The backpack uses a HT16K33 driver chip that does all the heavy lifting for you. This chip has a built in

clock so they multiplex the display. It uses constant-current drivers for ultra-bright, consistent color (the

images above are photographed at the dimmest setting to avoid overloading our camera!), 1/16 step

display dimming, all via a simple I2C interface. Each matrix backpack comes with three address-selection

jumpers so you can connect up to 8 x 1.2" 16x8's together on a single I2C bus.

This kit comes with:

o

A fully tested and assembled 16x8 1.2" LED Backpack

o

2x ultra-bright round 8x8 blue matrices

o

4-pin header

A bit of soldering is required to attach the two matrices onto the backpack but its very easy to do and only

takes about 10 minutes.

Of course, in classic Adafruit fashion, we also have a detailed tutorial showing you how to solder, wire and

control the display. We even wrote a very nice library for the backpacks so you can get running in under

half an hour, displaying images on the matrix or numbers on the 7-segment. If you've been eying matrix

displays but hesitated because of the complexity, this is the solution you've been looking for!



Technical Details

o

Backpack Dimensions: 72mm x 32mm x 2mm / 1.25" x 2.8" x .08"

o

Matrix Dimensions: 32mm x 32mm x 7mm / 1.3" x 1.3" x .3"

o

Pin Length: 13mm / 0.5"

This board/chip uses I2C 7-bit addresses between 0x70-0x77, selectable with jumpers.

                                 Engineered in NYC Adafruit ® https://www.adafruit.com/product/2039 5‐5‐17