Thanks! Chris does some wonderful stuff... and I've never been able to figure out how he does such a great job of filming LEDs while mine always seem to overwhelm my camera and look washed out! I'm guessing he has a much better camera that I'm using to begin with! But I greatly appreciate the kind words and glad you found the video helpful!
I generally add at least one button to all of my WLED controllers, at a minimum to be able to easily and quickly toggle the LEDs off/on. But depending upon your project needs, there are a lot of other peripherals and options for attaching various devices. Some of these are probably a little lesser known options, so I thought I'd try to cover everything that could be added with just the standard WLED. Thanks for watching!
It covers all the peripherals not directly related to the LEDs which is my personal next level up... and talking of levels, I noticed the omission of the logic level shifter. I have worked out that the threshold for the one you have which is same four channel.i have, that 3.4 volts makes it work so using an buck converter from the 5v output adjusted to around 3.4v triggers it. Also I tried using a resistor to knock the 5v down to 4.7v and that also worked. I am for the last hour or so trying to get my button number 3 to cycle through all user presets, this is my very first attempt at coding. I am thirsting for the day that I learn to use ChatGTP to write the code. Thanks again for such a great tutorial that I will probably watch another five times or so as its so good.
I didn't talk about the level shifter in this video, as it was meant to be primarily about the optional peripherals that could be added... and I've covered the shifter, and alternative option, in detail in other videos, so I didn't want to make this video even longer than it already is. For cycling through your presets, you probably want to exclude anything that isn't truly an effect preset (like those that are just API commands). So, you can specify a starting and ending preset and it will cycle back to the first preset after reaching the last one. The API command you can use for this is: &P1=x&P2=y&PL=~ where x is the ID number of the first preset and y is the number of the last preset. I try to number all my 'API presets' starting with number 100 so they don't interfere with normal effect presets... that way I can use anything between 1 an 99 for creating playists. Hope that helps out a bit. Again, time just prevented me from covering a lot of details on creating the API commands.
@ResinChemTech Amazing! That's an hour+ frustration over with! Where "x" equals... is the logical answer... my logic tank never got filled up. Haha Yes, the LLS tutorial is defo going to get viewed, along with the basic LED tutorial which I am currently enjoying... because I am definitely appreciating the concise information presented without ego or fluff. I do wonder if the road leading to you beautifully lit home resembles the rainbow road from Mario Cart? Lol Thank you so very much again for your help, I appreciate you and the time you took to put me on the right path. ✅️
You are welcome! Yeah... it's a pretty long video, but there are so many different types of components that can be used with WLED, I wanted to cover as many as I could. Thanks for watching... and thanks for taking time to leave a comment.
I love how you explain one feature and then change it up to give a better idea of the flexibility and also the configuration of the board and the s/w. Well done!!
Thanks. I tried to explain the why, as well as the how, to provide alternatives so that people can hopefully adapt the ideas for their own project needs. Thanks for watching and the comment!
Another outstanding video. This gives me so many options for my next WLED project. I love your explanations and appreciate your research. Keep up the good work and I'll definately be back for more content!
Hands down, the best video I stumbled across when looking for WLED features and use cases. I've been playing with WLED for a bit more than a year and some of the topics covered were still a mystery to me lol.
Glad you found it helpful. I usually always learn a thing or two myself just in the process of making a video. That was especially true in my follow up video to this one where I talk about WLED segments and syncing options ( ua-cam.com/video/HYdouRHfadE/v-deo.html ). In that one, I wasn't even aware that 'virtual' LEDs could be defined to control LEDs connected to a different controller. And more features get added to WLED with each new release. Thanks for watching and taking time to leave a comment!
@@ResinChemTech Thanks for taking the time to reply to a viewer ! :) I had also watched your other video and that's where I discovered about the Virtual LEDs too. I''ve put together a setup for launching parties with a few 1m Strips which are hanging in trees and synced together. Presets are changing via a playlist our sound reactive mode. For the record, with the sync feature. I observe that it's not always perfectly in sync (depending on the disance between ESP32s and router ) and sometimes, the preset change simply does not happen on a node. I need to investigate if that's not an antenna issue. but you video talking about virtual LEDs gave me an idea. . Maybe it'll be more in sync this way (since it needs to send data like it would do to a segment and not just send a preset change info.) It also allow to have patterns that expand on the various strips, instead of just replicating each other. all exciting ideas. Next step is to run a LedFX on an RPI :) And thanks again for your videos! Cheers from France
Great video - I’m just starting my very 1st WLED project for the kids basement playroom and you answered my questions on how to setup sound reactive WLED. I just ordered the INMP441 digital microphone plus the buck converter.
Glad my video could help you out. I think you'll be happy with the INMP441 over the analog mic. All my early projects used the MAX9814 analog, but the digital mic works so much better. Best of luck with your project. Let me know how it turns out!
Incredible! Or maybe I should say really, really credible information! Either way this was just what I was looking for and your presentation was very clear and straightforward. I'm amazed at how much can be done with WLED without needing to program. I've been thinking about adding sensor input to a project for a while but too intimidated to dive in. This was great. I'm taking the leap now. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thanks! Glad you found the video useful. It is true how much you can do with standard WLED and every new release seems to add more features. Thanks for watching... and for the kind words! It is appreciated.
Wow, I probably could come up with that myself after digging through documentation, but you presented all of it in such a coherent way, thank you! I'll definitely come back here when upgrading my wled controllers!
Yeah.. nothing I did here is a big secret or anything. But sometimes locating the correct and current documentation can be a challenge, and for a lot of folks just starting out interpreting often tech-jargon heavy (or poorly written) documentation can create additional hurdles. So I try to approach all of my videos from a true beginner's perspective where someone may not have a lot experience or practice at decoding some of the technical guides. Thanks for watching... and taking a moment to leave a comment. I appreciate it!
Great Video ... well documented and explained. I'm a novice but I know that I can watch this video a few times and follow along when creating my projects. I do not comment often but this video was worth it! Well Done and much appreciated.
Thanks. I'm glad that it might be able to help you out on your future projects. And thanks for taking a few minutes to leave a comment. I always appreciate it.
Great video… I ran 5 esp32’s some synced together built on electrocookie bread boards enclosed in some 3D printed enclosures. I used them for last Halloween lightings and Christmas lightings. WLED makes it so easy to control lights and other things. I commended those who wrote the firmware for us to enjoy projects like these!
I agree... WLED is pretty amazing software, especially considering it is open-source and free. It's hard to believe that it was originally developed by a single individual, Christian (aka "Aircookie"), for a school project. It has come a long way and now has multiple contributors, but it was still pretty amazing back in the days when it was first developed and supported by a single young individual. I think I have somewhere around two dozen WLED installations throughout my house, in various form factors from linear to matrix and even one wearable. I always look forward to what's been added in each new release. Thanks for watching and taking a minute to share a comment.
Excellent presentation. Most of my stuff is from the Arduino IDE and 5 volts and no place for an ESP-32. However, WLED exploits fine goods with simplicity, something I'm willing to set aside time for. I like buttons, switches and blinky lights.
Great job! Thank you for this!! I would be interested in a future video, broken down like this, just for ESPHome IOT devices and sensors along with code walkthroughs/examples for single and multiple sensors if possible. Best guide I've seen! Thanks again!!
Thanks for the kind words! I sorta' show just what you are talking about in my most recent video. It's targeted toward those that have never built a DIY device, but I do show a couple of examples of building a sensor with ESPHome... and even talk a little about using multiple sensors with a single ESP32. Don't know if that might be helpful or not. But regardless, thanks for watching and thanks for the comment!
Thanks. It does make for a pretty long video, but I wanted to try to cover all the options in one place instead of making a series of shorter videos. So I also included those chapter/timeline links to try to let folks jump to the component or parts that might interest them if they want. Thanks for watching and taking a moment to leave a comment.
i needed a bit of help as just about to try audio reactive for the first time, i have already seen this and knew that this video was just what i needed, thanks very muchly.
Excellent video, thank you! I wish I'd come across your library of videos about 3 weeks ago, but this one really helped cement what I'd learned, as well as add a whole new dimension with the accessories that can be added to WLED. Your explanation of macros etc is way better than the official documentation. Now, if you'd like to explain how their JSON macros work that'd be great as they're currently making no sense to me whatsoever! 🙂
Glad my video could help you out a bit... even if it is just a little too late! Yeah... the JSON "macros" or presets aren't nearly as straight forward to understand. Most of the time, I'm able to accomplish what I want with the much-easier-to-understand HTTP API commands. But maybe I can consider some sort of video down the road to cover the use of JSON in controlling the LEDs. Thanks for watching and taking a few minutes to leave a comment. I appreciate it!
You're welcome. The issue is that WLED is advancing so quickly, in a few months there will probably be additional settings... or the settings that are there will be moved someplace else or called something different! But I guess that's one of the challenges of making videos about technology. A video made today could be obsolete in six months (or even quicker)! Thanks for watching and taking a few moments to post a comment. It is appreciated!
Thanks. I have covered some of these peripherals in some of my other WLED videos, but I didn't really have a single video where I covered all the various components, how to wire and configure them, all in one spot. Of course, WLED continues to grow and expand (heck, a new version was released just as I was finishing up this video), so I'm sure there will be additional options or changes to what I show here, but hopefully the basics remain about the same. Thanks for watching and taking time to leave a comment!
Really cool video, especially the "frankentroller" you built. I've been telling myself that I need to dig into WLED and learn more than what I am currently using, but then my lazy kicks in again, then too there's the beach...
Well some of us don't have a beach, so we spend our cold Indiana winters locked up inside learning how to create over-the-top controllers! As always, thanks for your comment. I can always count on smiling when I read them!
awesome, wondered if i would ever watch one of your videos again, been a bit HA obsessed lately and i hate HA so have not watched the last million videos. so good to be able to watch again and WLED goodness at that.
I get it! I do try to mix my videos between Home Assistant and DIY electronics (which will often also overlap). It has been a little HA-heavy recently and part of that is due to my schedule. As you might imagine, projects or builds take significantly more time to obtain the parts, test and build, film, etc. than a Home Assistant video which can generally be produced in a much shorter time frame. But I do hope to continue to mix both types of videos. Of course any ideas or thoughts you can share regarding projects or components would be appreciated! That is one of the additional challenges I have with these types of videos... just coming up with ideas! Thanks for watching and sharing your comment.
