NeoPixel Stick - 8 x 5050 RGBW LEDs - Warm White - 3000K

The NeoPixel RGBW Stick – Warm White packs 8 individually addressable 5050 RGBW LEDs onto a slim, chainable PCB, delivering 32-bit colour control with a dedicated Warm White channel from a single data pin… and more!

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What’s better than smart RGB LEDs? Smart RGB+White LEDs. This NeoPixel Stick features 8 individually addressable RGBW LEDs, combining vivid colour with a dedicated Warm White channel for excellent lighting effects. Compact, bright and easy to use, it’s perfect for creating your own custom LED arrangements with precise per-pixel control. We also offer this stick in Natural White, Cool White, and classic RGB versions.

Each NeoPixel is ‘split’ into two parts: the familiar RGB LED, and a separate white LED with a yellow phosphor. Unlit, it resembles an egg yolk; lit, it’s extremely bright and supports 8-bit PWM per channel — that’s 32-bit colour control per LED (8 bits × 4 channels). This makes it ideal for projects that need both colourful effects and clean white illumination.

We’ve mounted 8 tiny 5050 (5mm × 5mm) smart RGBW LEDs onto a slim PCB with mounting holes and a fully chainable design. The driver chip is built into each LED, so you only need a single microcontroller pin to control as many sticks as you’d like by chaining them together. Each LED uses approximately 18mA constant current drive, keeping colours consistent even if the supply voltage varies, and no external choke resistors are required. Power the stick with 5V DC (4–7V works) and you’re ready to go.

NeoPixels use an 800 KHz data protocol, so precise timing is required. The onboard PWM refresh rate is around 400 Hz — fine for most uses, though slight flicker may be noticeable in motion. By comparison, DotStars use a 20 KHz PWM rate for smoother blending, so they may be preferable in motion-heavy applications.

Sticks are chainable by connecting the output of one to the input of another over a single, timing-sensitive data line. Because of this strict timing requirement, you’ll need a real-time microcontroller such as an AVR, Arduino, PIC, mbed, etc. They cannot be used with Linux-based microcomputers or interpreted microcontrollers such as Netduino or Basic Stamp. Our Arduino NeoPixel library supports RGBW pixels, but note that RGBW support isn’t universal — using a standard RGB-only library will produce incorrect results. An 8MHz or faster processor is required.

A detailed tutorial covering wiring, power calculations and example code is available to help you get started. Each order includes one assembled and tested stick with 8 individually addressable RGBW LEDs.

Specifications

• Dimensions: 10.2mm x 51.1mm x 3.2mm
• Weight: 2.6g
• May ship with either WS2812B or SK6812-based LEDs. They are the same brightness, colour and protocol

Revision History

• As of October 27, 2023 - We've updated this PCB with Adafruit Pinguin to make a lovely and legible silkscreen - you may get the new PCB or the older version with vector fonts - both are identical other than the fancy silkscreen. 

Resources

• WS2812 Datasheet
• SK6812 Datasheet
• Guide

Package Contents

• NeoPixel Stick - 8 x 5050 RGBW LEDs - Warm White - 3000K