I wanted 6 recessed RGB lights for my living room so that I could have Circadian lighting and also movie lighting and party lighting. And also just for fun. I wanted to avoid radio signal control and have Ethernet connection for control.
So I bought a few recessed lights, cracked them open and finally found one that is easy to hack for my purpose. I used a little help from AI along the way to build YAML code and choose the best materials.
What I ended buying was 10 cheap recessed lights from Amazon that were originally intended to be controlled by Alexa via bluetooth.
I snipped the bluetooth module out, solder a USB connector to the light and then use a USB cable to carry Clock, Data and Ground to my ESP32-S3-ETH board.
Here are the hardware steps that took me about 30 minutes to modify 4 lights:
Use a sharp blade tip to pry off light filter.
Remove 2 screws
Unplug lighting disc from power board.
Use a flush cutter to snip solder joints between BT module and power PCB.
Then wiggle and remove BT.
Note the connections and BP5758 LED control chip that our ESP board will be talking to.
Here is a mark where our USB socket PCB will sit. This is area with most clearance.
Drill two 1/4" holes close together for USB.
Solder 2" of 26ga silicone wire to pin connections of lights power PCB and USB PCB:
Black = Gnd ( - ) to G
Red = SDA ( S ) to D+
Yellow = Clk ( C ) to D-
Connect USB cord to protect plug and use Hot glue to hold USB in place to reassembly of light.
Be sure to make sure wire is not pinched by any components during reassembly of lighting disc and power PCB.
Here is the ESP board side of things:
- Black is GND ( Same as on lights )
- Yellow is to D+ ( Red used on lights )
- White is to D- ( Yellow used on lights )
Connections that I used for ESP32-S3-ETH:
bp5758d:
# Light 1 Hub
- id: bp5758d_light1
data_pin: GPIO1 # DATA for Light 1
clock_pin: GPIO0 # CLK for Light 1
# Light 2 Hub
- id: bp5758d_light2
data_pin: GPIO3 # DATA for Light 2
clock_pin: GPIO2 # CLK for Light 2
# Light 3 Hub
- id: bp5758d_light3
data_pin: GPIO17 # DATA for Light 3
clock_pin: GPIO16 # CLK for Light 3
Then the YAML for controls:
# --- Outputs for Light 1 (linked to bp5758d_light1) ---
# Define the 5 outputs
output:
- platform: bp5758d
id: light1_red
channel: 5 #3 # Adjust this channel number based on your mapping
current: 60 # Enter the current you measured in mA (e.g., 60mA)
bp5758d_id: bp5758d_light1
- platform: bp5758d
id: light1_green
channel: 4 #5
current: 60
bp5758d_id: bp5758d_light1
- platform: bp5758d
id: light1_blue
channel: 3 #4
current: 60
bp5758d_id: bp5758d_light1
- platform: bp5758d
id: light1_cold_white
channel: 1
current: 60
bp5758d_id: bp5758d_light1
- platform: bp5758d
id: light1_warm_white
channel: 2
current: 60
bp5758d_id: bp5758d_light1
# --- Outputs for Light 2 (linked to bp5758d_light2) ---# Define the 5 outputs
- platform: bp5758d
id: light2_red
channel: 5 #3 # Adjust this channel number based on your mapping
current: 60 # Enter the current you measured in mA (e.g., 60mA)
bp5758d_id: bp5758d_light2
- platform: bp5758d
id: light2_green
channel: 4 #5
current: 60
bp5758d_id: bp5758d_light2
- platform: bp5758d
id: light2_blue
channel: 3 #4
current: 60
bp5758d_id: bp5758d_light2
- platform: bp5758d
id: light2_cold_white
channel: 1
current: 60
bp5758d_id: bp5758d_light2
- platform: bp5758d
id: light2_warm_white
channel: 2
current: 60
bp5758d_id: bp5758d_light2
# --- Outputs for Light 3 (linked to bp5758d_light3) ---# Define the 5 outputs
- platform: bp5758d
id: light3_red
channel: 5 #3 # Adjust this channel number based on your mapping
current: 60 # Enter the current you measured in mA (e.g., 60mA)
bp5758d_id: bp5758d_light3
- platform: bp5758d
id: light3_green
channel: 4 #5
current: 60
bp5758d_id: bp5758d_light3
- platform: bp5758d
id: light3_blue
channel: 3 #4
current: 60
bp5758d_id: bp5758d_light3
- platform: bp5758d
id: light3_cold_white
channel: 1
current: 60
bp5758d_id: bp5758d_light3
- platform: bp5758d
id: light3_warm_white
channel: 2
current: 60
bp5758d_id: bp5758d_light3
# --- Light Entities (RGBWW) ---
light:
- platform: rgbww
name: "Living Light 1"
id: rgb_light_1
red: light1_red
green: light1_green
blue: light1_blue
cold_white: light1_cold_white
warm_white: light1_warm_white
cold_white_color_temperature: 6500 K
warm_white_color_temperature: 2700 K
color_interlock: true # Prevents weird behavior with RGB+White
- platform: rgbww
name: "Living Light 2"
id: rgb_light_2
red: light2_red
green: light2_green
blue: light2_blue
cold_white: light2_cold_white
warm_white: light2_warm_white
cold_white_color_temperature: 6500 K
warm_white_color_temperature: 2700 K
color_interlock: true
- platform: rgbww
name: "Living Light 3"
id: rgb_light_3
red: light3_red
green: light3_green
blue: light3_blue
cold_white: light3_cold_white
warm_white: light3_warm_white
cold_white_color_temperature: 6500 K
warm_white_color_temperature: 2700 K
color_interlock: true
