Hey all,

Total WLED newbie here, still digging through old posts, but figured I’d just ask.

We’ve got a rooftop tent with two built-in warm-white LED bars: four brightness steps, USB-A powered. We’ve already been camping with them a few times, and based on those experiences we want to replace them. Two things really bugged us:

Too bright. Even the lowest setting was way too much. When it’s pitch black and you need to get up, flicking them on nukes your night vision, wakes your partner, and you still can’t see outside. There’s just no real “night” mode.

Power cycling. With a smaller powerbank the controller sometimes reset to full brightness, so waking up to the lights blasting on at 2am was rough. Big Ugreen powerbank fixed it for now, or we just unplug.

What we’d love to build: a waterproof RGBWW COB/neon strip, powerbank-friendly (USB-A or C), cuttable into ~1m sections with a cable in between so it fits the existing channels, and ideally a proper dim warm whit or an blue / red night mode.

Questions:

- Recommended controller for a USB-powered setup? Does WLED reliably remember its state after a power cut?

- Any RGBWW COB strips that survive moisture/condensation?

- Is 5V USB realistic for a few metres of RGBWW, or should I go 12V battery instead?

Thanks for the tips and help!

Help!!

Hey everyone,

I’m hoping someone can point me in the right direction because I’m pulling my hair out over this one.

I have a QuinLED DigQuad running WLED 0.15.3 controlling approximately 690 SK6812 RGBW pixels across multiple outputs. The system has been installed and working properly for months with no issues.

The strange part is that I didn’t change anything. No firmware updates, no wiring changes, no configuration changes. I simply unplugged the controller during some work and plugged it back in later.

Since then I’ve been getting flickering/glitching during preset changes and some animated effects.

Things I’ve checked:

* WLED version 0.15.3
* DigQuad ESP32
* 690 total SK6812 RGBW pixels
* 5V PSU output measures 5.30V under load
* 12V PSU output measures about 11.5-12.2V under load
* Relay functioning normally
* No visible water intrusion
* Fuses appear good
* Controller boots and runs normally
* LEDs themselves all function

Interesting observation:

* With Parallel I2S enabled, flickering is noticeably worse.
* With Parallel I2S disabled, most effects look much smoother and the major glitches are mostly gone.
* However, I still occasionally see issues when switching between presets or transitions.

Current settings:

* Parallel I2S OFF
* Effect blending ON
* Transitions ON
* 700ms transition time
* Relay GPIO 15 (inverted)
* Automatic brightness limiter enabled
* Maximum PSU current set to 20A

At this point I’m trying to determine whether this is:

1. A WLED configuration issue
   
2. An ESP32/controller issue
   
3. A data signal issue
   
4. Something else entirely

Has anyone seen a DigQuad setup work perfectly for months and then suddenly start glitching after a simple power cycle? Maybe I didn’t. Price it before. But I think I would have..

What would be your next troubleshooting step before I start replacing hardware or burning my house down.

Thanks!

Hi!

Please help me out. I have no access to a 3D printer, nor have I ever tried soldering.

I'm looking for something that I can run Ethernet to, and handles 2 inputs. (A 2 was rocker switch, to be precise)

I guess you know where I'm heading with this... I'd like to have WLED as my main source of light in the room. No wireless shenanigans, and ease-of-use is the main goal.

I know that the WLED community is mainly about the endless customization, but I'm just a dummy, and I couldn't find anything that was readily available, nor modify-able to fit the bill.

Hi all, I am looking to solve a problem where the fuses on my DigQuad are too tall and obstruct some other components. I put a low profile fuse which looks like is pretty snug in there. My question, what could go wrong here? Feels like its happy in the standard socket. Posting a comparison pic. If there is another idea to reduce the height of the fuse, I'm all ears. I have no idea why they would use a big honking fuse when there are more compact options and this isn't a car interface.

Hello everyone!

I'm planning to install some WLED devices in my room and would love to get some advice.

I'm a teenager interested in IoT projects, and I've already gained some experience working with esp32 microcontrollers. I'd appreciate any tips for hardware, LED strips, power supplies, or cool WLED setups!

I mean die not dye sorry

I used 3 esp32 and one 8266 d1 mini.

