Review
raspberrypi.org/magpi The Official Raspberry Pi Projects Book 177
Run our
beautiful
Mote lights
straight from
your Pi or
Pi Zero
PimoroniMaker
SaysMOTE PHAT
MOTE PHAT
magpi.cc/2g8x0Dy
eaturing 16 super-bright
RGB LEDs, Pimoroni’s
Mote ‘stick’ light strips
(£8.50 each) are ideal for under-
shelf/cabinet mood lighting, among
other applications, and can be
used to create some impressive
effects. Until now, a Mote Host
has been required to control
the sticks, plugging into any
computer – including the Pi –
via USB. For a far more compact
and convenient setup, the Mote
pHAT does the same job. Its pHAT
form-factor matches that of the
Pi Zero perfectly, so you can tuck
it discreetly away out of sight. You
will need to solder the female
GPIO header onto the Mote pHAT
first, although at least this does
give you the option of using a
stacking header to use it alongside
other add-on boards: you could
get Mote sticks to display sensor
readings from an Enviro pHAT,
for example, or control them with
buttons or switches.As with the Mote Host, there
are four output channels via
micro USB ports for controlling up
to four Mote sticks independently
of each other. A Python library
(magpi.cc/2fw4oFX) is provided,
along with a few examples to get
you started. These include an
impressive rainbow effect, colour
cycling, and CheerLights web
control via Twitter. The library
itself is easy to use, enabling you
to set each individual RGB pixel on
each of the four channels. They are
triggered with a show command,
and clear is used to turn them off.
Using a for loop, we soon managed
to create a simple chase lights
effect – handily, if you exceed the
highest pixel number, it wraps
round to the start of the strip
again. Since the LEDs are APA102
standard (aka DotStar) with a
fast data rate, there are none of
the timing issues you might get
with NeoPixels and they respond
almost instantaneously.You can even control them
from your phone or from a web
browser by setting up a Flask API.
Pimoroni’s step-by-step tutorial
(magpi.cc/2g9g143) shows how to
use HomeKit to control the lights
from an iPhone, using Siri voice
commands to turn them on and off
and to set the colour – a good way
to impress friends! The same result
should be possible using Google
Assistant or Alexa, too.Last word
The Mote sticks are excellent,
even better than NeoPixels,
and the new Mote pHAT offers
a compact, discreet way of
controlling them without the
need to connect to the USB
port of a laptop or Pi. At just
£5 it’s great value, although of
course you’ll still need to buy
sticks (and cables) to use with it.A more compact way to control Mote light strips
F
MOTE HOST
The original
Mote controller
plugs into the
USB port of
any computer,
including the Pi.
Like the pHAT,
it features four
micro USB
outputs.magpi.cc/2g9iyLsRelated
£11 / $14
£5 / $6