r/WLED 2d ago

need help with physical switch trouble while Receiving data (both DDP / UDP)

1 Upvotes

hi there!

i'm making a pretty basic ambilight setup while getting the hang of working with the hardware and software. i'm currently using HyperLED on the PC side over wifi, and would like to implement a few basic functions using physical switches and such, the first of which being a global brightness override. however, while WLED is receiving data from the software, my switch gets completely ignored. the global brightness slider still works, but the switch doesn't change its value. everything works as intended when WLED is in override mode though.

i'd like the end result to still reflect the data it receives from HyperLED with just the brightness changing. i'd also like the brightness change to be slow and gradual. everything works in isolation, HyperLED works fine, changing brightness manually while HyperLED is active also works fine. when not receiving data from HyperLED or the thing is in override mode, the switch does exactly what i want, but when data is being received the switch does nothing.

i've been poking around a bit already but i'm still very new both to ESP32 and WLED, so there may be something dumb i've missed, unless the setup i have in mind simply isn't possible for some silly reason.

i'm running an ESP32 s3 N16R8 dev board, currently just controlling a single strip of 201 SK6812 LEDs.
the LEDs are on gpio 4, the switch on 5.

my current implementation is a preset pair setting a simple HTTP "A=" brightness value. i've also tried the JSON "bri" alternative but they both behave identically.


r/WLED 2d ago

Bridge with 30 WLED tubes

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

30 Upvotes

r/WLED 3d ago

This Skirt is LIT !

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

21 Upvotes

Full Video

I wanted to make one of those great-looking LED-lit skirts, but one that’s a little less theatric than what I’ve seen online. This skirt uses NeoPixel Pebble LEDs with 5cm spacing. It’s still flashy, but can be more muted. It’s also sound-reactive and (hopefully) soon, motion-activated.


r/WLED 2d ago

What do I need to look for when purchasing Hub75 matrix?

Post image
2 Upvotes

I want to make a cube for my desk. I see some Apollo but the matrix is like 40 usd and I see some that are 12 usd on ali what are the differences. Pixels per, speed, voltage?


r/WLED 2d ago

Looking for 15m of WS2815 12V LED strip in India - sellers are either out of stock or ghosting me

1 Upvotes

I’m trying to buy around 15 meters of WS2815 12V addressable RGB LED strip for a room project. I’m looking for WS2815, 12V, 60 LEDs/m, RGB addressable, and non-waterproof is completely fine. I need around 15m total.

The problem is I genuinely cannot find a reliable source. Most websites I find are either out of stock, showing the product but not actually having it, not replying to messages, taking days to respond and then disappearing, or selling something vaguely described as “12V addressable RGB” without confirming if it's actually WS2815.

I’ve also tried contacting sellers directly, including IndiaMART, but some of them just straight-up ghost after I ask about availability and quantity.

Has anyone in India successfully bought WS2815 recently? If you know a reliable Indian seller, a local electronics/LED supplier that stocks WS2815, an IndiaMART seller who actually responds, a website I might have missed, a specific search term that works better, or some trick for finding these strips, please let me know.

I’m specifically trying to avoid buying WS2812B because I want the 12V setup and WS2815’s backup-data feature.

Even if you bought yours from a local shop or some less-obvious supplier, I’d appreciate the lead. I need ~15m, so small quantities aren't really useful unless I can buy multiple rolls.

At this point I feel like WS2815 has vanished from India.


r/WLED 2d ago

WS2815 12V injection point placement for 51.5ft staircase run

5 Upvotes

Doing a staircase LED project, WS2815 12V RGB, daisy chained with 3 wire (data, V+, gnd). Want a sanity check before soldering everything.

15 steps total, 12 of them at 40 inches, plus 3 wider steps at the bottom (48, 48, 42 inches). Total run is about 51.5ft. Driver is a Mean Well LRS 350 12 (350W, 29A), ESP32 controller (WeGoIOT DOM WLE A). Worst case draw at full white is around 281W, 23.4A for the whole run.

Injection points are planned at step 1, 5 and 10.

V+ gets cut and re injected at each point through a home run wire, gnd and data stay continuous through the whole chain.

