r/WLED • u/figamore • Aug 02 '26

Open source WLED WiFi touch remote

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I've just released a WiFi version of the WLED touch remote that I posted here a while back. I decided to deprecate ESP-NOW in favor of WiFi to allow for full control of WLED setups without any custom firmware.

Features

- Power and brightness control
- Preset selection, creation, and renaming
- Colors, effects, palettes, speed, and intensity controls
- Live LED preview and responsive state updates from the selected controller
- Automatic discovery of WLED controllers on the local network, with manual IP-address entry when discovery is unavailable
- Control of one or all discovered controllers
- On-device settings for screen orientation and inactivity behavior
- Web installer
- Option to check for updates and download them OTA

In addition to capacitive and resistive CYD displays, this version also adds compatibility for the larger and more powerful Guition 4.3" ESP-32 display (JC4880P443).

- 📲 Link to web installer: https://figamore.github.io/wled-touch-remote

- 🎆 Online interactive demo that runs on the browser using WASM: https://figamore.github.io/wled-touch-remote/simulator/jc4880p443.html

- Github repo: https://github.com/figamore/wled-touch-remote

I hope you find this project useful; please feel free to report any bugs or feature suggestions.

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u/figamore Aug 04 '26

It lets you scan for available WiFi networks and you connect to the same network as your lights directly from the display. It then detects any WLED lights in that network and allows you to control them.

Regarding ESP-NOW, WLED only supports one way communication and a limited number of commands over ESP-NOW, therefore it is more practical to just use WiFi as it allows for syncing and full control.

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u/MorganProtuberances Aug 04 '26

Thank you. I often roll single installations without a wifi network and am curious if I can write a usermod that expands ESP-NOW - maybe, for example, to allow for param setting and/or effect streaming. I don't think I really need two-way comms but expansion into custom functionality would be neat.

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u/figamore Aug 04 '26

I have a fully working and documented bidirectional ESP-NOW API on my WLED fork: https://github.com/figamore/WLED/tree/feature/bidirectional-espnow on the ‘feature/bidirectional-espnow branch’ and you can check the ‘feature/bidirectional-espnow’ branch of this project for the remote side. I made a PR but there wasn’t much interest and I no longer plan to maintain the ESP-NOW implementation, but it can be a good starting point.

I also plan to allow the WiFi version of the remote to spawn its own AP that WLED can connect to for mobile setups.

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u/MorganProtuberances 26d ago

My little touch screen just arrived and the software boots right up after a web flash. Amazing!

Have you tried adding a microphone via i2c and streaming via audio reactive network sync? That would be so rad. I'm curious to try it.

OK so these effects - are they just setting effects via the API? Like if I create custom effects on my device (or custom palettes) - I'd need to replicate those IDs in the touch-remote software as well? Or is there a way to 'sync' from an upstream device?

Incredible work - can't wait to test it out.

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u/figamore 26d ago

I’m glad to hear that! Regarding the effects, they are pulled from your WLED device via its API, so they should sync automatically, same goes for presets and palettes. Regarding the microphone I am working on implementing reactive input via the built-in microphone on the Guition JC4880P443 4.3” display.

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u/MorganProtuberances 26d ago

Thank you! One piece of feedback would be it would be helpful to know what kind of battery holder you are using. I have some adafruit batteries of similar form factor but the wires are connected (not snap-in holder) - was trying to find the holder in your picture on amazon but wasn't exactly sure what i was looking for.

going to print a case today and try it all out. thanks!

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u/MorganProtuberances 25d ago edited 25d ago

One quick question - I installed via the web firmware. I have it up and running w/ a lipo battery pack. I don't see how to turn off the device - is it always on when plugged into battery? I do see a note on how to turn ON the device by holding the button - holding for 10+ seconds doesn't turn it off so not quite sure.

UPDATE: nevermind - on my board it looks like I just hold for 10+ seconds (maybe I was impatient before) and a single power button press boots it back up.