# Plasma Stick 2040 W (Pico W Aboard)

**Type:** Product page · **SKU:** PIM653 · **Brand:** [Pimoroni](https://core-electronics.com.au/brands/pimoroni-australia) · **GTIN:** 769894022931
**Page:** https://core-electronics.com.au/plasma-stick-2040-w-pico-w-aboard.html ([markdown](https://core-electronics.com.au/plasma-stick-2040-w-pico-w-aboard.html.md))

This perky Pico W-powered controller for WS2812/Neopixel/SK6812 LEDs is perfect for coding up some wireless blinkenlight shenanigans...

## Pricing

- **Price:** $30.15 (inc GST) — $27.41 AUD, exc GST
- **Quantity discounts:** 10+ $26.31 (exc GST) · 25+ $25.49 (exc GST)

## Availability & dispatch

- Out of stock — the product page offers email notification when it returns.

## Description

This perky Pico W-powered controller for WS2812/Neopixel/SK6812 LEDs is perfect for coding up some wireless blinkenlight shenanigans.

Plasma Stick 2040 W is a simple RP2040-powered driver board designed to make playing with addressable LED strips easy peasy rainbow squeezy. Pimoroni has taken a Raspberry Pi Pico W and added a set of **screw terminals** to make it easy to connect up your LEDs and **boost circuitry** so they get a nice clean 5V on the power and data lines. Pimoroni has also added a **reset button** (because unplugging your USB cable all the time is tedious) and a **Qw/ST (Qwiic/STEMMA QT) connector** so you can connect it up to breakouts, all without soldering.

Pimoroni has designed this board with doing **cool LED things with wireless** in mind, so it doesn't have all the fancy features that you can find on Plasma 2040 - if you'd prefer mod cons like current sensing, buttons, APA102/Dotstar compatibility and USB-C, [take a look](https://core-electronics.com.au/pimoroni-plasma-2040.html)!

 **Features**- Raspberry Pi Pico W Aboard
- Dual Arm Cortex M0+ running at up to 133Mhz with 264kB of SRAM
- 2MB of QSPI flash supporting XiP
- Powered and programmable by USB micro-B
- 2.4GHz wireless
 
- Compatible with 5V WS2812/Neopixel/SK6812 LEDs
- Screw terminals for attaching your LED strip.
- Reset button
- Qw/ST (Qwiic/STEMMA QT) connector
- Fully-assembled (no soldering required)
- [C++/MicroPython libraries](https://github.com/pimoroni/pimoroni-pico)
- [Schematic](https://core-electronics.com.au/attachments/localcontent/plasma_stick_schematic_27921f39b76.pdf)
 
LED strip and connectors are sold separately, check out the extras tab for some options!

 **Software**You can program Pico/RP2040 boards in a bunch of different ways, but if you're a beginner we'd recommend using our **batteries-included MicroPython** build for ease of getting started. Pimoroni has pre-loaded Plasma Stick with pirate-brand MicroPython and some fun examples to help you get started.

- [(Learn) Getting Started with Raspberry Pi Pico](https://learn.pimoroni.com/tutorial/hel/getting-started-with-pico)
- [(Learn) Assembling Wireless Plasma Kit](https://learn.pimoroni.com/article/assembling-wireless-plasma-kit)
- [Download pirate-brand MicroPython](https://github.com/pimoroni/pimoroni-pico/releases) (you'll need the `picow` .uf2)
- [MicroPython examples](https://github.com/pimoroni/pimoroni-pico/tree/main/micropython/examples/plasma_stick)
- [MicroPython function reference](https://github.com/pimoroni/pimoroni-pico/tree/main/micropython/modules/plasma)
- [C++ examples](https://github.com/pimoroni/pimoroni-pico/tree/main/examples/plasma_stick)
 
Alternatively, you could install **CircuitPython** on your Pico W! CircuitPython is an easy to use, well-established ecosystem with lots of example code and drivers for interfacing with different kinds of hardware - and it's just got Pico W wireless support, woop!

- [Download CircuitPython for Plasma 2040](https://circuitpython.org/board/pimoroni_plasma2040/)
- [Welcome to CircuitPython](https://learn.adafruit.com/welcome-to-circuitpython)
- [CircuitPython examples](https://github.com/pimoroni/pico-circuitpython-examples/tree/main/plasma_stick)
- [Quick-Start the Pico W WiFi with CircuitPython](https://learn.adafruit.com/pico-w-wifi-with-circuitpython)
 
If you're adapting examples from elsewhere and need to know the pins that Plasma Stick uses, it's GP15 for LED data, GP4 for I2C SDA and GP5 for I2C SCL.

 **Connecting Breakouts**The Qw/ST connector on Plasma Stick makes it super easy to connect up [Qwiic](https://core-electronics.com.au/search/?q=qwiic) or [STEMMA QT](https://core-electronics.com.au/catalogsearch/result/?q=stemma+qt) breakouts. If your breakout has a QW/ST connector on board, you can plug it straight in with a [JST-SH to JST-SH cable](https://core-electronics.com.au/piicodev/cables.html).

Breakout Garden breakouts that don't have a Qw/ST connector can be connected using a [JST-SH to JST-SH cable](https://core-electronics.com.au/piicodev/cables.html) plus a [Qw/ST to Breakout Garden adaptor](https://core-electronics.com.au/pimoroni-stemma-qt-qwiic-piicodev-to-breakout-garden-adapter.html). Want to use >2 breakouts at the same time? Try [this adaptor](https://core-electronics.com.au/products/sparkfun-qwiic-multiport)!

- [List of breakouts](https://github.com/pimoroni/pimoroni-pico) currently compatible with our C++/MicroPython build.
 
 **About Pico W Aboard**Our new Pico W Aboard products come with a built in Raspberry Pi Pico W. This means you get all the advantages of a RP2040 microcontroller - a speedy fast dual-core ARM processor, a dynamic, growing ecosystem and a choice of different programming methods to experiment with. Most excitingly though, Pico W has wireless connectivity, so your Pico/RP2040 devices can communicate with each other, and the internet! ??

[View all Pico W Aboard!](https://core-electronics.com.au/catalogsearch/result/?q=pico%20w%20aboard)

## Images

- [Product image 1](https://core-electronics.com.au/media/catalog/product/P/I/PIM653-1.jpg)