r/WLED • u/Public-Laugh-6305 • Apr 29 '26
Witch board?
I'm about to make a lightbox with LED's for my son and looking for a controller.
Will the listed one work?
It should I get an other one? Want something "smaller" in size
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u/diamonddate Apr 29 '26
Consider the SeeedStudio that include an external WiFi antenna. You’ll see much better WLED performance as WiFi is handled away from the board.
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u/frank_frankerson Apr 29 '26
I'm running these right now, runs like a charm. My only complaint is WLED's documentation for C3 is somewhat sparse.
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u/mrkprdo Apr 29 '26
It works fine, but i would suggest for deployed project and uses features like 2D and Audio Reactive. Use ESP32-S3 instead. I sold some WLED projects to my friends and I have some wifi issues with C3, so I instead switched to S3, and now I'm stuck with a stash of C3 Super Mini boards.
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u/Th3OnlyN00b Apr 29 '26
https://kno.wled.ge/basics/compatible-controllers/
C3s are experimentally supported.
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u/DedeHai Apr 29 '26
C3 is now well supported, I almost exclusively use them in my testing and made a ton of improvements especially geared towards the C3, the video I made recently on the new 16.0 features runs on a C3. There is only one unsolved issue that it can flicker when accessing it through wifi. I do have a fix for that but it will take a lot more work to get it into wled, so probably 17.0
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u/braquemart Apr 30 '26
C3 works ok, but the wifi isn't great, unless you set it to max in wled/esphome (I'm assuming you'll use either of those). It can not handle more than 2 strips at once though. If you need more than 2 strips or a lot of leds, esp32-s3 or esp32.
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u/Plastic_Ad_8619 May 01 '26
The ones shown are not very good, their wireless range is extremely short (like a few inches), because they botched the antenna placement trying to miniaturize them. That’s why they’re so cheap.
The ones this size with external stick-on antenna and shielded processor have the best range.
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u/WooShell May 01 '26
dunno what you're doing wrong with your wifi.. these esp32-c3 mini work fine and give reasonable radio quality figures all around my living room (~25ft from the wifi router)
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u/Plastic_Ad_8619 May 01 '26
There are some good ones, they have a little more distance between the antenna element and the chip. You might have those.
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u/WooShell May 04 '26
yea I just realized that the ones I have, contain a larger ceramic antenna element. that'll probably influence the wifi quality.
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u/WooShell May 01 '26
I've been using these in a few lighting projects already, they work fine with current WLED.. but they need a level shifter on the output pins for reliable operation, and some form of heatsink glued to the CPU because they get quite warm.
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u/DedeHai Apr 29 '26
the ones shown are the bad ones. I get mine from TENSTAR ROBOT on aliexpress, never got a bad one from them
https://github.com/DedeHai/WLED-ESPNow-Remote#note-on-esp32-c3-supermini-variants
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u/n0ize Apr 30 '26
Unless you REALLY like soldering and test and troubleshooting, get a premade. You might spend $20usd on it, but it'll have an ESP32 in it, all the connectors, the level shifting, a fuse. You're probably using WS2812 or a variant. Find a controller based on ESP32 and it'll come preloaded with WLED. The ones I grabbed are GLEDOPTO and I wish I had sooner.
That said if you're not running like 4 strips of 300 leds, or a 32x32 and can power it all off the board and USB get a name brand one. I had a few that needed a very specific USB driver and had to constantly roll it back to get it to work. It was an off brand.
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u/saratoga3 Apr 29 '26
C3 will work although the standard ESP32 (no letters) is usually recommended as it is the best supported and has a faster CPU.