Getting Started with Unicorn Paint
Learn how to pixel paint mini works of art on your Unicorn HAT using your Pi and a web browser
Beginner / Unicorn HATVery easy to use, ultra-low power Wi-Fi module, which can run directly on batteries. Designed for developers at all skill levels from advanced to those just starting to build IOT devices.
Cricket is a perfect choice if you want to build IOT end nodes such as sensors, alarms, buttons, switches, etc. to report data and events instantaneously from remote locations. What is really cool is the ultra-low power feature, which will make your devices to run on single batteries for a very long time (for years in many use cases).
With Cricket you can connect various peripherals to Wi-Fi out of the box; send data and events either within your local network or to the internet. Simply attach a battery and peripheral(s) to Cricket and your device is ready to go.
Cricket comes with a native support of MQTT and HTTP POST / GET protocols that allow you to integrate your devices to a huge ecosystem of software and internet services such as e.g. IFTTT, Zapier, Blynk, Home Assistant, Node-RED, automate.io, Google Docs, Emails, Mobile Apps, etc.
Cricket works with all standard Wi-Fi routers and it doesn't require IOT hubs. No coding/programming is required as it comes with pre-installed software. You configure Cricket entirely over the air either from a smartphone or a laptop (without fiddling and troubleshooting toolchains). It can be done either locally (toe_device WiFi hotspot) or remotely from COTA cloud service (http://cota.thingsonedge.com)
FEATURES:
* Ultra-low power, deep sleeep 0.5uA, true 0A (i.e. in a button device)
* Operates directly on batteries 1.0V-3.5V (AA, AAA, AAAA, ...)
* Sends data and events with ~3 seconds latency
* Configurable Real-Time Clock (RTC) for regular wake ups
* Configurable MQTT brokers
* Configurable secure / non-secure HTTP POST/GET requests
* Configurable a battery monitor
* Configurable Analog or Digital inputs (for sensors)
* Built-in configurable temperature sensor
* Local configuration (directly on a Cricket over captive portal / WiFi hotspot)
* Remote configuration from the Cloud (optional)
* OTA firmware updates
Few examples of what you can build with Cricket:
Endless possibilities to build broad range of devices which report data in various forms to the internet / services / smartphones
Please check some of our projects (HERE) to get started with Cricket.
RASPBERRY PI NOT INCLUDED
This is a Mini Real-Time Clock module, it's design for the Raspberry Pi, but it can also be used with an Arduino.
Simply plug this tiny module into the GPIO header on the Raspberry Pi and away you go!
Features:
RASPBERRY PI NOT INCLUDED(Neither the key-ring and keys for those who wondered)
This cute little GPIO reference board from allows you to quickly and easily distinguish between the different pins of the Raspberry Pi Model B+, Raspberry Pi 2B, Pi 3B and Pi 3B+. It's even got a key chain hole, so you can carry it around and keep it handy - you'll never know when you need to hack a Pi!
The GPIO reference board features BCM numbering on one side and the pin names on the other. It can be soldered for permanent referencing, or slipped on and off when required.
The Sense HAT is an add-on board for Raspberry Pi, made especially for the Astro Pi mission! It’s going to the International Space Station in December 2015 – and is now available to buy from PiShop.
The Sense HAT has an 8×8 RGB LED matrix, a five-button joystick and includes the following sensors:
The Raspberry Pi Foundation have also created a Python library providing easy access to everything on the board.
Sensing Elements Technical Specification:
Pressure / Temperature (ST Micro LPS25H)
– 24-bit pressure measurement resolution (260hPa to 1260hPa)
– 16-bit temperature measurement resolution (0-125°C)
Datasheet
Humidity / Temperature (ST Micro HTS221)
– 16-bit humidity measurement resolution (0-100% relative humidity)
– 16-bit temperature measurement resolution (0-60°C)
Datasheet
Acceleration/Gyroscope/Magnetic field (ST Micro LSM9DS1)
– 9 degrees of freedom (X, Y, Z independent axes for all sensors)
– ±16 g acceleration measurement range
– ±16 gauss magnetometer measurement range
– ±2000 dps (degrees per second) gyroscope measurement range
Each of these measurement channels has 16 bits of resolution.
Datasheet
All of these sensors have features for periodic sampling of sensor values, complete with internal FIFO storage. The LPS25H and HTS221 have maximum sample rates of 25 per second, the LSM9DS1 has a maximum sample rate of 952Hz
LED Matrix
The LED matrix is driven by a combination of a constant-current LED driver and an Atmel ATTiny88 running a custom firmware that delivers an 8×8 display with 15-bit resolution RGB colour. If you want to get into the gory details, the AVR firmware is available on Github.
Joystick
The Atmel is responsible for sampling the joystick. We didn’t have enough pins left on the Atmel to dedicate the five that we needed to sample the joystick axes independently, so they’ve been spliced into the LED matrix row selects. The joystick gets updated at approximately 80Hz, which is the scan rate of the LED matrix.