Instead of using the relay to switch the output of a power supply for the LEDs, use it to switch the input. This assumes your microcontroller has a separate power supply. Large power supplies draw a fair amount of power with no load on them and you'd like to switch that off. You can also switch a lot more power with the relay, since switching 120/240 volts draws 1/20 the amperage of switching 5v. - Nick
Useful video . Will be great if you can create a video of few common use cases such as staircase , parking , alarms etc using sensors integrated with esp32 to trigger or set wled presets / Colours . There are a lot of videos about wled not much about such integrations
I actually do a number of those things... and discuss how they are done... in a number of my other LED projects. You can find all these in an LED-related playlist that is shown at the end of the video or can be found on my channel.
@@ResinChemTech Could you point me to one where you are controlling the WLED through ESP32 . Not where its using Home Assistant but running code to access WLED parameters based on sensor input. Thank you
Well, to be honest, if I'm going to use code to control the LEDs, I usually end up writing my own Arduino code on the ESP32/ESP8266 to control the LEDs. WLED does have API interfaces using HTTP or JSON, but you still need some sort of automation engine (like Home Assistant, NodeRed, custom app, etc.) to send those commands to WLED when some sort of trigger, like s sensor change, occurs. There are some WLED user mods that you can compile into your own version that adds some sensor options. But if you want an external device (say like an alarm) to trigger something on the WLED controller, you need an automation engine of some sort to watch for the state change of the alarm and then send a command to WLED. You can see the currently available user mods here: github.com/Aircoookie/WLED/tree/main/usermods
Thanks... it's probably also one of the longest! But I wanted to try to make a single video that covered all the available peripheral options that can be used with standard WLED. It could have been much longer if I had included all the options available via user mods! But I appreciate you watching and taking the time to leave a comment.
Thanks so much for your support! I greatly appreciate it! Don't hesitate to reach out if I can help out or answer any additional questions you might have.
The WLED native integration has come a long way and gives you pretty much complete control over the LEDs directly from Home Assistant. Good luck with your projects!
Very useful video, I have been meaning to look into using the button options. Regarding the own PCB option, I have tried this out for the D1 Mini as a trial. I did make some simple mistakes like mislabelling the +/- (which is fine if you know you have done it) and I connected the data to D2 instead of D4 (which stopped it booting), but I also added breakouts for every GPIO and additional pin outs to add a separate 5V power source either via USB or via a PSU so no power needs to go through the D1 Mini. I was going to do similar for ESP32 boards but I have noticed that they do have different GPOI layouts and also some are different widths. So until I decide on a regular source for ESP32 boards I am going to hold off. But considering how cheap (I think 10 was about $10) it is to get the PCBs made up and shipped, it might be worth making up breakout boards for general use with projects.
I've only ordered one custom PCB (completely unrelated to a WLED controller), but was amazed at how quick and cheap it was. The PCB designed I showed right towards the end is one I've designed as primarily a WLED controller with the ESP32-mini (but actually haven't ordered yet). Since it also breaks out most pins, it could be used for things other than just a WLED controller. I like the ESP32-minis due to their smaller size, but the double row of pins make them unfriendly for breadboard (or ElectroCookie) use because you lose two of the rows. But they are ideal for a PCB since you can break out both the inner and outer row of pins. It would be my personal go-to design for a PCB just due to its smaller footprint which would result in a final smaller overall size for the controller/enclosure.
Hello! I see from your videos that you appear to use LED strips to illuminate your background and provide practical lighting on your set with the drinks cabinet behind you. (This looks very good, BTW!) I am trying to do a similar thing, but I find that the colors (particularly Blues and Purples) tend to be over-saturated. Could you do a video where you show your lighting setup and explain how you manage to get such good color balance? (Failing that, explain it here! 😀) Thank you!
You are absolutely correct that it can be very difficult to film or photograph LEDs... and you are also correct that blues tends to be the worst. If you watch some of my other videos, you can see where I struggle with this as well. Of course, there is only so much that can be done with a cell phone camera (which is what I mostly use). To do really good video/photos of LEDs, you'd likely need a much more advanced camera, filters, etc. But I have found a few things that can help a little: - Turn the brightness WAY down. While they will look very dim to your eye, they will still appear quite bright on camera. - Try adjusting surrounding ambient lighting to different levels. Filming the LEDs in complete darkness tends to make things even worse. - Use some sort of diffusion if possible. The more diffused/soft the LEDs appears, the less "bloom" you will get on camera... especially at lower brightness levels. - Shoot at a angle and not directly in front of the LEDs, especially if you aren't using any diffusion. Thanks for the compliment on my bar/drink lighting. But a bit of 'insider' info here... while that is my actual bar setup and LEDs, what you are seeing in the video is a static photograph and green screen, not actual video of me sitting in front of the bar. I do have a few older videos where I'm actually filming while sitting in front of the bar (you can tell because the LEDs change color), but that area just really isn't conducive to creating videos so I use the static image and green screen instead. That's about the only advice I can offer. I have seen other videos where the LEDs look fantastic on camera. My guess is that they are using a much more expensive/higher-end camera as opposed to a simple phone or web camera.
Muy buena explicacion, esto me ayuda mucho con los proyectos que quiero realizar y esta muy bien explicar que cambios existen cuando una nueva actualizacion de WLED se ofrece al uso; buen trabajo gracias.
Привет Друг! Я из РОССИИ! Давно смотрю Тебя и ТЫ крутой чувак!!!! Спасибо что хорошо объясняешь , говоришь и показываешь!!!Я тоже занимаюсь этим спасибо Вам!
Great Video!! I have a question: Is it possible so connect a single Laser Diode to a WS2812b Chip and control it with WLED ? I could not find anything like this but before I try it myself maybe you know more about it. Thanks
Thank you for this very clear tutorial. With the PIR sensor, it seems that it detects your hand moving in as one action, and hand moving away as a second. So if turning the light on, it would only do so when your hand is present. Is there a way to be able to 'wave' past the sensor - off > on > off and for the LED strip to turn on, and then when you 'wave' past the sensor again the led strip turns off ? Thank you
What you are actually seeing in the video is that my hand triggers motion to turn the LEDs on. But then the motion detector "resets" or clears when there is no more motion and this turns the lights off. My hand really has nothing to do with turning the LEDs off. All motion detectors work this way. Some just reset faster than others. So the way I used it in WLED, the lights will always turn themselves off at some point after motion clears. You'd have to use some other type of sensor and settings to get movement to turn the lights on... then they stay on until motion again turns them back off. Or use two sensors... one to turn them on and the other to turn them off. Hope that helps clarify what you were seeing in the video.
any chance of an additional video on moonmodules and other versions, so to see even oled displays and knobs to control the effects directly with the display? thanks
Thanks! I wanted to try to have a single video that covered all the various peripherals that could be added to a standard WLED controller. I appreciate the comment... thanks!
I have a question about the sound reactive and microphones. I haven't seen anyone address whether or not you can use a line out from a stereo or other sound source into the ESP32. I dont really want the LEDs to pick up ambient sounds/voice, but to operate when music is played and have it directly piped into the board. What are the caveats for that?
I haven't actually tried it with line-in, but the wiring and additional details for both an analog line-in and line-in via I2S can be found on the WLED web site here: kno.wled.ge/advanced/audio-reactive/ At the bottom of that page is a link to the Sound Reactive fork, which contains additional details about microphone and sound options. I wouldn't think there would be any caveats other than the same ones that would apply when using either an analogue or digital microphone. Sorry I don't have more to offer, but I've simply not tried to use a line-in with any of my WLED installs.
Great material, good job. I would have a question because in the hall at home I have five switches that I would like to control one controller (all of them are connected to each other with one 3-wire cable). And my question. Can I connect them to the controller so that I can turn on/off or by short/long press using any key to control only one ESP? I have D1 mini Pro [ESP-8266]
Hi ! Thanks for the video. I'm wondering, if you used 5V for your IR receiver, why didn't you connect it to the ESP32 through a level shifter ? The 5V signal won't damage the ESP ?
Kind of an off-topic question, but when you build out your projects on ElectroCookie boards, what type/guage of wire do you use to connect the various components? I want a wire that I can bend into a certain shape and stay that way so that I can keep my wires neat. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks!
For my "onboard" connections... from one point to another on the ElectroCookie board, I generally use 20 gauge solid core wire... just for the reason you state... so I can bend it and have it stay in shape. For any external connections from the ElectroCookie, I generally use 18 or 20 gauge stranded for power and the LED data line (18 gauge is better but it can be difficult to get the stranded wire through the ElectroCookie thru-holes without "splaying" and potentially causing a short or other issue). For other peripherals, like buttons, sensors, etc. I will generally use either 20 or 22 gauge stranded. Hope that helps!
Thank you for this awesome tutorial! Quick question though, would it be possible to use a 3.5mm audio jack instead of an analogue microphone for sound input. I want to create a display that wont be triggered by ambient sound. Thanks!
It is certainly possible. I have not tried it myself, but you can find info on using a line-in option as the source for audio reactivity here: kno.wled.ge/advanced/audio-reactive/ (info on using line-in is near the bottom of this page).
Hi there, great video first of all. I have a question that nobody seems to cover. When a esp32 is running a large strip light setup, say 10 metres of lights, obviously you would use additional power transformer to provide power injection, but nobody covers how to control the transformer, meaning switching it on and off when you turn on and off the esp32, I'm guessing something like a 3v to 240v ac relay. Switching that happens automatically? Do you have a video on this or any thoughts? Many thanks. Pete.
If I understand you correctly, you want to also power down the transformer/power supply when the LEDs are turned off? Well first off, if you are using this same power supply to power the controller, then the controller would also be powered off and you wouldn't be able to turn the LEDs back on without somehow turning the power supply back on separately first. But if you are referring to a secondary power supply, you could use a relay just as I showed in the video... except it would naturally need to be rated for the type, voltage and current of the secondary transformer. Another alternative would be to connect the second power supply to a smart plug or outlet and use something like Home Assistant, NodeRed, etc to create an automation that would turn the power on/off to the smart outlet when the LEDs are turned off/on. Note that I do have a video where I'm using a wall switch with a Shelly smart relay installed. This wall switch, when turned off, kills the power to the entire system (transformer, controller and LEDs). The drawback is that to turn the LEDs on via automation, I have to turn on the smart relay first. But the LEDs are configured to automatically turn on with full white when they power up, so the wall switch works pretty much like a standard light switch for the LEDs. Once the LEDs/wall switch is on, I can then changes colors, effects, etc. This might give you some additional ideas: ua-cam.com/video/Pxq-ePs5D-g/v-deo.html
good explanation. how to add RTC to wled. so that internet clock data goes into RTC and RTC can be backed up if there is no internet connection. Thank You.