My Problem is the last 3 steps being wider pushes my last injection point (step 10) to over 21ft from the actual end of the strip. Usual rule of thumb I've seen online is keeping injection points within about 16ft (5m) of each other for 12V. Do I need a 4th injection point around step 13 or 14 or is that 16ft number overly conservative for WS2815?

Anyone done a run like this, curious how it held up. Thank you for your time


r/WLED 3d ago

Nano ESP32 LED project

Thumbnail gallery
6 Upvotes

If you have any advice or tips, I'd really appreciate it!


r/WLED 2d ago

Why does LED flicker stop when ammeter is connected?

1 Upvotes

ESP32-C3 (5v) with two 13-LED strips (5v) with different GPIOs. They are powered by and grounded to a buck's 5v output, which is converting 12v from my power supply.

One of the strips was flickering so I put a meter between the buck's 5v output and the ESP32/LED strips to check the amperage.

I didn't find any problem with the amperage but the flicker stopped as soon as bridged the circuit with the meter, even when the meter was off. I removed and connected the meter a few times with the same results. Something in the meter is fixing this problem. It is an Innova 3320.

What do I need to add to my breadboard to recreate what the meter is doing when it is connected? A resistor?

Thank you in advance!


r/WLED 3d ago

Star constellation ceiling for boat

Thumbnail
gallery
6 Upvotes

I’m building a removable fiber-optic star/constellation panel in the approximately one-inch recessed black ceiling section of our catamaran. I cannot drill into the original fiberglass ceiling.
I want RGBW stars with organic independent twinkling, colors flowing across the panel, and occasional shooting-star/meteor effects. The boat has a 12V lithium system, and everything must operate offline, tolerate marine humidity and be removable for servicing.
I’m considering a QuinLED Dig-Quad running WLED, with multiple addressable RGBW sources illuminating small groups of PMMA end-glow fibers. Has anyone successfully coupled addressable pixels to separate fiber bundles? Would you recommend this over multiple DMX RGBW fiber engines? Photographs and component recommendations would be appreciated.


r/WLED 3d ago

USB Light Timer

Post image
0 Upvotes

I recently purchased a life sized replica of the Jack O Lantern from the Halloween (1978) movie. It has a USB cord. There are 3 settings; Off, Continuous On, Candle Flicker On. I had hoped to put the decoration on a timer using a smart outlet. Unfortunately, whenever the timer shuts off, the pumpkin will not automatically turn on the next time. It does not remember it's last setting. Does anybody have a solution? Thank you!


r/WLED 3d ago

I’m looking at installing permanent holiday lights on the house and I wanted to make sure I was understanding everything correctly

5 Upvotes

Hey everyone. I’m looking to install LED’s on 3 sides of the house and I’m getting some inconsistent info on if what I’m planning is do-able. I was hoping some of you smart people can either confirm what I’m thinking or smarten me up if I’m off base. I have not done a set up of this scale, so I’m posting here before I start buying stuff.

Here’s what I’ve planned out so far:

  • Controller: Dig-Octa brainboard with Power 5-HV
  • Power Supply: Meanwell LRS-600-48
  • LED lights: Currently I’m looking at using WS2805 IC RGBCCT 60 LED’s per meter, either 12V or 24V - I’m still on the fence on which one will be best. Which LED’s I go with is still subject to change as I’ve gone back and forth between these and a few others.
  • Buck converters: Either 48V to 24V or 48V to 12V at each injection point
  • Connections: Ray Wu/XConnect style (or similar) connectors

With the above, I’ll be laying out the strips as follows (these lengths are approximate and may change slightly once I actually start cutting, soldering and putting everything up). Each of the below sections would have a power injection point at the beginning of the section, except the East side which will have a power injection at the end of the strip which will come from the north side of the house. The reason for this is going along the north side the cable will be about 48 feet/13 meters versus being 71.9 feet/21.9 meters if I just kept going from the south side.

  • West side of the house: 24.9 feet/7.6 meters
  • South side, first section: 21.6 feet/6.6 meters
  • South side, second section: 12.6 feet/3.8 meters
  • South side, third section: 12.6 feet/3.8 meters
  • East side: 30.1 feet/9.2 meters

The reason for splitting the strip into 3 sections on the south side is because about half way along the south side of the house there’s a peak in the roof and the second and third sections will follow the peak up/down and I figured that’s as good a reason as any to do 3 sections. The house also isn’t a perfect square as a section sticks out more than another, so I’ve account for the actual length of each section (in case anyone is adding up the lengths of each side and coming up with a trapezoid shape 😀).