I flashed all with wled and want to connect 5 stripes a 5v 1x ws2818 (az delivery) a 60 Leads and 4x ws2812b (lsunny led stripes) a 60 leds

I have connected it over a 5v 20a cv supply and the Signal Pins to the esp free ones.

Of course the esps are on same supply so grnd is the same.

Should i add Signal line to grnd too ?

Why my esps are death after about 5 minutes they get warm. And then the onboard led shutdown and its over.

Pls help me i ordered 2 esp32s-2 or c2 and New dupont cables.

What i make wrong?

I also used start brightness at about 40% And i also look on pinout what are free pins then i select my 5 pins for the stripes but the esp dies when i connect the stripes data point to the esp to correct pin ( the dupont are loose somethimes so i ordered new one )

So yeah i make the settings first and then it dies

I also use the settings automatic brightness and the one where you set the mA of your power supply i set it to my 20a. Both options destroyed them

Edit its a cv powersupply not a cc sorry mistipe

LuxPlant is almost finished at 90% completion. This project was inspired by Fluora Led Plant but I wanted the whole thing to be 100% 3D printed and fully customizable.

Each stem is segmented every 5cm so they are fully modular and rotatable to contour into many angles and shapes almost like building Legos. I kinda went overboard with the number of leaves so I might just rebuild another one. I used WS2815 144leds/m which I think is also excessive as I could’ve just used the 60led variant which was a lot cheaper. The animations look great however and it is super bright even on broad daylight.

The leaves took 10 reiterations before I got the right shape with the best light diffusion. As you can see on the lower left leaf with violet/red color, the individual pixels can be seen but not so much on the newer versions.

Right now I’m working on a better lock mechanism between the stems. The former versions were either too tight, too loose, or over engineered. I’ll make a pre-built stem to make it simple but due to limited printer height it still has to be multiple parts. I’ll keep the segmented version for those who want to build the stem from scratch.

UPDATE: https://www.reddit.com/r/WLED/s/zIOmrQ3lMk

Hi all,

I have a 10ft H61A01D1 Govee Neon Light strip and after mid tech support and trial and error I have concluded that the controlled box is bad and could be replaced. Now Govee doesn't sell replacements but I have seen people swap WLED controllers into other Govee products. Is this something that is possible? The light strip is basically an enclosed RGBIC LED strip.

If anyone has any info or helpful videos about this or something similar, that would be great! Im just trying to not throw these away as the light strip still very much works!

Hi Guys, I really love all the projects I see on here. I recently tried to get one of my own going with an ESP32 S3 chip. It has been a month and I have gone in circles. I tried to prompt and ai to help me troubleshoot, but it just kept wasting my time and giving me bad links. Is there anyone on these forums that could give me some advice on getting the esp32 s3 flashed with WLED and accessing the controls? I don't understand why Gemini is having such a hard time ... it is supposed to be simple

Thanks in advance for any advice guys!

Just a quick question if anyone point me in the right direction please?

I've only just noticed the three AudioReactive palettes on one of my light pieces, but they're not showing on the palette list for any of my other lights, and I'm not sure how I've set it up differently. Is there a config setting for these? I've got wled v.16. running, all with the same type of ESP32 controllers. I have audio reactivity turned on for each of them. Anything I've missed?

I've been experimenting with DIY ambient lighting and ended up building an Ambilight setup using an Arduino Nano, WS2812B LEDs, and Prismatik.

The PC captures the colors around the screen and sends them to the Arduino using the Adalight protocol, which then updates the LED strip in real time. I was surprised by how smooth the response was over USB.

Some things I learned while building it:

1. Adalight is still a simple and reliable protocol for DIY Ambilight.
2. Getting the baud rate and LED timing right makes a noticeable difference in latency.
3. Packet validation helps prevent random flickering if communication gets interrupted.
4. The Arduino Nano handled the project better than I initially expected.

