I have some experience in using wled and esphome to control segments of digital led strips. I am now looking for a solution to drive 14 different non-digital led strips but am a bit stuck on how to achieve this with esphome. The use case is led strips for my stairs (14 in total) which I want to light up 1 after each other. I need to be able to switch every individual light and need to dim all 14.
Does anyone know where to start? Do I need 1 of those 16 channel relay boards? If so: how would dimming then work?
Non-digital? That would be Analog.
I would use a Wemos D1 Mini (8266) and an MCP23017 to get 16 IO ports, each driving a MOSFET to control a strip of LEDs.
Do you want each circuit dim value to be different, or just to be able to choose the same dim level for the lot? Are you only going to have one step powered on at once, or potentially up to all 14?
Is an three step dimming an option rather than dimming over a range? Full, half, off, rather than variable? If so, maybe two banks of 16 channel relays, one bank connected to a voltage supply for full on, and one for voltage supply for half on, hooked up in parallel output may be an option. 16 channel relay boards are a cheap commodity item these days. Gotcha to watch: Your logic and wiring will have to be carefully structured so the two banks are never on at the same time, otherwise your two power supplies will be bridged via the relays with resulting welded contacts or smoke. Use a suitably rated circuit breaker in-line is recommended for protection.
Analog or pwm?
Alternatively, a digitally controlled power supply voltage as a source for each bank if you are happy with them all having the same dim level.
If you only want one step on at one time, one power supply, suitably dimmed, switched via relay to the appropriately step via the relay bank will be easy.
Otherwise you are back to individually controlled dimmer circuits.
Watch your current draw ratings, and appropriately thick wires to handle it all, keeping in mind voltage drops for long runs. Try to keep your wires away from any footstep areas and hard edges to prevent damage for installation longevity, even if they may possibly be under a layer of carpet. If you have access from the outside of the stairs, consider bringing in each wire individually for each stair horizontally from outside rather than running a bunch of wires up and over each step inside.
The led strips I am going to use are Goming 5mm COB led strips. They are 12 volts and take 6.4 watt per meter on full brightness. Each led strip will be wired directly to the controller. The goal is to have the led strips light up 1 by one (so that when you are on the stairs all led strips are lit). When you exit the stairs on top the lights should, 1 after a time, go off until none are lit.
Width of each stair is about 1.2 meters so I need an adapter of at least 110 watts which translates into roughly 10 amps.
For the led strips I need both dimming (6.4 per stair is way to bright) and switching (for the animation)
Wiring will be done from the back of the stairs (small hole just below each stair through which the cable runs that powers that particular stair).
You can still use WLED with analogue LEDs, in fact this product seems perfect for your use case (15 channels of output), also works directly with ESPhome if you prefer.
I think that is spot on! I just ordered it (a bit of a shame that taxes+shipping is more expensive than the device itself…) Will report back as soon as I have it.
Well, that’s the high cost you and others seem all to happy to pull out a barrel and smile when they tell you to bend over it because thats the price you pay for having zero patience and 0 interest in doing any online research to self-educate yourself and learn about alternatives that will equally do the same things, just no barrel required or public displays of embarrassment with that option…
You have essentially “dumb led’s” and they’re called that because that’s the minimum requirement needed to figure out how to control them…
To each his own though, if you’ve got piles of cash and dont mind burning a few piles now and then, well that’s your decision to do if you want!
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I have his 8-channel digital board and they are well made, with care and attention to ensure that the PCB is well tested and rated for sustained high current. I’ve had mine running 5V at 140W+ so pushing 25A+ through the board and it’s been very reliable.
The individually fused channels are nice too, I had a loose power injection wire and the fuse stopped me overloading the other power connector.