Adafruit NeoKey Trinkey – USB NeoPixel Mechanical Key Switch

Description

It’s half USB Key, half Adafruit Trinket, half mechanical keeb…it’s NeoKey Trinkey, the circuit board with a Trinket M0 heart, a NeoPixel glow, and a Cherry MX-compatible. We were inspired by single-key macro pads we’ve seen. So we thought, hey what if we made something like that that plugs right into your computer’s USB port, with a fully programmable color NeoPixel? And this is what we came up with!

The PCB is designed to slip into any USB A port on a computer or laptop. There’s an ATSAMD21 microcontroller on board with just enough circuitry to keep it happy. One pin of the microcontroller connects to a Cherry MX-compatible switch. Another connects to a NeoPixel LED. The third pin can be used as a capacitive touch input. A reset button lets you enter bootloader mode if necessary. That’s it!

The SAMD21 can run CircuitPython or Arduino very nicely – with existing NeoPixel and our FreeTouch libraries for the capacitive touch input. Over the USB connection you can have serial, MIDI or HID connectivity. The NeoKey Trinkey is perfect for simple projects that can use a few user inputs and colorful output. Maybe you’ll set it up as a macro-controller, or a password-enterer, or an Escape key for your MacBook.

Please note this board DOES NOT come with a key soldered in – we expect folks to pick their favorite MX-compatible key switch and key cap! Two solder points and you’re done.

We think it’s just an adorable little board, small and durable and inexpensive enough that it could be a first microcontroller board, or inspiration for advanced developers to make something simple and fun.

• ATSAMD21E18 32-bit Cortex M0+ – 48 MHz 32 bit processor with 256KB Flash and 32 KB RAM
• Native USB supported by every OS – can be used in Arduino or CircuitPython as USB serial console, MIDI, Keyboard/Mouse HID, even a little disk drive for storing Python scripts.
• Can be used with Arduino IDE or CircuitPython
• Single reverse-mount RGB NeoPixel LED
• One Capacitive Touch pad
• Cherry-MX compatible footprint can be used by nearly any mechanical switch. Note we only have a center-nub hole. If your switch has two mini side-nubs they need to be clipped off.
• Reset switch for starting your project code over or entering bootloader mode
• Cute & keychain-friendly!