The Adafruit Sparkle Motion is the flagship in our series of "Sparkle Motion" boards, that are our attempt to make the best small WLED-friendly smart LED driving board in the whole world. Our resident mermaid, firepixie makes a lot of projects with WLED and she loves it! So how can we make something that will be powerful enough to drive advanced LED projects with built-in sensors.

This version has a built-in antenna so it's ready to go out-of-the-box.

This board has everything you could possibly want for big, small, or even massive WLED/xLights projects:

• Power option 1 via USB Type C PD with a slide switch that selects between 5, 12 and 20V (24V pixels can usually run fine at 20V)
• Power option 2 via 2.1mm DC jack, center positive
• Low forward-voltage diodes so its good for up to 5A from either
• 5 Amp fuse to protect from over-current drive
• ESP32 mini module with built in antenna port - the classic ESP32 has the best WLED support even if we'd prefer the 'S2 or 'S3. Comes with 4 MB of flash, dual core 240MHz Tensilica, WiFi, Bluetooth LE and Bluetooth Classic support.
• USB-serial converter with auto-reset
• Three output signal terminal block sets with power and ground for each - they'll be level shifted to 5V. Use 26-20AWG stranded or solid core wires, 5A rated.
• 6 GPIO breakout pads with a fourth level-shifted output, and 3 more GPIO plus power and ground.
• Built-in I2S microphone for audio-reactive projects with digital quality audio
• Built-in IR receiver for easy remote control integration
• Stemma QT I2C port to connect external sensors/OLED/etc.
• Separate analog/digital input JST port for analog input, potentiometer, microphone or external IR receiver
• User button on GPIO 0 plus Reset button
• Red built-in LED on pin 4
• Small built-in NeoPixel on pin 2
• Compact enough you can use it for wearable projects - 1.3"x1.75" / 33mm x 45mm size with mounting holes

To make it super fast to get started, terminal blocks are pre-installed: use any 20-26 AWG stranded or solid core wires with a flat-head screwdriver to attach semi-permanently.

While we recommend it for use with WLED, it will also work just fine as a compact ESP32 board for use with Arduino, ESP-IDF, MicroPython, CircuitPython or any other ESP32 supported codebase. 

The Sparkle Motion board has it all. Designed with ease of use for larger scale LED projects using WLED and Xlights, we've packed it with features and components that will enable users to create incredible things.

• Power via USB Type C PD with a slide switch that selects between 5, 12 and 20V (24V pixels can usually run fine at 20V)
  OR via 2.1mm DC jack
• Low forward-voltage diodes so it's good for up to 5A from either USB or the DC jack
• 5 Amp fuse to protect from overcurrent drive
• ESP32 mini module with built in or optionally wFL antenna port (the classic '32 has broad support even if we'd prefer the 'S2 or 'S3)
• Three output signal terminal block sets with power and ground for each: level shifted to 5V.
• 6 GPIO breakout pads with a fourth level-shifted output, and 3 more GPIO plus power and ground.
• Built-in I2S microphone
• Built-in IR receiver
• Stemma QT I2C port to connect external sensors/OLED/etc.
• Separate analog/digital input JST port for analog input, potentiometer, microphone or external IR receiver
• Compact enough you can use it for wearable projects - 1.3"x1.75" / 33mm x 45mm size with mounting holes

Add-ons: yes! OLEDs! Inertial Measurement Units! Sensors a-plenty. All plug-and-play thanks to the innovative chainable design: SparkFun Qwiic-compatible STEMMA QT connectors for the I2C bus, so you don't even need to solder! Just plug in a compatible cable and attach it to your MCU of choice, and you’re ready to load up some software and measure some light. Seeed Grove I2C boards will also work with this adapter cable.

In addition to the Stemma QT connector, we also added an RGB NeoPixel (with controllable power pin to allow for ultra-low-power usage), a reset button (great for restarting your program or entering the bootloader), and a button on GPIO 0 for entering the ROM bootloader or for user input.

Onboard sensors include an IR receiver for easy remote control, and an I2S microphone, so you can quickly and easily add sound reactivity to your project.

To make it super fast to get started, terminal blocks are pre-installed: use any 20-26 AWG stranded or solid core wires with a flat-head screwdriver to attach semi-permanently.

This board has everything you could possibly want for big, small, or even massive WLED/xLights projects.