I needed a way to split up a big Neopixel light display so that I could run parts of it separately, and this is the resulting controller board.

It has an onboard ESP8266 which you connect to over WiFi to configure all manner of patterns and colours for the lights, or even to connect it up to other software across the Internet to control it remotely.

This is just the controller board, all you need to add is:

• A standard ATX PC power supply
• A strip of RGB LEDs. Any of the 5V Neopixel/WS2812 or Dotstar/APA102 types will work. A 500W PC power supply will be able to power up to 500 lights

The board comes pre-programmed with the excellent open-source WLED software so setup is as easy as...

1. Plug in your LED strip (or alternatively fasten the wires to the plug-in screw terminals)
2. Plug in the PC power supply
3. Connect your computer or phone to the WLED WiFi network that it creates, and start playing with the lights...

Extensible

There's a programming header on the board with the standard FTDI pinout to let you update the software on the ESP8266 with whatever you like. If you need to wire in additional hardware, all the connections to the ESP8266 module itself are broken out on 0.1" headers.