If you want to add anything to WLED, you need to install a custom mod (or write your own). While I haven't tried it myself, there is at least one custom mod for RTC in the WLED mods folder: github.com/Aircoookie/WLED/tree/main/usermods I think this is similar to what you are wanting.
Doesn't the ESP32 itself run off 3V? Once you get to the point of using a buck converter to provide 3V, I think you can power the esp32 on the 3V pins, and abandon the 5v pins; This also alleviates the possibility of the onboard regulator not being so good.
Yes... you can certainly do something like that, but you are now relying on the buck converter to be the "voltage regulator" and providing a consistent voltage. When powering the ESP chip directly via 3.3V, it is pretty sensitive to voltage. So if the buck converter provides better "regulation" than the onboard regulator, it is certainly possible to wire it as you describe.
You can find all the info you need on installing, compiling and using a custom mod on the WLED website: kno.wled.ge/advanced/compiling-wled/ You can also find specific information for user mods in the user mod folder that you are interested in here: github.com/Aircoookie/WLED/tree/main/usermods
Hi, thx for an excellent video. I tried to use a k22 ir sensor and a 20ohm potentiometer on my ESP8266 Board, as you suggested. When i connected a potentiometer it did not work and the LED light also does not light up when connected to a 5v power source or via usb on the computer but the LED lights light up if i disconnect the potentiometer. When i connected the ir sensor the sensor responds with a red light when i press any button on the remote but the led strip does not respond to any button on the remote. I tried D1/D2/D3 pins on the board. Any tips on what i am doing wrong? cheers
There are many potential issues here. But I'll try to give you some things to look at or consider. First, you said 20 ohm potentiometer. I was using a 20 kΩ (20,000) potentiometer. You might need a different range or value... 25K, 30K or even 50K. Of course it also needs to be wired and defined properly in WLED. As far as the IR remote, would you be using the audio-reactive or sound-reactive version of WLED? Last I knew, the IR remote functionality is disable with the audio/sound reactive versions. Are you using a different remote? You might need to check/alter the codes being received by the WLED controller. You can find info on that via the WLED site at: kno.wled.ge/interfaces/json-ir/json_infrared/ Hope that points you in the right direction.
@@ResinChemTech Hi, thx for your response. I am using a 20k ohm potentiometer, 20ohm was a typo. I am using WLED_0.14.4, thats not the sound reaction version, is it ? I am using the exact same 44 key remote as you did in this video. cheers
Hello, thank you for all your videos, they have been a great help. I’m hoping you could maybe shed some light on a problem I am experiencing on ESP32 wroom devkit 1. I have two buttons wired up to GPIO 18 and 19, Led data is on default 16. Button one is set to 19, button two to 18. 19 has actions set to preset commands (on/off, cycle, default colour) and 18 to default values (0 in macros) The problem I’m having is buttons 2 is copying button 1, even when I set it to disabled, it still triggers. I have checked for any shorts but all is okay. Reflashed the board and tried different versions. Do you have any idea what could be causing this. Thank you.
Thanks! Your videos are fantastic, thank you. Newbie quick question on the relays, do I need to have one on all the power injection points? I have a 400 LED stip with three power injection points and from what I can ascertain I think I do? If so, I can use the buck converter to power all three?
Thanks so much for the super! I greatly appreciate it and it will be used to help fund future projects and videos. As far as the relay, yes you would need to kill the power to all the injection points, but there are multiple ways to accomplish this. First you can run the power from your supply through the relay before you split it off to the three different power injection points. That way you have a single relay that is controlling all the power to the LEDs. Just be sure that the relay is rated to handle the current you expect for the LEDs. While you can use multiple relays, do note that standard WLED is only designed to use one relay. There is a user-mod that supports multiple relays, but you'd have to add that and compile your own WLED. You can find more info on that here: kno.wled.ge/features/relay-control/ As far as the buck converter, yes you could power multiple relays but the same rule applies. Just be sure the buck converter is rated for the maximum amps that would be needed to power all the relays. Thanks again for the support...and the kind words. Let me know if I can help out any further.
@@ResinChemTech thank you for the quick response! After I sent my comment I did some research and came across that very idea, put the relay between the power supply and controller (in this case an ESP32). But I’m running the board from the same power supply so I’ll need to power that separately which is easy. I have a small 5v, 3amp plug which I can use to power both the ESP32 and relay (it’s a 5v relay since they don’t seem to make one for higher amps for 3.3v). I’m using a 20 amp power supply with a 30 amp rated relay so I’m good there. I hope this makes sense and I’m on the right track. Your videos are an inspiration to me, so well produced. Thanks again!
Sounds like you are on the right track! The only thing I'd mention is that if you are using different power supplies for the controller and LEDs, make sure you create a common ground between the two (one easy way to do this is just run a ground wire from your controller along with the data line to the start of the LED strip). If you don't have a common ground, the LEDs may misbehave do to possible ground potential differences between the controller's power source and the LEDs' power source. You may have already done this... but I thought it was worth mentioning!
@@ResinChemTech common ground! That always throws me off. My LED’s are wired straight to the 20amp power supply. So I need to connect the same ground out from the 3amp power supply (to the relay and controller), the 20amp power supply (on the output side of course), and the controller? Sorry for all the questions.
Not a problem! You just need to establish a single common ground connection somewhere between the controller and LEDs. You can make this connection wherever it is convenient, but on the few occasions where I've done it, I just run a ground from the controller along with the data line to the start of the LED strip. Since I'm already running a line for the data signal, it is pretty easy to just include a second ground connection here. In fact, I have a number of standard wiring diagrams in one of my blog articles that shows this: resinchemtech.blogspot.com/2023/01/wiring-diagrams.html Look for the example that shows dual 12V and 5V power supplies. This same wiring can be used for two separate 5V supplies as well. If you need additional assistance, I'm glad to help but it is a little restrictive what I can do here in the UA-cam comments. If you like, feel free to contact me via email (you can find my email address on the 'about' section of my UA-cam channel page... I don't publish it here because it gets picked up by spam bots). Or if you have a Discord account and want to shoot me over your Discord user name, we can connect over there as well. Otherwise, best of luck with the project. Let me know how it turns out!
You can use a switch to toggle the LED signal between two controllers. I do this with my matrix clock, where one controller is running WLED and the other is running custom Arduino code for the clock/scoreboard. But I'm using a manual toggle switch.... not one that is switched by either controller. The issue is that if you are using the switch for the LED data lines, then you can't also control that switch from WLED (a single pin can't be both the data line and a switch). So you'd need some other external way to toggle the switch from one controller to the other. I just opted to make mine manual.
@@ResinChemTech I will use a On / On manual locking toggle switch with 3 pins. The middle pin goes to the led strip data and left goes to one ESP32 and right to the other. When pulling the switch its shorten/connect one of the ESP32 to the LED Strip. I also want to use a Level Shifter to not loose signal quality when going over the switch. ✌
Hi I'm a student and I started working with STM32 a few weeks ago. I needed help implementing the MQTT system on custom hardware. Do you know about MQTT on custom hardware? In my case I have a custom board relay.
My pir sensor is not working connected the correct pins and even let it stay out for couple of minutes to stabilize but to no avail. I have my project in 2 days Please someone help me
Did you configure it properly in WLED LED Preferences? Verify that you have specified the right GPIO pin and selected either PIR Sensor or Switch (you might try both options). Also verify that you have the PIR sensor connected to the proper voltage (5V or 3.3V... different sensors may have different requirements). If it still is not working, then there is a possibility that you have a bad PIR sensor.
The issue with using the VL53L0X is that it is an I2C device and returns a numeric value. Therefore this can't be used like a binary switch, but also cannot be used as an analog device because it isn't returning various voltages. Standard WLED would have no idea what to do with a number like 23.8 vs. 25.4. There may be user mods available for something like this (there is at least one for the VL35l0x), or you could use connect the VL53L0x to another ESP board and use either ESPHome or Arduino code that would return a high/low signal on a pin when the measured distance is greater or less than a value and then connect that to the WLED controller. But this would still be binary and would work much like a PIR motion sensor and not provide variable values for controlling something like brightness. While you can find I2C pin definitions in the User Mod section of recent WLED versions, these are meant to be used with user mods that then does "something" with the data. So you can check the user mods (or even develop you own) to take the data received and do something like map the distance to brightness. The other alternative is to use something like Home Assistant or other automation platform that could send varying brightness commands to the WLED controller based on different measured differences.
@@ResinChemTech I've seen kitchen top counter LED strips that control brightness using hand gesture, e.g simply move hand from left to right = increase brightness, right to left decrease brightness. I assume they used a ToF sensor, but seeing how difficult the implementation is, they might be doing something different? Any ideas how they achieved that?
This WLED user mod seems to do exactly what you are describing, but I haven't tried or tested it: github.com/Aircoookie/WLED/tree/main/usermods/VL53L0X_gestures
Yes... and I actually cover that in the video and even talk about using them with stairs in the motion sensor section. There are some limitations and you may get better results with one of the WLED user mods... or with Home Assistant... but I specifically talk about using two motion sensors for something like stairs in this video.
@@ResinChemTech Sweet, I would want to use home assistant too but it needs some hardware and the raspberry pie's are just too expensive. Probably gonna use an old laptop with a huge heatsink soo it's quite. Currently using some some tuya smart devices and one wled light with esp32. Before I didn't know about wled but when I heard about it I was amazed. And its cheap too like the esp32 is like 3.70€ on AliExpress.
@@ResinChemTech Sweet, I would want to use home assistant too but it needs some hardware and the raspberry pie's are just too expensive. Probably gonna use an old laptop with a huge heatsink soo it's quite. Currently using some some tuya smart devices and one wled light with esp32. Before I didn't know about wled but when I heard about it I was amazed. And its cheap too like the esp32 is like 3.70€ on AliExpress.
