qmk/docs/drivers/ws2812.md

WS2812 Driver

This driver provides support for WorldSemi addressable RGB(W) LEDs, and compatible equivalents:

• WS2811, WS2812, WS2812B, WS2812C, etc.
• SK6812, SK6812MINI, SK6805

These LEDs are often called "addressable" because instead of using a wire per color (and per LED), each LED contains a small microchip that understands a special protocol sent over a single wire. The LEDs can be chained together, and the remaining data is passed on to the next. In this way, you can easily control the color of many LEDs using a single GPIO.

Usage

In most cases, the WS2812 driver code is automatically included if you are using either the RGBLight or RGB Matrix feature with the ws2812 driver set, and you would use those APIs instead.

However, if you need to use the driver standalone, add the following to your rules.mk:

WS2812_DRIVER_REQUIRED = yes

You can then call the WS2812 API by including ws2812.h in your code.

Basic Configuration

Add the following to your config.h:

Define	Default	Description
WS2812_DI_PIN	Not defined	The GPIO pin connected to the DI pin of the first LED in the chain
WS2812_LED_COUNT	Not defined	Number of LEDs in the WS2812 chain - automatically set when RGBLight or RGB Matrix is configured
WS2812_TIMING	1250	The total length of a bit (TH+TL) in nanoseconds
WS2812_T1H	900	The length of a "1" bit's high phase in nanoseconds
WS2812_T0H	350	The length of a "0" bit's high phase in nanoseconds
WS2812_TRST_US	280	The length of the reset phase in microseconds
WS2812_BYTE_ORDER	WS2812_BYTE_ORDER_GRB	The byte order of the RGB data
WS2812_RGBW	Not defined	Enables RGBW support (except i2c driver)

Timing Adjustment

The WS2812 LED communication protocol works by encoding a "1" bit with a long high pulse (T₁H), and a "0" bit with a shorter pulse (T₀H). The total cycle length of a bit is the same. The "reset" pulse (T_RST) latches the sent RGB data to all of the LEDs and denotes a completed "frame".

Some WS2812 variants have slightly different timing parameter requirements, which can be accounted for if necessary using the above #defines in your config.h.

Byte Order

Some WS2812 variants may have their color components in a different physical or logical order. For example, the WS2812B-2020 has physically swapped red and green LEDs, which causes the wrong color to be displayed, because the default order of the bytes sent over the wire is defined as GRB. If you find your LED colors are consistently swapped, you may need to change the byte order by adding the following to your config.h:

#define WS2812_BYTE_ORDER WS2812_BYTE_ORDER_GRB

Where the byte order may be one of:

Byte Order	Known Devices
GRB	Most WS2812s, SK6812, SK6805
RGB	WS2812B-2020
BGR	TM1812

RGBW Support

Rendering the color white with RGB LEDs is typically inconsistent due to inherent variations between each individual LED die. However, some WS2812 variants (such as SK6812RGBW) also possess a white LED along with the red, green, and blue channels, which allows for a more accurate white to be displayed.

QMK can automatically convert the RGB data to be sent to the LEDs to mix in the white channel:

w = min(r, g, b)
r -= w
g -= w
b -= w

Thus, an RGB triplet of 255,255,255 will simply turn on the white LED fully (0,0,0,255).

To enable RGBW conversion, add the following to your config.h:

#define WS2812_RGBW

Driver Configuration

Driver selection can be configured in rules.mk as WS2812_DRIVER, or in info.json as ws2812.driver. Valid values are bitbang (default), i2c, spi, pwm, vendor, or custom. See below for information on individual drivers.

Bitbang Driver

This is the default WS2812 driver. It operates by "bit-banging" ie. directly toggling the GPIO.

Please note that on AVR devices, due to the tight timing requirements longer chains and/or heavy CPU loads may cause visible lag. Unfortunately this driver is usually the only option for AVR.

WS2812_DRIVER = bitbang

I2C Driver

A specialized driver mainly used for PS2AVRGB (Bootmapper Client) boards, which possess an ATtiny85 that handles the WS2812 LEDs.

WS2812_DRIVER = i2c

The following #defines apply only to the i2c driver:

Define	Default	Description
WS2812_I2C_ADDRESS	0xB0	The I2C address of the ATtiny85.
WS2812_I2C_TIMEOUT	100	The I2C timeout, in milliseconds.

PIO Driver

This driver is RP2040-only, and leverages the onboard PIO (programmable I/O) system and DMA to offload processing from the CPU.

The WS2812 PIO program uses one state machine, six instructions and one DMA interrupt handler callback. Due to the implementation the time resolution for this driver is 50 ns - any value not specified in this interval will be rounded to the next matching interval.

WS2812_DRIVER = vendor

PWM Driver

This driver is ARM-only, and leverages the onboard PWM peripheral and DMA to offload processing from the CPU.

WS2812_DRIVER = pwm

SPI Driver

This driver is ARM-only, and leverages the onboard SPI peripheral and DMA to offload processing from the CPU. The DI pin must be connected to the MOSI pin on the MCU, and all other SPI pins must be left unused. This is also very dependent on your MCU's SPI peripheral clock speed, and may or may not be possible depending on the MCU selected.

