What's better than a single LED? Lots of LEDs! A fun way to make a small display a 4-digit 7-segment display. Matrices like these are 'multiplexed' - so to control all the seven-segment LEDs you need 14 pins. That's a lot of pins, and there are driver chips like the MAX7219 that can control a matrix for you but there's a lot of wiring to set up and they take up a ton of space. Wouldn't it be awesome if you could control a matrix without tons of wiring? That's where these adorable LED matrix backpacks come in.

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 (the images above are photographed at the dimmest setting to avoid overloading our camera!), 1/16 step display dimming, all via a simple I2C interface. The backpacks come with address-selection jumpers so you can connect up to four mini 8x8's or eight 7-segments (or a combination, such as four mini 8x8's and four 7-segments, etc) on a single I2C bus.

The product kit comes with:

• A fully tested and assembled LED backpack
• Ultra-bright 4-digit 0.56" tall red seven-segment display
• 4-pin header

Soldering is required to attach the matrix onto the backpack but its very easy to do and only takes about 5 minutes.

Adafruit has a detailed tutorial showing you how to solder, wire and control the display.

Adafruit LED Backpack Tutorial