Box Turtle LED Kit

Box Turtle LED Kit — 4× 16 Individually Addressable LED Strips for BoxTurtle Filament Changer and Enclosure, Klipper NeoPixel Compatible

Upgrade your BoxTurtle AMS-style filament changer with per-lane RGB status lighting that actually tells you something. This LED kit includes 4 strips of 16 individually addressable LEDs — one strip per BoxTurtle lane — giving you 64 total addressable pixels across the entire unit. Each strip mounts in the BoxTurtle corner positions, lighting the enclosure from within and providing lane-level visual feedback on filament status, print progress, and system state. Compatible with Klipper's native NeoPixel driver and the klipper-led_effect plugin for animated effects.

⚠️ BoxTurtle or compatible enclosure required. This is an LED add-on accessory — it does not include the BoxTurtle kit, frame, or any filament changing hardware.
⚠️ Printed mounting parts may be required to install the strips at the BoxTurtle corner positions. Check the ArmoredTurtle GitHub for the LED corner STL files before ordering.
⚠️ 5V power required. NeoPixel-type strips run on 5V — verify your AFC-Lite board or controller provides a 5V output pin capable of driving 64 LEDs. At full white brightness, 64 LEDs can draw up to ~3.8A at 5V — power from a dedicated 5V rail, not directly from a logic pin.

4 Lanes × 16 LEDs — Per-Lane Status at a Glance

The BoxTurtle operates four independent filament lanes, each with its own motor, sensor, and respooler. The LED kit mirrors this architecture: one 16-LED strip per lane, giving you a dedicated light bar for each filament position. In Klipper, each strip can be configured and addressed independently — or as a single 64-LED chain depending on how you wire them. This means you can set lane 1 green (loaded and ready), lane 2 orange (filament low), lane 3 blue (actively feeding), and lane 4 red (error) simultaneously, making the BoxTurtle's current state immediately readable without checking a screen. Combined with the klipper-led_effect plugin, you can add animated effects — breathing, chasing, strobing — triggered by print events, temperature states, or AFC macros.

Individually Addressable — Every LED Controllable Independently

"Individually addressable" means each of the 64 LEDs has its own control data — not just the strip as a whole. This is the difference between lighting an entire strip one color and running a progress bar, a color chase, a Voron-style loading animation, or a per-lane fill effect that shows how far into a filament load sequence you are. With 16 LEDs per lane you have enough resolution for smooth gradients and animations that actually communicate information rather than just blinking.

Klipper NeoPixel Configuration

Configure each strip in printer.cfg as a separate NeoPixel chain, or wire all four in series as a single 64-LED chain. Basic single-chain configuration:

[neopixel boxturtle_leds]
pin: # your data pin
chain_count: 64
color_order: GRB
initial_RED: 0.0
initial_GREEN: 0.0
initial_BLUE: 0.0

For per-lane control, wire each strip to its own data pin and define four separate [neopixel] sections with chain_count: 16 each. The klipper-led_effect plugin adds animated effects that can be triggered by AFC macros, print events, and temperature changes.

Specifications

What's Included

What's NOT Included

When Do You Need This?

Order the LED kit when your BoxTurtle is built and running and you want visual lane status without adding a separate display. It's also the right add-on if you have the BoxTurtle enclosure — the strips light the enclosure interior from the corner positions, making the inside of the enclosure visible and giving each lane its own status indicator in a single glance. For multi-material printing where you have four materials loaded simultaneously, knowing at a glance which lane is active, which is in standby, and which has a runout condition is a practical operational upgrade, not just aesthetics.

Resources

• ArmoredTurtle GitHub — BoxTurtle documentation, LED corner STL files, AFC Klipper config
• klipper-led_effect — animated LED effects plugin for Klipper

Browse the full BoxTurtle ecosystem at 3D Printer Electronics, or explore all multi-material and upgrade accessories at 3D Printer Upgrades.