Pebble Buddy 4 Guide

Overview

This board makes it super easy to add LEDs and USB-C power to your project. It's optimized for use with the Pixelblaze Pico LED controllerand Pebble-style LEDs with Backup Data, but can be used with any controller and any* 3 or 4-pin 5V addressable LED strip, strand, or PCB object! 
*except Data Return style Pebbles, we have a separate Tentacle System for those!

Controller Option 1 - Direct Soldering to a Pixelblaze Pico

This board can solder directly to the back of a Pixelblaze Pico to make a very compact form factor.


First, cover the back of the Pico with tape (we like kapton best for this) to insulate the exposed pads on the back of the Pico.
Next, solder the Pico and the Buddy together using the castellated edges.

Controller Option 2 - Connectorizing for a Pico or any LED Controller

Alternately, you can use the enclosed right angle 0.1" headers to connect the Pico to the Buddy. Since the Buddy provides power, we prefer using the sockets on this side, and the pins on the Pico/controller side. But you can do whatever works best for your project. You could even use a straight header (not provided) and plug the Buddy directly into a breadboard. For LED controllers with a different pinout than the Pico, you can solder wires to the Buddy, or wire the included headers in whatever pinout you need.

Adding the LEDs

Pebble Buddy 4s are designed to be used with Pebble-style strands that have an additional Backup Data line for redundancy.  This prevents one bad pixel from taking out your entire strip, it will just be skipped.  They can also be used with LED strips that have a Clock line, see Option 2 for wiring.

LEDs Option 1 - Direct Soldering a Pebble Strand

First, find the "Data In" end of your Pebble strand. Then determine which side have the lenses facing "up". Strip this end and solder it with the lenses facing up directly to the pads on the Pebble Buddy 4.  Make sure the switch is set to  "DI" for Backup Data.

LEDs Option 2 - Connectorizing for Pebbles or Other Strips or PCBs

First, solder the included JST connector to the Buddy.
Next, solder the included JST pigtail cable to your LEDs. You can cut the cable and strip the wires if you need a shorter length. The cable will solder to Pebble strands 1:1, meaning no wires will be crossed if your Pebble strand is lens-side-up and the connector is oriented so it plugs straight into the Buddy. Also note that the 5V wire is marked on all Pebble strands we sell. However, you can also wire the pigtail to any addressable LED strip or PCB, just be sure to match up your 5V, Data, and GND signals to the connector.

Finally, use the switch to select whether your attached LEDs are the style with Backup Data (DI) or Clock (CLK).


Note that the typical flex circuit / tape-style strips do NOT have the same pinout as Pebbles, and you will NOT be able to solder them directly to the pads. You will need to wire them, keeping careful attention to match the signals.

Plug in a USB power source

If you've followed all of the instructions above, have connected an LED controller and all of your LEDs, just plug in a USB-C power source and you're ready to go! This will power both the controller and the LED strands.

Downloads

How to download our BOM from GitHub:
1. Click the BOM button above
2. Right click over the raw data
3. Select save as and save the CSV file
Have any questions?  Contact us!