[Q]What chipset is inside MiBoxer FUT035W+ and is it supported with OpenBeken // Tasmota // ESPHome?

Hardware
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#1

Hi guys.

The main and the only question is in the title.

TL;DR

I ordered MiBoxer FUT036W WiFi LED dimmer/controller from ebay. It is from China seller. However, seller sent me a message that he currently has no FUT036W in stock and that he can send me “similar one”, and asked is it OK. I told him that I cannot say neither OK nor not OK if I don’t know which one model is “similar one”, especially cause I don’t want to use it with Tuya cloud. I told him that I need something which can be flashed either with OpenBeken or Tasmota/ESPHome, so I asked him to provide me a model, then I can tell if it is OK. This morning, he sent me a photo of the “similar one”. It is FUT035W+, but as you can imagine with Chinese sellers, short afterwards I received an email from ebay that my package is already on the way (without my confirmation that FUT035W+ is OK for me). Yes, I know I can complain to ebay and most probably they will return me money, but I would rather keep this FUT035W+ if someone knows and can confirm that it has some “friendly” chipset and it could be flashed with either Tasmota/ESPHome or OpenBeken, also successfully configured. Yes, I know that in case of Beken chipset OpenBeken should be used and Tasmota/ESPHome not possible in this case, and vice versa in case of ESPxxxx chipset. I’m not beginner and already have several Tasmota and ESPHome devices + one OpenBeken device, all of them integrated to Home Assistant. I just cannot find an info what is inside FUT035W+. You already knows that rule with Chinese manufactures is that there is no rule, so it could be ESP, Beken, or something else :slight_smile: I saw on elektroda forum that FUT036W was flashed with OpenBeken, on the other hand, I saw Tasmota templates on blakadder for FUT035W and FUT039W, but I cannot find any info regarding FUT035W+ which he sent to me.

Many thanks in advance.

This is what he sent me:

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#2

Don’t know any of the chipset. But I do know, you can make your own ESP based controller to make these things work.

#3

I use the limitless led integration. No flashing required and works fine for my two MiBoxer controllers.

#4

Hmmmm, didn’t think in this way. Is this LimitlessLED something similar to Home Assistant Yeelight integration? I mean, set device with native firmware and with native MiLight app once, then turn on some local control mode, then add it to HA via LimitlessLED integration and control it in local network without cloud (this is how Yeelight integration is working)? This is how I understood LimitlessLED integration page, and if this is the true, this definitely could be an option. I mean, it is really not hard for me to open device, solder what is needed and flash it with OpenBeken or something else, I’m anyway doing that all the time, but why bothering with it since I already using Yeelight/Xiaomi bulbs same way.

@BebeMischa : Thanks for the hint, but would avoid to make a HUB for one device I bought and not planning to buy more such a devices.

#5

Yes, it is LimitlessLED compatible. I use plenty of those in my house. They are very reliable. I’m very happy with a whole house MiLight.
I also did make this ESP controller a while a go, just to test it, and maybe as future posibility to save me from disaster. Just did not find the time to do more with it now.
After some years here I learned, that the now perfectly working LimitlessLED integration can be killed any moment by some developer and asking the HA gods for help could be useless. Been there, seen that.
So now at least I have a second different way of control, if the one I use now fails.

Just to says something about the quality: I have 26 Milight LED bulbs and 6 LED strips controlled by MiLight controllers. All of them are between 5-7 years old now. I never had to change a single one for a failure and never had seen a missed command from any remote or HA automation.

Actually it surprises me very much, they are not way more popular.

#6

For me it was this easy.

  1. Install that integration
  2. In my configuration.yaml I have light: !include light.yaml
  3. In light.yaml I have:
- platform: limitlessled
  bridges:
    - host: 192.168.2.249
      groups:
      - number: 1
        type: rgbw
        name: Triangle LEDs
      - number: 2
        type: rgbw
        name: Kitchen LEDs
      - number: 3
        type: rgbw
        name: Table LEDs
      - number: 4
        type: rgbw
        name: Pergola LEDs
    - host: 192.168.1.248
      groups:
      - number: 1
        name: Patio LEDs
        type: rgbww
      - number: 2
        name: Step LEDs
        type: rgbww
      - number: 3
        name: Accent LEDs
        type: rgbww

Of course you would need the proper settings. I used the Android app to set up the controller and record the groups and types (rgb, rgbw, rgbww, etc.). Then all commands are sent internally. But yes, I have MiBoxer WiFi controllers in that mix (which to me is no different than an ESP solution).

