APA104
1-wire RGB · APA Electronic · ws281x · clone of WS2812B
- Channels
- RGB
- Bits / channel
- 8
- Supply
- 4–5.5 V
- PWM
- —
- Backup data
- no
- Packages
- 1
APA’s WS2812B-compatible single-wire part. Turns up unannounced in cheap strip sold as “WS2812B”, which is a good illustration of why this catalogue models clone relationships explicitly.
Timing
| Source | T0H | T0L | T1H | T1L | Period | Rate | Reset | ± |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| fastled ↗ | 250 ns | 1000 ns | 875 ns | 375 ns | 1250 ns | 800 kHz | 280 µs | — |
| The APA104 datasheet specifies a longer reset than the WS2812B - commonly quoted at 24 us minimum but with a much longer safe value in practice. Not independently verified here. | ||||||||
Clones & compatibility
“Compatible” is never stated bare here — each relationship carries how strong the claim is, and what bites if you assume too much.
-
near clone
WS2812B
Same single-wire 800 kHz scheme and the same 5050 footprint, and every library drives it as a WS2812. Reset requirements differ, so a marginal driver that works on one may not work on the other.
-
near clone of this
WS2812B
Same 800 kHz single-wire signalling, but the APA104 inverts nothing and differs in reset requirements; usually interchangeable in practice.
Library support
- FastLED
WS2812↗- Adafruit_NeoPixel
NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800- WLED
WS281x