Sparkfun Electronics WS2812 Breakout Hookup Manual page 16

Hardware Hookup
The great thing about these LEDs is they're super easy to chain together. Plus just one, single pin from your
microcontroller is required to control an entire strip of LEDs. In this example we'll link together five LEDs, but you
should be safe to increase that ten-fold or even more.
Solder/Sew/Wire Something
The first assembly step for each of these products is creating a reliable, electrical connection from the LED to your
control board. You'll need to solder either headers or wires to your breakout boards. Or sew your LilyPad Pixel with
conductive thread. Or strip and splice some wire to connect up the LED strips.
If you're going to stick the boards into a breadboard or other prototyping board, straight male headers might be the
best choice.
The older WS2812 breakouts linked together on a breadboard. Hidden under each is a white wire that connects
DO of one to DI of the next.
If you're going to make a big strip of boards, you may need to opt for the stranded wire route.
Link WS2812-based boards together in a chain, by connecting DIs to DOs (don't forget power too). Sorry, the
fancy green boards aren't available :(.
Select a Power Source
The WS2812 requires about 5V to work. It should operate at anywhere between about 4V to 7V , but 5V is readily-
available on most boards. The WS2812B operates between about 3.3V to 5V. The 5V header on an Arduino
board, for example, is a perfect voltage supply for the LEDs.
Also consider how much current your LED strip is going to pull. With every single LED on at full brightness, each
breakout board can pull about 60mA (20mA per channel). Even with just ten breakout boards strung together,
you're looking at upwards of a possible 600mA. Yikes! Below are a few power supplies that can power a few