So it’s HA LimitlessLED → MiBoxer WiFi Controller → FUTXXX Controller → Light Strips

#7

That’s nice, looks very similar to mine. But it won’t work without some kind of hub. MiLight does work with own protocol on 2.4 GHz, it’s not direct wifi. So you can’t integrate this LED controller directly with HA.

So men does need:

Original MiLight hub OR diy ESP hub OR flashing different firmware. That’s, why OP ask’s his questions here.

#8

Exactly, I hit send before I finished the comment. You do need a “hub” which in my case is MiBoxer Wifi Controller which can handle 4 “zones” (although you can put many FUTxxx in one zone, it is not 1 zone = 1 strip).

Like my Kitchen cabinet lighting is actually 4 different strips because of cabinet layout but they are all in one zone and act as one (set green and they are all green).

#9

You are totally right for this, but I am little lazy and will figure something if disaster happen :grin:, most probably flash it with OpenBeken

Glad to hear that. I have just one MiBoxer for now, the ZigBee one, FUT036Z. I put it in LED Matrix box. LED Matrix is connected to 2 ESP32 boards. One has FastLED code with Tetris, Snake and Breakout games on matrix played with PS4 controller, another ESP is with WLED. On the border of the box is basic white LED strip which is dimmable/controlable with FUT036Z. White strip is here so we can have normal, strong enough white light, cause whole this Frankenstein matrix thing is mounted on ceiling in kids room as ceiling light (white strip), games on ceiling and WLED on ceiling. Since EVRYTHING was hand made by me (even wooden box), I am glad to hear they are reliable, cause unmout/mount of this isn’t simple task :grin:

Just reading new comments, understood. Ok, so, on elektroda.com forum I already got an info these things 99.9% should have Beken chipset, so I will flash it with OpenBeken. Didn’t bought ZigBee one this time for some reason, but maybe would be better that I was :grin:

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#10

Likely cheaper then the pre-built route for sure, I have four of these (three in use, one spare):

#11

And that is, where the diy ESP hub becomes intrusting, for those, who do have a lot of MiLight. I now already hit 10 zones with 3 hubs, so I only have 2 zones left and will need 4th hub.

Or I make the switch and start to use the diy ESP hub, as that one has it’s limitation somewhere in the hundreds of zones, so I will never reach that limit.

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#12

Build me one while you are at it :slight_smile:

I am still OK with what I have … I have 10 in ground RGBWW lights sunk in the patio, two on the entry to house and four up lights to trees. That is three zones, room for one more which will be uplighting on more trees.

Another hub handles back dev pergola cans, decorations, under table and kitchen. 4 zones so full.

Another handling some backyard lighting but has two zones available.

#13

Yup, I understand you at this point. My lights went in some other direction and I’m not sure will I ever buy one more MiBoxer. But for someone with looooot of MiBoxer devices, this ESP DIY HUB is inevitable (I already read something about their limitations for zones and groups with stock HUB)

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#14

It’s so easy, took me 1 hour of study and 40 minutes of work. No soldering involved… You can do it! See my signature… :stuck_out_tongue:

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#15

Just so I can do this and get the right stuff, is this the “shopping list”? NOTE: this is to build out three, one for a friend and I added the antenna version for better coverage in the house.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GSE2S98/ref=ewc_pr_img_1?smid=A1K0O9XEM4PWVI&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LSPZHT8/ref=ewc_pr_img_2?smid=A1N6DLY3NQK2VM&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081CSJV2V/ref=ewc_pr_img_3?smid=A30QSGOJR8LMXA&th=1

#16

looks good to me… I also have the one with ext. antenna :wink:

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#17

Did you find a nice, compatible container for the boards? I like to have things neat and tidy!

#18

Not exactly, was not even looking. As my box stays out of sight, I just put all of it inside a unused RPi housing. Sometimes I’m lazy too :wink:

#19

Probably just do a teardown to verify the chip inside?
Some manufacturers changed the chip but the fcc id remains the same

#20

Thank you for this. Just finished the build and although I have never done this, it took me only a few hours to get things up. I just went UDP route and LimitlessLED integration as MQTT would be another big step to learn.

Works perfect.

Adding UDP ports now for all the current 7 zones and will likely be at 15 this summer for more uplighting outside.

IMG-20230511-WA0003 (002)
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By the way, for anyone interested in going UDP versus MQTT, I posted here how to do the setup.

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