ADF-LED-BACKPACK-8x8-Matrice-30

1.2" 8x8 Matrix Created by Ladyada This version of the LED backpack is designed for the 1.2" 8x8 matrices. They measure only 1.2"x1.2" so its a shame to use a massive array of chips to control it. This backpack solves the annoyance of using 16 pins or a bunch of chips by having an I2C constant-current matrix controller sit neatly on the back of the PCB. The controller chip takes care of everything, drawing all 64 LEDs in the background. All you have to do is write data to it using the 2-pin I2C interface. There are two address select pins so you can select one of 8 addresses to control up to 8 of these on a single 2-pin I2C bus (as well as whatever other I2C chips or sensors you like). The driver chip can 'dim' the entire display from 1/16 brightness up to full brightness in 1/16th steps. It cannot dim individual LEDs, only the entire display at once.

	When you buy a pack from Adafruit, it comes with the fully tested and assembled backpack as well as a 8x8 matrix in one of the colors we provide (say, red, yellow or green). You'll need to solder the matrix onto the backpack but its an easy task.
	WATCH OUT! THE MATRIX MUST BE INSTALLED THE RIGHT WAY! First look for the line of text on the side of the LED matrix
	WATCH OUT! THE MATRIX MUST BE INSTALLED THE RIGHT WAY! Find the corner of the backpack with a filled in dot. Make sure that the text on the side of the matrix is on the same side as the filled dot
	WATCH OUT! THE MATRIX MUST BE INSTALLED THE RIGHT WAY! Slide the matrix into the backpack and flip it over. Triple check that the text is on the same side as the From Adafruit text
	Solder in all 16 pins Then clip the matrix leads short
	Now you're ready to wire it up to a microcontroller. We'll assume you want to use a 4pin header. You can also of course solder wires directly. Place a 4-pin piece of header with the LONG pins down into the breadboard.
	Place the soldered backpack on top of the header. Solder the four pins

That's it! now you're ready to run the firmware!

Mini 8x8 Matrix Software

We wrote a basic library to help you work with the mini 8x8 matrix backpack. The library is written for the Arduino and will work with any Arduino as it just uses the I2C pins. The code is very portable and can be easily adapted to any I2C-capable micro.

Wiring to the matrix is really easy