@@ResinChemTech Only issue is that would require a couple of very long wires to run the PIRs together. So how about building two WLED boards and only connecting one to the actual lights, then sync them together to that they both turn on the lights when either detects motion? The other thing you could do is with Home Assistant start an automation when it detects the lights have come on, pause for XX minutes and then turn them both off. I have just tried using an automation based on me turning a WLED string on, a delay and then turning other things on/off and it seems to work well.
Pretty much exactly what I did here: ua-cam.com/video/Y29Y0iTLggg/v-deo.html Except my two sensors are connected to D1 Minis running ESPHome. I would later replace the PIR sensors with ToF sensors for better reactivity and fewer false triggers. There's also a follow up video where I replaced those PIR sensors ( ua-cam.com/video/ZRb_wpJo1AM/v-deo.html ). Yeah... as I mentioned in the video, using something like Home Assistant automations is going to make a much better system, but I was trying to stick with what could be done only with the WLED controller.
I watched because I have some problems with my microphone and it don't work. I tryed exactly what you did but my microphone is just doing crazy stuff. My microphone only has 3 pins (VCC,GND,OUT). Also it's strange because my LEDs are flickering which is really annoying. Could someone help me please?
Based on the little information you provided, it could be any number of things. Since you said the microphone only has three pins, I'm assuming it is an analog microphone. Is it connected to an appropriate analog pin on the ESP and did you define/setup the microphone with the right GPIO pin? Are you using an ESP32 or ESP8266? How many LEDs are you using and what is the size of your power supply? Flickering LEDs could be from a number of causes and may have nothing to do with the microphone. Are you using a logic level shifter of some sort... or at least a sacrificial pixel? Flickering could be due to a poor/weak signal. It could also result from too low of a voltage reaching some of the LEDs and power injection might be necessary.
I am using a ESP32 witch is powered by 5v 15A. The LED strip (WS281x) is connected to GPIO 14 and has 300 LEDs. Sound settings: Squelch: 10 Gain: 40 AGC: off Microphone type: Generic Analog Analog input pin: 32 The LEDs are only flickering when I use a music mode. I also connected a blue, red and Green LED to the ESP32 (pin 25, 26, 27 ) in the settings I used "PWM RGB". Is it possible that this LEDs do the same things as the strip? (Right now I can't even turn them off) I have the newest version of the software.
Based on what you describe, I really am not sure what the issue could be unless it is some sort of interference on the analog line. While I usually use a digital mic like the INMP441, I do have a few installs that use an analog MAX9814. While the MAX9814 isn't as responsive as the digital version, none experience the flickering you are describing. You might try taking a look at some of the troubleshooting information on the sound-reactive web site. There is quite a bit of info there: github.com/atuline/WLED/wiki/My--device--is-not-working Otherwise, you might need to try the WLED Discord server or one of their other forums and see if someone else has experienced this and can recommend a fix. Sorry I can't be more help, but I just haven't experienced the issue you are describing.
As I mentioned in the video, standard WLED has no way to deal with numeric values from sensors like distance. However, there are user mods available (or you can develop your own) that would allow you to connect a distance sensor and then take some action with the LEDs.
@ResinChemTech thats amazing although i dont even know where to start programing do you think this is a feature that will get implemented in the future?
New features are being added to WLED all the time, so it's hard to know what may or may not be added in the future. One issue is that every new feature added makes WLED a little bit larger (unless something is taken away) and at some point it could exceed the capacity of the ESP boards. I think they may eventually find a way to make installing user mods a little easier, but I think coming up with a way to handle what could be an infinite number of values coming from something like a distance sensor would be extremely difficult. The sensor could return any number from, say, 2cm - 400cm. WLED would need a way to 'do something' or process those values and then provide you a way to specify what you want to do with the LEDs when the reported number is higher, lower or equal to a value. This is where you are getting more into automation and an automation engine, like Home Assistant or NodeRed. Using automations, it would be simple to read a value from a distance sensor and then send a command to the LEDs. In fact, I do this exact thing with my stair lights (although I'm using a ToF distance sensor instead of ultrasonic... but the concept is the same). I don't foresee an automation engine being added to WLED simply because of the complexity and the size of the resulting code.
@ResinChemTech couldnt it treat those values as an analogue signal similar to what a potentiometer would, or maybe there is an ultrasonic sensor which has the internal code to just give you an analogue output?
A potentiometer is similar, but slightly different because it is actually changing the voltage on the analog pin. And it is pretty easy (relatively) to map the voltage to a fixed range values like brightness or speed. But something like an ultrasonic sensor is going to report a numeric value on a digital I/O pin. You could possibly map a distance range to something like brightness or speed as well with similar code modifications. But what I don't believe you can do (without substantially more involved code changes) is to control 'non-linear' values like the effect or color palette. Nor could you currently do something like turn the LEDs on when the distance is below a certain value and turn them back off when the distance is greater than that value. At least not in any way that I am aware of with the standard non-modified WLED. If you have a Discord account, you can always try asking or making an enhancement request on the WLED Discord server. It's pretty active and they even have a channel for requesting new features.
@ResinChemTech Ok. Thanks for the feedback. According to Copilot, my ESP32 mini is actually an ESP32 C3. It has an Espressif S3 chip, but it also has a little red chip with C3 on it. WLED does not yet support or is not yet compatible with the C3, but it is a work in progress.
A ToF sensor returns a numeric value. Standard WLED doesn't know what to do with a number. You would need to install or write you own appropriate user mod that could take some sort of action based on particular numeric values returned by the sensor. Here's a user mod that uses the VL53L0X and hand gestures to control the LEDs (I have not tested or tried this mod): github.com/Aircoookie/WLED/tree/main/usermods/VL53L0X_gestures
@@ResinChemTech It's my first time to have a project about esp32 with wled. I would like to ask you few questions. I'm planning to put a 5M led strip under our stair handrails. I decide to put it there, because our stair don't have allowance under the steps, where I can put aluminum diffuser. I measured the space under the handrails, and I only have less than 8mm. These are my materials so far -esp32 w dev board -ws2812b rgbic cob led strip 5M 60led/M 5mm -logic level shifter I2c -5v 30a relay - IR transmitter -2 PIR motions sensor hc-sr501 -power supply 5v 30A (300x0.06)= 18A -10M 18 AWG or 22AWG? 1. Can I use 2 PIR sensor, one at ground floor and the other one is on 2nd floor? 2. Can I modify the PIR sensor, to on and off only at a given time. For example, from 6pm to 6am only? 3. Can I use remote for extra switch? 4. Do I really need a relay? or fuse? 5.What size of wire AWG 18 or 22? Thank you 😅
I have two different videos (and related blog articles) on creating stair lighting that will address most of your questions and could easily be adapted for LEDs under the handrail instead of along the stringers. One uses WLED and two independent motion sensors with ESPHome, and uses Home Assistant for the automations: ua-cam.com/video/Y29Y0iTLggg/v-deo.html The other one doesn't require Home Assistant or ESPHome and instead uses a single controller running custom written Arduino code: ua-cam.com/video/b4s_VEtVWY4/v-deo.html Do note that I have an update video for the first Home Assistant version that replaces the PIR sensors with ToF sensors, which I have found to be much more reliable with less ghosting: ua-cam.com/video/ZRb_wpJo1AM/v-deo.html Those videos and articles should address most of your questions, but with the Home Assistant/WLED version, you can certainly do everything asked in questions 1-3. For the relay and fuse, they aren't technically required but the relay will reduce power consumption when the LEDs are off and the fuse is a safety feature. I cover some of these in my other LED videos as well. The gauge of wire depends on too many factors to give you an answer... you should always use the largest size wire possible... both as a safety issue and to reduce voltage drop. There are online calculators that can help you with selecting the proper gauge based on current, length, wire type, temperature and more.
This is by far the best video for WLED I’ve ever seen outside of Chris Maher’s channel. Absolutely incredible! Thank you so much!
Thanks! Chris does some wonderful stuff... and I've never been able to figure out how he does such a great job of filming LEDs while mine always seem to overwhelm my camera and look washed out! I'm guessing he has a much better camera that I'm using to begin with!
But I greatly appreciate the kind words and glad you found the video helpful!
I didn’t even let the video start before I saved it. It’s like he knew my next project was going to involve buttons!
I generally add at least one button to all of my WLED controllers, at a minimum to be able to easily and quickly toggle the LEDs off/on. But depending upon your project needs, there are a lot of other peripherals and options for attaching various devices. Some of these are probably a little lesser known options, so I thought I'd try to cover everything that could be added with just the standard WLED.
Thanks for watching!
It covers all the peripherals not directly related to the LEDs which is my personal next level up... and talking of levels, I noticed the omission of the logic level shifter. I have worked out that the threshold for the one you have which is same four channel.i have, that 3.4 volts makes it work so using an buck converter from the 5v output adjusted to around 3.4v triggers it. Also I tried using a resistor to knock the 5v down to 4.7v and that also worked.
I am for the last hour or so trying to get my button number 3 to cycle through all user presets, this is my very first attempt at coding. I am thirsting for the day that I learn to use ChatGTP to write the code.
Thanks again for such a great tutorial that I will probably watch another five times or so as its so good.
I didn't talk about the level shifter in this video, as it was meant to be primarily about the optional peripherals that could be added... and I've covered the shifter, and alternative option, in detail in other videos, so I didn't want to make this video even longer than it already is.
For cycling through your presets, you probably want to exclude anything that isn't truly an effect preset (like those that are just API commands). So, you can specify a starting and ending preset and it will cycle back to the first preset after reaching the last one. The API command you can use for this is:
&P1=x&P2=y&PL=~
where x is the ID number of the first preset and y is the number of the last preset. I try to number all my 'API presets' starting with number 100 so they don't interfere with normal effect presets... that way I can use anything between 1 an 99 for creating playists.
Hope that helps out a bit. Again, time just prevented me from covering a lot of details on creating the API commands.
@ResinChemTech Amazing! That's an hour+ frustration over with! Where "x" equals... is the logical answer... my logic tank never got filled up. Haha
Yes, the LLS tutorial is defo going to get viewed, along with the basic LED tutorial which I am currently enjoying... because I am definitely appreciating the concise information presented without ego or fluff.
