ESP32 WLED LED Strip Controller Dynamic RGB IC IO33 DIY Port App Control Easy Wiring Terminal for WS2811 WS2812 SK6812 TM1814 WS2813 WS2815 FCOB Addressable Strip Light

Does exactly what it needs to do. We'll built

I bought a string of addressable LED lights a couple of years ago. They worked until their controller died on us. The item was no longer available on Amazon, so I could not contact anyone to even buy a replacement controller. I found out about WLED and how it could potentially drive my lights, so I decided to give it a try. These controllers come preloaded with the open-source firmware. You can freely update the firmware, customize it, or just use it as it comes in the box. I was able to use the original power source and simply replaced the broken controller for the new one. After a bit of tweaking, my lights were not only working again, but now I have many more effects. The connection was straightforward and I also know that my WiFi credentials are not stored in some random company's servers. I only need basic functionality for my lights, but it looks like there are lots of customization options and animations to choose from or to build. Perfect for a DIYer, but also fairly simple if that's all you need.

It works great. I only have one problem. I was not able connect it to the Alexa app. It could not find it but it still works with the wled app.

These are very useful practical automation tools. You basically just connect your LED strips to these and then you can automate your lights using different methods. The first one is this has it's own web based UI. You just need to find the local IP of the device, which you can do by checking your router/modem/firewall or you can run an IP scan tool (there are many free IP/port scanners out there) Then you just open the address in your browser such as http://192.168.x.y (x and y would also be 2 numbers) then you can use the UI to set different animations, different color schemes etc. It supports schedules and it even gets the correct date/time from ntp servers (the device itself does not have an RTC with a battery so when it is disconnected it needs to read current date time from an internet time server) It also is very easily integrated to home assistant. Bear in mind, this particular brand is not the only one as these run the same open source project called WLED. So they all are more or less the same on software side. However you may want to check power levels for different applications as that differs from hardware to hardware.

I have two of these controllers and they work great! Much more convenient to just have the ESP32 in this package than trying to set it up yourself. WLED is miles ahead of any other option when it comes to LED strips, and I’d recommend this controller with 24v FCOB strips for anyone that wants their room to look really nice. One thing I tried that didn’t work with this controller was leaving it on Wi-Fi search indefinitely, so I could connect just by enabling my phone’s hotspot. It caused occasional crashes, probably every hour or so. This is a very uncommon use case, but just wanted to throw it out there. Most people will be using this with access to a stable Wi-Fi network, so you won’t ever run into this issue.