Intermediate 45 minutes

Light the Lorikeet with Raspberry Pi 5

Connect five addressable RGB LEDs with an interactive 3D build, complete code and colour experiments.

Build a five-pixel colour light, follow every connection in 3D, then run a program that changes all five LEDs from red to green to blue once a second. Learn which wire supplies power, which carries data, and why a colour change needs an explicit send command.

Bring the host board and USB connection described in the first step. The shopping list below contains the additional breadboard circuit parts.

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Step 1 — Gather the parts and identify the input

A Raspberry Pi 5 running Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm or later, its recommended USB-C power supply, and terminal access through a monitor/keyboard or SSH. This guide assumes you can sign in to the Pi.

1 × Little Bird Lorikeet WS2812B Rainbow Board (five LEDs, input header soldered).
1 × 830-contact solderless breadboard; 1 × 330 Ω resistor; jumper leads.
A computer and the correct data-capable USB cable. No battery or separate LED supply is required for this single-board, low-brightness test.

1 × 74AHCT125 DIP-14 level shifter, plus 1 × 100 nF ceramic capacitor.
Male-to-male jumpers for the breadboard. The Pi 5 also needs three female-to-male jumpers for its GPIO header.

Unplug all power before adding or moving wires. Match the printed −, + and DIN labels on the Lorikeet input header; the pads at the other end are the output for another board. Never connect 5 V to a 3.3 V GPIO. Use one board and keep LEVEL at 24 for the first USB-powered test. Do not power the LEDs from a GPIO pin or the 3V3 rail.

For longer chains or high brightness, use a suitably rated external regulated 5 V LED supply and a common ground. Keep its positive output separate from the host 5 V rail. Adafruit recommends a bulk capacitor at an external LED supply; do not scale this small USB-powered circuit without reviewing the power requirements.

Step 2 — Follow the complete 3D build

Press Play to follow the connections, or rotate and zoom to inspect a pin. The individual actions below let you work at your own pace. The final colour animation shows the supplied program’s sequence; it does not run edits from the code editor.

Explore in 3D

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Step 3 — Place Raspberry Pi 5 Model B

Shut down the Pi and unplug its USB-C supply. Identify physical pin 1 on the GPIO header before connecting anything.

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Step 4 — Place Little Bird Lorikeet · five WS2812B LEDs

Insert the Lorikeet input header into A55, A56 and A57. Its minus pin is ground, plus is five volts, and DIN receives data. Keep the five LEDs facing up; the board extends beyond the breadboard.

Exact breadboard holes

lorikeet · GND → A55
lorikeet · 5V → A56
lorikeet · DIN → A57

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Step 5 — Place 330 Ω resistor

Insert the 330 ohm resistor with one lead in D53 and the other in D57. The D57 strip already connects to Lorikeet DIN. Either resistor orientation works.

Exact breadboard holes

resistor · Pin 0 → D53
resistor · Pin 1 → D57

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Step 6 — Place 74AHCT125 · 3.3V to 5V buffer

Insert the 74AHCT125 across the centre channel. The pin-one dot is on the upper right: pin one goes into E48, pin seven into E42, and pin fourteen into F48. Use AHCT, not HC.

Exact breadboard holes

buffer · 1OE → E48
buffer · 1A → E47
buffer · 1Y → E46
buffer · 2OE → E45
buffer · 2A → E44
buffer · 2Y → E43
buffer · GND → E42
buffer · 3Y → F42
buffer · 3A → F43
buffer · 3OE → F44
buffer · 4Y → F45
buffer · 4A → F46
buffer · 4OE → F47
buffer · VCC → F48

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Step 7 — Place 100 nF ceramic capacitor

Insert the 100 nanofarad ceramic capacitor into H49 and H50. It is not polarised. Short wires will connect it across the buffer supply.

Exact breadboard holes

bypass · 0 → H49
bypass · 1 → H50

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Step 8 — Connect A46 → A53

Connect buffer output pin three to the free end of the 330 ohm resistor. The buffer raises the data level to five volts.

Connect	To
A46	A53

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Step 9 — Connect Raspberry Pi 5 Model B 6 GND → T− rail 15

Connect the Raspberry Pi 5 Model B’s 6 GND pin to the ground rail. Every signal in this circuit needs the same ground reference.

