This Arduino shield from Adafruit contains 40 individually addressable RGB LEDs arranged in a 5×8 matrix, and it only takes one pin to control them all (pin 6 by default, but this can be customized by cutting a trace and adding a jumper to a different Arduino pin). Additionally, multiple NeoPixel Shields can be chained together by connecting the first shield’s DOUT pin to the second shield’s DIN pin. This results in a larger NeoPixel matrix that can still be controlled from a single Arduino pin.

The LEDs are powered by default from the Arduino’s regulated 5 V rail, which is sufficient for powering about a third of the LEDs at full brightness at the same time. If you need more power than this, you can cut a trace and use an external 4 V to 6 V supply to power the shield, but note that these LEDs can get quite bright, so you will probably want to avoid setting them to full brightness unless you have some kind of eye protection or a good diffuser in front of them. See the Powering the shield section below for more information.

The Adafruit NeoPixel library for Arduino and the higher-level Adafruit NeoMatrix library for Arduino (which requires the NeoPixel library and the Adafruit GFX library) are both compatible with the NeoPixel Shield and make it easy to get started. And since the NeoPixels are based on the same SK6812/WS2812B LEDs as our Addressable RGB LED Strips, our Arduino library for addressable RGB LED strips is also compatible with this shield.

See the NeoPixel Shield section of the Adafruit Shield Compatibility Guide for a list of tested and fully compatible Arduino boards. This shield is also compatible with the A-Star 32U4 Prime.

Adafruit NeoPixel Shield for Arduino - 40 RGB LED Pixel Matrix Pinouts