Looking for RGB controller that I can integrate

[n8huntsman]

I'm looking to put under cabinet RGB or RGBW strip lights in my kitchen and would like to have the ability to control them via ISY.  I'm very familiar with the lights themselves and have used several of the cheap IR and RF basic controllers.  

 

I've seen a few ZWAVE controllers (Fibaro) and some Wi-Fi controllers as well.  I have the ZWAVE and network module for ISY so I could use either.  What I forsee is defining a few preset colors and being able to set those via programs.  Im not sure if the Wi-Fi controllers allow you to set the color via http?  I think that would be the easiest.  I really don't know how the z-wave would work without some custom plugin or something.

Has anyone done this?

[larryllix]

Oh yeah. I am buried knee deep in lights and controllers here. Building a 23 strip animation controller for a tent ceiling.

 

There are a few threads on this but the MagicHouse UFO = 4 channel, Scott is expereimenting with a 3 channel version right now.

 

The ones I have found the best is the LEDenet 5 channel, (look for music controller). This is the same company as the ones above. They have RGBWW/CW outputs and can mix white with colours. Most can't like MiLights. I have bunch of them too. I woud avoid them.

 

The Network Module inside ISY can control them without any other hardware.

I have written python3 software for my RPi 1 I call NR bridge that can act as a bridge to do more things but it still takes the NR module to command it.

 

 

The best part is the LEDenet (MagicHouse) brand is WiFi and no hub is required. MiLights demand a hub that can only control four "groups"

 

FYI: The RGBWW 5050 strips run about $15, controllers $11-35 , then you need a PS 12v @ 3-5A $10, barrel plug adapter cable $1.50, 5 pin adapter cable to wire into the controllers = 10/$5.

 

Oh yeah. Don't try to sticky a run of lights upside down. They just fall off every time. get the silicone clamps and tiny screws every 12" or less. 100/$5

 

All prices are Canadian and aproximate.

 

NR, software and help all available here on the forum.

 

This summer and fall I will have a surplus of these things I may want to get rid of.

[n8huntsman]

Awesome.  Thanks for the input.  I've read all the threads on here but a lot seemed to be outdated and in the trial and error stages.  This will help a lot.  I'll take a look at the LEDenet stuff.

[n8huntsman]

This is the controller, correct? https://www.amazon.com/LEDENET-Smart-Controller-Channels-Control/dp/B01DY56N8U/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1493925351&sr=8-9&keywords=LEDENET+5+channel

 

Is there any sort of wall control panel that would be compatible with this?  I'd really like dual control.  Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PYECABO/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza but that appears to only work on the DMX controllers.

[larryllix]

The controller is the correct one. When you hook up the cable to the RGBWW terminals you may find R-G reversed. The last batch I got had those terminal reversed...or OTOH the firmware inside reversed. It's very easy to swap two wires on the cable when you wire them. Due to the delicacy of the wires, I stripped them longer, tinned them, and terminated them. then I folded the power and RGBWW cable back past the controller and white vinyl taped it to the case.

 

The wall panel looks like it would do the trick and dual purpose for DMX serial connections also. More study would be required on that one. I just use the MagicHouse app on my Android phone for setup.

 

The only time I really used the app is, after a factory rest on the devices they throw out their own SSID. You connect to that, run the app and set your house SSID and password into it, Then the SSID goes away and the app connects via your house SSID.

 

I run my house RGBWW strips (I have 4 partials and 1 whole 5m over/under cabinets) from one Insteon SwichLinc dimmer via ISY. Mostly white 100%, bright, medium, dim. The colours get used for parties and mode setting for occasions and movies late at nights.

 

Right now I have 10 reels of RGBWW on those controllers on a board for a furture pinwheel animation. I have written most of the code for them on a RPi3. Started on my RPi1 but that functions as a Node Server for ISY and I kept bugging it. I have most of my animations written and working and now just making mood lists to supervise the animation sequences. It runs from a 4 key mini-remote and also a duplicate screen from Tasker on any android machine.

 

 

My suggestion. Order one from amazon, at their high price, and see if you can do anything with it using NR and then order a bunch on ebay for a much cheaper price. You have to really look around. Once they became ppopular the price went from $9 to $40 for some vendors.

 

You should be able to see a list of parts in another thread I posted.

 

What part of the world are you in?

[n8huntsman]

Hmm, I didn't think it would work. What would be the communication between the two?

[larryllix]

Hmm, I didn't think it would work. What would be the communication between the two?

The communication is all one way...out of ISY.

I was going to do a screen dump of a NR for you but I don't use any NR directly into the controllers anymore. My NR are aimed my RPi software and they do it. This allows me all on commands and a few others more easily from 4 NR, using variables.

 

There is some discussion of the codes to do whatever colours your want in the other threads,

 

We'll have to see if somebody else is using them directly still. I know Scott was.

My fear is that with a binary NR you cannot use variable substitution and would need one NR for each colour as well a a few levels of white, high, med, dim, Off..