Connect	To
Raspberry Pi 5 Model B 6 GND	T− rail 15

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Step 10 — Connect Raspberry Pi 5 Model B 2 5V → T+ rail 14

Connect the Raspberry Pi 5 Model B’s 2 5V pin to the positive rail. Keep the supply unplugged until every connection is checked.

Connect	To
Raspberry Pi 5 Model B 2 5V	T+ rail 14

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Step 11 — Connect T− rail 45 → B55

Connect the ground rail to the Lorikeet board’s ground pin, using a free hole on the same strip as the Lorikeet minus pin.

Connect	To
T− rail 45	B55

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Step 12 — Connect T+ rail 45 → B56

Connect the positive rail to the Lorikeet board’s 5V pin. This is five volts for the LEDs; it is not a GPIO signal.

Connect	To
T+ rail 45	B56

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Step 13 — Connect A42 → T− rail 34

Connect buffer pin seven to ground.

Connect	To
A42	T− rail 34

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Step 14 — Connect J48 → T+ rail 39

Connect buffer pin fourteen to five volts.

Connect	To
J48	T+ rail 39

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Step 15 — Connect A48 → T− rail 39

Connect pin one to ground to enable the first buffer channel.

Connect	To
A48	T− rail 39

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Step 16 — Connect A45 → T+ rail 36

Connect pin four to five volts to disable the unused second channel.

Connect	To
A45	T+ rail 36

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Step 17 — Connect J44 → T+ rail 35

Connect pin ten to five volts to disable the unused third channel.

Connect	To
J44	T+ rail 35

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Step 18 — Connect J47 → T+ rail 38

Connect pin thirteen to five volts to disable the unused fourth channel.

Connect	To
J47	T+ rail 38

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Step 19 — Connect A44 → T− rail 35

Connect unused input pin five to ground so it cannot float.

Connect	To
A44	T− rail 35

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Step 20 — Connect J43 → T− rail 33

Connect unused input pin nine to ground.

Connect	To
J43	T− rail 33

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Step 21 — Connect J46 → T− rail 37

Connect unused input pin twelve to ground.

Connect	To
J46	T− rail 37

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Step 22 — Connect J49 → I48

Connect one capacitor lead to the five volt supply at buffer pin fourteen.

Connect	To
J49	I48

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Step 23 — Connect J50 → B42

Connect the other capacitor lead to buffer ground, pin seven. This capacitor helps stabilise the buffer supply.

Connect	To
J50	B42

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Step 24 — Connect Raspberry Pi 5 Model B 19 GPIO10 → A47

Connect the Raspberry Pi 5 Model B’s 19 GPIO10 pin to buffer input pin two. This side carries the three point three volt signal.

Connect	To
Raspberry Pi 5 Model B 19 GPIO10	A47

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Step 25 — Run the colour sequence

Check five volts, ground and the DIN path. Then connect power and run the code below. All five LEDs should show red, green and blue, changing once a second.

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Step 26 — Check the complete circuit

Before applying power, trace ground, five volts and data separately. The resistor must be in the data path, not between 5 V and the Lorikeet. No jumper should bridge the positive and ground rails.

The buffer is one-way: GPIO enters pin 2 (1A), leaves pin 3 (1Y) at 5 V, then passes through 330 Ω to DIN. Unused outputs 6, 8 and 11 remain unconnected. Unused inputs are grounded and their enable pins are high.

Step 27 — Set up SPI on Raspberry Pi 5

Use SPI0 MOSI: GPIO10, physical pin 19, through the AHCT125. Physical pin 2 supplies 5 V and pin 6 is ground. Reserve SPI0 for the LEDs during this project; do not share its clock/data with another SPI device. No wire goes from the Pi clock or chip-select pins to the Lorikeet.

The Cast below was recorded on a Raspberry Pi 5. Follow it in a terminal on your Pi. Enable SPI with sudo raspi-config nonint do_spi 0; sudo dtparam spi=on applies it now. A reboot also applies the saved setting. Confirm /dev/spidev0.0 exists before continuing. A device named spidev10.0 alone is not SPI0.

