Raspberry Pi Pico lies within the RP2040 chip. CNX Software has brought to our attention to the importance of programmable IOs and how it makes the Pi Pico different from other existing MCUs in the market. This article will talk about interfacing WS2812 LEDs with Pi Pico board using PIOs.

The board already supports several serial communications, but you can add more interfaces via the PIOs. To get started with the board, you can set up the Thonny IDE to program the Pico. In the example demonstrated by Core Electronics, you'll need WS2812B LEDs (also known as GlowBits and NeoPixels), a Raspberry Pi Pico board, and test clips to connect the board with the LEDs.

To understand how the WS2812 LEDs work, "Each LED has a serial input and a serial output; LEDs are connected in a chain, with each serial input connected to the previous LED’s serial output." With this, you can individually program the color of each LED in a chain.

For connections, attach the VBUS, GND, and PIN 22 of the board to the positive terminal, negative terminal, and data input of the LED strip. To make it easier; the code is already provided in the GitHub repository under the PIO examples. Note that the programming is done in Python language, but you can even use C/C++.

If you want to modify the code available, there are several ways to have some fun with it. As mentioned earlier, you can define the colors you want to see on the NeoPixels. Yan also add a function that will change the way LEDs blink. However, if you are using the code provided via GitHub, you may have to change the PIN to the one you are using. For more fascinating ways to play with the capabilities of PIOs, check the project out on GitHub.