Mr. CatNaps LEDs

Background

I love lights and have been automating them since I was a kid. Excited to bring an affordable LED system to the market.

Why?

• It’s cheaper, the basic Philips hue LED + strip is 54 LEDs in 2 meters for $90. An equivalent Mr. CatNaps system would cost $45. For $30 you can extend the Philips hue lightstrip 2 meters with 40 LEDs, but you can extend my system 5 meters with 300 LEDs.
• Alexa compatible with groups.
• Simple to use Web interface that is mobile friendly.
• Smart URLs, that can be saved on mobile home screens for one click activation.
• Multiple LEDs working off of one endpoint for synchronize lighting.
• All done through Amazon, AWS, and OAUTH.

Steps

• Install Mr. CatNaps LED system onto the ESP8266 NodeMCU
• Create a 'Thing' through the Web Portal
• Setup your 'Thing' on the NodeMCU
• Link to your Alexa(optional)

Install Mr. CatNaps LED system onto the ESP8266 NodeMCU

• Download the Binary File, https://s3.amazonaws.com/mrcatnapsneeds/new_full_led_system.ino.bin
• Use the official ESP Binary Loader Tool, https://github.com/espressif/esptool/.
• The command I use is, esptool.py --port COM4 write_flash 0x00000 location-of-bin.ino.bin (a port is not necessary, if you only have one device connected.)

The next 3 steps are all show in this 3:30 video

Create a 'Thing' through the Web Portal

• Go to https://steveninouye.com/leds
• Login with Amazon
• Click 'New Thing' in the upper right
• Copy the Thing Name (the right most column)
• Edit the Custom Invoke Name, Change 'NewThing' to whatever you would like to invoke the lights with.
• Click 'Update Things' in the upper right

Setup your 'Thing' on the NodeMCU

• Connect to the WiFi network 'Mr. CatNaps LED Setup'
• Navigate the browser to 192.168.4.1
• Click 'Setup'
• Click 'Check' (optional, if you have LEDs connected already)
• Enter your WiFi Name, WiFi Password, Thing Name(copied earlier), RGB orientation, and number of LEDs that will be connected to the device.

Max 800 LED Addresses per ESP8266. To have more LEDS, use multiple ESP8266s with the same thing name.

• Click 'Connect/Disconnect'
• Your ESP8266 NodeMCU is now connected
• Connect to light strip

LS Power => ESP8266 VIN pin, LS GROUND => EXP8266 GND pin, LS DATA => D8(GPIO15) pin

Link to your Alexa(optional)

• Download the Home Skill App, https://www.amazon.com/Mr-CatNaps-LEDs/dp/B079PQJNTM
• Link your account
• Navigate the browser to Alexa.amazon.com
• Click 'Smart Home'
• Click 'Devices'
• Click 'Discover'
• The Custom Invoke Name will be discovered and you will be able to control the basic light system
• 'On', 'Off', Brightness, and Solid colors are currently supported by the Home Skill. Scenes will have to be selected through the Web Portal.

A few devices running this system.

• Setup Video:

• Apartment Livingroom: https://www.instagram.com/p/B2n2wR-h2q7/
• Den 900 LEDs: https://imgur.com/a/eYpxO
• Backyard Pergola: https://imgur.com/a/uh8L3
• Gaming Consoles: https://imgur.com/a/fTXAB
• Spirit Hood: https://imgur.com/a/pP0ND
• Couch Under-Glow: https://imgur.com/a/gjSM6