 

Not a big deal but it becomes about 10 NR for each controller. More clumsy than I like.

 

The comm protocol is TCP. Do you have a RPi or programming experience?

[n8huntsman]

I don't think that wall panel is wifi hence my reason for not thinking it would work. Am I missing something? I'm okay having multiple he's. I assumed I'd have to do it that way. Would work ok for a couple favorites.

[n8huntsman]

I think Im going to give it a try.  Is there a trusted vendor for the strip light?  I always use Ray Wu on Ali express for all my christmas pixels but his are a little more than $15.  Would these work or is there something better? https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/DC12V-5M-300-LEDs-60led-m-5050-RGBW-RGB-Warm-White-LED-Strip-waterproof-in-silicon/701799_32300792556.html?spm=2114.12010615.0.0.0BZVsc

 

Thanks

[Scottmichaelj]

I think Im going to give it a try. Is there a trusted vendor for the strip light? I always use Ray Wu on Ali express for all my christmas pixels but his are a little more that $15. Would these work or is there something better? https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/DC12V-5M-300-LEDs-60led-m-5050-RGBW-RGB-Warm-White-LED-Strip-waterproof-in-silicon/701799_32300792556.html?spm=2114.12010615.0.0.0BZVsc

 

Thanks

Check out my links - the minis are on ebay now. You can use any kpl or button and just send a NR to turn them on/off - dimming up/down is not an option but pre-dim levels can be.

[larryllix]

Check out my links - the minis are on ebay now. You can use any kpl or button and just send a NR to turn them on/off - dimming up/down is not an option but pre-dim levels can be.

Thanks for showing up Scott. We thought that new car swallowed your HA intellect

 

I was looking for NRs to operate the LEDenet devices to show this drooling N8huntsman, and I don't use them directly anymore and couldn't remember the parameters. Maybe a screenshot?

 

@n8huntman. The MiLight units sold under LEDenet, by amazon.com, were never LEDenet AFAIK. They require a hub and despite what they say are not WiFi. The hub is a bridge to convert WiFi their proprietary 2.4Ghz signals but any resemblance of WiFi is false. They will not mix white with RGB. Different protocol and the hub is limited to four groups/addresses/controllers.

[n8huntsman]

Thanks for showing up Scott. We thought that new car swallowed your HA intellect 

He was probably busy shipping my Elk alarm so I understand his tardiness

 

@n8huntman. The MiLight units sold under LEDenet, by amazon.com, were never LEDenet AFAIK. They require a hub and despite what they say are not WiFi. The hub is a bridge to convert WiFi their proprietary 2.4Ghz signals but any resemblance of WiFi is false. They will not mix white with RGB. Different protocol and the hub is limited to four groups/addresses/controllers.

 

You lost me.  I understand the concept above but I'm confused about the context.  Was one of the components that I was looking at actually a MiLight despite the name?  If so I didn't notice when I was looking at it.

[larryllix]

Thanks for showing up Scott. We thought that new car swallowed your HA intellect 

He was probably busy shipping my Elk alarm so I understand his tardiness

 

 

You lost me.  I understand the concept above but I'm confused about the context.  Was one of the components that I was looking at actually a MiLight despite the name?  If so I didn't notice when I was looking at it.

 

Sorry for the confusion.

I did a search on amazon.com for "Ledenet" and t comes back with all the parts you need, and I probably have ever had.

They list the MiLight controllers as Ledenet devices, which I am fairly sure they are not, and the rest of the negatives are in my previous post. I have about 6 of them, as well as four bulbs and that takes two hubs.

 

I switched over to the 5 channel LEDenet controllers now. Scott has the 4 channel (UFO) and now testing a 3 Channel unit from them.

 

The MagicHouse UFO app does them all...but not the MiLights as they at NOT Ethernet WiFi.

This one https://www.amazon.com/LEDENET-Wireless-Controller-Changing-Brightness/dp/B00MGTVOSA/ref=sr_1_34?ie=UTF8&qid=1493951950&sr=8-34&keywords=LEDENET

[n8huntsman]

Okay.  I gotcha now.  And I'm from southern california by the way.  You asked earlier and I forgot to answer.  I'm in the middle of reading some rather long threads regarding these.  Im rather surprised by the complexity.  In the Christmas lighting world we refer to these as "dumb rgb" as opposed to pixels.  I've got over 5000 pixels in my yard controlled by a single computer which sends e1.31 data to multiple controllers.  The computer is most likely going to be replaced by a single RPI this year.  I also have quite a few dumb RGB nodes controlled by the e1.31 into a DMX bridge.  This is definitely more difficult than I anticipated.  Too bad there is nothing we can do with xlights, falcon pi player, or pi hats from https://ronsholidaylights.com  All of those pieces make for some inexpensive RGB control.

[Scottmichaelj]

Thanks for showing up Scott. We thought that new car swallowed your HA intellect

 

Nope just preoccupied by all things Aston Martin ATM.