WS2812_DRIVER = spi

ChibiOS/ARM Configuration

The following defines apply only to ARM devices:

Define	Default	Description
WS2812_T1L	(WS2812_TIMING - WS2812_T1H)	The length of a "1" bit's low phase in nanoseconds (bitbang and PIO drivers only)
WS2812_T0L	(WS2812_TIMING - WS2812_T0H)	The length of a "0" bit's low phase in nanoseconds (bitbang and PIO drivers only)

Push-Pull and Open Drain

By default, the GPIO used for data transmission is configured as a push-pull output, meaning the pin is effectively always driven either to VCC or to ground.

For situations where the logic level voltage is lower than the power supply voltage, however, this can pose an issue. The solution is to configure the pin for open drain mode instead, and use a pullup resistor between the DI pin and VCC. In this mode, the MCU can only pull the GPIO low, or leave it floating. The pullup resistor is then responsible for pulling the line high, when the MCU is not driving the GPIO.

To configure the DI pin for open drain configuration, add the following to your config.h:

#define WS2812_EXTERNAL_PULLUP

SPI Driver

Depending on the ChibiOS board configuration, you may need to enable SPI at the keyboard level. For STM32, this would look like:

::: code-group

#pragma once

#define HAL_USE_SPI TRUE // [!code focus]

#include_next <halconf.h>

#pragma once

#include_next <mcuconf.h>

#undef STM32_SPI_USE_SPI1 // [!code focus]
#define STM32_SPI_USE_SPI1 TRUE // [!code focus]

:::

The following defines apply only to the spi driver:

Define	Default	Description
WS2812_SPI_DRIVER	SPID1	The SPI driver to use
WS2812_SPI_MOSI_PAL_MODE	5	The MOSI pin alternative function to use
WS2812_SPI_SCK_PIN	Not defined	The SCK pin - required for F072 and possibly others
WS2812_SPI_SCK_PAL_MODE	5	The SCK pin alternative function to use - required for F072 and possibly others
WS2812_SPI_DIVISOR	16	The divisor used to adjust the baudrate
WS2812_SPI_USE_CIRCULAR_BUFFER	Not defined	Enable a circular buffer for improved rendering

Setting the Baudrate

To adjust the SPI baudrate, you will need to derive the target baudrate from the clock tree provided by STM32CubeMX, and add the following to your config.h:

#define WS2812_SPI_DIVISOR 16

Only divisors of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 and 256 are supported on STM32 devices. Other MCUs may have similar constraints -- check the reference manual for your respective MCU for specifics.

Circular Buffer

A circular buffer can be enabled if you experience flickering.

To enable the circular buffer, add the following to your config.h:

#define WS2812_SPI_USE_CIRCULAR_BUFFER

PIO Driver

The following #defines apply only to the PIO driver:

Define	Default	Description
WS2812_PIO_USE_PIO1	Not defined	Use the PIO1 peripheral instead of PIO0

PWM Driver

Depending on the ChibiOS board configuration, you may need to enable PWM at the keyboard level. For STM32, this would look like:

::: code-group

#pragma once

#define HAL_USE_PWM TRUE // [!code focus]

#include_next <halconf.h>

#pragma once

#include_next <mcuconf.h>

#undef STM32_PWM_USE_TIM2 // [!code focus]
#define STM32_PWM_USE_TIM2 TRUE // [!code focus]

:::

The following #defines apply only to the pwm driver:

Define	Default	Description
WS2812_PWM_DRIVER	PWMD2	The PWM driver to use
WS2812_PWM_CHANNEL	2	The PWM channel to use
WS2812_PWM_PAL_MODE	2	The pin alternative function to use
WS2812_PWM_DMA_STREAM	STM32_DMA1_STREAM2	The DMA Stream for TIMx_UP
WS2812_PWM_DMA_CHANNEL	2	The DMA Channel for TIMx_UP
WS2812_PWM_DMAMUX_ID	Not defined	The DMAMUX configuration for TIMx_UP - only required if your MCU has a DMAMUX peripheral
WS2812_PWM_COMPLEMENTARY_OUTPUT	Not defined	Whether the PWM output is complementary (TIMx_CHyN)

::: tip Using a complementary timer output (TIMx_CHyN) is possible only for advanced-control timers (1, 8 and 20 on STM32). Complementary outputs of general-purpose timers are not supported due to ChibiOS limitations. :::

API

void ws2812_init(void)

Initialize the LED driver. This function should be called first.

---

void ws2812_set_color(int index, uint8_t red, uint8_t green, uint8_t blue)

Set the color of a single LED. This function does not immediately update the LEDs; call ws2812_flush() after you are finished.

Arguments

• int index
  The LED index in the WS2812 chain.
• uint8_t red
  The red value to set.
• uint8_t green
  The green value to set.
• uint8_t blue
  The blue value to set.

---

void ws812_set_color_all(uint8_t red, uint8_t green, uint8_t blue)

Set the color of all LEDs.

Arguments

• uint8_t red
  The red value to set.
• uint8_t green
  The green value to set.
• uint8_t blue
  The blue value to set.

---

void ws2812_flush(void)

Flush the PWM values to the LED chain.