Unicorn Hat and Used Pins

I think that you have provided an “out” though. It doesn’t work with the unicorn hat library, but if you use the underlying ws2812 library to for your own custom “chain” of LEDs and the algorithms to support it, you should be able to use the breakout pins to drive as many unicorn hats or neopixel strands as you want. They will need to be externally powered though as the Pi can barely handle the unicorn hat itself.

I’ve got my unicorn hat working well with wires coming off the GPIOs on the Pi into the headers on the hat… however I’d like to get a really low profile connection and solder wires direct to the hat. Can I use the VCC / DIN / GND for this and connect to 5v, GND and GPIO 18 on the Pi?

I am guessing no given this: “make sure you plug them into the header and not the little breakout contacts on the side of the HAT though. Unicorn Hat has logic level conversion for the Pi onboard.”

You can run it into the solder contacts on the Unicorn HAT, but it’s most definitely out of spec and could potentially damage your Pi.

Since it’s not the best idea to soder to the 3 breakout contacts. What are they for??

My RPi isn’t arrived yet, but my Unicorn and the case. Any ideas how to connect the head and some other jumpers while the head is placed on the pi?

Like someone said, the Unicorn hat only uses GPIO 18. But why are the other ones connected too?

if you are querying the full size header, the short answer would be that the HAT specifications require a 40-pin header, but regardless, most add-on will use a 40-pin header - as opposed to a shim - for the simple reason that it makes a secure anchor on top of the Pi and leaves little room for interpretation of how to connect it to it.

if you are querying the use of the 3 pin breakout on the side of the HAT, it is, technically, to daisy chain multiple sets of WS2812B,

In term of accessing the rest of the GPIO pins there are many ways to do that, more or less practical depending on what your project requires, from something like the Mini Black HAT Hacker, to accessing them from the bottom of the Pi or solder pads on the underside of the HAT, to even more involved hacks.

I suggest you create a new topic with any questions you may have when you receive your kit, and we can hep you fill the dots and clarify away from any satellite discussions that may be confusing matters more than helping.