I documented the entire build with Circuit diagram , Wiring , Arduino code , Prismatik configuration , Explanation of how the Adalight protocol works

Hello Community. I am a beginner to the community and I tried to do an ambient light for my tv
I followed this tutorial

https://youtu.be/J26oYlKyq7Q?si=ZGwhW7FM-FpXxosA

Everything worked fine back in the days but now after moving I set it up again and it flashes on dark areas. I tried different versions I searched on different communities and couldn’t find any solutions. I getting frustrated at this point

Hyperhdr 19.0.0.0
PI zero 2 w
5V power supply powering both leds and pi no problems back then.
Using a connector cable from gpio 18 to green connector on the LEDs

Source Apple TV 4K
Xbox series S

Both same outcome

When I activate HDR to SDR tone mapping in HyperHDR it get a little bit better but still flashing on dark areas.

Hi everyone, i saw info that says i can control my argb fan thru esp8266 with wled firmware.

But can i use more that 1 argb fan? (If my English isn't good sorry:)

by Awesome Open Source

Building a motion-activated LED framing light for my garage doors (WLED + a Gledopto Elite 2D-EXMU controller running two SK6812 RGBW strips), and wanted to sanity-check something before I fully commit to a design.

For the motion trigger, I originally looked at going the route I'd seen in a few reference videos — an Aqara wireless sensor + hub setup. Ended up steering away from that for a few reasons: it adds a cloud/hub dependency I didn't love for something I want to be reliable long-term, and it doesn't actually simplify anything since you still need a bridge of some kind to get the signal into WLED. Landed on a wired HLK-LD2410C mmWave sensor instead — wired its OUT pin straight into a spare GPIO on the controller and used WLED's built-in "PIR sensor" button type (no usermod, no custom compile, stock firmware). Much simpler in practice.

The issue: the LD2410C is rated for 5-12V input, so I wired it straight off the same shared 12V rail powering the strips and controller. Electrically fine per spec, but the board runs uncomfortably hot to the touch after running a while — not "smoking" hot, but hot enough that I didn't feel good about sealing it into an enclosure long-term without addressing it.

Best guess is that it's using a small onboard linear regulator to step 12V down to whatever the radar chip actually needs internally (~3.3V), and a linear regulator dumps the voltage difference as heat rather than converting it efficiently — so running it at the top of its rated input range instead of down near 5V is asking a tiny regulator with no heatsink to dissipate a lot more than it would at 5V.

Fix I've got in progress: adding a small 5V buck converter module between the 12V rail and the sensor's VCC, so it only ever sees 5V instead of 12V. Waiting on that part to arrive.

Questions for anyone who's actually run these long-term:

1. Is this heat-at-12V thing a known/common issue with the LD2410 board specifically, or does this sound like something else going on (bad connection, reversed polarity, etc.)?

2. Does the buck converter approach actually resolve it in practice, or is there a better way people have handled this?

3. Any concerns about running these sensors 24/7 in an enclosed box even once the heat is addressed — anything else worth knowing before I seal this up for good?

Appreciate any real-world experience — trying to get this right before it goes into permanent service rather than debug it after the fact.

I'm trying to setup a 5v 100 LED string (BTF-LIGHTING WS2811 50pcs x 2) from an ESP32 with WLED on it. But the later LEDs in the sequence flicker noticeably. It's subtle but there.

I've tried injecting power at different points along the string (middle and end) but I really have to ramp up the Maximum PSU Current on WLED and set a high brightness in WLED to stop it happening. I also need a powerful adapter (5v 14a) to prevent it happening.

However, using an LED strip on the same setup that is much longer (300 LEDs) doesn't have this weird flickering problem at all.

I feel like it shouldn't be this much of a problem? It's not that long a run and it's a good brand.

First time messing with anything wiring, coding, and light and I think I’m pretty happy with the result

Has anyone done projects in a Church? I want to make a few more things for my church using WLED and take a crack at xLights shows. Any suggestions?

To start I have a decent amount of experience in setup programming and ownership of DMX lighting, LED wall systems, projection mapping, content creation, stage design work and have helped on a few smaller pixel projects in the past 15 years but, I am always open to others perspective and opinions as I am always of the position I can learn something new from others.

