Peggy 2 is an updated version of our "Peggy" light-emitting pegboard display. Version 2 adds simple animation capability and Arduino compatibility. Like its predecessor, Peggy 2 provides a quick, easy, powerful and efficient way to drive a lot of LEDs-- up to 625-- in a big matrix covering almost a square foot of area. You can make an LED sign for your window, a geeky valentine for your sweetie, one bad-ass birthday card, freak the holy bejesus out of Boston, or instigate the next generation of low-pixel-count video games. Your call. It's a versatile, high-brightness display. How you configure it and what you do with it is up to you.

The display can run off batteries (3 'D' cells) or an optional ac adapter, and is designed to drive as many LEDs as you care to solder into the holes. The board can accommodate LEDs in any color and in several of the most common sizes, including 3mm, 5 mm (standard T-1 3/4 size), and 10 mm.

What's New in Peggy 2?
Peggy 2 supports the same basic functionality as the original Peggy: it drives up to 625 LEDs of up to 10 mm size. Still open-source and hackable.

There are a few improvements:

1. Peggy 2 now supports limited animation with individually addressable LED locations. If you plan to reprogram Peggy, you'll find it more powerful now.
2. Besides ISP programming, Peggy 2 now also supports programming through a USB-TTL cable, using the popular Arduino software environment. (Just like programming a Boarduino or Bare Bones Boards.)
3. Uses the popular ATmega328P (or ATmega168) microcontroller and a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, making it easy to run Arduino code on Peggy.
4. The blank margins on the left and right edges of the circuit board have been trimmed so there's no "dead" space on either side.
5. Small breadboard-style prototyping area added to board; fits up to a DIP-16 package.

(Just making a static LED sign and don't need these improvements? The original Peggy is still available, and costs a bit less!)

Printed circuit boards
The centerpiece of this kit is a giant, beautifully made printed circuit board. It is 11.320x14.875" (28.75x37.78 cm) in overall size, two-sided with plated through holes. The board is manufactured with black epoxy soldermask on both sides for high visual contrast, and component locations are labeled on the top side of the board with a white silkscreen. The boards are RoHS compliant (lead free), manufactured to UL 94V-0 standards, and fully electrically tested. Mounting holes are provided at all four corners. Additional holes are provided for hanging the display from a hook or string. Multiple Peggy 2 boards can be set side by side to have a visually continuous field of LEDs without gaps between them.

Building it
Peggy 2 is sold as a soldering kit [?]. Basic electronic soldering skill is required, and you provide basic soldering tools: a soldering iron + solder and small wire clippers. No additional knowledge of electronics is presumed or required. Easy "through-hole" construction and clear, full-color printed instructions. Assembly time: 1-2 hours plus time to solder the LEDs themselves. Not sure if this kit is for you? Download the full instructions, including schematics here (8.7 MB PDF File). An extended introduction to the project and its design is available here.

Of course, with a little time, Peggy 2 can also do a whole lot more. The easiest way to get started is through the Arduino software environment, for which you will need a USB-TTL cable. You can download the Peggy2 Arduino Library (along with several example programs) here. The library is an evolving open source project and your own code contributions are welcome.

You can also find a technical discussion of programming Peggy 2 here, along with code examples for use with AVR-GCC.

Kit Configurations
This is an open-source project. In keeping with that spirit, we are offering these kits and the parts for them in different configurations for flexibility. LED selection is obviously a personal choice; you get to pick your own LEDs separately.

1. Full Kit ($95, US) includes the circuit board, preprogrammed microcontroller, battery holder, power switch, two buttons, rubber feet and all other components needed to make the pegboard display base, along with full color printed instructions. Just add batteries and LEDs. New: Kits are now shipping with the ATmega328P processor and version 2.1 of the Peggy 2 circuit board!

2. Options and accessories: Microcontroller upgrades for older Peggy 2 kits, AC adapters, extra buttons to put arrow keys on your Peggy, and other related items.

3. LED sets, either to fill up Peggy uniformly for your programmable display or to fill it part way or with different colors for making pixel art.

4. Peggy Awesomeness Bundles: Custom bundles featuring the Peggy 2 kit, plus AC adaptor, extra buttons, and enough LEDs to fill it up.

Peggy 2 Kits

Peggy 2 kits are in stock and shipping now!

Peggy 2 Full Kit	$95

Peggy Awesomeness Bundles:
  * Peggy 2 full kit
  * Matched set of diffused-lens 10 mm LEDs!
  * Extra button set
  * AC adapter (US/Canada or international)
  * Optional USB-TTL Cable

AC Adapters
Peggy displays are designed to run on batteries; Peggy kits come complete with a battery holder. You can also drive Peggy with an energy-efficient wall-plug AC adapter.
(Click here for more information.)

