Help with driving an RGB fixture

Cmgreenman

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 13, 2018
Messages
5
Hello,
Let me start off with I'm new to the forum and a bit of a n00b when it comes to driving LEDs so I hope I'm posting in the right place. I purchased some 15 watt, IP66 LED RGBW fixtures that I want to modify in order to control via WiFi with Home Assistant (www.home-assistant.io). I also bought some MagicHome type WiFi RGBW controllers to interface with since they use an ESP8266 (or esp8252 in this case) and are easy to load custom firmware.

Here's what I've done so far:
Before hooking anything up to the wifi controllers, I opened up the fixture and disconnected the LED array from the built in IR controller. I used an O-Scope (dds-120 USB scope) to check the voltages coming off the original controller. From the looks of it, the LEDS are getting driven at around 21 volts. I dimmed the fixture a little and was definitely able to see the individual pulses getting shorter. So far so good. I also was able to get the firmware flashed on one of the Wifi LED controllers and it is able to drive an RGBW strip I bought for another purpose so I know the flash was successful.

Now, here's where it gets confusing to me. The panel inside the fixture has 6 RGB LEDs and 30 white LEDs. The markings on original driver show + G R B W X (X is a marking I can't read) and there are 6 wires. on the connector going to the array. Where the wires solder onto the array the markings are V G R B W P. The RGB LEDs are obvious but what's throwing me off is that half of the White LEDs are marked W and the other half are marked P. There is also a line of 13 SMD resistors with 1 each marked R, G, and B, 5 marked W, and 5 marked P. In comparison, the RGBW controller only has 5 outputs (RGBW+). The controller is rated 5v - 28v, 192W.

If anyone could provide some tips or pointers to get these working it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris.

P.S. I tried posting some pics but the links keep disappearing. I assume it's because this is my first post.

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WMj9KyJFGFmzDeqUA

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7zt1YD7EQKZHPSys7

yaxZL2SfZ43QfsHi6
 

Cmgreenman

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 13, 2018
Messages
5
Ok I scaled down the images and uploaded to photobucket. Here's what I'm working with.



LED Panel

20181011_173025-800_zpseiw7niy1.jpg



LED Panel 120v/IR driver:

20181015_110308-800_zpszaamjnbh.jpg



Wifi LED controller

20181015_110351-800_zpsa4yfqgex.jpg



Wifi LED Controller insides

20181015_110428-800_zpsdkglz48e.jpg
 

MeMeMe

Banned
Joined
Aug 27, 2018
Messages
125
Hello,
Let me start off with I'm new to the forum and a bit of a n00b when it comes to driving LEDs so I hope I'm posting in the right place. I purchased some 15 watt, IP66 LED RGBW fixtures that I want to modify in order to control via WiFi with Home Assistant (www.home-assistant.io). I also bought some MagicHome type WiFi RGBW controllers to interface with since they use an ESP8266 (or esp8252 in this case) and are easy to load custom firmware.

Here's what I've done so far:
Before hooking anything up to the wifi controllers, I opened up the fixture and disconnected the LED array from the built in IR controller. I used an O-Scope (dds-120 USB scope) to check the voltages coming off the original controller. From the looks of it, the LEDS are getting driven at around 21 volts. I dimmed the fixture a little and was definitely able to see the individual pulses getting shorter. So far so good. I also was able to get the firmware flashed on one of the Wifi LED controllers and it is able to drive an RGBW strip I bought for another purpose so I know the flash was successful.

Now, here's where it gets confusing to me. The panel inside the fixture has 6 RGB LEDs and 30 white LEDs. The markings on original driver show + G R B W X (X is a marking I can't read) and there are 6 wires. on the connector going to the array. Where the wires solder onto the array the markings are V G R B W P. The RGB LEDs are obvious but what's throwing me off is that half of the White LEDs are marked W and the other half are marked P. There is also a line of 13 SMD resistors with 1 each marked R, G, and B, 5 marked W, and 5 marked P. In comparison, the RGBW controller only has 5 outputs (RGBW+). The controller is rated 5v - 28v, 192W.

If anyone could provide some tips or pointers to get these working it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris.

P.S. I tried posting some pics but the links keep disappearing. I assume it's because this is my first post.

WMj9KyJFGFmzDeqUA

WMj9KyJFGFmzDeqUA

xxHqyssyf4g4Shas8

7zt1YD7EQKZHPSys7

yaxZL2SfZ43QfsHi6

Fixture likely has Cool White and Warm White LED ... or at least two different types. You will need a WiFi controller that has two white channels. They are out there.
 

Cmgreenman

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 13, 2018
Messages
5
That makes sense except that when illuminated with the stock controller all of the white LEDs are the same color regardless of color temp selected. I did some searching and it looks like the H801 module might be what I need. They're only a buck or so more so I'll try it. Luckily I have an alternate use for the Magic Home controllers since they drive the RGBW strip I'm planning on using under my cabinets.


Thanks for the pointer. I'll give it a try and report back if it doesn't work.
 

MeMeMe

Banned
Joined
Aug 27, 2018
Messages
125
That makes sense except that when illuminated with the stock controller all of the white LEDs are the same color regardless of color temp selected. I did some searching and it looks like the H801 module might be what I need. They're only a buck or so more so I'll try it. Luckily I have an alternate use for the Magic Home controllers since they drive the RGBW strip I'm planning on using under my cabinets.


Thanks for the pointer. I'll give it a try and report back if it doesn't work.

There is definitely 2 different types of white-LED. You can tell one is warmish, and one coolish based on the phosphor color.

The original 120V/IR driver looks like a China special. I am guessing Alixpress/Ebay and just maybe Amazon. 0 EMI suppression and from the looks of it, 0 surge suppression. It would not even be legal to use in China if it worked on their voltages.
 

Cmgreenman

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 13, 2018
Messages
5
There is definitely 2 different types of white-LED. You can tell one is warmish, and one coolish based on the phosphor color.

The original 120V/IR driver looks like a China special. I am guessing Alixpress/Ebay and just maybe Amazon. 0 EMI suppression and from the looks of it, 0 surge suppression. It would not even be legal to use in China if it worked on their voltages.
Wow. I see it now. Didn't even notice it on the original panel. As for the 120v driver, it's a good thing I'm scrapping it and driving them with a low voltage solution. I figured the board was junk and it didn't figure in with my plans anyway. I wanna drive these over WiFi not IR.

And yeah, eBay. Lol. The 15w fixtures were under 20 bucks each. They are really bright tho and the colors are excellent. The lights themselves are perfect for my planned usage if I can get them under wifi control.
 

Cmgreenman

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 13, 2018
Messages
5
Update: I was able to get it working. I took your advice and bought some H801 RGBWW controllers. Those are a dream to hack, btw, and have labeled pads for serial console and flash jumper. Plus there are precompiled Espurna binaries specifically for it.

Anyway, I got it all hooked up and connected it to a 15v bench supply to test. Everything worked as expected and I'm able to select rgb and white color/temperature with no issues. To drive these (I have 6) I bought a 200W 24v LED power supply. If has a small adjustment screw for output voltage so I dialed it back to 20.1 volts to match the voltage I measured with the O-Scope. Hooked the fixture up to and and Voila!! Extremely bright and fully wifi controllable. All for about $30 each.

20181018_234937-800_zpstriokdlx.jpg


20181018_234754-800_zpsnncqp7qs.jpg



20181018_234703-800_zpsii0sl3ls.jpg
 
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