How's the kit?

The Wurth Elektronik WL-ICLEDs in the 5050-size are probably the easiest to work with given the breakouts supplied - getting them working on a breadboard is not too difficult if you can master the SMD soldering. But the logic shifter being supplied as the bare IC means that users are likely either to have to rely on others they may already have (as I did) or they may need to go without (in which case, I've actually had some success with omitting it, even though it is technically not supposed to work for one of them).

The other sizes are the domain of a custom PCB - that's not necessarily hard to do, but waiting on a manufacturer to make it and shipping is probably the more annoying part. On a software level, all of them with the exception of the 1312121320437 are signalling compatible with the WS2812B (one-wire type) and APA102 (two-wire type). From some research, I believe the 1312121320437 which is a 48-bit variety one-wire type would be compatible with WS2816 "high definition LED", meaning FastLED could work with them all, but this is yet to be confirmed.

I'm working a little bit ahead of what I've been able to blog - lots of commitments on my plate all-round, but I think I should be able to make it to the finish line ... but I'll have to face the (potentially daunting) aspect of unknown-unknowns and more software-related issues assuming my PCBs arrive in time and my soldering techniques work for the other smaller types.

As for what I expected ... well, I didn't expect it to be practically a drop-in for other popular RGB integrated-controller LEDs, which has both pros and cons, as it might be easy for manufacturers to make component substitutions without us knowing, but it does mean it's easy to put them into existing designs if we're interested in having that "Wurth-quality".

- Gough

The Wurth Elektronik WL-ICLEDs in the 5050-size are probably the easiest to work with given the breakouts supplied - getting them working on a breadboard is not too difficult if you can master the SMD soldering. But the logic shifter being supplied as the bare IC means that users are likely either to have to rely on others they may already have (as I did) or they may need to go without (in which case, I've actually had some success with omitting it, even though it is technically not supposed to work for one of them).

The other sizes are the domain of a custom PCB - that's not necessarily hard to do, but waiting on a manufacturer to make it and shipping is probably the more annoying part. On a software level, all of them with the exception of the 1312121320437 are signalling compatible with the WS2812B (one-wire type) and APA102 (two-wire type). From some research, I believe the 1312121320437 which is a 48-bit variety one-wire type would be compatible with WS2816 "high definition LED", meaning FastLED could work with them all, but this is yet to be confirmed.

I'm working a little bit ahead of what I've been able to blog - lots of commitments on my plate all-round, but I think I should be able to make it to the finish line ... but I'll have to face the (potentially daunting) aspect of unknown-unknowns and more software-related issues assuming my PCBs arrive in time and my soldering techniques work for the other smaller types.

As for what I expected ... well, I didn't expect it to be practically a drop-in for other popular RGB integrated-controller LEDs, which has both pros and cons, as it might be easy for manufacturers to make component substitutions without us knowing, but it does mean it's easy to put them into existing designs if we're interested in having that "Wurth-quality".

- Gough