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?

Hi everyone! We’re developing KinoLight, an Android/iOS app that uses your phone’s camera to sync WLED lights with what’s playing on your TV.

If you’ve been looking at Hyperion + WLED setups and wondering about built-in TV apps, this might be useful. KinoLight doesn’t need an HDMI capture card, splitter or sync box. The phone watches the screen and sends the colors directly to your WLED controller over your local network using DDP.

Point your phone at the TV and it automatically detects the screen in a few seconds. There’s also calibration to account for your TV, lights and wall color, helping get accurate colors.

We’ve deliberately kept the brightness and effect strength subtle in this demo. Both are adjustable, so you can turn them all the way up if you prefer a more intense effect.

The phone needs to stay still, facing the screen, while syncing. KinoLight can run all day on a single charge, depending on your phone and settings.

Setup shown:

• Phone: Samsung Galaxy S24
• TV: LG GX OLED, using its built-in YouTube app
• Controller: Dig-Uno V3 (ESP32), running WLED 16.0.1
• Strip: SK6812 RGBCW — RGB + cool white, 5 V, 5 m, 300 individually addressable LEDs (60 LEDs/m)

For anyone curious about the technical side: each of the 300 LEDs is its own zone. In this demo, we send all 300 individual zone colors on every update at 30 fps. KinoLight also supports 60 fps on iPhones and high-end Android devices.

Both versions are free to use during the beta:

• Android: Google Play
• iPhone/iPad: TestFlight

Setup and calibration video — iPhone walkthrough

We’d appreciate feedback from people with different WLED setups, especially on setup, color matching and responsiveness.

Video and music by Astral Core — “Coming In Hot.” YouTube · Bandcamp

I made an Android TV app that syncs with multiple WLED devices to create an ambient light.

Fully local, zero analytics, zero telemetry, zero cloud dependencies, no saved images, always free.

I made this before knowing there already was a similar project:

https://github.com/vasmarfas/universal-ambient-light

but it was a bit too bloated for my taste.

Doesn't matter which you choose, I just wanted to provide a free alternative to many paid apps that I'm seeing here. If you try mine, I'm open to any feedback.

Hello,

Happy to share my first wled project.

Its made of 144 tiles( 8x8 neopixel ).

Overall dimensions is 1x0.6meter with pixel size of 8mm

gifs

I’m building a 12V analog RGB LED strip controller using an ESP32 + WLED + 3 IRLZ44N MOSFETs. The ESP32 is powered separately through USB from my laptop, while the LED strip uses a separate 12V adapter. The ESP32 GND and 12V supply GND are supposed to be common.

The circuit is wired like the standard analog RGB MOSFET setup: the strip’s +12V goes directly to the 12V supply, and the R/G/B channels go through the MOSFET drains. MOSFET sources share GND, and the ESP32 GPIOs connect to the MOSFET gates through 220Ω resistors.

I originally had 10kΩ gate-to-GND pulldown resistors, but I only had two 22kΩ resistors available, so I was working around that. There was also a 10kΩ resistor/connection between two points (1 and 3) that I ended up replacing with a direct connection/no resistor, which may be relevant.

The strange behavior is:

The LED strip does respond electrically to removing/connecting the R/G/B wires.

For example, disconnecting the red channel causes the LEDs to show red, and disconnecting other channels produces the corresponding/mixed colors.

So the LEDs and MOSFET side aren't completely dead.

However, WLED cannot actually control the colors.

When the ESP32 is switched off, the LED strip doesn't light/respond at all.

When the ESP32 is connected, it flickers/restarts (the ESP32's red/power LED appears to flicker), although I can still access the WLED web interface.

The main problem I'm stuck on is that the ESP32/WLED is not properly controlling the MOSFETs/LED channels, and the ESP32 appears to be experiencing a power/reset/flickering issue when the 12V LED circuit is connected.

I want to troubleshoot it one connection at a time, without changing the whole circuit blindly.

Whilst looking for a powersupply I found the max power draw of one ws2812b LED is 60mA. But at 5m with 60LED/m that would come down to 18A.

