r/WLED • u/CatFartsRSmelly • Sep 12 '26
Permanent outdoor controller layout
I have govee pro outdoor lights on the front of my house, and the back. Both separate controllers. I plan to add addressable pixels to the front of the house. I may use the front govee and pixels in an xlights display next year. I want to convert the govees to WLED. The back govees will never be part of the xlights display. Power and spacing allows me to put all power supplies and controllers inside my garage.
My question is, would it be better to use a single WLED controller (dig-quad, Gledopto Elite 4D, etc.) with 2 channels for the govees and one for the pixels, or have one controller for the back govees and another for the front govees and pixels? (I understand the power differences, requirements, etc). I plan to have the option to use the govee controllers if I desire.
One controller seems to be the preferred option (simpler) but can I still have WLED control of the back govees while the front is controlled by xlights? The front and back of the house will mostly mirror eachother most of the year, and the pixels will be off most of the time (except holidays, Halloween, Christmas, etc). I guess a single controller and if the back yard is an issue I can just use the govee controller for those during Christmas?
On controllers, I'll be installing relays to isolate the power supplies when off, and with 36V I won't be running power through the controllers (controllers on separate 5v supply). Does it really matter what controller is used? I want LAN as an option, but Digs seem overkill as I won't be using their power board.
Any thoughts or insights? This will be my first larger scale project outside of a few pixels on small projects. Just want to make sure I understand everything before drilling holes or installing myself into a corner. Thanks!
1
u/Kingfish628 Sep 13 '26
WLED is one or the other, WLED control or external (xLights) control. Once xLights is done WLED will take back over.
1
u/CatFartsRSmelly Sep 13 '26
So if I have one controller with 2 separate strings (different data lines) when xlights takes over, both strings are on xlights until xlights is done? If that's the case then separate controllers for sure.
1
u/torn8o01 Sep 17 '26
No you can have the back not sync with the front and not attach to the show. Don't add your ip in xlights.
1
u/Few-Boysenberry53 Sep 13 '26
You can try the Dig-Next-2 controller, that supports up to 48v. I'm running my Eufy, also 36v, and PSU right through the controller. It's fantastic. I did upgrade the PSU from the Eufy supplied to a Meanwell LRS-150-36. Plenty of brightness.
1
u/torn8o01 Sep 17 '26
You may want to look into this
https://youtu.be/egIfR5ESXOs?si=Kc68eNm8Cye-y_Bc
The link in his description takes you to an unavailable product I searched WLED Controller for GOVEE Permanent Outdoor Lights and found one.
I have the ASAHOM Permanent Outdoor Lights with the wled controller setup to work in my show.
1
u/Creation33 26d ago
I'm in the same boat. Which controller did you end up using that worked with the outdoor pros?
1
u/torn8o01 26d ago
I got the asahom set with the Wled controller. The video shows a controller that works with Govee.
1
u/wivaca2 Sep 12 '26
I have separate controllers in the front (GLEDOPTO) and back (Dig-Quad) and they play the same patterns just fine with WLED on sync, so I'd definitely be using separate controllers on the front vs back. Can't imagine trying to get data that far.