This DIY tutorial is all about making our home lighting smart and fun without any complicated steps. We can connect a standard 12V LED strip to a tiny wi-fi chip and build our own custom smart lighting system, which can be completely controlled from a smartphone or computer.
This DIY guide skips the days of writing complex coding lines to program the light patterns and goes with a ready-made, open-source software called WLED. Once we power on our physical build, the system automatically connects to our home Wi-Fi network; it's an ESP32-based WLED Controller Setup. You can also check out similar ESP32 Projects and IoT projects done previously here at Circuit Digest.
How Does the ESP32 Based WLED Controller Work?
In this project, we can send commands from a smartphone or the web dashboard of WLED to control the colours in addressable RGB lighting. When a user slides their fingers across the colour wheel, it sends the HTTP or JSON request over local Wi-Fi, which is intercepted by ESP32. Inside the ESP32, these Network packets are decoded and converted to digital data. WLED organises these data sequentially, 24 bits (red – 8 bits, green – 8 bits, blue – 8 bits) for every pixel in the group.
The ESP32 pushes this data out in 3.3V Digital Logic; the internal logical level shifter in the addressable RGB light converts the 3.3V logic to 5V logic. The first 24 bits received are stripped off to control the 3 physical LEDs connected by PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to control their brightness. It also has a timer feature to turn off the addressable LED after an hour. The successive bits are regenerated and sent to the next chip. Here is the Voice-Controlled Smart Home Assistant project, where we showcased how voice recognition is incorporated with the RGB light.
Components Required:
Below is the list of components required to build this project with their description.
| S.no | Components | Specification | Quantity |
| 1. | Microcontroller | ESP32 Dev Kit | 1 |
| 2. | Resistor | 330Ω | 1 |
| 3. | Capacitor | (100μF-1000μF) Electrolytic | 1 |
| 4. | Power Supply | 12V | 1 |
| 5. | Addressable RGB LEDs | 1 |
Wiring Diagram:
The ESP32 WLED controller Schematic setup is quite simple. From GPIO 16(RX2) 330Ω resistor is connected; the other end of the resistor is connected to the DIN of the CX2811A driver addressable RGB LEDs. The 100μF capacitor is placed between GND and +12V, and GND and +12V are given to CX2811A, addressing RGB LEDs. The GND of the ESP32 and the power supply are commonly grounded. You can also check out the Smart WLED Clock with RTC, PIR, Audio feedback and Environmental Monitoring project in CircuitDigest, which integrates addressable RGB LEDs with clock setup.
Step-by-Step WLED Software Configuration
The ESP32 WLED Controller setup process, step-by-step configuration, is listed below. This makes an unprogrammed ESP32 a fully automated smart lighting system.
Connect the ESP32 to the PC, open the https://install.wled.me/ website, click install, it shows many COM ports, select the CP2102 USB to UART bridge Controller (COM3) and click install. It will be installed. It will display a flash option to erase the ESP32 memory. Click erase, and it will be flashed and programmed for WLED.
Then the Configure Wi-Fi menu opens, where you give your local Wi-Fi name and password and click Connect. The ESP32 will be connected to the Wi-Fi Network you entered. Double-check the network name and password. If it is not connected.
If the Wi-Fi is connected, the menu will open like Device connected to the network and click Visit Device to open the WLED Web Dash.
WLED Web Dash opens, it shows menus to customise the RGB light, change Wi-Fi, The Colour palette, it has timer options, it has a sync option to your Home Assistant, etc.
Click the config tab at the top of the screen; it opens a menu from where we can able to change Wi-Fi, change hardware and software parameters, sync, and timer, etc.
Click the Wi-Fi and Network tab. From there, we can change the mDNS address to any name you want to access the website, for example, the name it is set to is wledmohammed. From there, we can access our WLED through the name we set previously.
Click the LED and Hardware setup tab. Here, we need to change the type to WS281X, uncheck the Enable automatic brightness limiter, select the GPIO to 16 and select the number of LEDs you need to turn ON. These setups can also be done by Mobile Phone using the WLED application. If the strip light has 4 pins (V+, GND, DATA, CLK), choose APA102 or WS2801. If the strip has 5 pins (V+, R, G, B, W), choose PWM RGB. We can also able to choose the number of LEDs to glow.
Output:
The Final physical circuit successfully powers the 12V addressable LED strip using the ESP32. When the ESP32 is turned ON, it hosts a WLED Web page. Where we can control the lighting of the strip using a colour Palette disc on a webpage, also by setting a timer function, we can be able to turn it OFF and ON at a preset time.
Live Demo: Smart Wi-Fi LED Controller with ESP32
Experience the real-time performance of the ESP32 WLED controller, showcasing wireless LED control, smooth animations, and smart lighting features.
Troubleshooting
Issue 1: How to properly ground the circuit?
Fix: The GND terminal of the RGB light and the 12V supply ground need to be common-grounded.
Issue 2: Which Rating of Power supply needs to be given to the addressable RGB light?
Fix: The RGB addressable LEDs have a CX2811A IC. One CX2811A chip controls three Red, three Green, and three Blue LEDs simultaneously. Each LED consumes 3.2V and a total of 9.6V. remaining 2.4V will be dropped externally or internally by it.
Issue 3: What to do when the colour we selected in Web Dash or Phone does not match the addressable RGB light?
Fix: In the web dashboard or application, there will be more colour codes such as GBR, BGR, RBG, BRG. BRG is the option to choose on the Config page.
Issue 4: What to do when the ESP32 is connected to the WLED application, but we can’t control the strip?
Fix: if the Wi-Fi credentials you are given is you phone Wi-Fi, you need to turn OFF Mobile Data while turning Hotspot ON.
Real World Application:
Smart Home Ambient Lighting: Integrated cove lighting for living rooms, false ceilings, and under-cabinet kitchen lights.
Commercial Display Branding: Dynamic lighting for storefront windows, product display shelves, and digital signage boards in retail outlets.
Gaming Setups and Entertainment Zone: Immersive PC desk backlighting, home theatre setups, or studio backgrounds.
FAQs:
1. Why are the strip colours not changing?
It will happen due to the missing GPIO connection to the strip, and also make sure the ESP32 GND and Power Supply GND are common-grounded.
2. Do we need to connect the GNDBreaker Pin to the Power Jack?
There is no need to connect the GNDBreaker Pin in the Power Jack because it is used only in case of Battery is used.
3. Which WLED setting needs to be used for the CX2811A strip?
Set the LED type to WS281X, as it uses the same protocol. The only difference is that you set the colour order to BRG
4. Why is the web page not opening?
If the Power is not supplied to the ESP32 will not host the Webpage; you need to be connected to the same network as the ESP32 is connected.
5. Why is the WLED Controller not working even after giving all the connections?
Check the arrows of the strip light, it is needed to be pointed away from the ESP32.
6. Are the PIN in Web Page and the physical connection needed to be same?
The pins should match; if it doesn’t match, the data will not be sent to the strip light.
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