3 Steps to Install Audio Controlled LEDs
I stumble across the cool WLED firmware which allow you to control my LED Strips. So combining this with LedFx, it makes one heck of a Christmas light.
The whole build only takes a few minutes, so here are the step by step.
Step 0. Gather all the materials
You will need the following:
- ESP8266, I am using the Wemos
- LEDStrip, I am using WS2812 with 5V
- PC, Mac or Rasp Pi to run LedFx on, I am using a mac
So the following instructions is catered to my setup, but you can always modify it according to yours.
Step 1. Connect the circuit
Solder the LED Strip, the Data line to pin D4, which is GPIO2. You will need to make adjustment if you are using another type of board.
Step 2. Upload the WLED firmware
Connect the ESP8266 board to your USB port and point your browser (use chrome) to the following site
Follow the instruction to upload the firmware. If all goes well you should be able to connect to the ESP8266 access point called WLED-AP and the default password is “wled1234” or you can scan the following QR code on your phone:
If you click the “TO THE CONTROLS!” button you should be able to play with the feature of the WLED as shown in the next image above.
You can proceed to click on the “Config” or you can select “WIFI SETTINGS” on the first screen which will take you the following screen:
It allows you to enter your Network SSID and password to connect to your home router so that you can control it from anywhere at home. It is worth noting that WLED supports HomeAssistant, so if you have it, then it can come handy. If you are not sure what HomeAssistant is, you can find out more in my previous post about How to Install HomeAssistant into Raspberry Pi.
Once it is configured then you can proceed to the next step.
Step 3. Install LedFx
Head to the following LedFx site on how to install if you have a different OS than mine. I am using Mac. So the following instructions only works on Mac. Type the following command in the terminal.
$ brew install portaudio $ pip install ledfx
Once both of them installed you can launch the LedFx using the following command
$ ledfx --open-ui
This will launch ledfx user interface in web browser:
Now you will have to add an effect. If you have your WLED connected to your LAN you should be able to see it under the Devices menu. Click on the WLED, and select the effect that you desire. Then click on the “Set Effect” button.
As you can see in the following video you will have the LED light up as per the music that you play. You can light this up when you are watching movie or playing games.
I hope you enjoy this simple build. And please drop me a line if you like this or if you have any questions regarding this build.