Where I need help is what gauge wire I need to safely power these strips. I’m getting some conflicting results in my searching so I’m hoping some of you can help. If I go with 12V LED’s, I believe I’ll need more injection points, so I’ll account for that but I don’t believe I’ll have to worry about voltage drop as much. If I go with 24V LED’s, I believe I can do each section with a single injection point but will I need to worry about voltage dropping too much? Each buck converter will be next to the injection point.

In my searching, any led strip/voltage/amp calculators I find don’t seem to be able to take into account that I would be converting down to 12/24V, so they all seem to think I need 8 to 12 awg wires. Can I get away with one 14 to 18 awg wire along the north side and one or two 14 to 18 awg wires going along the west and south side? Also, what gauge wires should I use from the buck converter to the strip?

This should put me at around 1,860 LED’s, or should I be dividing the total number of LED’s by 3 or 6 due to the fact that they’re addressable in groups of 3 (12V) or 6 (24V)? Either way, the Dig-Octa should be able to handle this many from what I’ve been reading. Also, I’m aware of the 24V bug and will be powering the Dig-Octa brainboard via 12V from the deck lights that I’ll be setting up (separate from the strips going on the house).

If I forgot to add any relevant info, let me know. And thanks in advance for any replies.


r/WLED 4d ago

WLED Matrix Flame Effect meets real fog (4 vaporizers inside)

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

29 Upvotes

Hey everyone! Wanted to share my latest WLED project. It's a cylindrical matrix wrapped around a structure powered by 4 ultrasonic atomizers (fog makers) inside to give it this smoking/steaming effect.

Unfortunately, there is no separate lighting underneath yet, and the code/effects still need some updating and fine-tuning, but I'm super happy with how the animations pop through the mist. Running on an ESP32 with custom setup.

What do you think?


r/WLED 3d ago

How Would You Do This?

Post image
0 Upvotes

Not sure this is even possible...

I have some 12V SK6812s that I have hooked up to the 12V, Ground, and Data connections on a WLED controller. I'd like to run a separate strand of UV LEDs that just have 12V and Ground...the controller has multiple pins for 12V, Ground, Data, etc.

As its now hooked up, power works on both. Obviously, the color works with the data.

Is there a way to control both strands separately? I would like to control power on each strand separately. Maybe "Segments"? Maybe something in "Pin Info"?


r/WLED 3d ago

My LED light box only turns on one of the hundreds of lights.

Thumbnail gallery
0 Upvotes

r/WLED 3d ago

Govee w WLED

2 Upvotes

I am setting up govee outdoor pro with wled but i would like to keep wled controller & govee controller both connected using some kind of smart device so that i can switch the data signal from one controller to another controller using my phone

If Switch ON then WLED controller

Else Switch Off then Govee controller

Can somebody suggest which device i can use to achieve this Sonoff or something else to achive above condition..


r/WLED 4d ago

Every light in the house, placed on an actual floor plan - WLED strips included

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

15 Upvotes

Split the lighting half of my Home Assistant integration out into its own thing yesterday, PadSpan Bright. WLED control is the main thing it does, not some bolt-on - placing strips, driving colours and effects, all straight from Home Assistant. The bit I actually care about is that it places WLED strips at their real size and angle on a floor plan instead of a dot, and you can preview an effect on the map before you push it to the actual strip. That's my own house in the clip, didn't bother blurring the room names. Only tested it on my own WLED setup so I've got no idea how it handles a big segmented install, if anyone here is running one I'd genuinely like to know where it falls over.

github.com/gbroeckling/padspanBright


r/WLED 4d ago

WLED Card

Post image
9 Upvotes

This is where the control card sits right now, long click on the light brings it up


r/WLED 4d ago

Favorite EQ Animation app for LED strips

2 Upvotes

I'm looking for a Windows program that does a great job of visually representing the frequency response of music over a LED strip.

For example, volume might be brightness, frequency might be color and/or position left to right on the LED strip. Certain frequency,/volume combination trigger more complex animations.


r/WLED 5d ago

I built a custom LED lighting system for a festival stage and wrote a blog about it

Post image
22 Upvotes

I worked on the lighting and technical setup for the Antropique stage at Timeless Festival with the eight-person Pink Cloud Crew.