All of the sensors (and the base firmware for the Atmel) are accessible from the Pi over I2C. As a fun bonus mode, the SPI peripheral on the Atmel has been hooked up to the Pi’s SPI interface – you can reprogram your HAT in the field! We use this method to get the firmware into the Atmel during production test – and we leave it unprotected so you can substitute the stock firmware to get it to do whatever you want. Seriously. First person to turn this sensor HAT into a quadcopter controller HAT wins a cookie from me.
Getting Started
Connect your Sense HAT to the Raspberry Pi via the 40 GPIO Pins.You will then need to install the software:
Open up a terminal and run the following command:
wget -O - http://www.raspberrypi.org/files/astro-pi/astro-pi-install.sh --no-check-certificate
When the install has finished you will need to reboot your Raspberry Pi!
Getting started with the Raspberry Pi Sense HAT
Description:
There are two L9110S motor controller chips onboard
This module can simultaneously drive two DC motors or a 4-wire 2-phase stepper motor
Feature:
Work under low static current
Power supply voltage: DC 2.5V - 12V
Each channel has 800mA continuous current output
Low saturation pressure drop
TTL / CMOS output level compatible, can be connected directly to the CPU
Output built-in clamping diode, apply to the perceptual load
Control and drive integrate in IC
Pin high pressure protection function
Working temperature: 0°C - 80°C
Size: 29 x 21mm(L x W)
Circuit diagram:
Package includes:
1x L9110S stepper motor driver
Robot control with Python
Please note: Raspberry Pi not included
The Explorer HAT and Explorer HAT Pro are the perfect prototyping side-kicks for your Raspberry Pi!
We've added a heap of useful input and output options that will take your projects to the next level. Great for driving motors, using analog sensors, interfacing with 5V systems, and touch (even fruit based!) interfaces.
It's compatible with Raspberry Pi 2, Pi 3, B+, and A+ and comes fully assembled.
Features:
5V tolerant inputs - Hook up your Pi to accept input from 5V systems (like Arduino Uno/Leonardo or 5V Trinkets). We've used a 5-channel buffer that will accept anything from 2V-5V as logic high.
5V powered ouputs - The onboard darlington array can supply up to 500mA per channel (but you'll be limited to driving around 1A total from the board). Ideal for stepper motors, solenoids, and relays.
Eight capacitive inputs - Four along the front edge for touch input (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4) and four up the side for attaching crocodile clips to objects (such as fruit, or tin foil) for experimentation!
Four coloured LEDs - Independently controllable LEDs (red, green, blue, and yellow) that make great status indicators.
Four analog inputs (pro only) - A tidy way to integrate analog signals into your project.
Two H-Bridge motor drivers (pro only) - Drive two 5V motors bidirectionally with up to 200mA per channel. Ideal with our micro-metal gear-motors to create the perfect little buggy! You can even soft-PWM for full speed control.
Full Python library, documentation and examples - Head on over to our GitHub to find a Python library, examples, documentation and a brief introduction to Explorer HAT: https://github.com/pimoroni/explorer-hat
If you’ve ever tried to connect a 3.3V device to a 5V system, you know what a challenge it can be. The SparkFun bi-directional logic level converter is a small device that safely steps down 5V signals to 3.3V AND steps up 3.3V to 5V at the same time.
This level converter also works with 2.8V and 1.8V devices. What really separates this Logic level converter from our previous versions is that you can successfully set your high and low voltages and step up and down between them safely on the same channel. Each level converter has the capability of converting 4 pins on the high side to 4 pins on the low side with two inputs and two outputs provided for each side.
The level converter is very easy to use. The board needs to be powered from the two voltages sources (high voltage and low voltage) that your system is using. High voltage (5V for example) to the ‘HV’ pin, low voltage (3.3V for example) to ‘LV’, and ground from the system to the ‘GND’ pin.
Dimensions: 0.63 x 0.52" (16.05 x 13.33mm)
Documents:
Pic is for illustration purposes only.
Colour might differ between blue and red as per manufacturer stock availability.
This T shaped breakout board makes it easier to use the GPIO pins as it is bigger in size and labeled.
The board also tightly fits on to a breadboard making electronic experiments much easier.
Our SHIMs (Shove Hardware in the Middle) are a new range of boards designed to be small, affordable, and handy. They're just 1mm thick (the bare board, not including mounted components) and designed to be soldered straight onto the GPIO pins of your Pi, if you wish, so that you can use them with HATs and pHATs on top.
Usage
Just plug your micro-USB power supply into the micro-B connector on OnOff SHIM, and then press the button once to switch on power and boot up your Pi. After installing our software (details below), you can press the button again to initiate a clean shutdown and completely cut the power to your Pi.
Features
Software
We've put together a one-line-installer to install the clean shutdown daemon. It watches the state of BCM pin 17 and, when pulled low (pressed), it initiates a clean shutdown. Last thing, just before your Pi shuts down, BCM pin 4 is pulled low to completely cut power to your Pi.
To install the software, open a terminal and type curl https://get.pimoroni.com/onoffshim | bash
to run the one-line-installer.