I do wonder if the road leading to you beautifully lit home resembles the rainbow road from Mario Cart? Lol
Thank you so very much again for your help, I appreciate you and the time you took to put me on the right path. ✅️
@@ResinChemTech oh and, thanks also for pointing out the preset clashes with commands. It would've driven me mad. ✅️
Give this man a stand ovation. I even saw the advertisement complete, like and share the video, thank you ser
This is by far, the best wled tutorial I have come across and I am only halfway through. Thank you, ResinChem Tech
You are welcome! Yeah... it's a pretty long video, but there are so many different types of components that can be used with WLED, I wanted to cover as many as I could.
Thanks for watching... and thanks for taking time to leave a comment.
I love how you explain one feature and then change it up to give a better idea of the flexibility and also the configuration of the board and the s/w. Well done!!
Thanks. I tried to explain the why, as well as the how, to provide alternatives so that people can hopefully adapt the ideas for their own project needs.
Thanks for watching and the comment!
This is the closest I've been to Mr. Wizard in 30+ years. Saved hours of reading. Thanks so much!
Well, I'm sure only some of us of a certain "vintage" will remember Mr. Wizard... but I certainly do. Regardless, I appreciate the comment... thanks!
Another outstanding video. This gives me so many options for my next WLED project. I love your explanations and appreciate your research. Keep up the good work and I'll definately be back for more content!
Thanks for the kind words. I greatly appreciate it and hopefully I can continue to make content that you find beneficial.
Hands down, the best video I stumbled across when looking for WLED features and use cases. I've been playing with WLED for a bit more than a year and some of the topics covered were still a mystery to me lol.
Glad you found it helpful. I usually always learn a thing or two myself just in the process of making a video. That was especially true in my follow up video to this one where I talk about WLED segments and syncing options ( ua-cam.com/video/HYdouRHfadE/v-deo.html ). In that one, I wasn't even aware that 'virtual' LEDs could be defined to control LEDs connected to a different controller. And more features get added to WLED with each new release.
Thanks for watching and taking time to leave a comment!
@@ResinChemTech Thanks for taking the time to reply to a viewer ! :) I had also watched your other video and that's where I discovered about the Virtual LEDs too.
I''ve put together a setup for launching parties with a few 1m Strips which are hanging in trees and synced together. Presets are changing via a playlist our sound reactive mode.
For the record, with the sync feature. I observe that it's not always perfectly in sync (depending on the disance between ESP32s and router ) and sometimes, the preset change simply does not happen on a node.
I need to investigate if that's not an antenna issue. but you video talking about virtual LEDs gave me an idea.
.
Maybe it'll be more in sync this way (since it needs to send data like it would do to a segment and not just send a preset change info.)
It also allow to have patterns that expand on the various strips, instead of just replicating each other. all exciting ideas.
Next step is to run a LedFX on an RPI :)
And thanks again for your videos! Cheers from France
Great video - I’m just starting my very 1st WLED project for the kids basement playroom and you answered my questions on how to setup sound reactive WLED. I just ordered the INMP441 digital microphone plus the buck converter.
Glad my video could help you out. I think you'll be happy with the INMP441 over the analog mic. All my early projects used the MAX9814 analog, but the digital mic works so much better.
Best of luck with your project. Let me know how it turns out!
Amazing, thank you! Best crash course to date!
You are welcome. Thanks for the comment!
Incredible! Or maybe I should say really, really credible information! Either way this was just what I was looking for and your presentation was very clear and straightforward. I'm amazed at how much can be done with WLED without needing to program. I've been thinking about adding sensor input to a project for a while but too intimidated to dive in. This was great. I'm taking the leap now. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thanks! Glad you found the video useful. It is true how much you can do with standard WLED and every new release seems to add more features.
Thanks for watching... and for the kind words! It is appreciated.
Wow, I probably could come up with that myself after digging through documentation, but you presented all of it in such a coherent way, thank you! I'll definitely come back here when upgrading my wled controllers!
Yeah.. nothing I did here is a big secret or anything. But sometimes locating the correct and current documentation can be a challenge, and for a lot of folks just starting out interpreting often tech-jargon heavy (or poorly written) documentation can create additional hurdles. So I try to approach all of my videos from a true beginner's perspective where someone may not have a lot experience or practice at decoding some of the technical guides.
Thanks for watching... and taking a moment to leave a comment. I appreciate it!
@@ResinChemTech I'd kill for a video like that when I was starting out with Arduinos and FastLED back in the days. All I had was some forum posts :D
Love this channel and all the info. My go to spot for Wled.
Thanks... I really appreciate it!
WOW! I had no idea this was possible with a ESP32! I cannot wait to start my first project! Thank you for putting this together.
You are very welcome. Thanks for watching.
Truly a very helpful and informative video. Wishing you all the likes, you deserve them. Thank you and please keep up the awesome content!
Thanks for the kind words and taking a few moments to post a comment. I greatly appreciate it and glad you found the video helpful.
Great Video ... well documented and explained. I'm a novice but I know that I can watch this video a few times and follow along when creating my projects. I do not comment often but this video was worth it! Well Done and much appreciated.
Thanks. I'm glad that it might be able to help you out on your future projects. And thanks for taking a few minutes to leave a comment. I always appreciate it.
Great video…
I ran 5 esp32’s some synced together built on electrocookie bread boards enclosed in some 3D printed enclosures. I used them for last Halloween lightings and Christmas lightings.
WLED makes it so easy to control lights and other things. I commended those who wrote the firmware for us to enjoy projects like these!
I agree... WLED is pretty amazing software, especially considering it is open-source and free. It's hard to believe that it was originally developed by a single individual, Christian (aka "Aircookie"), for a school project. It has come a long way and now has multiple contributors, but it was still pretty amazing back in the days when it was first developed and supported by a single young individual.
I think I have somewhere around two dozen WLED installations throughout my house, in various form factors from linear to matrix and even one wearable. I always look forward to what's been added in each new release. Thanks for watching and taking a minute to share a comment.
Excellent presentation. Most of my stuff is from the Arduino IDE and 5 volts and no place for an ESP-32. However, WLED exploits fine goods with simplicity, something I'm willing to set aside time for. I like buttons, switches and blinky lights.
What a wonderful video! this should be official tutorial in WLED page for components.
Actually I will try to contact Aircookie myself.
Thank you!
You're welcome... and thanks for the kind words!
Yes, I second that!
Great job! Thank you for this!! I would be interested in a future video, broken down like this, just for ESPHome IOT devices and sensors along with code walkthroughs/examples for single and multiple sensors if possible. Best guide I've seen! Thanks again!!
Thanks for the kind words! I sorta' show just what you are talking about in my most recent video. It's targeted toward those that have never built a DIY device, but I do show a couple of examples of building a sensor with ESPHome... and even talk a little about using multiple sensors with a single ESP32. Don't know if that might be helpful or not.
But regardless, thanks for watching and thanks for the comment!
Great tutorial! Love the in depth discussion. Thanks.
Thanks. It does make for a pretty long video, but I wanted to try to cover all the options in one place instead of making a series of shorter videos. So I also included those chapter/timeline links to try to let folks jump to the component or parts that might interest them if they want.
Thanks for watching and taking a moment to leave a comment.
i needed a bit of help as just about to try audio reactive for the first time, i have already seen this and knew that this video was just what i needed, thanks very muchly.
You are welcome! Glad you found it helpful.
Excellent video, thank you! I wish I'd come across your library of videos about 3 weeks ago, but this one really helped cement what I'd learned, as well as add a whole new dimension with the accessories that can be added to WLED. Your explanation of macros etc is way better than the official documentation. Now, if you'd like to explain how their JSON macros work that'd be great as they're currently making no sense to me whatsoever! 🙂
Glad my video could help you out a bit... even if it is just a little too late! Yeah... the JSON "macros" or presets aren't nearly as straight forward to understand. Most of the time, I'm able to accomplish what I want with the much-easier-to-understand HTTP API commands.
But maybe I can consider some sort of video down the road to cover the use of JSON in controlling the LEDs. Thanks for watching and taking a few minutes to leave a comment. I appreciate it!
Thank you. Now I have a much better idea what all those settings in WLED are for.
You're welcome. The issue is that WLED is advancing so quickly, in a few months there will probably be additional settings... or the settings that are there will be moved someplace else or called something different! But I guess that's one of the challenges of making videos about technology. A video made today could be obsolete in six months (or even quicker)!
Thanks for watching and taking a few moments to post a comment. It is appreciated!
Excellent Wled information!
Thanks. I have covered some of these peripherals in some of my other WLED videos, but I didn't really have a single video where I covered all the various components, how to wire and configure them, all in one spot. Of course, WLED continues to grow and expand (heck, a new version was released just as I was finishing up this video), so I'm sure there will be additional options or changes to what I show here, but hopefully the basics remain about the same.
Thanks for watching and taking time to leave a comment!
Thank You great work.
Really cool video, especially the "frankentroller" you built. I've been telling myself that I need to dig into WLED and learn more than what I am currently using, but then my lazy kicks in again, then too there's the beach...
Well some of us don't have a beach, so we spend our cold Indiana winters locked up inside learning how to create over-the-top controllers!
As always, thanks for your comment. I can always count on smiling when I read them!
awesome, wondered if i would ever watch one of your videos again, been a bit HA obsessed lately and i hate HA so have not watched the last million videos. so good to be able to watch again and WLED goodness at that.
I get it! I do try to mix my videos between Home Assistant and DIY electronics (which will often also overlap). It has been a little HA-heavy recently and part of that is due to my schedule. As you might imagine, projects or builds take significantly more time to obtain the parts, test and build, film, etc. than a Home Assistant video which can generally be produced in a much shorter time frame.
But I do hope to continue to mix both types of videos. Of course any ideas or thoughts you can share regarding projects or components would be appreciated! That is one of the additional challenges I have with these types of videos... just coming up with ideas!
Thanks for watching and sharing your comment.
Instead of using the relay to switch the output of a power supply for the LEDs, use it to switch the input. This assumes your microcontroller has a separate power supply. Large power supplies draw a fair amount of power with no load on them and you'd like to switch that off. You can also switch a lot more power with the relay, since switching 120/240 volts draws 1/20 the amperage of switching 5v. - Nick
Love this! Would love to see more videos like this. 🎉
Thanks, I appreciate it.