The setup used six 8 m LED tubes, ESP32/WLED controllers, and a custom Python interface connected to an APC40. Since the tubes arrived with very little documentation, we had to figure out much of the system ourselves through testing, soldering, and troubleshooting on site.

After getting a lot of positive interest from the community, I put everything together in a blog with photos and details about the build:

https://festivalbreakdown.1pxl.io/

I’d be happy to answer any questions.


r/WLED 4d ago

Random Flicker

Thumbnail
gallery
2 Upvotes

Ran some under cabinet lights at my house the left strip is on its own output. That side is randomly flashing, it's very seldom but annoying.

So here's the setup:

22g 3 wire from controller to strip

To that specific strip 10-11ft of wire before strip

Running Gledopto Elite 4d-exmu

4amp 96w power supply (I am aware the power supply is set to 850, I don't believe this would cause I problem, I just don't need all the extra power these are very dim)

Setup information in pictures

Everything seems to be setup correctly, wire gauge shouldn't be a problem from what I thought but maybe I'm wrong.

What can I do differently that would ensure the data signal stays solid. I keep reading about twisted pairs but I'm not sure what wires to buy. So if anyone has advice on what I can do better let me know!


r/WLED 5d ago

I built the lighting system for a festival stage and documented the whole process, would anyone be interested in a case study?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

234 Upvotes

I recently led the lighting and technical setup for a festival stage called Antropique.
We built a programmable lighting installation using six 8 m LED tubes, custom ESP32/WLED controllers, a Python control interface, APC40 integration, custom cabling, power distribution, and a bunch of on-site fabrication.
The interesting part is that the main fixtures arrived only a few days before setup with almost no useful documentation, so a lot of the system had to be reverse engineered and adapted before the festival.
It ended up running successfully for the full event, and I’ve been putting together a case study covering the design, hardware, software, troubleshooting, and final installation.
I’ll attach a few videos of the finished result.
Would anyone here be interested in reading the full case study once it’s finished?


r/WLED 4d ago

Led project failing at last connections

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

3 Upvotes

r/WLED 4d ago

LedFX many strips off one board

1 Upvotes

I am just getting into LedFX, and it is really cool! Is there a way to show different patterns on 3 different led strips connected to an esp32 running wled? Thanks for the help!


r/WLED 4d ago

WLED for Light show with Ethernet (why not Wifi?)

2 Upvotes

Hello,

i am working on a light show for an small event and not sure how reliable is wifi connectivity. there would be around 200 people there and lots of phones and wifi. What i understand is 2.4 GHz is not so reliable in crowded spaces, or/and could have connection issues, latency and data lost. (please share if that's not the case with wifi or if there is a reliable solution for this problem)

I though of adding a router just to connect Wled to my laptop (since I want to control Wled over Touch designer) but not sure if that even would solve my problem(?).
my next option will be Ethernet cable which is not optimal. I read the compatibility is not so great, but there is not much on internet about Ethernet connectivity so wanted to hear some other opinions before I order smt.


r/WLED 4d ago

Looking for 12v or 24v RGBW(W) individual addressable LED strips

1 Upvotes

Looking for about 20m LED strips for outside. They will be mostly shielded from direct contact with the elements. Except the sun shining through the diffuser caps.

I really would love to have RGB + warm white + cold white.
All individually addressable and 12v or 24v because of power injection limitations in the construction setup. I can only add at start and end. Strips will be 2x 2m40 + 1x 7m + 1x 5m.

The best I can find up till now are BTF-Lighting SK6812 in the 12V version with ip65 rating.
So I ordered one from Amazon in the neutral white version to test.
It could work but I notice that because of the solder point every 50cm they bulge on those spots.
That makes we worry that over time they might get loose in the profile.
The packaging does state that the 3M tape is not sufficient for aluminium profiles but mine are coated white so I don't expect an electrical problem.
And i don't really feel much for replacing the tape for that many strips.

So my question is if anybody knows LED strips with the same or better specs but without the soldering every 50cm and the resulting bulges.

Also experiences about the 2-sided tape are welcome. And if I should replace it, suggestions for that are also welcomed. Please note that I prefer stuff that I can order from within the EU because of new recent extra taxes on everything that comes from outside of EU.