futuretechguy

Gotcha, My home network is a little complex; I have several 24 ports unmanaged switches, a Cisco router and several Wireless access points, there are over a hundred wireless/wired sensors/clients and a few servers on multiple subnets. I have always manage my network from my desktop client with software that alerts me of any nefarious activity on the network.

I ran the installation for WireShark, it (installed Winpcap) and configured what was necessary, when the installation completed, I click the "Capture options" selected a NIC and click "Start". I am running Windows10 on a desktop.

Yes, it the devices are on the same network (subnet), you should be able to see the activity. I can see the initial connection and cross-talk details when my phone (or my Home Automation PC) connects to my RGB controllers.

It is easier if you target a specific NIC (if you have multiple) and use a filter e.g (ip.addr == 192.168.4.121) for the destination endpoint you are trying to capture. You must engage some activity (http ot tcp for example) between your (WireShark) machine it there is no other activity. You will see several lines with source and destination, selecting each line will expose the text and HEX content in the panes below.

Yes, I was not sure if it was the R4-5a, but I thought it offered a simple wired option (opposed to hacking the 2.4 GHz with a NRF24l01). The function of the Komby RF1 Serial depends on the installed firmware, the version I have is flashed with the firmware titled E131_DMX_tx_Node, so you are correct it does function as a SACN to DMX bridge as well. The firmware I was referring to is RGB_DMX, which takes the RGB intensity values (0 - 255) and converts them to DMX packets. If you use the "LEDENET DX8" for example, you would connect a network cable to the RJ45 port and connect the first two wires (1 and 2 from the cable) to the same pins the LEDENET DX8 is connected to on the DMX decoder. So in theory, (I need to test), both the LEDENET DX8 and the LEDENET DX8 can send commands to the same DMX decoder. The FPP is a good option as well but I think it requires a little more effort, this is why I went the Komby RF1 Serial route instead, to control my Christmas floods (E1.31 from LOR). I will order a LEDENET DX8 and test the possibilities with the RF1 Serial.

I was looking at this diagram:

Actually the solution is much simpler than you may think, This is because someone has already done the heavy lifting, he even sells the hardware ($18) and provide the open sourced RGB to DMX software. The solution it to take the http RGB (websocket) request and output DMX to your network using an ESP8266 and a RS485 driver chip (below). You will only need to know the IP and the Universe/Channel of the DMX receiver (LEDENET support may provide it), this can be obtain using Wire-shark if necessary. The ESP8266 is $4 and the RS485 driver chip is ) $0.50 if you want to do it yourself. This in theory means that you can send HTTP commands to the R4-5A controller from a browser or from your HA software.

I like the LEDENET DX8 it has a sleek look, however since it uses the DMX512 protocol (the receiver is a DMX512 decoder) you will not be able to control the strip from any other device not sending DMX. My wife needed a wall controller as well, and my solution ended up being an old IPhone 3 (in a wall mount). It is entirely possible to still control the DMX512 receiver (since you already mentioned Arduino, Particle Proton and RB PI) for $10-20 more and a little effort.

I understand the power of automation software, I use Homeseer to accomplish the same things and I will be looking into ISY as an alternative, It was not my intention to encourage anyone in other directions. I was just sharing the fact that I use a $5 RGB controller and get it to do what I need it to with a little effort.

The point for me is that in the age of IOT an intelligent home automation system can make lighting decision based on multiple parameters including occupancy, ambient lighting even temperature returned from multiple connected devices including the RGBW controller. This may not be a necessary for some folks but is a lot of fun for me when the RGB light in the molding above a window or doors changes when the door/window is unlock or when someone is approaching (in the case of the door molding). When we have total control of the firmware on a device, we determine when, what and how it reports.

larryllix I agree, it does seem like a lot of work, however, since I needed the "http control function" and could not find any exist code. I don't mind doing the task and sharing the process to make it easy for others who may need the same function. I have benefited from some of the hard work that others have done.

n8huntsman, yes, when modern micro-controllers communicate serially they usually do so at a TTL (transistor-transistor logic) level. Most of the adapter cables/ boards are based on the FTDI FT232RL usb/serial chip which I believe supports both methods. However make sure to get one that supports both 5v and 3v logic because the ESP8266 is 3v logic and may not be 5v tolerant.

Sorry Scott, I missed that post. Yes previously I mentioned that RGB controller has 5 ports so I assumed that it could possible RGBW. Typically RGB is 3 channels plus +V resulting in 4 pins, internally the device PCB has 4 MOSFETs which means it could support 4 channels, hence the 5 pins (4 PWM output and +V). Since the ESP8266 has 4+ PWM pins, a few changes to the code should in theory allow controlling a RGBW strip. I will test this theory shortly.

There is a RGBW version, please see link below. http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC9-12V-WiFi-RGB-RGBW-Controller-MIC-Music-Control-for-5050-LED-Strip-light-/222234994508?hash=item33be3ce74c:g:NZEAAOSwknJXxjeW

I am not sure of this but I think there may be other mods to the Magic Firmware. I needed to control it from my automation software including my phone and a web page but could not find any existing code, so I had to create one and published it to GitHub so anyone can modify it to meet their needs. https://github.com/futuretechguy/RGBWebSocketServer.