hi everyone, i have not worked with an esp32 yet so im researching things before purchasing all the parts. i have experience working with rpis but for this project i need something much smaller and cheaper. im planning to make an RGB LED lamp that changes colors, but pretty much everything i can find online use tools like WLED to control them wirelessly. the thing is, i don’t want/like wireless devices.i intend to 3d print a case for it with buttons on the back for controlling the light, specifically cycling between colors. i don’t need anything fancy like the ability to react to sound, but it would be nice if i were able to program different patterns for it.what do i need for a project like this? any tips are appreciated.

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AndThenFlashlights

2 | 9 hours ago

WLED absolutely can work over Ethernet if you don’t want to do wireless. It’s in the docs. Most of the controller manufacturers (Quin, Wasatch, et al) have Ethernet versions of their ESP32 boards. It would be worth your time to go read their documentation more thoroughly.

Big_Challenges_7457 [OP]

1 | 9 hours ago

is ethernet not wireless…? i guess im just confused how ethernet would control it.

wivaca2

1 | 6 hours ago

Ethernet, despite the name, was around ages before wifi existed, but I think theyre just referring to wired. You said you want actual buttons on the light.

WLED supports physical pushbuttons and switches connected directly to ESP32 or ESP8266 GPIO pins. For example:

Momentary pushbutton: Press to toggle LEDs on/off.

Short, long, and double presses: Assign different actions to each.

Toggle switch: Use a maintained-position switch.

PIR sensor: Trigger lighting based on motion.

Multiple buttons: Assign different GPIO pins to control different functions.

To do this, open Config → LED Preferences. Find the Hardware Setup → Buttons section.

Select an unused GPIO and set the button type to Pushbutton. Save the configuration. Open Config → Time & Macros to assign presets to short, long, and double presses.

oclafloptson

1 | 13 hours ago

YouTube is going to have a bunch of videos on how to do this using pushbuttons and gpios. Good luck to you!

Big_Challenges_7457 [OP]

0 | 13 hours ago

what do i need to search for that? cause everything that comes up has the wireless solution :/

borkyborkus

1 | 9 hours ago

I would just use WLED and program it with buttons. Don’t use the wireless aspect if you don’t want it, but it’s really really nice to have a webui to program the presets. I did something similar with an Adafruit rotary encoder, where you click it to cycle colors and the dial changes brightness. I like that I can wrap it into HA automations like the nightly ‘turn all off’, and have another WLED controller sync to it.

I like the seeedstudio LED driver board with their C3. It can output 5v or 12v. The sub won’t let me attach a video but I can dm a clip of the encoder changing the lighting if you want it. It is extremely responsive, not much slower than a hardwired dimmer switch.

Big_Challenges_7457 [OP]

1 | 9 hours ago

i did not know wled allowed buttons, i thought it was specifically for wireless control. thank you for this info, ill look into it more.

Alternative_Tune4192

2 | 10 hours ago

Look into FastLED

rattushackus | 1 say I make awesome posts.

1 | 5 hours ago

Assuming WLED means this it’s software that controls NeoPixel devices through a network (which could be wireless or wired). If you don’t want to control the lights over a network link you don’t need WLED as ESP32s already have lots of support for NeoPixel devices. You would just use a cheap ESP32 like a C3 supermini connected to some buttons and your lights and write code to read the button presses and adjust the NeoPixel device accordingly.

rgb lamp that ISNT wireless?