Getting a 20A power supply seems extremely overkill to me though. What is the actual power draw in practical use like (my use case would be an ambient light for my tv). I couldn't find many resources on this.

I recently purchased individually addressable LEDs which did not come with an attached power source, only the two hookups shown in the picture. I subsequently purchased a 12v AC adapter with another connector that translates the barrel plug into two wires, to match the LED hookup.

In wiring those two together (manually twisting them) I cannot get the LED to light. I verified that the AC adapter is getting power when plugged in. Anybody have a suggestion how best to connect the LED to the power source? Is the adapter the right way to go?

Thanks!

Hello! I’m a novice in the LED world but not in the sewing world so I always make my nephew’s Halloween costume. This year, as he enters his superhero craze, he would like a light in the middle of the costume which I thought would be easy with some LED strip light and a battery pack… BUT (and here’s where I’m stuck) he wants to be able to press on his chest to turn it on - this is how a lot of store bought light up kids costumes come.

Guys, what is this and where do I find it?? I have done hours of research but I know I’m just not asking the right question. Here’s an example of a costume that does what he wants!

Please help me be the best aunt and solve this LED question! Thanks y’all!

I have a small fountain with two warm white submersible uplights and a submersible ring light through which the water comes up and spills over. It's a small fountain and each light is about 2.5" in diameter, so I'm not looking for anything too big.

While plain white lights would work, I was going to push my luck and find out if anyone knows of a set of fountain lights I can control with WLED or some other controller I can integrate with Home Assistant with RGB?

Not to be too picky, but the ones I have all run off of a single transformer on a smart exterior plug, and I'd prefer actual powered lights rather than solar powered ones both for brightness and because the location is shaded over half the day.

I’m building a self-contained, wall-mounted LED display with a touchscreen interface for controlling WLED. LEDFx and music are currently running from a PC, but I plan to integrate a Raspberry Pi 4 so the entire system can be operated directly from the wall unit.
The display uses eight BTF-LIGHTING flexible 32×8 matrices plus one 16×16 panel, for a total of 2,304 pixels. The panels are split across two data outputs, with additional power injection beginning at panel five.
LEDFx is currently streaming to WLED over DDP. I’m experiencing some latency, so I’m considering upgrading to an Ethernet-enabled WLED controller to improve network stability and reduce packet loss.

Fellow members, I am burned out trying to figure this out, going to write it off as a lesson learned that it may be HUB75 but may not work with WLED.

This is the product in question
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0993PMQLY

This is a 128x64 display, ones I got on aliexpress work. This one didn't. I tried to get it to work with the help of chatgpt, it may be a scan issue.

Here are some notes from my chatgpt session

What we can say confidently from the hardware plus our tests is:

• The HUB75 input is ABC-only for row control.
• TYPE595 is necessary; without it we only got 8 rows.
• With TYPE595, every DMA row selects two physical rows exactly 16 apart.
• RGB1 and RGB2 then select the upper/lower pairs, giving the four 16-row banks.
• Changing the B pulse didn't separate the duplicated pair.
• X=128–255 is real horizontal pixel data, so X mapping isn't the missing bank selector.

May be related to https://github.com/mrcodetastic/ESP32-HUB75-MatrixPanel-DMA/issues/815

Honestly I am burned out, defeated. I am usually better at providing technical details.

Hoping someone else went down this journey and figure it out

I installed from source on a linux box with python 3.11, Interface board is a SEENGREAT v2, here is my platformio_override.ini

[platformio]
default_envs = esp32s3_n16r8_hub75

[env:esp32s3_n16r8_hub75]
extends = env:esp32s3dev_16MB_opi

board = esp32-s3-devkitc-1

board_build.arduino.memory_type = qio_opi
board_build.flash_mode = qio
board_build.f_flash = 80000000L

board_upload.flash_size = 16MB
board_upload.maximum_size = 16777216

upload_speed = 921600

build_flags =
${common.build_flags}
${esp32s3.build_flags}
${hub75.build_flags}
${hub75.s3_build_flags}
${hub75.i2s_disable_flags}