 

Thanks for showing up Scott. We thought that new car swallowed your HA intellect 

He was probably busy shipping my Elk alarm so I understand his tardiness

 

 

HAHAH, Yes your system was shipped today and on its way. See what I did there? Today, way, I should have been a rapper. lol ok maybe not.

 

Check out my link here about the Magic UFO

 

http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/19913-magic-ufo-controller-for-rgbw/?hl=%2Bmagic+%2Bufo

 

Towards the bottom I added a new "mini wifi rgbw controller"

 

Also look at this thread towards the end there are Network Resources, post 101 talks about ones we found.

 

On:  113;35;15;163;129;138;139;150

Off:  113;36;15;164;129;138;139;150

 

http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/15428-rgbw-led-strip-light-control/page-6?hl=%20magic%20%20ufo

 

Hope this helps. Now off to more fun stuff! 

[larryllix]

Okay.  I gotcha now.  And I'm from southern california by the way.  You asked earlier and I forgot to answer.  I'm in the middle of reading some rather long threads regarding these.  Im rather surprised by the complexity.  In the Christmas lighting world we refer to these as "dumb rgb" as opposed to pixels.  I've got over 5000 pixels in my yard controlled by a single computer which sends e1.31 data to a controller.  The computer is most likely going to be replaced by a single RPI this year.  I also have quite a few dumb RGB nodes that take the e1.31 into a DMX bridge.  This is definitely more difficult than I anticipated.  This was 5 years ago: <snipped>

I have way more now.  Too bad there is nothing we can do with xlights, falcon pi player, or pi hats from https://ronsholidaylights.com  All of those pieces make for some inexpensive RGB control.

OK. One thing I have found about these LEDenet controllers you should know up front.

 

They take TCP protocol and that is not good with real time. 

That means that your router and/or driver software may do things like,

- let packets passed each other so they get out of order, (this seems to be OK at higher speeds)

- clump packets together to increase the throughput, (destroys smoothness of animation)

- disconnect sockets, based on a timeout, and they take a part second (0.1-0.7) to reconnect again. They have to be constantly poked to remain fast responding (connected).

 

I have found high speed animations look smooth and really slow animations are OK but medium speed animations can get out of order and sporadic. I suspect these controller tiny CPUs are busy doing some ramping etc. and they don't respond to the TCP requests fast enough. They should have been UDP protocol.

 

I doubt these controllers will satisfy what you have done with DMX.

[futuretechguy]

I am late to this conversation so I apologize if this was stated before. Magic has a very small RGB (possible W since it has 5 output pins) controller that is based on the ESP8266. While it does not allow HTTP request, it is possible to flash it with you own custom code (which I have done successful). This allows the attached LEDs to be controlled with "http://xxx.xxx.xxx/rgb(200,100,100)"for example, from any automation software, a web page, or phone. The controller is only $5.26 and the only thing necessary in addition to the LEDs is a 12 Power supply.

[MWareman]

I am late to this conversation so I apologize if this was stated before. Magic has a very small RGB (possible W since it has 5 output pins) controller that is based on the ESP8266. While it does not allow HTTP request, it is possible to flash it with you own custom code (which I have done successful). This allows the attached LEDs to be controlled with "http://xxx.xxx.xxx/rgb(200,100,100)"for example, from any automation software, a web page, or phone. The controller is only $5.26 and the only thing necessary in addition to the LEDs is a 12 Power supply.

Interesting. Do you have a link to the firmware needed to enable this?

[MWareman]

Other thing I note. This is RGB, not RGBW or RGBWW. Do you know of the same thing with 4 or 5 channels?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[larryllix]

I am late to this conversation so I apologize if this was stated before. Magic has a very small RGB (possible W since it has 5 output pins) controller that is based on the ESP8266. While it does not allow HTTP request, it is possible to flash it with you own custom code (which I have done successful). This allows the attached LEDs to be controlled with "http://xxx.xxx.xxx/rgb(200,100,100)"for example, from any automation software, a web page, or phone. The controller is only $5.26 and the only thing necessary in addition to the LEDs is a 12 Power supply.

What connection method and software are you using to flash the eprom inside?

 

This unit appears to be the same unit Scott (Mr. Cool White) has been playing with lately. His supports WiFi and iR input and was really cheap.

[Scottmichaelj]

Other thing I note. This is RGB, not RGBW or RGBWW. Do you know of the same thing with 4 or 5 channels?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yeah I need RGBW too. As MWareman asked please post a link to the firmware for HTTP and if you know if they have a "RGBW" version.

[futuretechguy]

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.

[futuretechguy]

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

[Scottmichaelj]

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

This is similar to the one I posted recently in my Magic UFO thread. Ill check out the github and see how it goes and report back.

 

Edit: I dont see any talk about the "white" channel. "They" don't call me "Mr. Cool White" for nothin!

[futuretechguy]

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.