Let your robotic dreams come true with the new DC+Stepper Motor HAT from Adafruit. This Raspberry Pi add-on is perfect for any motion project as it can drive up to 4 DC or 2 Stepper motors with full PWM speed control.
Raspberry Pi and motors are not included.
Since the Raspberry Pi does not have a lot of PWM pins, we use a fully-dedicated PWM driver chip
onboard to both control motor direction and speed. This chip handles
all the motor and speed controls over I2C. Only two pins (SDA & SCL)
are required to drive the multiple motors, and since it's I2C you can
also connect any other I2C devices or HATs to the same pins.
In fact, you can even stack multiple Motor HATs, up to 32 of them, for controlling up to 64 stepper motors or 128 DC motors (or a mix of the two) - just remember to purchase and solder in a stacking header instead of the one we include.
Motors are controlled by TB6612 MOSFET drivers with 1.2A per channel and 3A peak current capability, a big improvement over L293D drivers and there are built-in flyback diodes as well.
We even had a little space so we added a polarity protection FET on the power pins and a bit of prototyping area. And the HAT is assembled and tested here at Adafruit so all you have to do is solder on the included 2x20 plain header and the terminal blocks.
Lets check out these specs again:
Comes with an assembled & tested HAT, terminal blocks, and 2x20 plain header. Some soldering is required to assemble the headers on. Stacking header not included.
Raspberry Pi, motors, and battery pack are not included but we have lots of motors in the shop and all our DC motors, and stepper motors work great. Check out Adafruit's detailed tutorial for tons of info including schematics, wiring diagrams, python libraries and example walkthroughs.
PiFace Digital is designed to plug on to the GPIO of your Raspberry Pi, allowing you to sense and control the real world. With PiFace Digital 2 you can detect the state of a switch, for example from a door sensor, a pressure pad or any number of other switch types. Once this state has been detected, you can write your own software for the Raspberry Pi that determines how to respond to that switch state. You can drive outputs to power motors, actuators, LEDs or anything else you can imagine!
Downloads, Tutorials and Guides:
What's going to protect your beloved Raspberry Pi from an onslaught of rainbow-coloured fusion? That's right, it's Unicorn HAT.
Sporting a matrix of 64 (8 x 8) RGB LEDs and powered directly from the Pi, this is the most compact pocket aurora available.
Unicorn HAT provides a wash of controllable colour that is ideal for mood-lighting, 8x8 pixel art, persistence of vision effects, status indications, or just blasting colour into your surroundings.
The MagPi said that Unicorn HAT was "one of the coolest HATs around"
Features
Software
We've put together a Unicorn HAT Python library to make it a breeze to use, including lots of beautiful examples of what it can do.
Notes
Learn how to pixel paint mini works of art on your Unicorn HAT using your Pi and a web browser
Beginner / Unicorn HATLearn how to use Unicorn HAT and HSV colour to make awesome rainbows
Intermediate / Unicorn HATLearn how to use Unicorn HAT, the vibrant 8x8 pixel colour display for your Pi
Beginner / Unicorn HATLearn how to use Unicorn HAT in IDLE, the Python IDE
Beginner / Unicorn HATThis neat little board from Nanomesher adds a programmable power switch to your Raspberry Pi A+/B+/2/3/Zero/Zero W, which can be controlled by a single button or IR remote!
This is the Hackable Raspberry Pi Power switch which was successfully funded on Kickstarter in April 2017.
The Hackable Raspberry Pi Switch features an on board and removable Attiny85 Arduino Development MCU, which means the switch is both Smart and Hackable!
The Pi Switch Features
Package Include:
While it works out of the box. You can also reprogram it using an Attiny MCU programmer. Code and Guides are included are downloadable from here. There is a package which include both the Switch and Programmer
Being Hackable, the firmware can be modified so that the switch can be used as a development board with these functions:
Operation Sequence
1. Press once to turn On
2. Press again to trigger shutdown of the Pi's Linus OS using the shutdown script
3. Switch will monitor the Pi and wait for the Pi to be fully shutdown (halt state)
4. Once halt state is detected, cut the power to the Pi.
Downloads
Control 16 Servos with perfect timing!
This HAT can also do PWM up to 1.6 KHz with 12 bit precision, all completely free-running.
For use with Raspberry Pi Model A+ or B+, can be used with the Model A or B if you use a tall 2x13 header instead of the included 2x20.
Best of all, Adafruit even have a Python library you can use, so you'll be up and running instantly, to make your robotic creation com to life. The Adafruit PWM/Servo HAT is the perfect solution for any project that requires a lot of servos or PWM outputs! Check out Adafruits detailed tutorial for lots more information including diagrams, schematics, installation instructions and more
Each order contains
You'll need to do some light through-hole soldering to attach the headers onto the HAT circuit board. If you would like to stack multiple HATs onto one Pi, you can also pick up a 2x20 stacking header and a set of right-angle 3x4 headers that should be soldered on instead.
Please note! This kit does not come with Raspberry Pi, servos, or required 5V power supply.