Control RGB Led Using Wled

To decorate your lighting set-up, WS2812B RGB led is the one of the best option. To control the these addressable led, we need a Microcontroller like ESP32 and also have to upload the code. Writing code to control addressable LEDs isn’t difficult, but what if you just want to add some ambient lighting to your living room or office and manage it all from your smartphone? Currently the best option, hands down, is WLED. If you're not familiar with WLED, the WLED Project is a web server that controls LEDs and SPI-based chipsets. It can control two types of LED strips: digital addressable and analog non-addressable. WLED also provides open protocols to communicate with platforms like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Phillips Hue, it is based on both ESP controllers, and it is completely open-source. And also allow You to control the whole lighting set-up with just a help of your smartphone.

Step 1: Firmware Upload

• First go to official website of Wled. Here you can see the option for installation. Also you can select the version of Wled, my recommendation is to use the latest version. Click on Install.

• Now Connect Your ESP32 Microcontroller with your laptop. At the right side you'll see the option for com port selection. Select your connected Port and click on connect. Also Make sure that CP2102 Driver is pre-installed in your laptop. If it's not, then download it from here.

• Now you'll see two options Install WLED/ Logs & Console. Simply Click on install Wled to upload the firmware into ESP32.

• If you're getting errors then press the BOOT Bouton for 2 Seconds, it will erase all your data from ESP32.
• Now re-click on install to upload the firmware once again.

• Now it'll just take only 2 minutes to upload the firmware.

• After 2 minutes you'll see congratulations Installation Complete message, simply Click on Next.

• Now enter your SSID and Password of your wifi network, make sure your smartphone and Wled application is connected with same wifi network. After entering the details, click on Next.
• Now You have successfully completed the installation process, simply Click on Visit Device for LED Configuration.

Step 2: WLED Application

• First Install WLED Application from Play Store or App Store & open it.
• First click on plus icon at the right side.

• Now click on discover lights

• You'll found your Connected ESP32 as {Found WLED}

Click on found WLED. Now You will see a interface where it it will show you that your ESP32 is connected with WiFi network and also show you it's IP address.Now click on that, and get a interface where you can control the whole RGB led set-up with just one click.

Step 3: ConfigurationNow you have to do the configuration of LED. You can do this same process from your laptop or smartphone also. I prefer Smartphone, just follow the above steps and open the application, Click on Configure option at the right side.

• LED preferencesNow click on LED preferences.Scroll Down a little bit, you'll see a coloum of Hardware Setup, from here you can do some following changes;)
• LED Type

• LED Length

• GPIO Number

• Colour Order
• Change the data according to your set-up & Click on save to save the changes.
• Wifi SetupNow click on wifi setup, from here you can change the SSID and Password of your wifi network.After Changing the data, click on Save to save the data.

Step 4: Conection

Now Connect your Ws2812b RGB led strip with your ESP32 Microcontroller. You may follow the above image for reference.

Step 5: Testing

Power up your ESP32 microcontroller with 5v adapter. Open the Wled application and click on connected LED, now from here you can change colour, effect, also can add a timer and much more. You can also get a music control option. Just explore the app.

Conclusion

In my opinion Wled is the best option for controlling RGB led, whether you are a beginner or professional in electronic. It allow to control the RGB led with a lot of effects at free of cost plus no coding required.Watch the full tutorial on my YouTube channel & Stay Connected.