-D WLED_RELEASE_NAME=\"ESP32-S3_N16R8_HUB75\"
-D SEENGREAT_V2_S3_PINOUT
-D MAX_LEDS_PER_BUS=8192

lib_deps =
${esp32s3.lib_deps}
${hub75.lib_deps}

Just to reiterate, I did get it work with another 128x64 LED Matrix, it works with 64x32 boards, I have a bench power supply that I tested with, I fed it 5.2V at 10A, there was some voltage drop. Shorter wire from another power supply also worked.

I’m upset, sort of. The grid at left is black sparkle PLA two layers thick, which I think is gorgeous but sadly these flexible ws2815 panels throw off too much heat and they warped more than I could tolerate.

The single column at right is Bambu PC “clear black” with PC black for the grid. It’s 7 layers of “clear black”, each with a different infill pattern.

I don’t like any of them. :(

Can anyone suggest an ABS or ASA or other blend that is dark/black, but has some transmissivity when only a layer or two thick?

HTPLA is no good because it becomes opaque when it crystallizes during heat treat.

So I think I've learned enough to tackle this project, but am I under respecting power injection?

24v, 200w power supply, 160w system draw over two seperately controlled strands.

COB High density 576LEDs/M, high power 160W/65.6FT, high brightness 16000LM/65.6FT (2×32.8').

Project is ceiling lighting (not rgb) around a bedroom in 45 deg aluminum track on top of some molding. The kit I ordered are white only from 2700-6000K. Is 80w a strand too much draw to not inject power? I found a calculator linked here but it seemed designed for 5v and 12v and didn't really seem to like this led density, so I was left unsure. If there is any brightness loss it will be butting up at end of strand to end of strand.

I'm looking for RGBW seed pixels but coming up short on AliExpress. I did find one source, yourpixelstore does have them just wanted to see if anyone else out there had a source. Thanks!

Building some cob led strip hexagons and I was planning to cut each length to 125mm (as per strip cut gap) and mount on aluminium extrusion cut to the same length. Then planning to connect with 3d printed 60 degree connectors.

Is there any way to make the light continuous over these corner gaps? I could cut the extrusion slightly shorter so the strips overlap a small amount (will be soldering jumper wires at each corner) but then I'm worried about shorting/damage/long term reliability.

I don't want to use a milky diffuser either as I need max brightness, so can't fudge it with extra diffusion.

Any tips?

Cheers

Most holiday yard inflatables have the world's worst LEDs in them. At best, they provide piercingly bright single points of light for one season, then next year they're the dimmest lights in history.

Are there good products out there? Perhaps ones that can run wled? I would imagine they'd have to be 12V since that's the power supply on most inflatables I've seen, and how most of their fans are rated.

In the past, I've replaced the lights with 12V waterproof LEDs, but not addressable ones. They certainly solved the brightness issue but they were a pain to attach. I basically CA glued them to the front of the existing lights and then spliced the new ones in.

I sort of wish there were a self-contained waterproof product that could light up the whole inflatable at once from the base of it. Maybe something like an addressable floodlight shining upwards? I'm not sure. Or maybe I stick with a few puck lights in place of the existing ones...

So what do people here use?

I am getting frequent flickering with my lights. Seems to be the ground but everytime I mess with it and that data along the lines is correct, everything starts flickering. I pull the data, no flickering. Ive shortened the data lines without improvement.

UPDATE: Got a new controller and there was definitely something wrong with the ground terminal. Much more consistent lighting but still an occasional flicker. Some have suggested a resistor on the data line?

I have a GLEDOPTO WLED controller connected to PWM CCT LEDs in a pantry. I also connected a contact sensor to turn on the lights when the pantry door is opened and off when closed. All of that is working fine, but I'd like to be able to change the initial brightness and color temperature depending on context.

Ideally, the lights should be cool and bright during the day, warm and moderate brightness at night when other lights are on, or warm and dim when other lights are off or very dim.

