LEDs
Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are small, powerful lights that are used in many different applications. Blinking an LED is the classic starting point for learning how to program embedded electronics. It's the "Hello, World!" of microcontrollers. We recommend looking at the LED tutorial and SIK experiment guide to get started.
Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
August 12, 2013
Learn the basics about LEDs as well as some more advanced topics to help you calculate requirements for projects containing many LEDs.
Interactive LED Music Visualizer
May 31, 2016
Use an Arduino and the SparkFun Sound Detector to create visualizations on Addressable RGB LED strips.
SX1509 I/O Expander Breakout Hookup Guide
September 24, 2015
Learn how you can use the SX1509 to control 16 LEDs or up to 64 buttons with just two pins.
Qwiic Digital Desk Sign with MicroMod
June 30, 2022
Make a Qwiic-enabled digital desk sign with a MicroMod SAMD51 Processor Board's USB Host and a USB keyboard!
WS2812 Breakout Hookup Guide
July 24, 2013
How to create a pixel string with the WS2812 and WS2812B addressable LEDs!
LED Light Bar Hookup
September 24, 2013
A quick overview of SparkFun's LED light bars, and some examples to show how to hook them up.
QuickLogic Thing Plus (EOS S3) Hookup Guide
July 22, 2021
This guide provides users with functional descriptions, configuration options for the QuickLogic Thing Plus EOS S3. It also serves as a “Getting Started” and “How To” guide.
SparkFun Top pHAT Hookup Guide
April 16, 2020
The pHAT to sit above your other HATs. Does that make it the "king" of the pHATs?
This guide will help you get started using the Top pHAT with the Raspberry Pi.
Getting Started with the SmartLED Shield for Teensy
November 9, 2018
In this tutorial, we will connect different RGB LED matrix panels to PixelMatix's SmartLED shield and Teensy.
SparkFun Qwiic Alphanumeric Display Hookup Guide
October 21, 2021
A Hookup Guide to get you started with the Qwiic Alphanumeric Display.
Experiment Guide for the Johnny-Five Inventor's Kit
June 28, 2016
Use the Tessel 2 and the Johnny Five Inventors kit to explore the world of JavaScript enabled hardware through 14 awesome experiments!
FemtoBuck Constant Current LED Driver Hookup Guide v13
December 10, 2015
The FemtoBuck board is a high-efficiency, single-channel constant-current LED driver.
PicoBuck Hookup Guide v12
February 18, 2016
The PicoBuck board is a high-efficiency three-channel constant-current LED driver.
Getting Started with the Teensy
June 18, 2015
Basic intro to the Teensy line of products, with soldering and programming suggestions.
Tinker Kit Circuit Guide
September 16, 2021
This guide takes you through the basics of building 11 different circuits with the SparkFun Tinker Kit and how to program them using the Arduino IDE.
Basic Character LCD Hookup Guide
May 28, 2019
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are a great way to output a string of words or sensor data to a display for visual feedback. In this tutorial, we'll learn about LCDs, how to print a string of words to a 16x2 basic character LCD and create custom characters.
Qwiic LED Stick - APA102C Hookup Guide
July 15, 2021
Add some I2C RGB to your project with the SparkFun Qwiic LED Stick - APA102C
SparkFun ESP32 DMX to LED Shield
March 28, 2019
Learn how to utilize your DMX to LED Shield in a variety of different ways.
Qwiic SHIM Kit for Raspberry Pi Hookup Guide
February 16, 2021
Get started with the Serial LCD with RGB backlight and 9DoF IMU (ICM-20948) via I2C using the Qwiic system and Python on a Raspberry Pi! Take sensor readings and display them in the serial terminal or SerLCD.
SparkFun Photodetector (MAX30101) Hookup Guide
June 25, 2020
The SparkFun Photodetector - MAX30101 (Qwiic) is the successor to the MAX30105 particle sensor, a highly sensitive optical sensor. This tutorial will get you started on retrieving the raw data from the MAX30101 sensor.
Spectral Triad (AS7265x) Hookup Guide
November 8, 2018
Learn how to wield the power of 18 channels of UV to NIR spectroscopy with AS72651 (UV), AS72652 (VIS), and AS72653 (NIR) sensors!
Flashlight Kit
October 11, 2018
This is an assembly guide for the SparkFun Flashlight Kit, a basic learn to solder kit.
RedBoard Turbo Hookup Guide
January 24, 2019
An introduction to the RedBoard Turbo. Level up your Arduino-skills with the powerful SAMD21 ARM Cortex M0+ processor!
Old Tutorials
Looking for the old, archived tutorials? Head on over to the
archived tutorials on the main
SparkFun site.
Please be aware that the tutorials you find there are no longer
actively maintained.