Useful video . Will be great if you can create a video of few common use cases such as staircase , parking , alarms etc using sensors integrated with esp32 to trigger or set wled presets / Colours . There are a lot of videos about wled not much about such integrations
I actually do a number of those things... and discuss how they are done... in a number of my other LED projects. You can find all these in an LED-related playlist that is shown at the end of the video or can be found on my channel.
@@ResinChemTech Could you point me to one where you are controlling the WLED through ESP32 . Not where its using Home Assistant but running code to access WLED parameters based on sensor input. Thank you
Well, to be honest, if I'm going to use code to control the LEDs, I usually end up writing my own Arduino code on the ESP32/ESP8266 to control the LEDs. WLED does have API interfaces using HTTP or JSON, but you still need some sort of automation engine (like Home Assistant, NodeRed, custom app, etc.) to send those commands to WLED when some sort of trigger, like s sensor change, occurs.
There are some WLED user mods that you can compile into your own version that adds some sensor options. But if you want an external device (say like an alarm) to trigger something on the WLED controller, you need an automation engine of some sort to watch for the state change of the alarm and then send a command to WLED. You can see the currently available user mods here: github.com/Aircoookie/WLED/tree/main/usermods
My search has ended ar this video, thank you soo much
You are very welcome. I hope you find it helpful for your own projects.
Great tutorial video. Thank you sir.
Thanks for the kind words. Glad you found it helpful.
Brilliant!! Thank you. This is the best most fullest WLED vid
Thanks... it's probably also one of the longest! But I wanted to try to make a single video that covered all the available peripheral options that can be used with standard WLED. It could have been much longer if I had included all the options available via user mods!
But I appreciate you watching and taking the time to leave a comment.
This is very helpful! Thank you. You explain stuff really well in your videos.
Thanks... glad you find them helpful.
Bellissimo video e facile da comprendere. Grazie
Grazie per aver guardato il mio video e aver lasciato un commento.
Muchas gracias!! Muy bueno el video, completo y claro
De nada. Gracias por las amables palabras.
Great video. You got a new subscriber from india.
Thanks! And welcome to the channel.
Excellent guide, thank you very much for making it 👍
You are welcome. Thanks for the comment!
Excelent video, thanks.
You are welcome. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks
Thanks so much for your support! I greatly appreciate it! Don't hesitate to reach out if I can help out or answer any additional questions you might have.
Thanks mate!
Very nice. Looking to integrate some of this into Home Assistant.
The WLED native integration has come a long way and gives you pretty much complete control over the LEDs directly from Home Assistant. Good luck with your projects!
Very useful video, I have been meaning to look into using the button options.
Regarding the own PCB option, I have tried this out for the D1 Mini as a trial. I did make some simple mistakes like mislabelling the +/- (which is fine if you know you have done it) and I connected the data to D2 instead of D4 (which stopped it booting), but I also added breakouts for every GPIO and additional pin outs to add a separate 5V power source either via USB or via a PSU so no power needs to go through the D1 Mini.
I was going to do similar for ESP32 boards but I have noticed that they do have different GPOI layouts and also some are different widths. So until I decide on a regular source for ESP32 boards I am going to hold off.
But considering how cheap (I think 10 was about $10) it is to get the PCBs made up and shipped, it might be worth making up breakout boards for general use with projects.
I've only ordered one custom PCB (completely unrelated to a WLED controller), but was amazed at how quick and cheap it was. The PCB designed I showed right towards the end is one I've designed as primarily a WLED controller with the ESP32-mini (but actually haven't ordered yet). Since it also breaks out most pins, it could be used for things other than just a WLED controller. I like the ESP32-minis due to their smaller size, but the double row of pins make them unfriendly for breadboard (or ElectroCookie) use because you lose two of the rows. But they are ideal for a PCB since you can break out both the inner and outer row of pins. It would be my personal go-to design for a PCB just due to its smaller footprint which would result in a final smaller overall size for the controller/enclosure.
Beautiful tutorial. just beautiful ❤❤❤
Thanks... much appreciated!
Hello!
I see from your videos that you appear to use LED strips to illuminate your background and provide practical lighting on your set with the drinks cabinet behind you. (This looks very good, BTW!) I am trying to do a similar thing, but I find that the colors (particularly Blues and Purples) tend to be over-saturated.
Could you do a video where you show your lighting setup and explain how you manage to get such good color balance? (Failing that, explain it here! 😀)
Thank you!
You are absolutely correct that it can be very difficult to film or photograph LEDs... and you are also correct that blues tends to be the worst. If you watch some of my other videos, you can see where I struggle with this as well. Of course, there is only so much that can be done with a cell phone camera (which is what I mostly use). To do really good video/photos of LEDs, you'd likely need a much more advanced camera, filters, etc. But I have found a few things that can help a little:
- Turn the brightness WAY down. While they will look very dim to your eye, they will still appear quite bright on camera.
- Try adjusting surrounding ambient lighting to different levels. Filming the LEDs in complete darkness tends to make things even worse.
- Use some sort of diffusion if possible. The more diffused/soft the LEDs appears, the less "bloom" you will get on camera... especially at lower brightness levels.
- Shoot at a angle and not directly in front of the LEDs, especially if you aren't using any diffusion.
Thanks for the compliment on my bar/drink lighting. But a bit of 'insider' info here... while that is my actual bar setup and LEDs, what you are seeing in the video is a static photograph and green screen, not actual video of me sitting in front of the bar. I do have a few older videos where I'm actually filming while sitting in front of the bar (you can tell because the LEDs change color), but that area just really isn't conducive to creating videos so I use the static image and green screen instead.
That's about the only advice I can offer. I have seen other videos where the LEDs look fantastic on camera. My guess is that they are using a much more expensive/higher-end camera as opposed to a simple phone or web camera.
Muy buena explicacion, esto me ayuda mucho con los proyectos que quiero realizar y esta muy bien explicar que cambios existen cuando una nueva actualizacion de WLED se ofrece al uso; buen trabajo gracias.
De nada. Gracias por el comentario.
Another great video!!
Thanks. I appreciate it! Hopefully it can serve as a resource for those looking to add components to their own WLED projects.
I learned something, thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
awesome!
Thanks... much appreciated!
Привет Друг! Я из РОССИИ! Давно смотрю Тебя и ТЫ крутой чувак!!!! Спасибо что хорошо объясняешь , говоришь и показываешь!!!Я тоже занимаюсь этим спасибо Вам!
Great Video!! I have a question: Is it possible so connect a single Laser Diode to a WS2812b Chip and control it with WLED ? I could not find anything like this but before I try it myself maybe you know more about it.
Thanks
Sorry... I really haven't used laser diodes, so I can't say what might be possible with something like this. But let me know if you get it working.
Thank you for this very clear tutorial.
With the PIR sensor, it seems that it detects your hand moving in as one action, and hand moving away as a second. So if turning the light on, it would only do so when your hand is present.
Is there a way to be able to 'wave' past the sensor - off > on > off and for the LED strip to turn on, and then when you 'wave' past the sensor again the led strip turns off ? Thank you
What you are actually seeing in the video is that my hand triggers motion to turn the LEDs on. But then the motion detector "resets" or clears when there is no more motion and this turns the lights off. My hand really has nothing to do with turning the LEDs off. All motion detectors work this way. Some just reset faster than others. So the way I used it in WLED, the lights will always turn themselves off at some point after motion clears. You'd have to use some other type of sensor and settings to get movement to turn the lights on... then they stay on until motion again turns them back off. Or use two sensors... one to turn them on and the other to turn them off.
Hope that helps clarify what you were seeing in the video.
any chance of an additional video on moonmodules and other versions, so to see even oled displays and knobs to control the effects directly with the display? thanks
amazing video!
Thanks! I wanted to try to have a single video that covered all the various peripherals that could be added to a standard WLED controller.
I appreciate the comment... thanks!
I have a question about the sound reactive and microphones. I haven't seen anyone address whether or not you can use a line out from a stereo or other sound source into the ESP32. I dont really want the LEDs to pick up ambient sounds/voice, but to operate when music is played and have it directly piped into the board. What are the caveats for that?
I haven't actually tried it with line-in, but the wiring and additional details for both an analog line-in and line-in via I2S can be found on the WLED web site here: kno.wled.ge/advanced/audio-reactive/ At the bottom of that page is a link to the Sound Reactive fork, which contains additional details about microphone and sound options.
I wouldn't think there would be any caveats other than the same ones that would apply when using either an analogue or digital microphone. Sorry I don't have more to offer, but I've simply not tried to use a line-in with any of my WLED installs.
Thanks,@@ResinChemTech
Wled is great
Great material, good job.
I would have a question because in the hall at home I have five switches that I would like to control one controller (all of them are connected to each other with one 3-wire cable). And my question. Can I connect them to the controller so that I can turn on/off or by short/long press using any key to control only one ESP?
I have D1 mini Pro [ESP-8266]
Hi ! Thanks for the video. I'm wondering, if you used 5V for your IR receiver, why didn't you connect it to the ESP32 through a level shifter ? The 5V signal won't damage the ESP ?
Kind of an off-topic question, but when you build out your projects on ElectroCookie boards, what type/guage of wire do you use to connect the various components? I want a wire that I can bend into a certain shape and stay that way so that I can keep my wires neat. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks!
For my "onboard" connections... from one point to another on the ElectroCookie board, I generally use 20 gauge solid core wire... just for the reason you state... so I can bend it and have it stay in shape.
For any external connections from the ElectroCookie, I generally use 18 or 20 gauge stranded for power and the LED data line (18 gauge is better but it can be difficult to get the stranded wire through the ElectroCookie thru-holes without "splaying" and potentially causing a short or other issue). For other peripherals, like buttons, sensors, etc. I will generally use either 20 or 22 gauge stranded.
Hope that helps!
I am fan wled
Thank you for this awesome tutorial! Quick question though, would it be possible to use a 3.5mm audio jack instead of an analogue microphone for sound input. I want to create a display that wont be triggered by ambient sound. Thanks!