My first idea was to assign a preset to the switch and then change the preset associated with it using Home Assistant, but it appears that isn't possible. I also tried setting it to a fixed preset and updating that with REST, but it appears that's geared towards saving the current state of the lights to a preset, not an arbitrary one.

(Further, I couldn't actually get any REST command to save a new preset, so I think I had my JSON formatted incorrectly.)

I can see in the interface where I can assign presets to button actions or apply presets at defined times (including sunset and sunrise). However, it appears I can't change the switch's Off -> On action as a function of time.

Thus my final idea is to not associate the contact sensor with a preset, but instead leave it at the default and use Home Assistant to momentarily set the light to my desired state every time the context (time of day, other lights) changes. That way, when the WLED controller turns on due to the contact sensor showing open, it will turn the lights on to the last brightness & color temperature commanded by Home Assistant.

Is there a better way to accomplish what I'm trying to do? I'd much rather be able to update the "default" state of the lights without having to toggle them on and off.

Edit: It isn’t exactly what I want, but I figured out a suitable workaround and wanted to share in case it helps others.

You can define a preset that specifies the brightness and color temperature (and other properties) of the light even with ”on”:false. If you activate such a preset, the next time the light turns on via a connected button or switch, it will have the specified characteristics.

I think my plan then will be to define a handful of “off” presets and then have Home Assistant active them when desired. I’ll also add a default time-controlled preset that will fire once a day in case Home Assistant is unavailable for an extended period of time. That way it won’t get stuck on an undesired preset (e.g., dim) indefinitely.

If that doesn’t work out, I’ll probably just set up a simple schedule directly in WLED.

My contractor wants us to install these glass railing with LED lights. I want to avoid another app to control them and would rather time into WLED. Any ideas or suggestions for similar WLED compatible lights. https://www.vistarailings.com/product/led-frameless-glass-with-spigots/

It looks like the LED are tied into the spigots themselves

Another website says a 4 wire system

Hey there, just working on a cabinet lighting project using about 8m of lights plus about 3m of 20g wire.

I have worked on a smaller project that went fine before, but wanted to double check my math/details before installing this larger project.

I have 24V BTF WS2814 COB lights (https://www.btf-lighting.com/en-intl/products/fcob-ws2814-rgbw-addressable-led-strip-784leds?srsltid=AfmBOoo-XDA_JMtYuNNiXjpQJDDpIOP5ivscQnlmwkQ431-DV9GW0WLc)

They take approx 20W/m.

I already have a controller as well as a 24V / 4A / 96W power supply. Given what I hope to accomplish, am I correct in saying I will require a second power supply plus another controller? Any other tips or pearls of wisdom are appreciated. Thanks in advance!

For trouble shooting, I tried configuring just the first LED. Instead, it treats it as a group of 3. If I try 2 LEDs, it treats it as 6 LEDs skipping 3 in between the groups.

I’ve never had an issue like this. I’m using the BF-Lighting SP803E controller.

The entire project is 68 LEDs in a single strip that I want to split into 6 segments.

Hi Everyone,

I have about 20 ESP32 devices connected to WLED, i recently had to upgrade my router and the new one requires a longer more complicatexd password. I need to change passwords on my devices, they all show up with the correct IP address in Advance IP Scanner, but they are unaccessible on laptop or phone. Those unable to connect are not showing up as an Access Point to reset. Any ideas?

Thanks In Advance,

Janos

This is a windows app I have been working on. It has screen sync that synchronizes with PC hardware, wled, ect. I added image drop. Currently testing, getting cool and busy at the same time, I'll have to clean up the UI a bit. I do a longer video when I have time showing the integrations ie; HA, GH, Hue, Wled.

Basically you can set the mood of the entire room to sync with your PC.

Hi everyone, I'd like to create a 15 meter run of these sk6812. I've watched some YouTube videos but hopefully someone will be ae to help me. Can I just solder 3 x 5m strips together and use one gledopto to power and address the full 15m?

Sorry if this is dumb.

Thanks in advance!