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LED Drivers

Drivers for individually-addressable RGB LEDs and LED matrices.

LED matrices​

LED matrix

You can wrap any of the per-LED drivers below into a 2D matrix abstraction and combine it with BasicGraphics to get a small "display" with shape and text drawing primitives.

NuGet packages: GHIElectronics.TinyCLR.Drivers.Worldsemi.WS2812 and GHIElectronics.TinyCLR.Drivers.BasicGraphics.

The example below builds a WS2812-backed matrix and uses BasicGraphics.DrawString to scroll a counter:

class LedMatrix : BasicGraphics {
    private uint row, column;
    private WS2812Controller leds;

    public LedMatrix(GpioPin pin, uint column, uint row) {
        this.row = row;
        this.column = column;
        this.leds = new WS2812Controller(pin, this.row * this.column, WS2812Controller.DataFormat.rgb565);

        Clear();
    }

    public override void Clear() => leds.Clear();

    public override void SetPixel(int x, int y, uint color) {
        if (x < 0 || x >= this.column) return;
        if (y < 0 || y >= this.row) return;

        // Even columns are wired upside down on typical matrices — flip Y.
        if ((x & 0x01) != 0)
            y = (int)(this.row - 1 - y);

        var index = x * this.row + y;
        leds.SetColor((int)index, (byte)(color >> 16), (byte)(color >> 8), (byte)(color >> 0));
    }

    public void Flush() => leds.Flush();
}
var pin = GpioController.GetDefault().OpenPin(SC20100.GpioPin.PC6);
var screen = new LedMatrix(pin, column: 8, row: 32);

var col = LedMatrix.ColorFromRgb(0, 20, 50);

var c = 0;
while (true) {
    screen.Clear();
    screen.DrawString(c++.ToString(), col, 0, 0);
    screen.Flush();
    Thread.Sleep(10);
}

WS2812​

WS2812

The WS2812 (commonly called NeoPixel) is the most popular individually-addressable RGB LED. Single-wire serial protocol with strict timing — TinyCLR's driver implements it natively for accurate pulse widths. Supports 565 and 888 color formats.

NuGet package: GHIElectronics.TinyCLR.Drivers.Worldsemi.WS2812.

const int NUM_LED = 4;
var pin = GpioController.GetDefault().OpenPin(SC20260.GpioPin.PA0);
var leds = new WS2812Controller(pin, NUM_LED, WS2812Controller.DataFormat.rgb888);

leds.SetColor(0, 0xFF, 0,    0   );  // Red
leds.SetColor(1, 0,    0xFF, 0   );  // Green
leds.SetColor(2, 0,    0,    0xFF);  // Blue
leds.SetColor(3, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF);  // White

leds.Flush();

APA102C​

APA102C

The APA102C (DotStar) is similar to the WS2812 but uses standard 3-wire SPI instead of a single-wire proprietary protocol — easier timing, more compatible with standard SPI peripherals.

NuGet package: GHIElectronics.TinyCLR.Drivers.ShijiLighting.APA102C.

const int NUMOFLED = 8;
var spi = SpiController.FromName(SC20100.SpiBus.Spi4);
var led = new APA102CCController(spi, NUMOFLED);

led.SetColor(1, 255, 0, 0);     // Second LED → red.
led.Flush();

LPD8806​

The LPD8806 is another SPI-based RGB LED strip controller — older than the APA102C, similar API.

NuGet package: GHIElectronics.TinyCLR.Drivers.GreeledElectronics.LPD8806.

const int NUMOFLED = 8;
var spi = SpiController.FromName(SC20100.SpiBus.Spi4);
var led = new LPD8806Controller(spi, NUMOFLED);

led.SetColor(1, 255, 0, 0);     // Second LED → red.
led.Flush();