User Manual

The simplest wiring is if you can power the strip off of

the microcontroller board itself. This is fine for small

projects (one or two dozen DotStars max) because we

don't light up a lot of LEDs at once.

Connect the strip 5V pin to the board 5V

Connect the strip GND pin to board GND

Connect the strip CI (Clock input) and DI (Data

input) to the board’s SPI SCK and MOSI pins (if

using an SPI bus) or any two digital pins (if

“bitbanging” the signals). We’ll explain this in more

detail in the “Software” section of this guide.

For longer strips, when you need more than 1 Amp of

current, you should power with an external 5V power

adapter like so.

Connect the strip 5V pin to the power adapter 5V

Connect the strip GND pin to board GND and

power adapter GND

Connect the strip CI (Clock input) and DI (Data

input) to two digital or SPI pins as explained

above.

Important: three points are connected to ground: power

supply, microcontroller and DotStar strip. If there’s no

common ground between the microcontroller and strip,

the LED’s won’t function properly.