Lorikeet on Raspberry Pi 5 · SPI setup and first run Open recording ↗

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Step 28 — Copy the setup commands

pi_setup.sh · Lorikeet · Pi 5 terminal setup View Raw

# Run on your Raspberry Pi 5, in its terminal.
sudo raspi-config nonint do_spi 0
sudo dtparam spi=on
ls /dev/spidev0.*
sudo apt-get install -y python3-venv python3-lgpio
mkdir -p ~/lorikeet
cd ~/lorikeet
python3 -m venv --system-site-packages .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install adafruit-blinka adafruit-circuitpython-neopixel-spi
python -c "import board, neopixel_spi; print('Pi SPI and NeoPixel libraries are ready')"
# Save the supplied Python program here as lorikeet_pi.py, then:
python lorikeet_pi.py
# Press Ctrl+C to stop and clear the LEDs.

Run these commands on the Pi. The virtual environment uses system site packages so Raspberry Pi OS’s lgpio binding is available. Packages installed by pip stay in the project environment. If a package is not found by apt, run sudo apt-get update and retry. Your user needs membership of the spi and gpio groups; Raspberry Pi OS normally supplies this.

Step 29 — Save and run the Python program

lorikeet_pi.py · Lorikeet · Pi 5 SPI colour sequence View Raw

"""Five Lorikeet LEDs on Pi 5 SPI0 MOSI (GPIO10 / physical pin 19).
Use a 5V-powered 74AHCT125 and a 330-ohm series data resistor.
"""
import time
import board
import neopixel_spi

LED_COUNT = 5
LEVEL = 24
HOLD_SECONDS = 1.0
spi = board.SPI()
pixels = neopixel_spi.NeoPixel_SPI(
    spi, LED_COUNT, brightness=1.0, auto_write=False,
    pixel_order=neopixel_spi.GRB,
)

try:
    print("Sending red, green and blue to five LEDs. Press Ctrl+C to stop.")
    while True:
        for colour in ((LEVEL, 0, 0), (0, LEVEL, 0), (0, 0, LEVEL)):
            pixels.fill(colour)             # Tuples are (red, green, blue).
            pixels.show()                  # Encode and send over SPI MOSI.
            time.sleep(HOLD_SECONDS)
except KeyboardInterrupt:
    print("Stopped; clearing the LEDs.")
finally:
    pixels.fill((0, 0, 0))
    pixels.show()
    pixels.deinit()
    spi.deinit()

Save this file as ~/lorikeet/lorikeet_pi.py. In the terminal run cd ~/lorikeet, source .venv/bin/activate, then python lorikeet_pi.py. Press Ctrl+C to stop and send an all-off frame. Use this SPI version on Pi 5 rather than older PWM/DMA NeoPixel examples for other Pi models.

Step 30 — Understand the program

Each LED package contains red, green and blue emitters plus a controller. The host sends one timed stream into DIN. The first pixel uses the first colour value, then forwards the remaining values along the board. Each LED keeps its last value until a new frame arrives; one data wire can therefore control all five independently.

board.SPI() opens the board’s default SPI0 bus. The NeoPixel_SPI library encodes the WS2812B timing into bytes and transmits them on MOSI (GPIO10). The AHCT125 changes the voltage level, not the colour values or timing. The Lorikeet does not use a separate clock wire.

LED_COUNT = 5 allocates five pixels. LEVEL = 24 limits each selected colour channel on its 0–255 scale. brightness=1.0 leaves those already-small values unchanged. auto_write=False waits for an explicit show() so a complete colour frame is sent together; pixel_order=GRB handles the wire order.

The nested loops repeatedly fill all five pixels with red, green and blue, holding each for HOLD_SECONDS = 1.0. For the first tuple, (24, 0, 0), the library sends five identical red pixels. Ctrl+C raises KeyboardInterrupt; the handler prints a message, then finally sends black and releases the pixels and bus.

The Cast confirms software installation, SPI access and program execution. To check the electrical result, observe your connected Lorikeet: the terminal cannot confirm that LEDs actually lit.

Step 31 — Test, predict and change one thing

Success check: all five LEDs change together, red → green → blue, with one second per colour and three seconds per full cycle. Let three cycles run and check for flicker before changing anything.

Predict what happens if you halve the hold time. Change only HOLD_MS to 500 (Arduino/Pico), or HOLD_SECONDS to 0.5 (Pi), run again and time one complete red–green–blue cycle. Record your prediction and observation.

Next, keep the green value at zero and use equal red and blue values. Predict the colour before trying it. Finally, explain why changing the saved colour without calling show() or write() leaves the LEDs unchanged.

