Curiosity got the better of me... so I'll just add one more post. ![:)]( "Smile")
Here is a WS2812 8-LED stick controlled by a RP2040-Zero, both running at ~2.5V (3.3V plus one 1N4001 diode drop):
The LEDs are not very bright, they are rather less bright than the picture suggests -- just about starting to see the lights as coming from separate LED dies -- but my colour fading program worked fine, everything seems stable enough at 2.5V.
The dates embedded in the PDFs of the datasheets from Worldsemi are:
WS2812: 2012
WS2812B: 2013
WS2812B ver 5: 2019
So WS2812B ver 5 is already a >5 year old product. Unless we are using very old modules, 3.3V operation should work smoothly.
Here is a WS2812 8-LED stick controlled by a RP2040-Zero, both running at ~2.5V (3.3V plus one 1N4001 diode drop):The LEDs are not very bright, they are rather less bright than the picture suggests -- just about starting to see the lights as coming from separate LED dies -- but my colour fading program worked fine, everything seems stable enough at 2.5V.
The dates embedded in the PDFs of the datasheets from Worldsemi are:
WS2812: 2012
WS2812B: 2013
WS2812B ver 5: 2019
So WS2812B ver 5 is already a >5 year old product. Unless we are using very old modules, 3.3V operation should work smoothly.
Statistics: Posted by katak255 — Sun Feb 01, 2026 5:04 am