Rainbow HAT

The Rainbow HAT is a feature-packed Raspberry Pi expansion board that combines a variety of sensors, inputs, and displays in one convenient package. Originally designed for exploring Android Things, it's equally at home running Python on Raspbian for projects like weather stations, clocks, timers, and mood lights.

With its colourful APA102 LEDs, alphanumeric display, capacitive touch buttons, and environmental sensor, the Rainbow HAT provides everything you need to learn about hardware interaction and create visually engaging projects.

Key Features

• Alphanumeric Display – Four 14-segment green LED displays with HT16K33 driver for text and numbers
• Rainbow LEDs – Seven APA102 multicolour LEDs for vibrant lighting effects
• Status LEDs – Individual blue, green, and red indicator LEDs
• Capacitive Touch – Three touch-sensitive buttons with Atmel QT1070 driver
• Environmental Sensor – BMP280 temperature and pressure sensor for weather monitoring
• Piezo Buzzer – For audio feedback, alarms, and simple tones
• Breakout Pins – Access to servo and UART connections (3.3V)

Specifications

• Interfaces – SPI, I2C, GPIO, PWM
• Logic Level – 3.3V
• Weight – 30g

Compatibility

• Raspberry Pi 3B+, 3, 2, B+, A+
• Raspberry Pi Zero and Zero W
• Raspbian (not Wheezy) and Android Things

Ideal For

• Weather stations and environmental monitoring
• Digital clocks and countdown timers
• Mood lighting and LED projects
• Learning hardware interfacing with Python

Resources

• Python Library on GitHub