Check your reasoning

A cycle falls from three seconds to 1.5 seconds. Equal red and blue make magenta. fill() changes a buffer in the host; show()/write() transmits that buffer, so the LEDs cannot see an unsent change.

Step 32 — Find and fix a problem

No lights: disconnect power; check − to ground, + to 5 V and data to DIN rather than DOUT. Confirm the resistor shares DIN’s strip and LED_COUNT is 5. Reconnect and rerun.
Flicker or random colours: check the shared ground and shorten the data wiring. On Pico/Pi, check AHCT125 pin 14 to 5 V, pin 7 to ground and active-low pin 1 to ground. Do not substitute a 74HC125.
Wrong colours: keep the library’s GRB wire order but supply colour tuples/arguments in red, green, blue order. If just one pixel fails, test the first pixel before suspecting the software.
The board resets: unplug it and check for a short. Return LEVEL to 24 and test only one Lorikeet. Do not keep increasing brightness to diagnose a power fault.

Pi import/SPI errors: activate the project environment; ensure it was created with --system-site-packages and python3-lgpio is installed. Check SPI is enabled and you can read/write /dev/spidev0.0. Do not run the program with sudo as a substitute for fixing permissions.

Step 33 — Keep exploring

Lorikeet product and pin labels · NeoPixel wiring and power practices · 74AHCT125 pinout and logic levels

Adafruit NeoPixel SPI library and examples

Parts List

Required Parts (7)

Little Bird Lorikeet WS2812B Rainbow Board

Five WS2812B LEDs. Use the input header marked −, + and DIN.

$2.00

In stock

74AHCT125 - Quad Level-Shifter (3V to 5V) [74AHCT125]

DIP-14 AHCT buffer, powered at 5 V. Also use a 100 nF bypass capacitor.

$3.15

Out of stock

830-Point Breadboard

Use one full-size 830-contact board for the numbered 3D layout.

$8.90

In stock

Resistor 330 Ohm 1/6th Watt PTH

Use one 330 ohm resistor in the DIN signal path.

$0.60

In stock

Jumper Wires Premium 6 M/M Pack of 50

Use five leads for Arduino, seventeen for Pico, or fourteen plus three female-to-male leads for Pi 5.

$10.60

In stock

Capacitor Ceramic 0.1uF

Use one 100 nF (0.1 µF) capacitor across the AHCT125 supply.

$0.65

In stock

Jumper Wires 7.8 F/M (10 Pack)

Use three leads from the Pi GPIO header to the breadboard.

$2.50

In stock

Project Summary

7 parts total

Required parts $28.40

Total (required) $28.40

Unavailable items will be skipped

Light the Lorikeet with Raspberry Pi 5

Step 1 — Gather the parts and identify the input

Step 2 — Follow the complete 3D build

Step 3 — Place Raspberry Pi 5 Model B

Step 4 — Place Little Bird Lorikeet · five WS2812B LEDs

Step 5 — Place 330 Ω resistor

Step 6 — Place 74AHCT125 · 3.3V to 5V buffer

Step 7 — Place 100 nF ceramic capacitor

Step 8 — Connect A46 → A53

Step 9 — Connect Raspberry Pi 5 Model B 6 GND → T− rail 15

Step 10 — Connect Raspberry Pi 5 Model B 2 5V → T+ rail 14

Step 11 — Connect T− rail 45 → B55

Step 12 — Connect T+ rail 45 → B56

Step 13 — Connect A42 → T− rail 34

Step 14 — Connect J48 → T+ rail 39

Step 15 — Connect A48 → T− rail 39

Step 16 — Connect A45 → T+ rail 36

Step 17 — Connect J44 → T+ rail 35

Step 18 — Connect J47 → T+ rail 38

Step 19 — Connect A44 → T− rail 35

Step 20 — Connect J43 → T− rail 33

Step 21 — Connect J46 → T− rail 37

Step 22 — Connect J49 → I48

Step 23 — Connect J50 → B42

Step 24 — Connect Raspberry Pi 5 Model B 19 GPIO10 → A47

Step 25 — Run the colour sequence

Step 26 — Check the complete circuit

Step 27 — Set up SPI on Raspberry Pi 5

Step 28 — Copy the setup commands

Step 29 — Save and run the Python program

Step 30 — Understand the program

Step 31 — Test, predict and change one thing

Step 32 — Find and fix a problem

Step 33 — Keep exploring

Parts List

Required Parts (7)

Project Summary

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