How to Control LEDs with the Raspberry Pi Pico
LEDs can take your project from trashy to flashy but why waste valuable GPIO pins on something so simple when you could dedicate the control with something like the Raspberry Pi Pico?
If you're not familiar with the Pico, it's the latest (and first) microcontroller from the Raspberry Pi Foundation. It's about the size of your thumb and costs only $4, making it a viable board for many simple microelectronics projects. It features the new RP2040 chip which can be found on a growing number of boards but today we're focusing on the Pico module.
There are a few different ways to control LEDs using the Pico. In this guide, I'll go over the three most common LEDs used:
- The Pico has a built-in LED.
- GPIO pins can be used to control individual LEDs.
- The board can also control LED strips—some of which offer individual LED control.