It is certainly possible. I have not tried it myself, but you can find info on using a line-in option as the source for audio reactivity here: kno.wled.ge/advanced/audio-reactive/ (info on using line-in is near the bottom of this page).
Hi there, great video first of all. I have a question that nobody seems to cover. When a esp32 is running a large strip light setup, say 10 metres of lights, obviously you would use additional power transformer to provide power injection, but nobody covers how to control the transformer, meaning switching it on and off when you turn on and off the esp32, I'm guessing something like a 3v to 240v ac relay. Switching that happens automatically? Do you have a video on this or any thoughts? Many thanks. Pete.
If I understand you correctly, you want to also power down the transformer/power supply when the LEDs are turned off? Well first off, if you are using this same power supply to power the controller, then the controller would also be powered off and you wouldn't be able to turn the LEDs back on without somehow turning the power supply back on separately first.
But if you are referring to a secondary power supply, you could use a relay just as I showed in the video... except it would naturally need to be rated for the type, voltage and current of the secondary transformer. Another alternative would be to connect the second power supply to a smart plug or outlet and use something like Home Assistant, NodeRed, etc to create an automation that would turn the power on/off to the smart outlet when the LEDs are turned off/on.
Note that I do have a video where I'm using a wall switch with a Shelly smart relay installed. This wall switch, when turned off, kills the power to the entire system (transformer, controller and LEDs). The drawback is that to turn the LEDs on via automation, I have to turn on the smart relay first. But the LEDs are configured to automatically turn on with full white when they power up, so the wall switch works pretty much like a standard light switch for the LEDs. Once the LEDs/wall switch is on, I can then changes colors, effects, etc. This might give you some additional ideas: ua-cam.com/video/Pxq-ePs5D-g/v-deo.html
Nice
Thanks
good explanation.
how to add RTC to wled. so that internet clock data goes into RTC and RTC can be backed up if there is no internet connection.
Thank You.
If you want to add anything to WLED, you need to install a custom mod (or write your own). While I haven't tried it myself, there is at least one custom mod for RTC in the WLED mods folder: github.com/Aircoookie/WLED/tree/main/usermods I think this is similar to what you are wanting.
Thank you for your response and answer. I will try it
Doesn't the ESP32 itself run off 3V? Once you get to the point of using a buck converter to provide 3V, I think you can power the esp32 on the 3V pins, and abandon the 5v pins; This also alleviates the possibility of the onboard regulator not being so good.
Yes... you can certainly do something like that, but you are now relying on the buck converter to be the "voltage regulator" and providing a consistent voltage. When powering the ESP chip directly via 3.3V, it is pretty sensitive to voltage. So if the buck converter provides better "regulation" than the onboard regulator, it is certainly possible to wire it as you describe.
Hello sir, great video. I need some help regarding custom usermods in a wled based project using esp8266.
You can find all the info you need on installing, compiling and using a custom mod on the WLED website: kno.wled.ge/advanced/compiling-wled/
You can also find specific information for user mods in the user mod folder that you are interested in here: github.com/Aircoookie/WLED/tree/main/usermods
Hi, thx for an excellent video. I tried to use a k22 ir sensor and a 20ohm potentiometer on my ESP8266 Board, as you suggested. When i connected a potentiometer it did not work and the LED light also does not light up when connected to a 5v power source or via usb on the computer but the LED lights light up if i disconnect the potentiometer. When i connected the ir sensor the sensor responds with a red light when i press any button on the remote but the led strip does not respond to any button on the remote. I tried D1/D2/D3 pins on the board. Any tips on what i am doing wrong? cheers
There are many potential issues here. But I'll try to give you some things to look at or consider.
First, you said 20 ohm potentiometer. I was using a 20 kΩ (20,000) potentiometer. You might need a different range or value... 25K, 30K or even 50K. Of course it also needs to be wired and defined properly in WLED.
As far as the IR remote, would you be using the audio-reactive or sound-reactive version of WLED? Last I knew, the IR remote functionality is disable with the audio/sound reactive versions. Are you using a different remote? You might need to check/alter the codes being received by the WLED controller. You can find info on that via the WLED site at: kno.wled.ge/interfaces/json-ir/json_infrared/
Hope that points you in the right direction.
@@ResinChemTech Hi, thx for your response. I am using a 20k ohm potentiometer, 20ohm was a typo. I am using WLED_0.14.4, thats not the sound reaction version, is it
? I am using the exact same 44 key remote as you did in this video. cheers
Hello, thank you for all your videos, they have been a great help. I’m hoping you could maybe shed some light on a problem I am experiencing on ESP32 wroom devkit 1.
I have two buttons wired up to GPIO 18 and 19,
Led data is on default 16. Button one is set to 19, button two to 18. 19 has actions set to preset commands (on/off, cycle, default colour) and 18 to default values (0 in macros)
The problem I’m having is buttons 2 is copying button 1, even when I set it to disabled, it still triggers. I have checked for any shorts but all is okay. Reflashed the board and tried different versions. Do you have any idea what could be causing this. Thank you.
So, after a lot of adjustment and testing, it turns out it was simply CROSSTALK. Problem solved.
Thanks!
Your videos are fantastic, thank you. Newbie quick question on the relays, do I need to have one on all the power injection points? I have a 400 LED stip with three power injection points and from what I can ascertain I think I do?
If so, I can use the buck converter to power all three?
Thanks so much for the super! I greatly appreciate it and it will be used to help fund future projects and videos.
As far as the relay, yes you would need to kill the power to all the injection points, but there are multiple ways to accomplish this. First you can run the power from your supply through the relay before you split it off to the three different power injection points. That way you have a single relay that is controlling all the power to the LEDs. Just be sure that the relay is rated to handle the current you expect for the LEDs.
While you can use multiple relays, do note that standard WLED is only designed to use one relay. There is a user-mod that supports multiple relays, but you'd have to add that and compile your own WLED. You can find more info on that here: kno.wled.ge/features/relay-control/
As far as the buck converter, yes you could power multiple relays but the same rule applies. Just be sure the buck converter is rated for the maximum amps that would be needed to power all the relays.
Thanks again for the support...and the kind words. Let me know if I can help out any further.
@@ResinChemTech thank you for the quick response! After I sent my comment I did some research and came across that very idea, put the relay between the power supply and controller (in this case an ESP32). But I’m running the board from the same power supply so I’ll need to power that separately which is easy. I have a small 5v, 3amp plug which I can use to power both the ESP32 and relay (it’s a 5v relay since they don’t seem to make one for higher amps for 3.3v). I’m using a 20 amp power supply with a 30 amp rated relay so I’m good there. I hope this makes sense and I’m on the right track.
Your videos are an inspiration to me, so well produced. Thanks again!
Sounds like you are on the right track! The only thing I'd mention is that if you are using different power supplies for the controller and LEDs, make sure you create a common ground between the two (one easy way to do this is just run a ground wire from your controller along with the data line to the start of the LED strip). If you don't have a common ground, the LEDs may misbehave do to possible ground potential differences between the controller's power source and the LEDs' power source. You may have already done this... but I thought it was worth mentioning!
@@ResinChemTech common ground! That always throws me off. My LED’s are wired straight to the 20amp power supply. So I need to connect the same ground out from the 3amp power supply (to the relay and controller), the 20amp power supply (on the output side of course), and the controller?
Sorry for all the questions.
Not a problem! You just need to establish a single common ground connection somewhere between the controller and LEDs. You can make this connection wherever it is convenient, but on the few occasions where I've done it, I just run a ground from the controller along with the data line to the start of the LED strip. Since I'm already running a line for the data signal, it is pretty easy to just include a second ground connection here. In fact, I have a number of standard wiring diagrams in one of my blog articles that shows this: resinchemtech.blogspot.com/2023/01/wiring-diagrams.html
Look for the example that shows dual 12V and 5V power supplies. This same wiring can be used for two separate 5V supplies as well.
If you need additional assistance, I'm glad to help but it is a little restrictive what I can do here in the UA-cam comments. If you like, feel free to contact me via email (you can find my email address on the 'about' section of my UA-cam channel page... I don't publish it here because it gets picked up by spam bots). Or if you have a Discord account and want to shoot me over your Discord user name, we can connect over there as well. Otherwise, best of luck with the project. Let me know how it turns out!
Can the switch also be used for the LED Data pin so I can switch between 2 ESP32 Boards? :)
You can use a switch to toggle the LED signal between two controllers. I do this with my matrix clock, where one controller is running WLED and the other is running custom Arduino code for the clock/scoreboard. But I'm using a manual toggle switch.... not one that is switched by either controller. The issue is that if you are using the switch for the LED data lines, then you can't also control that switch from WLED (a single pin can't be both the data line and a switch). So you'd need some other external way to toggle the switch from one controller to the other. I just opted to make mine manual.
@@ResinChemTech I will use a On / On manual locking toggle switch with 3 pins.
The middle pin goes to the led strip data and left goes to one ESP32 and right to the other. When pulling the switch its shorten/connect one of the ESP32 to the LED Strip.
I also want to use a Level Shifter to not loose signal quality when going over the switch. ✌
Hi I'm a student and I started working with STM32 a few weeks ago. I needed help implementing the MQTT system on custom hardware. Do you know about MQTT on custom hardware? In my case I have a custom board relay.
I have a number of videos specifically about MQTT if you check out my channel: www.youtube.com/@ResinChemTech
My pir sensor is not working connected the correct pins and even let it stay out for couple of minutes to stabilize but to no avail. I have my project in 2 days
Please someone help me
Did you configure it properly in WLED LED Preferences? Verify that you have specified the right GPIO pin and selected either PIR Sensor or Switch (you might try both options). Also verify that you have the PIR sensor connected to the proper voltage (5V or 3.3V... different sensors may have different requirements).
If it still is not working, then there is a possibility that you have a bad PIR sensor.
14:37
Any development on using ToF (VL53L0X ) sensors to control brightness using distance for example?
The issue with using the VL53L0X is that it is an I2C device and returns a numeric value. Therefore this can't be used like a binary switch, but also cannot be used as an analog device because it isn't returning various voltages. Standard WLED would have no idea what to do with a number like 23.8 vs. 25.4.
