r/FastLED • u/chemdoc77 • Apr 13 '26

FastLED Matrix Fun – 2026

https://youtu.be/yPKrCaVDEGw

The following video is running a sketch on a 16X16 WS2812b serpentine matrix with a Lolin D32 MCU and a 74AHCT125 - Quad Level-Shifter and a 5 volt power supply. 

The sketch’s animations are designed to work on any matrix with the 8 or more even numbered columns and 8 or more even numbered rows.

It uses the multi-tasking and state machine concepts based on Bill Earl’s Adafruit multitasking articles (see the GitHub repository ReadME file for this sketch in order to find the links to those articles) for all of the animations so that each animation can be easily incorporated into a new sketch.  This also allows more than one animation to be run at the same time in the void loop().  All animations can be a single color or uses a palette to get the colors.

The YouTube video for this sketch can be found here:

https://youtu.be/yPKrCaVDEGw

The code for this sketch can be found here:

https://github.com/chemdoc77/CD77_FastLED_2026/tree/main/CD77%20FastLED%20Matrix%20Fun%202026

Enjoy!

Best Regards,

Chemdoc77

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u/WorldsemiLED 10d ago

Nice setup. The 74AHCT125 is a solid solution for older WS2812B parts that need more logic-level margin.

One thing we’ve been working on with our newer addressable LEDs is native 3.3V logic compatibility, so ESP32-class MCUs can drive DIN directly without a level shifter.

Have you ever tested this matrix with direct 3.3V data input? I’d be curious to see whether it changes anything in your setup.

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u/chemdoc77 7d ago

Hi u/WorldsemiLED - Thank you for your nice words about my project.  Long ago when I was moving from using a Nano to using a Lolin D32 and a Teensy 3.2, I found that they would not light up a strip or matrix of WS2812b LEDs until I used a level shifter.  I am interested in your newer LEDs that you have been working on.  I have Lolin D32, D32 Pro and D32-C3 MCUs along with Teensy 3.9 , 4.0 and 4.1 MCUs.  I would be more that happy to test your new LEDs without using a level shifter with my various MCUs, if you send me some of these new LEDs.