Little Bird
Rainbow HAT
Rainbow HAT has a buffet of sensors, inputs and displays to explore Android ThingsTM. Use it as a weather station, a clock, a timer or stopwatch, a mood l...
Rainbow HAT has a buffet of sensors, inputs and displays to explore Android ThingsTM. Use it as a weather station, a clock, a timer or stopwatch, a mood light, or endless other things.
We've worked with the Android Things team at Google to create this great add-on board that features displays, sensors, sound, and lots of LEDs! It's the perfect introduction to developing Android Things applications on the Raspberry Pi.
Rainbow HAT also has a full Python API for use on Raspbian just like all of our other HATs that you know and love!
The MagPi said that "Rainbow HAT has an impressive number of features crammed into it, making it useful for all sorts of projects" in their four star review.
Rainbow HAT features:
- Seven APA102 multicolour LEDs
- Four 14-segment alphanumeric displays (green LEDs)
- HT16K33 display driver chip
- Three capacitive touch buttons
- Atmel QT1070 capacitive touch driver chip
- Blue, green and red LEDs
- BMP280 temperature and pressure sensor
- Piezo buzzer
- Breakout pins for servo, I2C, SPI, and UART (all 3v3)
- Rainbow HAT pinout
- Compatible with Raspberry Pi 3B+, 3, 2, B+, A+, Zero, and Zero W
- Python library
Please note that if you're using Rainbow HAT with a Raspberry Pi 3B+, then you'll need to use a set of stand-offs to ensure that the new PoE pins do not contact components on the underside of Rainbow HAT.
The board is designed specifically to show off the wide range of protocols available on the Raspberry Pi, including SPI (the APA102 LEDs), I2C (the BMP280 sensor and 14-segment displays), GPIO (the capacitive touch buttons and LEDs), and PWM (the piezo buzzer).
Using Android Things?
For information on how to get started with Android Things and Rainbow HAT visit the official developer site for Android Things. To put the latest Android Things image on your SD card, see the instructions here: https://developer.android.com/things/hardware/raspberrypi.html. You can find the driver and samples published in the official GitHub organisation: https://github.com/androidthings
Using Raspbian?
We’ve also put together a Python library to make it a breeze to use. You can find it here: https://github.com/pimoroni/rainbow-hat
Our software does not support Raspbian Wheezy.
Notes
Temperature readings are affected by heat radiated from your Pi’s CPU and the onboard LEDs; calibration can help to correct temperature readings. bstrobl, on the Raspberry Pi forums, suggests to use the formula: corrected temp. = measured temp. - (CPU temp. - measured temp.) / 2. Using a Mini Black HAT Hack3r can also help.
Jargon buster
Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.
- breakout
- A breakout is a small circuit board that makes a tiny or hard-to-solder component easier to connect to with standard pins. It matters because this OLED module can be wired into a microcontroller project without needing to solder directly to the display’s fine contacts.
- GPIO
- General-purpose input/output pins are microcontroller pins you can set in software to read signals, switch devices on and off, or connect to peripherals. The number of GPIO pins matters because it limits how many buttons, LEDs, sensors, and other parts you can wire directly to the board.
- I2C
- I2C is a two-wire communication bus used by many sensors and small modules. It matters because several I2C devices can share the same two wires, but each device needs a compatible address and your controller must support I2C.
- PoE
- Power over Ethernet lets one Ethernet cable carry both network data and electrical power. This is useful when installing a device where running a separate power adaptor would be difficult.
- PWM
- Pulse Width Modulation is a way for a digital pin to simulate variable output power by switching on and off very quickly. It matters for controlling things like LED brightness, motor speed, or servo-style signals from a microcontroller pin.
- servo
- A servo is a motor with built-in position control, usually told to move to a specific angle by a control signal. It matters when you need repeatable movement, such as steering, arms, flaps, or linkages, rather than continuous spinning.
- SPI
- A fast serial communication bus often used for displays, memory cards, and sensors. It matters because SPI devices need specific pins for clock and data, plus a separate chip-select line for each device.
- UART
- UART is a simple serial connection that sends data over separate transmit and receive wires, often labelled TX and RX. It matters because this module is designed to replace a wired UART cable with a wireless link while keeping the same serial data format.
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Components
Displays & Screens
Raspberry Pi
Sensors & Input
Related Tutorials
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