# Overview **Illuminate your creations with dynamic color using the Lonely Binary TinkerBlock TK33 WS2812 RGB LED Bar!** This versatile lighting module brings vibrant, individually controllable light to your projects, perfect for adding flair, indicators, or captivating visual effects. The TK33 features **five high-quality WS2812 RGB LEDs**, each capable of displaying millions of colors. Because each LED is "addressable," you can control their color and brightness independently, allowing for intricate patterns, smooth fades, and eye-catching sequences all from a single data pin on your microcontroller. Designed for seamless integration, the TK33 is compatible with both **5V and 3.3V microcontrollers**, offering broad flexibility for your electronic builds. Its clever design also ensures compatibility with popular modular construction systems, allowing you to easily snap it into your custom models and bring them to life with dazzling light. Whether you're building a futuristic vehicle with flashing indicators, a miniature display, or an interactive signaling system, the TK33 provides the brilliant, customizable illumination you need.  **Key Features:** - **Five Individually Addressable RGB LEDs:** Create stunning, custom light patterns with precise control over each of the five WS2812 LEDs. - **Wide Compatibility:** Works effortlessly with both 5V and 3.3V microcontrollers. - **Modular Construction System Compatible:** Easily integrates into your existing technical brick-based projects for quick assembly and design. - **Single-Wire Control:** Simplifies wiring, allowing complex lighting effects from just one data pin. - **Dynamic Visuals:** Perfect for indicators, animated displays, and adding vibrant accents to any project. # Pinout | Pin | Function | | ------ | ------------- | | GND | Ground | | VCC | VCC | | NC | Not Connected | | Signal | Digital | # Dimensions  # Components ## WS2812 RGB LED A WS2812 is a popular type of **addressable RGB LED**. This means it's a single component that contains a red, green, and blue LED chip, along with a tiny integrated control circuit, all within one small package. - **RGB LED:** Like any RGB LED, it can produce a vast spectrum of colors by mixing different intensities of red, green, and blue light. - **Integrated Control Circuit:** The key feature of the WS2812 (and its common variant, the WS2812B) is the built-in control chip. This chip allows each individual LED to be controlled independently. - **Single-Wire Control:** Unlike traditional RGB LEDs that require three separate pins (one for each color) and often external driver circuitry, WS2812 LEDs can be controlled using a **single data line**. This significantly simplifies wiring, especially when you have many LEDs. - **Daisy-Chaining:** WS2812 LEDs are designed to be "daisy-chained." This means you can connect the data output (DOUT) of one LED to the data input (DIN) of the next LED in a series. Your microcontroller sends a stream of data to the first LED, which "reads" its own color information (24 bits: 8 for red, 8 for green, 8 for blue) and then passes the remaining data down the chain to the next LED. - **PWM for Brightness:** Inside each WS2812, the integrated chip uses Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to control the brightness of the red, green, and blue components. By adjusting the duty cycle of the internal PWM, it can achieve 256 levels of brightness for each color, leading to millions of possible colors. # Sample Code This Arduino sketch uses the FastLED library to control a strip of 5 addressable LEDs connected to pin 3. The LEDs cycle through Red, Green, and Blue colors, with each color displayed for 1 second in a continuous loop.  ``` cpp #include <FastLED.h> // Include FastLED library for controlling addressable LEDs #define NUM_LEDS 5 // Define the number of LEDs in the strip #define DATA_PIN 3 // Define the data pin for LED communication (D3) CRGB leds[NUM_LEDS]; // Create an array to store the color data for each LED void setup() { // Initialize the LED strip with WS2812B protocol, GRB color order FastLED.addLeds<WS2812B, DATA_PIN, GRB>(leds, NUM_LEDS); FastLED.setBrightness(64); // Set brightness to 64 (out of 255) for safety } void loop() { // Set all LEDs to Red for(int i = 0; i < NUM_LEDS; i++) { leds[i] = CRGB::Red; // Assign red color to each LED } FastLED.show(); // Update the LED strip to display the color delay(1000); // Wait for 1 second // Set all LEDs to Green for(int i = 0; i < NUM_LEDS; i++) { leds[i] = CRGB::Green; // Assign green color to each LED } FastLED.show(); // Update the LED strip to display the color delay(1000); // Wait for 1 second // Set all LEDs to Blue for(int i = 0; i < NUM_LEDS; i++) { leds[i] = CRGB::Blue; // Assign blue color to each LED } FastLED.show(); // Update the LED strip to display the color delay(1000); // Wait for 1 second } ``` # Product Link For product support, manuals, tutorials, and sample code, please visit our product page to access comprehensive resources. [https://lonelybinary.com/products/tk33](https://lonelybinary.com/products/tk33) # Support If you encounter any issues, please go to [https://lonelybinary.com ](https://lonelybinary.com ) and click the Support button located in the bottom right corner. Our team is ready to assist you. [](https://lonelybinary.com) # Thank You Thank you for choosing TinkerBlock to fuel your passion for STEM! Whether you’re a student diving into coding, an educator shaping future innovators, a hobbyist bringing your vision to life, or a business seeking cutting-edge solutions, TinkerBlock empowers you to create, learn, and innovate. **For school orders, wholesale inquiries, or custom business solutions, please contact us to discuss your specific needs.** [office@lonelybinar.com](office@lonelybinary.com) > **Unleash Your Creativity with TinkerBlock – Where Coding Meets the Real World!**