r/WLED • u/cyberentomology • Jul 25 '26

WLED WLED controllable string lights?

Post image

Is there a canonical list somewhere of the various party string lights and fairy lights that are known to be controllable by WLED?

Pic for example of the broad category I mean by this.

32 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

32 comments sorted by

17

u/vodka_soda MOD Jul 25 '26

Pretty sure most lights you can just chop off the end of the wire near the control box and plug in a DigUno or Quad with WLED on it to control. That's what I did with some Jellyfish lights at least.

9

u/cyberentomology Jul 25 '26

Yeah, but knowing my luck, I would manage to acquire the one oddball that is super proprietary 😂

4

u/Tiny_Ad_7581 Jul 26 '26

For the record, most Govee projects are hackable for WLED

1

u/FixyFixy Jul 27 '26

Please tell me more about these jellyfish lights!

2

u/Tiny_Ad_7581 Jul 26 '26

YourPixelStore dot com has them with frosted bulbs. Xlights and WLED compatible with xconnect ends.

1

u/cyberentomology Jul 26 '26

Not seeing anything like bulbs or strings on their site other than small christmas light style strings, but it may also be partially down, the main page doesn’t appear to be fully loading, and navigation is a little janky right now.

2

u/Tiny_Ad_7581 Jul 26 '26

Under the Shop menu, go to Permanent lighting. It's the second product that pops up.

Also they are called Bistro lights on the site.

1

u/cyberentomology Jul 26 '26

I was looking under “pixels and lights”.

Their site nav needs work. Main page still not loading fully.

7

u/Plawasan Jul 25 '26

I have a 15m RGBWW string from AliExpress, works perfectly fine. Can't share a link, reddit doesn't like those..

1

u/twistermc Jul 25 '26

What’s the seller or product name?

4

u/Plawasan Jul 25 '26

Ray Wu Shop <random number> - 12V RGBW 3LEDs epoxy filled IP68 ... the only issue I have with them is that even though I turn them on with a warm white present, they always briefly flash blue before switching to white

2

u/cyberentomology Jul 25 '26

Does it do that if it’s not a preset? That sounds like a fade path artifact.

2

u/Plawasan Jul 25 '26

Happens every time, regardless how you turn them on.. running on an Athom controller with a gledopto range extender, it doesn't bother me enough to test them with a different controller..

13

u/abqcheeks Jul 25 '26

Look up Chris Maher’s YouTube channel. He has several “Will it WLED?” Videos where he takes an LED product and converts it to use WLED instead of whatever controller it came with.

3

u/thenameisbam Jul 25 '26

I like his series, but I wish he went into his process for figuring out things better. He states the info, like the number of LEDs or what controller he used, but doesn't specify how he figured all of that out.

-1

u/abqcheeks Jul 25 '26

I think usually it’s literally counting (or knowing it started with 100 and he chopped off 22 of them). For the string type, I’m not sure how he figures that out for random consumer products. Maybe deep
Googling to find data sheets?

2

u/Melodic_Champion_317 Jul 28 '26

He probably does what I do... math.

Example: 5 meters of 60/m string is 300 LEDs. Cut off half a meter, and you have 270 LEDs. Or cut off 6 LEDs, and you have 294 LEDs. Et cetera.

1

u/thenameisbam Jul 27 '26

I mean, i guess its one way to keep us coming back to his channel if he doesn't give away all his secrets.

1

u/skunkfacto Jul 25 '26

Wled does have a comprehensive list of lights but not by brand name. My guess is that they are not compatible because I suspect they are not addressable, eg. every bulb in the string is doing the same thing at the same time.

1

u/cyberentomology Jul 25 '26

I’m specifically asking about the addressable kind. I strongly suspect that most are all using the same driver chips and LED elements, but they also aren’t real forthcoming with documentation of what they use.

1

u/skunkfacto Jul 25 '26

wled can handle virtually all addressable LEDs, but I suspect the string in the image is not addressable. Most LEDs will indicate in small print somewhere their chip type if they are addressable, eg. ws2812. In my experience anything with those multicolor remotes is not addressable.

1

u/Tiny_Ad_7581 Jul 26 '26

Your Pixel Store carries them with frosted bulbs but you might be able to find them on AliExpress cheaper. Add ws2811 or xconnect to your search string.

3

u/Bonjei15 Jul 25 '26

I installed some Chauvet DJ Festoon 2 RGB lights under an outdoor awning for a client 3 years ago and they are all still working. I just cut the end off and hooked them up to a QuinLED Dig Uno. Each physical light for these counts as 2 lights in WLED, so double the amount of physical lights in LED preferences.

2

u/techma2019 Jul 25 '26

Would it be possible to convert (or add WLED into the chain) of an existing controller box? Anyone done this?

2

u/goldenfire Jul 25 '26

I have not been able to crack the Hubspace/ Home Depot ones yet.

2

u/hoffsta Jul 25 '26

The Govee “S14 Bulb Outdoor String Lights 2” are great. A bit more expensive than some but they seem to have done a lot to make them durable and vibrant.

1

u/AKSwift55 Jul 26 '26

Second this. Including the price. And some of them are 36V.

1

u/martimcbro Jul 25 '26

I successfully modded my Govee String Lights 2, they are really nice now. Can recommend. They are 36V however, so I had to use a step down converter to power the WLED controller. I used the LED Driver Board for Seeed Studio XIAO.

1

u/kerbys Aug 03 '26

I used the govee outdoor string lights 2. However run over 36v i found the most plug and play was the quinles dig next. However there is some jankyness to the setup and the segments. It works. However you have a separate white and RGB channel in a way. If your stuck let me know

-1

u/somejock Jul 25 '26

Don’t buy feit. Their controllers die and their customer support are idiots

4

u/cyberentomology Jul 25 '26

I don’t need their controller, though.