Wordclock with raspberry pi zero and Stackheader

[ningelsohn]

Hi, I’ve done some projects with a raspberry but it never required any wiring. Now I’m trying to build a wordclock and there are many tutorials online for wiring but their all different and I’m unsure which one I should follow.

I’m using a 5V WS2812B LED Strip, but is separate powering really necessary when there’s only 20 leds on at most?

And I have only this stackheader to use. I think it’s made to stack on a already installed header and shows color codes. It has a female connector for every pin and a male. If I’m soldering this on my pi zero, can I use both connectors?

Excuse my poor explanations
Thanks in advance

[rpdom]

I don't know about the stackheader, but I have a 60 LED WS2812 strip connected to a Pi Zero and it has been working happily for years. Both the Zero and the LED strip are powered from an official 2.5A Pi power supply. I did put a splitter in the cable so both the Pi and the LED strip are powered directly from the supply rather than having the 5V go through the Pi to the LED strip via the 5V connection on the GPIO header.

[ningelsohn]

I don't know about the stackheader, but I have a 60 LED WS2812 strip connected to a Pi Zero and it has been working happily for years. Both the Zero and the LED strip are powered from an official 2.5A Pi power supply. I did put a splitter in the cable so both the Pi and the LED strip are powered directly from the supply rather than having the 5V go through the Pi to the LED strip via the 5V connection on the GPIO header.

Do you think it’s damaging the pi? I’m not too comfortable with electrics and would rather just use some jumper cables.

I only need to connect to the 5V, ground and one pin
for controlling the strip? There’s cables at the end of the strip, those are only for connecting another cable?

Thanks for your input, appreciate it

[rpdom]

I reckon the tracks on the Pi Zero PCB are probably good for up to 500mA, maybe a little more, but I wouldn't risk it.

The WS281x LED strips only need those three connections. +5V, Ground (0V) and data. Sometimes you will get an additional two wires at the ends of the strips. They are also 5V and 0V so you can feed extra power into the strip through those (or cut them off if you don't need them). When using very long strips (>3m) it is recommended to feed additional power to the other end of the strip.

I removed all the wires from my strip and soldered some 2A rated three core cable instead and that is what goes to my Pi.