Connect
I found inexpensive addressable string lights on Amazon and paired them with a commercial 120 V AC to 5 V DC, 60 A power supply.
Personal high school project
Wi-Fi LED Lighting
I wanted phone-controlled, individually addressable lights without spending a fortune. In high school, I put together a lower-cost setup using string lights, an ESP8266, and WLED. I still use it today.
- Addressable LEDs
- ESP8266
- WLED
- Still in use
Build path
From loose strip to controllable light.
Address
An ESP8266 runs WLED, which handles the patterns and individual LED control. I used existing firmware and focused on putting the hardware together.
Experiment
I use the WLED phone app over Wi-Fi to choose colors and effects. This was one of my first projects that became something I kept using.
System view
A simple connected-lighting flow.
Wi-Fi inputChoose an action
ESP8266 + WLEDRun the lighting effects
LED dataAddress the strip
Color outputDisplay the pattern