US/Canada AC adapter	$12
International AC adapter   EUR/UK/AUS/US plugs included	$20

Additional button pack
A package of five extra miniature tactile button switches that you can add to Peggy 2. Could come in handy if you're reprogramming Peggy to be a game. Four arrow keys and a "fire" button?

Extra Button Set (5)	$2

USB-TTL Cable
This FTDI model TTL-232R-5V converter cable can be used for programming Peggy 2 (or other Arduino compatible devices) through the Arduino programming environment. One of the cable fits into the USB port on your computer, and the other end has a 6-pin header socket that hooks up to the Peggy. This is actually a "smart" converter that contains the USB interface chip within the cable itself. 1.8 meter (6 foot).

USB-TTL Cable	$20

USBtinyISP 2.0 Kit
An alternative hardware programming interface. Read more about this soldering kit here.

USBtinyISP Kit	$22

Resistor Lead Bender
Handy high-productivity tool for making neat bends in the leads of your resistors when assembling kits. Read more about these here.

Resistor Lead Bender	$7

ATmega328P Upgrade Chip for older Peggy 2 kits
This long-awaited microcontroller is now available and features twice the memory: 32 kB of program space and 2 kB of RAM. Handy if you're building graphic or memory-intensive applications. It comes pre-programmed and ready to use with Peggy 2, complete with the Arduino bootloader for the '328. (This is the same chip that's shipping with new Peggy 2 kits, so if you're getting your Peggy 2 here today, you probably don't need an extra one of these.)

ATmega328P for Peggy 2	$5

Special LED sets for Peggy 2
The following LED selections are specially selected BIG packs of our very best (i.e., brightest and most uniform) LEDs, recommended if you plan to fill *every* LED location with an LED and want a uniform-looking display. These are super-cool, but are not cheap, and it's a lot of LEDs to solder!

1. 10 mm superbright LEDs with diffused lenses, matched sets of 640. Just like the solid color selections available with the Peggy Awesomeness Bundles; the very best we have to offer:

10 mm diffused White LEDs, 640 pk	$160
10 mm diffused Blue LEDs, 640 pk	$160
10 mm diffused Green LEDs, 640 pk	$135
10 mm diffused Yellow LEDs, 640 pk	$92
10 mm diffused Red LEDs, 640 pk	$92

2. 10 mm superbright LEDs with diffused lenses, the "RGBW" assortment.

Want multiple colors? You can fill Peggy 2 with 2x2 square pixels of red, green, blue, and white LEDs. (See example here.) This package includes 175 LEDs each in Red, Green, Blue, White-- all are 10 mm type with milky-white diffused lenses. This is the same assortment that comes with the RGBW Peggy Awesomeness Bundle.

10 mm RGBW Assortment, 700 pk	$150

3. 10 mm superbright LEDs with diffused lenses, the Make: "Remake America" cover assortment.

Just enough Red, White and Blue LEDs so you can remake the Remake America cover from Make: magazine. (See example here.) This package includes 200 Red, 125 White and 175 Blue LEDs-- all are 10 mm type with milky-white diffused lenses.

10 mm Red, White and Blue Assortment, 500 pk	$125

4. 5 mm superbright white LEDs, clear lens, set of 640:

5 mm white LEDs, 640 pk	$64

Additional "Mix & Match" LED Selections:
Bring your own to the party, or pick up some of ours if you like.

10 mm LEDs with diffused lenses, available in a variety of colors for your pixel art pleasure.
Priced per pack of 100. (Click here to see some pictures.)

White, 100 pk	$33
Blue, 100 pk	$33
Green, 100 pk	$28
Yellow, 100 pk	$20
Red, 100 pk	$20

"Pure" white LEDs	$22
Cheap blue LEDs	$16
Cheap white LEDs	$16

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About our kits
We take great pride in our kit designs; we believe in clear instructions, unambiguous labeling, goodies, and including a few extras of most small, easy to lose and/or break components. Assembly of the boards is pretty straightforward if you like to solder; it basically requires stuffing the components in the boards and soldering (a lot of) easy through-hole components. You should have prior experience soldering and basic soldering tools. Read more about what to expect in our kits here.

Lead Free
Peggy circuit boards, components, LEDs and power supplies are all RoHS compliant (lead free). If you're building one of our kits, you'll find that everything works well with either regular or lead-free solder-- whichever you care to use.