RPI4+GPIO+Adafruit NeoPixelStick =?

Hardware DIY
1

I have here still 2 NeoPixel strips (Adafruit NeoPixel 8x5050 RGB) which lying around and
I could imagine “visualizing” something with them. Or just playing around :smiley:
Adafruit has a Python Lib for this and also a description which I used to call
total leie was able to try the whole thing out on an RPi3 for testing purposes, I get
which means that the pixels light up differently or even blink at times.
This all happens in Python.
Here is the link to the Adafruit page:

https://learn.adafruit.com/neopixels-on-raspberry-pi

Since I lack knowledge and I do not even have healthy initial knowledge,
can anyone enlighten me on the subject and show me the right way?
I don´t want to buy new hardware so my wish is, do it with the GPIO Pins
from the Pi.
One could imagine, for example:
1 stick for displaying the outside temperature in colour
1 stick for visualization of warning messages (e.g. garbage out, batteries empty…)

2

Stefan, I don’t mean no disrespect, but this has nothing to do with openHAB at all.

Have you followed the steps in the link above?

There is also https://thepihut.com/blogs/raspberry-pi-tutorials/using-neopixels-with-the-raspberry-pi
and I am sure a google search will turn up plenty more

3

The Tutorial is not bad, but dangerous… there is no fuse installed… 5 V with 4 amps can quickly turn a staircase into a fireplace

1 Like
4

The Problem is not, to connect the sticks to the Pi or to write a Pyhton Script to controll the
PixelStick.
The question for me is, is there (hopefully an easy) a way to controll the PixelStick with OpenHAB ?

I could imagine, for example, that a OH rule would make a stick blink red if the humidity in the house is too high → note for vent. Or or or or …
Hence the question: Is there a “simple” way to make sure that the sticks are controlled by the GPIO pins in OH ? Is it possible to start and stop a Phyton script ? Is there perhaps a better way ?

5

There is a GPIO binding but I am not sure that it will be able to control the pixels

Start, yes
Stop, I don’t know

Anyone?

6

I would use node-red (Again)
There is a node for the raspberry pi: https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-node-pi-neopixel

7

Do you want to attach the LEDs to the same RPi as openHAB is running on?

Or a different one somewhere else in your home?

If the former, GPIO would probably work, if the latter you need to figure out some transport like MQTT or something else (lots of options) and therefore would be much more complicated, in fact I would recommend some Arduino or ESP based device if you want to go that route, RPi is overkill for that.

For just playing as you say, then yes the RPi will certainly work. You should be able to find everything you need on the Internet to get it working. Thus is the fun of “playing.” :wink:

On the openHAB side, there are even RGB widgets available in the Sitemap if you want direct control, of course you could also construct rules to update the colors of the LEDs based on conditions as you describe.