WS2812b vs APA102C

[funvill]

Continuing the discussion from Group order of WS2812b (Neopixel) LED strips:

@hectorh

Not to rain in your parade, but have any of you looked into the APA102 chips instead of the WS2812b?

The main benefit is that the APA102 uses a standard SPI interface, rather than 1-wire as WS2812b. Why does this matter? With SPI you can use the hardware on the mcu to send out the data (easier and frees up the mcu to do other things), while with 1-wire the mcu has to “bit-bang” using delay loops or timer interrupts.

Other benefits are faster refresh rates as the LEDs are updated immediately rather than the WS2812b that requires a wait period. The SPI clock has been run at 4Mhz and higher.

There is also an APA102c, the difference is the pin layout and the APA102 has a metal substrate for heat dissipation while the APA102c does not.

I have never used the APA102s so I’m not endorsing it, other than the specifications and blog notes make it an interesting device.

Understanding the APA102 “Superled” – Tim's Blog

Branching this conversation into a new thread to not pollute the original thread.

APA102 is also supported by FastLED library.

Overview

[TomKeddie]

These are super expensive compared to the ws2811/12.

eg. sorting by price on aliexpress I get this as the cheapest option.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/1m-36Pixels-APA102C-5050-RGB-Full-color-Digital-Addressable-Pixel-Led-strip-5V/32423494115.html