How To: Inexpensive ($10 US) WiFi RGB Bulb that works with Home Assistant

Regarding animations maybe you could take a look at this library: https://github.com/kitesurfer1404/WS2812FX

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Thanks for the tip! This library definitely contains some good examples. However, these libraries are made for multi-LED lights (like a LED light strip or color LED ring). The Ai-Thinker LED RGBW bulb is essentially a single LED, so not all effects in this library can be used.

As of today, I am unfortunately not considering any build/purchase requests for an AiLight Jig. Making an AiLight Jig was/is fun, however also time-consuming. There are some other projects (one of them being the AiLight firmware), that currently require some more love and attention.

If you still like to have an AiLight Jig, you can build one yourself by following the instructions here: Make an AiLight Jig. This Wiki page also contains links to all the 3D design files.

I would like to thank all the people that have purchased the AiLight Jig and really appreciated your support! If time permits, I might restart making them again :slight_smile:

Cheers! Sacha

Thanks, Iā€™m glad I got in when I did!

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Technically if I paired home assistant with HA bridge I should be able to issue alexa command to the LED lights right
For anyone here who uses Alexa with Ailight/Espurna firmware, can you issue command like setting bulb brightness & colors based on scenes?

I think the only way to issue colour commands would be via a Skill? I donā€™t think there is anyway of referencing a colour using the Hue Emulator.

I suppose you could setup a bunch of fake switches in HASS (e.g. Lamp Blue), which are then triggered in an automation setting the bulb to blue? etc.

I havenā€™t tried this yet but I intend to, I flashed my first bulb last night with AiLight and Iā€™m really pleased with the outcome, thanks everyone for making this guide!

@stelgenhof That was me that emailed your yesterday regarding the jig :wink: Iā€™ve just ordered on for 3D print so will let you know how it comes out.

I have a question regarding switchesā€¦ at the moment Iā€™m using dimmable RF switches across the house with dumb halogen bulbsā€¦ I now want to replace all of these with this bulb running AiLightā€¦ ANyone have any suggestions for smart swtiches that work well with AiLight?

Really I want a switch that does the on/off locally in the switch so I can still switch my bulbs on in the event of my router dying or HASS crashingā€¦ But then I want the dimming function of the switch to send commands to MQTT or similar (not local dimming from the switch)

Anyone know of anything I can use? To make this even more difficultā€¦ Iā€™m in the UK, so have no Neutral at my switches :frowning:

Regards

I suppose you could setup a bunch of fake switches in HASS (e.g. Lamp Blue), which are then triggered in an automation setting the bulb to blue? etc.

Yes, this is what I was going for, I take it other alexa commands can be used as normal (without any extra configuration) like adjusting the brightness for LED bulb on the stock tuya firmware?

What about the new sonoff touch or the new sonoff t1? Have you considered those?

I am working on smart switches (ATMEGA328p/NRF24 based) to replace the functions of the regular analog switches in my house.

Like you, I also donā€™t have Neutral in my switches :frowning:

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I did look at them briefly but I seem to remember them requiring Neutral to the switch.

Brightness commands via Emulated Hue will still work perfectly.

The wall outlets have neutral wire right? You can just loop the neutral wire to the wall switch like I did

@stelgenhof Sounds interesting. Are you building them from scratch or hacking something existing? Itā€™s a real limitation when it comes to smart switches only having Live to the switch isnā€™t it!

My setup of LightwaveRF/HomeEasy 433mhz switches work really well today, but now Iā€™m using AiLight, they wonā€™t work so well with the dimming functionality of the wall switch. They also donā€™t report state which isnā€™t great now that my setup has evolved so much.

Nope, no neutral in the wall, only at the bulb:

Really? I thought thereā€™s one behind the wall outlet like this

Iā€™ve only replaced wall switches thatā€™s right next to the wall outlet since itā€™s closer to loop the neutral wires.

Ah, on a wall socket yes, but not a light switch. My light switches are nowhere near my wall outlets.

Yes, agree. Some older houses still have sometimes outdated setups. Also, certain countries have different building codes.

My idea is to build from scratch. I already have a prototype working that is not using a physical switch, but a capacitive touch sensor. The only thing with all this IoT stuff is, you canā€™t (yet) eliminate the latency. For example, the touch sensor takes about 500ms to respond, which is slower than the operation of a regular switch.

For the other family members, that is something they need to get used to I guessā€¦

Home Automation/IoT is great, but comes with a whole new set of challenges.

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Sounds interesting, I donā€™t think that kind of latency is too much of an issueā€¦

Does your switch still operate if HASS goes down?

Yes, if HASS is down it still works as it uses NRF24L01 transceivers. Even if WiFi is down, these still work :slight_smile: However since the light bulb relies on WiFi, WiFi is a requirement to be operating.

Since I donā€™t have 3rd printer to print out the aiglight jig
Can I know how you setup/connect the wires on your own DIY jig board?

Iā€™ve run into a problem with the web UI. After flashing a recent upgrade, I seem to have lost the ability to interact with the device via the web UI. None of the on-device parameters show up in the UI (settings or about pages). Iā€™ve tried reflashing the device multiple times, but alas no luck. Iā€™ve cleared the browser cache and tried multiple browsers (Firefox and Chrome). Even my Android Chrome is now broken. What is bizarre is that HA can still interact with the device via MQTT (turn on/off, set color, etc.).

This seemed to have started right around the 0.4.1 time frame, but Iā€™m not positive about that. I have been tending to pull from the repo occasionally and rebuild/flash. Iā€™ve not really changed anything in config.h or platformio.ini that I can think of (besides trying to keep them in sync with the example files).

I did at one point long ago build the webapp from scratch prior to it being prebuilt. Iā€™ve made sure that src/html.gz.h is up to date and even deleted node_modules/ directory just in case.

Iā€™m stuck. Any ideas what is going on?

Can you check the console log of your browser (Usually Developer Mode of your browser)? Perhaps there are some error messages appearing. Having no device data, means the UI cannot communicate internally with the device (WebSockets).

Alternatively, you could entirely erase the device and re-upload the firmware. (Note: this will remove your device configuration!).