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Very awesome demo. I want to do more DIY LED lighting in my office (because it makes for a great video conference backdrop) and I am perfectly capable of buying

Very awesome demo. I want to do more DIY LED lighting in my office (because it makes for a great video conference backdrop) and I am perfectly capable of buying and programming ESP8266's or ESP32's.... But it's a PITA. Doing it totally DIY is a lot of tinkering with a lot of different things (power, the vagueries of LED strips you get from Aliexpress, etc). I'd totally be down for buying like 5 of these units to test with, provided they weren't unreasonably more expensive than what I'd expect to pay for an ESP8266 and related gear.

detaro 7y ago
I've heard good things about those (but no firsthand experience myself!): https://www.tindie.com/products/electromage/electromage-pixelblaze-v2-wifi-led-controller/ https://www.tindie.com/products/electromage/electromage-pixe...
- linsomniac 7y ago
  I've played with the Pixelblaze and it's pretty sweet. As far as going from nothing to being able to control a string of LED lights with a series of pre-programmed effects, it is really easy. That said, I ended up abandoning the project I was going to use them for: permanently installed Christmas lights that doubled as just normal outside lighting when it wasn't a holiday. I ended up, just this weekend in fact, installing just a white LED strip light for that. Which I just did on a whim yesterday afternoon, after someone was prowling up the street looking for open cars that morning.
  - ShakataGaNai 7y ago
    Amusing you say that. At one point I went through the effort of running an entire set of RGBW LED strips, in aluminum channel, along the gutter of my mothers house (I was living in an appt in the city). So that we could have some nice programmable lights for xmas and other holidays. Man, that was so much more work than I expected... and while it worked at first water or other things kept futzing up the system (even with heavy doses of sealant near all electrical connections). Haven't tried turning the system on in more than a year now.
  - bowmessage 7y ago
    What pain point(s) made you abandon the project? I like the idea!
    - linsomniac 7y ago
      Things kind of just spiraled out of control... - Wasn't clear if Pixelblaze with it's add on board could drive multiple strips at high refresh rates, or I needed multiple pixelblaze. Then there are synchronization issues. - If I'm gonna do that, I might as well go with one of those Falcon LED controllers that can do shows, for $200. - I have power in the garage at one end of the house, but need to branch off the middle of the house. But to get acceptable voltage drop, I'd probably need to run 12/2, but I need to figure out DC code, or I need to find a place to stow the power supply. - I'd like to use some or all of them as a "porch light", but just switching off/on had some issue. I don't recall, it either took a long time to get to the point where the lights were on, or required also poking the control port or something. - And it was maybe 6 weeks from Christmas with a lot of building to do to get there. If I end up deciding to do it, I might install a dual track with white non-addressable strip AND the color addressable AND go with the Falcon controller. Maybe running conduit from the center of the house into the closet, where I put the power supply and Falcon. I recently ran a receptacle into it to drive the LED light strip that is in there, because that closet was a dark pit that you couldn't find anything in, so that makes it a bit easier than it was last holidays.
      - bowmessage 7y ago
        Wow, well thought out post! Thank you for the tips, future me will benefit greatly.
- jcims 7y ago
  Also have a couple pixelblazes, very good product. In my case I was trying to integrate with a DMX-driven show, which is tricky and required more time than I had to invest in the project, but as standalone pixel controllers they are quite good. You can also use a separate package called firestorm to tie them together, also pretty useful.
moooo99 7y ago
WLED is a quite cool project that works very well on the ESP8266/32. It supports multiple chipsets, has an Android app and multiple ways to control it. If you plan on actually using it as a lighting source, I'd recommend you buy some LED strips with a dedicated white source since the RGB only white often looks weird on video. Also, if you want a longer strip, get one with 12V instead of 5V.

detaro 7y ago

I've heard good things about those (but no firsthand experience myself!): https://www.tindie.com/products/electromage/electromage-pixelblaze-v2-wifi-led-controller/ https://www.tindie.com/products/electromage/electromage-pixe...

linsomniac 7y ago
I've played with the Pixelblaze and it's pretty sweet. As far as going from nothing to being able to control a string of LED lights with a series of pre-programmed effects, it is really easy. That said, I ended up abandoning the project I was going to use them for: permanently installed Christmas lights that doubled as just normal outside lighting when it wasn't a holiday. I ended up, just this weekend in fact, installing just a white LED strip light for that. Which I just did on a whim yesterday afternoon, after someone was prowling up the street looking for open cars that morning.
- ShakataGaNai 7y ago
  Amusing you say that. At one point I went through the effort of running an entire set of RGBW LED strips, in aluminum channel, along the gutter of my mothers house (I was living in an appt in the city). So that we could have some nice programmable lights for xmas and other holidays. Man, that was so much more work than I expected... and while it worked at first water or other things kept futzing up the system (even with heavy doses of sealant near all electrical connections). Haven't tried turning the system on in more than a year now.
- bowmessage 7y ago
  What pain point(s) made you abandon the project? I like the idea!
  - linsomniac 7y ago
    Things kind of just spiraled out of control... - Wasn't clear if Pixelblaze with it's add on board could drive multiple strips at high refresh rates, or I needed multiple pixelblaze. Then there are synchronization issues. - If I'm gonna do that, I might as well go with one of those Falcon LED controllers that can do shows, for $200. - I have power in the garage at one end of the house, but need to branch off the middle of the house. But to get acceptable voltage drop, I'd probably need to run 12/2, but I need to figure out DC code, or I need to find a place to stow the power supply. - I'd like to use some or all of them as a "porch light", but just switching off/on had some issue. I don't recall, it either took a long time to get to the point where the lights were on, or required also poking the control port or something. - And it was maybe 6 weeks from Christmas with a lot of building to do to get there. If I end up deciding to do it, I might install a dual track with white non-addressable strip AND the color addressable AND go with the Falcon controller. Maybe running conduit from the center of the house into the closet, where I put the power supply and Falcon. I recently ran a receptacle into it to drive the LED light strip that is in there, because that closet was a dark pit that you couldn't find anything in, so that makes it a bit easier than it was last holidays.
    - bowmessage 7y ago
      Wow, well thought out post! Thank you for the tips, future me will benefit greatly.
jcims 7y ago
Also have a couple pixelblazes, very good product. In my case I was trying to integrate with a DMX-driven show, which is tricky and required more time than I had to invest in the project, but as standalone pixel controllers they are quite good. You can also use a separate package called firestorm to tie them together, also pretty useful.

moooo99 7y ago

WLED is a quite cool project that works very well on the ESP8266/32. It supports multiple chipsets, has an Android app and multiple ways to control it. If you plan on actually using it as a lighting source, I'd recommend you buy some LED strips with a dedicated white source since the RGB only white often looks weird on video. Also, if you want a longer strip, get one with 12V instead of 5V.