ESPHome on Rpi Pico: are addressable LEDs just not a thing?

ESPHome
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Hello.

I have been building a light switch + sensor node device, and basing it on Rpi Pico W, because you can, and I don’t have to learn micropython or whatever, and most importantly, significantly more pins than a D1 Mine. Yes, yes, ESP32, but in my country, you can get Pi Pico easily, but not ESP32 - it’s really expensive.

Everything about the device now works perfectly, I solved the i2c issue I had (only use pins 20 and 21 for i2c on Pico), except for the LED strip I want to put on the underside of the light switch, to act as soft night lighting if you need to go to the kitchen at night and don’t want your eyeballs blasted by a zillion lumens. It’s kind of an important feature for me, I was very into it.

But, neither fastled nor neopixel work on Pico. Says so in the editor. Boo. Does anyone understand why? I am a bear of little brain.

I guess what I’m trying to understand is, is this just not something that works on Pico, now or ever? Or is it just a case of, this is an open source project and we’ll get there in time? Cos one sounds better than the other.

Ah well. Back to the old ESP8266, eh? Nothing wrong with it at all.

1 Like
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Just a big +1 as I also invested in the Pico Pi and can’t get my WS2812b strip to run on it with ESPHome :upside_down_face:

Knowing the ESPHome on RP2040 is still in development, therefore some small point for improvement:

Once I add the platform specification to the yaml file (Neopixelbus or fastled) I get the error “the feature is incompatible with RP2040”, during -what I understand- is the time the firmware is being compiled, and finally you are referred back to the component part on the ESPHome site.

  1. Notice the three different terminology referring to the same thing, this adds confusion. (ESPHome Platform, feature, component)
  2. I could not find an overview or any information on the ESPHome website about what components are supported on what chip. This would have saved me the time tinkering around with the Pi Pico W figuring out what I was doing wrong.

No worries, I’ll wait for the d1 mini’s to arrive (had a spare Pi Pico W) just hope this helps and a WS2812b controllable component for ESPHome that is RP2040 compatible would be appreciated.

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It’s available as of today RP2040 PIO LED Strip — ESPHome