There may be user mods available for something like this (there is at least one for the VL35l0x), or you could use connect the VL53L0x to another ESP board and use either ESPHome or Arduino code that would return a high/low signal on a pin when the measured distance is greater or less than a value and then connect that to the WLED controller. But this would still be binary and would work much like a PIR motion sensor and not provide variable values for controlling something like brightness. While you can find I2C pin definitions in the User Mod section of recent WLED versions, these are meant to be used with user mods that then does "something" with the data. So you can check the user mods (or even develop you own) to take the data received and do something like map the distance to brightness.
The other alternative is to use something like Home Assistant or other automation platform that could send varying brightness commands to the WLED controller based on different measured differences.
@@ResinChemTech
I've seen kitchen top counter LED strips that control brightness using hand gesture, e.g simply move hand from left to right = increase brightness, right to left decrease brightness.
I assume they used a ToF sensor, but seeing how difficult the implementation is, they might be doing something different?
Any ideas how they achieved that?
This WLED user mod seems to do exactly what you are describing, but I haven't tried or tested it: github.com/Aircoookie/WLED/tree/main/usermods/VL53L0X_gestures
Hi awesome video just wondering can I connect two motion sensors, planning to use wled for stairs lightning?
Yes... and I actually cover that in the video and even talk about using them with stairs in the motion sensor section. There are some limitations and you may get better results with one of the WLED user mods... or with Home Assistant... but I specifically talk about using two motion sensors for something like stairs in this video.
@@ResinChemTech Sweet, I would want to use home assistant too but it needs some hardware and the raspberry pie's are just too expensive. Probably gonna use an old laptop with a huge heatsink soo it's quite. Currently using some some tuya smart devices and one wled light with esp32. Before I didn't know about wled but when I heard about it I was amazed. And its cheap too like the esp32 is like 3.70€ on AliExpress.
@@ResinChemTech Sweet, I would want to use home assistant too but it needs some hardware and the raspberry pie's are just too expensive. Probably gonna use an old laptop with a huge heatsink soo it's quite. Currently using some some tuya smart devices and one wled light with esp32. Before I didn't know about wled but when I heard about it I was amazed. And its cheap too like the esp32 is like 3.70€ on AliExpress.
@@ResinChemTech Only issue is that would require a couple of very long wires to run the PIRs together.
So how about building two WLED boards and only connecting one to the actual lights, then sync them together to that they both turn on the lights when either detects motion?
The other thing you could do is with Home Assistant start an automation when it detects the lights have come on, pause for XX minutes and then turn them both off.
I have just tried using an automation based on me turning a WLED string on, a delay and then turning other things on/off and it seems to work well.
Pretty much exactly what I did here: ua-cam.com/video/Y29Y0iTLggg/v-deo.html
Except my two sensors are connected to D1 Minis running ESPHome. I would later replace the PIR sensors with ToF sensors for better reactivity and fewer false triggers. There's also a follow up video where I replaced those PIR sensors ( ua-cam.com/video/ZRb_wpJo1AM/v-deo.html ). Yeah... as I mentioned in the video, using something like Home Assistant automations is going to make a much better system, but I was trying to stick with what could be done only with the WLED controller.
I watched because I have some problems with my microphone and it don't work. I tryed exactly what you did but my microphone is just doing crazy stuff. My microphone only has 3 pins (VCC,GND,OUT). Also it's strange because my LEDs are flickering which is really annoying. Could someone help me please?
Based on the little information you provided, it could be any number of things. Since you said the microphone only has three pins, I'm assuming it is an analog microphone. Is it connected to an appropriate analog pin on the ESP and did you define/setup the microphone with the right GPIO pin? Are you using an ESP32 or ESP8266? How many LEDs are you using and what is the size of your power supply?
Flickering LEDs could be from a number of causes and may have nothing to do with the microphone. Are you using a logic level shifter of some sort... or at least a sacrificial pixel? Flickering could be due to a poor/weak signal. It could also result from too low of a voltage reaching some of the LEDs and power injection might be necessary.
I am using a ESP32 witch is powered by 5v 15A. The LED strip (WS281x) is connected to GPIO 14 and has 300 LEDs.
Sound settings:
Squelch: 10
Gain: 40
AGC: off
Microphone type: Generic Analog
Analog input pin: 32
The LEDs are only flickering when I use a music mode.
I also connected a blue, red and Green LED to the ESP32 (pin 25, 26, 27 ) in the settings I used "PWM RGB". Is it possible that this LEDs do the same things as the strip? (Right now I can't even turn them off)
I have the newest version of the software.
I hope it's anoth information
Based on what you describe, I really am not sure what the issue could be unless it is some sort of interference on the analog line. While I usually use a digital mic like the INMP441, I do have a few installs that use an analog MAX9814. While the MAX9814 isn't as responsive as the digital version, none experience the flickering you are describing.
You might try taking a look at some of the troubleshooting information on the sound-reactive web site. There is quite a bit of info there: github.com/atuline/WLED/wiki/My--device--is-not-working
Otherwise, you might need to try the WLED Discord server or one of their other forums and see if someone else has experienced this and can recommend a fix. Sorry I can't be more help, but I just haven't experienced the issue you are describing.
Thank you so far
Very good video for WLED!! well done !
Thanks. I appreciate the comment.
Is it possible to use an ultrasonic sensor with wled?
As I mentioned in the video, standard WLED has no way to deal with numeric values from sensors like distance. However, there are user mods available (or you can develop your own) that would allow you to connect a distance sensor and then take some action with the LEDs.
@ResinChemTech thats amazing although i dont even know where to start programing do you think this is a feature that will get implemented in the future?
New features are being added to WLED all the time, so it's hard to know what may or may not be added in the future. One issue is that every new feature added makes WLED a little bit larger (unless something is taken away) and at some point it could exceed the capacity of the ESP boards.
I think they may eventually find a way to make installing user mods a little easier, but I think coming up with a way to handle what could be an infinite number of values coming from something like a distance sensor would be extremely difficult. The sensor could return any number from, say, 2cm - 400cm. WLED would need a way to 'do something' or process those values and then provide you a way to specify what you want to do with the LEDs when the reported number is higher, lower or equal to a value.
This is where you are getting more into automation and an automation engine, like Home Assistant or NodeRed. Using automations, it would be simple to read a value from a distance sensor and then send a command to the LEDs. In fact, I do this exact thing with my stair lights (although I'm using a ToF distance sensor instead of ultrasonic... but the concept is the same). I don't foresee an automation engine being added to WLED simply because of the complexity and the size of the resulting code.
@ResinChemTech couldnt it treat those values as an analogue signal similar to what a potentiometer would, or maybe there is an ultrasonic sensor which has the internal code to just give you an analogue output?
A potentiometer is similar, but slightly different because it is actually changing the voltage on the analog pin. And it is pretty easy (relatively) to map the voltage to a fixed range values like brightness or speed. But something like an ultrasonic sensor is going to report a numeric value on a digital I/O pin. You could possibly map a distance range to something like brightness or speed as well with similar code modifications. But what I don't believe you can do (without substantially more involved code changes) is to control 'non-linear' values like the effect or color palette. Nor could you currently do something like turn the LEDs on when the distance is below a certain value and turn them back off when the distance is greater than that value. At least not in any way that I am aware of with the standard non-modified WLED.
If you have a Discord account, you can always try asking or making an enhancement request on the WLED Discord server. It's pretty active and they even have a channel for requesting new features.
Can an ESP32 S3 Super Mini be used?
I haven't tried one, but you can find a list of officially supported WLED boards here: kno.wled.ge/basics/compatible-controllers/
@ResinChemTech Ok. Thanks for the feedback. According to Copilot, my ESP32 mini is actually an ESP32 C3. It has an Espressif S3 chip, but it also has a little red chip with C3 on it. WLED does not yet support or is not yet compatible with the C3, but it is a work in progress.
can i use tof sensor and hand sensor for it?
A ToF sensor returns a numeric value. Standard WLED doesn't know what to do with a number. You would need to install or write you own appropriate user mod that could take some sort of action based on particular numeric values returned by the sensor. Here's a user mod that uses the VL53L0X and hand gestures to control the LEDs (I have not tested or tried this mod): github.com/Aircoookie/WLED/tree/main/usermods/VL53L0X_gestures
@@ResinChemTech I guess I'll use other method, thank you 😀
@@ResinChemTech It's my first time to have a project about esp32 with wled. I would like to ask you few questions.
I'm planning to put a 5M led strip under our stair handrails. I decide to put it there, because our stair don't have allowance under the steps, where I can put aluminum diffuser. I measured the space under the handrails, and I only have less than 8mm.
These are my materials so far
-esp32 w dev board
-ws2812b rgbic cob led strip 5M 60led/M 5mm
-logic level shifter I2c
-5v 30a relay
- IR transmitter
-2 PIR motions sensor hc-sr501
-power supply 5v 30A (300x0.06)= 18A
-10M 18 AWG or 22AWG?
1. Can I use 2 PIR sensor, one at ground floor and the other one is on 2nd floor?
2. Can I modify the PIR sensor, to on and off only at a given time. For example, from 6pm to 6am only?
3. Can I use remote for extra switch?
4. Do I really need a relay? or fuse?
5.What size of wire AWG 18 or 22?
Thank you 😅
I have two different videos (and related blog articles) on creating stair lighting that will address most of your questions and could easily be adapted for LEDs under the handrail instead of along the stringers. One uses WLED and two independent motion sensors with ESPHome, and uses Home Assistant for the automations: ua-cam.com/video/Y29Y0iTLggg/v-deo.html
The other one doesn't require Home Assistant or ESPHome and instead uses a single controller running custom written Arduino code: ua-cam.com/video/b4s_VEtVWY4/v-deo.html
Do note that I have an update video for the first Home Assistant version that replaces the PIR sensors with ToF sensors, which I have found to be much more reliable with less ghosting: ua-cam.com/video/ZRb_wpJo1AM/v-deo.html
Those videos and articles should address most of your questions, but with the Home Assistant/WLED version, you can certainly do everything asked in questions 1-3. For the relay and fuse, they aren't technically required but the relay will reduce power consumption when the LEDs are off and the fuse is a safety feature. I cover some of these in my other LED videos as well. The gauge of wire depends on too many factors to give you an answer... you should always use the largest size wire possible... both as a safety issue and to reduce voltage drop. There are online calculators that can help you with selecting the proper gauge based on current, length, wire type, temperature and more.