Updated Tutorial: Adafruit LED Backpacks @ Adafruit Learning System

What’s better than a single LED? Lots of LEDs! The matrices use a driver chip that does all the heavy lifting for you: They have a built in clock so they multiplex the display. They use constant-current drivers for ultra-bright, consistent color, 1/16 step display dimming, all via a simple I2C interface. Here is a detailed guide showing you how to solder, wire and control the display.

This tutorial now covers the Adafruit Small 1.2″ 8×8 LED Matrix w/I2C Backpack (pictured above).