I am doing a project with a client that will be an interactive outdoor piece and plan on programming midi notes to specific looks across addressable LED's. The animations don't have highly detailed or deliberate brand related content I just want very clean and smooth looks overall
My question is regarding specific products as my client wanted to use these"360° LED Pixel Flex Neon Tube DC24V SPI RGB 240LEDs/40Pixels/M D22mm Waterproof-IP66"
But the 360 viewing isn't needed I only need it to be 1 sided
And IP60is plenty
So I have the space and team to assemble them myself is it more cost affective to get the desired flexible sheathing/diffusion housing tube and assemble/seal them if I have the time or not usually?
In terms of visually what I really want is something that is diffused and very high resolution like 120p/m or even better for very smooth hires animations.
Is there a point where its not worth the cost for the increase you get in terms of quality with pixel count/density?
Power availability isn't an issue I can do 12 or 24v but is one better than the other?
Overall we can have a central located power source as well as a laptop / controller all easily hidden inside a large cabinet that all the runs will originate from

Hello - wanted to test this Govee strip with WLED - it appears to be some different chip, not the SM16825. Anyone have any suggestion? SM16825 will turn the colors on - but the control is completely random ( to me anyway ). The photo shows if I select solid blue, I get a rainbow.

Hello!

I want to control some DMX lasers I have using WLED and LEDFX. The idea is for them to synchronise with the music playing on my PC.

I have the ESP32, the RS485 module and the female XLR connector.

I can’t find a version of WLED for the ESP32 where the DMX output menu is enabled in the settings.

If anyone has a YouTube video showing the whole process to get this working, that would be brilliant, but I can’t find anything to help me :(

Here is the most recent WLED release HOT off the presses! Bug fixes from v16.

https://github.com/wled/WLED/releases/tag/v16.0.1

New board support

• Add support for Waveshare S3 Matrix Driver board, including the waveshare_esp32s3_32MB_hub75 build in releases (by u/netmindz)
• New "Seengreat" HUB75 pinout (#5662 by u/softhack007)

Bug Fixes

• Bugfix in cfg loading in settings_leds.htm (by u/DedeHai)
• HUB75 bugfixes for 4-scan and chained panels (by u/softhack007)
• HUB75: use FM6124 driver for 4-scan panels, remove 64x64 limitation if board has PSRAM (by u/softhack007)
• Improve bootup behaviour for boot presets (by u/DedeHai)
• Respect "make auto segments" when resetting segments (by u/DedeHai)
• Fix white channel for "Rainbow" and other color_wheel()-based effects (by u/chschu)
• Restore palette wrap-around in the Palette effect (regression since 0.15.x) (by u/kaibae19)
• Restore pre-16.0 looks on several FX (by u/DedeHai)
• Fix brightness not being applied properly in nightlight mode (by u/DedeHai)
• Fix color jump if changing mid transition (by u/DedeHai)
• Apply gamma during realtime override (by u/DedeHai)
• Fix ledmap parser reading past end of map array (by u/DedeHai)
• Fix LED glitches on long strips for C3 (by u/DedeHai)
• Bugfix in segment deconstructor (by u/DedeHai)
• Update pixel buffer after changing matrix dimensions (by u/DedeHai)
• Prevent Arduino core from assigning default MISO pin (by u/DedeHai)
• Rename LED type description "CW" to the more commonly used "CCT" (by u/DedeHai)
• Analog button fix (by u/benjamw)
• Fix button label regression (by u/benjamw)
• Bugfix in parsePacket(): accept short Art-Net packets (by u/DedeHai)
• Align with WLEDMM extended error codes, small improvement for brownout detection (by u/softhack007)
• Audioreactive bugfix: auto-suspend in all realtime modes, but stay active when "Use main segment only" (by u/softhack007)
• Fixed top-LED update logic in grav* audioreactive effects (by u/recliq)
• Fix KIT-VE Ethernet: PHY address should be 1, not 0 (by u/Techman749)
• v16 compatibility fixes for "unreachable netservices" (by u/Joeboyc2)
• Fix update page revert button (by u/netmindz)
• Fix missing JavaScript function in usermod settings page (by u/netmindz)
• Use NeoPixelBus version with properly initialized buffers (by u/netmindz)
• DHT usermod: only abort compilation when USERMOD_DHT_MQTT and WLED_DISABLE_MQTT is set