Adafruit LED Arcade Button 1×4 – STEMMA QT I2C Breakout (STEMMA QT / Qwiic)

The only thing better than a glowy arcade button is, perhaps, FOUR glowing arcade buttons – and that’s what the Adafruit LED Arcade Button 1×4 QT I2C Breakout will let you do! This long 3′ x 0.8′ PCB has 8 x JST XH sockets that will fit our arcade button quick connects. Each XH pair lets you connect one arcade button that has a built in LED illuminator, and makes it easy to use with a breadboard/perfboard or with a STEMMA QT (Qwiic) connector for instant I2C connectivity on any platform.

Please note, each order comes with one assembled and programmed PCB but no LED arcade buttons or JST XH quick connect cables. We have a wide range of colors and sizes, so pick your favs to go along, this is just the controller board that plugs into a microcontroller.

A built-in microcontroller is pre-programmed with our seesaw firmware so button presses and LED PWM controlling is done all over I2C. You can even connect multiple board by chaining the I2C and cutting open the I2C address jumpers – with four jumpers you can have up to 16 of these boards on a single I2C bus. We have Arduino and CircuitPython/Python libraries for controlling the Arcade 1×4’s so you can use any microcontroller/computer for quick creation of glowy button interfaces, without setting up PWM outputs. We found that many LEDs in buttons really want 5V power to light up, and are dim or dark at 3.3V, so we added a small boost converter to let you light up at 5V even if the microcontroller you are using is 3V power.

You can also fit the breakouts onto a breadboard if you like – with two sets of breakout pads, there’s plenty of flexibility for any kind of use. There are two rows of 6-pin contacts on a 0.1′ grid on both sides. Solder in both sides for mechanical stability.

Soldering is required to attach the header for breadboard use, if you have STEMMA QT/Qwiic connectors its a simple plug-in to get working. A microcontroller is required to drive this board, it isn’t stand-alone. LED arcade buttons and JST XH quick connect cables not included!

Specifications