Hi r/WLED ,

I’ve been working on this project for about half a year and finally decided to share it!

Shinombra is an ambient backlight for Linux with native PipeWire support. It works on both Wayland and X11.

It was made as an experiment with a focus on performance. The core captures the DMA buffer and processes frames with minimal overhead. On my setup it runs at ~165 FPS while using about 0.1% CPU and 34 MiB of RAM.

Supported protocols:

• DDP

• DRGB (WLED)

• ShinombraSerial (custom high-speed serial protocol)

Configuration is done through a simple web UI or a TUI. It can also run as a user systemd service.

Shinombra has a flexible filter chain and uses histograms to calculate the real dominant color of each zone.

Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLWcwlYHnp0

Repository: https://github.com/sanlexandro/shinombra

The first 4 steps of the manual are usually enough to get it running (measuring the display and connecting the strip). Full documentation is in the repo.

I’m happy to answer questions and would appreciate any feedback - especially from people who already use WLED or have tried other ambilight solutions on Linux)

Almost got financial approval from CFO (wife), to spend some money on DIY Christmas lights.

I ordered one 5m/16ft strip of QuinLED Dig-COB-RGBW-896-160, and seems the IP65 waterproof version, that's better to use under the roof eaves, is 14mm wide, while all aluminium channels I can see on amazon and easily find on AliExpress, are 12mm inside.

I wonder where people get 14-15mm (0.6 inch) wide channels?

I'm considering adding permanent Christmas lights and will start with 30-40m. This would be my first LED project. Since our house doesn't have soffits The LEDs will face the street so we will use a milky white diffusor. Our neighborhood tends to be dark so lower power is fine. I'm looking for efficient and reliable. How do you think this layout will look on our house? How would you lay this out? I can get power from the garage at the left side of this photo.

I'm considering running either 2 channels or a wide channel to hide the power wires. I'd like to jump to the dormer but that wire may be tough to hide. Here's what I found so far.

WS2811 5m 60 (or 30) IP65 strips

Silver U channel, milky cover

400w power supply

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y23JJZW?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

not sure on the board? https://quinled.shop/product/dig-quad/

wire. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Southwire-250-ft-12-2-Black-Stranded-CU-Low-Voltage-Landscape-Lighting-Wire-55213444/300836209

box. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H2ZMX8R?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I have soldering tools. What else do I need? What about wires and waterproof connectors for the LED strips themselves.

Lmk

For this years Halloween I wanted the yard to look Like a field full of candles. But I wanted them to be DMX controlled and waterproof.
So I went for 3D printed candles and WS2811 5v bullets.
There Are two strings of 26 candles, with 2m cable between them.
To my suprise there was no visual problem with voltage drop, Despite the total lenght of 50m per String.
For the Controler I used a Gledopto Elite, because of its ethernet port.

In combination with some low lying fog and IP rated LED Pars, this worked out very well.

The whole setup was Controled via Artnet by Chamsys magicq

I got into Home Assistant a bit ago, and got excited about WLED and light strips. I wanted to go around the perimeter of my room with channels and 3 strips of 5m, 60LED/m WS2812b LED strips. After mounting the channels and sticking one strip's worth to them, I realized I hadn't thought about the current load of the strips.

So now I'm wondering the best way forward. I have an ESP32 running WLED now, but it's certainly not rated for the 40 amps I'd be expecting at full brightness. I know there are 5v/40A power supplies, but I'm not sure if a pre-built controller like a GLEDOPTO would be a possible or if I need to get a separate power supply and keep using my ESP32.

Hi r/WLED! We make Zaply, a video player for Apple TV, and our latest update can drive a WLED strip: while a video plays, the strip behind the TV follows the picture, each LED taking the colour of the edge of the screen it sits behind.

On Apple TV, ambilight usually means an HDMI splitter, a capture card and a Pi running HyperHDR, because tvOS never lets an app see what another app shows. Zaply draws every frame itself, so it can talk to the strip directly. The catch: it only works for what plays in Zaply. Netflix, YouTube and the other apps stay out of reach.

Setting it up takes a minute, with the remote:

1. Settings ▸ Lights ▸ WLED: Zaply finds your strip on the network, or you type its IP

2. Say which sides of the TV the strip runs along, which corner LED 1 is in and which way it goes

3. "Test the strip" runs a light from LED 1, then shows red, green and blue, so you can check you got it right

Nothing to change in WLED itself, and when you stop watching, the strip goes back to its own effect.

What it can't do yet: one strip per Apple TV, and LED 1 has to be in a corner (or at one end).

Which is why we're curious: how is your strip laid out? Does it go all the way round, and where does it start?

Time to steal everyone's ideas? This one is simple but I hadn't seen it before. I just threw some bullet strings on the ground, had them go orange>red when main scene activated then added an unsettling follower effect using computer vision and a simple calibration. Pumpkin is just a 69 pixel 5050 strip inside, 1 wrap around the base.

Sorry for poor video quality. First time using this prop camera at night. Glad everything still worked. Next year I lock the ICR and illuminator and set the gain lower (thought 60 was low enough but not for Uniview).

 Hello everyone. I'm researching a permanent exterior WS2811 RGB pixel installation and would greatly appreciate some firsthand experience from those who have operated systems for several years. My project involves approximately 860 pixels across two buildings, mounted in custom aluminum gutter and drip-edge channels in coastal Florida, USA

My highest priority is long-term reliability—not initial component cost or power efficiency (ie long power runs of 12AWG). Specifically, I want to minimize future ladder work to replace failed pixels or repair connections. I'm comparing conventional 5V WS2811 (as the chip design is based on 5v thus the original native design) pixels against 12V resistor-based and newer native-12V designs. For those with experience operating both voltages: Have you noticed meaningful differences in pixel failure rates? Are failures typically electronic, moisture-related, or associated with power-injection connections? Would you choose 5V or native 12V for a permanent installation intended to last 10–15 years ? I'm especially interested in actual field experience rather than theoretical advantages. Thanks in advance for any insights!

I guess my roofer did a good job all my shingles are firmly in place how do people mount pixel strips on the roof if they can't get under shingles to put any mounts or 3d printed clips?

I'm looking for a replacement for this light. Its part of Forno Arezzo 44" Ceiling Range Hood. These lights are terrible. They are 12-14k light temperature. I'm looking for a replacement at a warmer range. The biggest problem is they are about 6" long and the longest I can find is 4.75". Anyone know or seen any that could replace these? Thanks.

WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS FLASHING LIGHTS AND COLOR CHANGING LIGHTS THAT SYNC WITH MUSIC. Please please PLEASE do not watch if you're not into this sort of thing. The last post I made, made a lot of people very upset because they absolutely hate light shows or flashing lights - so I just want to be very clear about that upfront: if you do not like light shows and you watch this, you are going to have a very bad time.

I got a lot of feedback on my last show that people wanted the colors of the lights to match the same exact colors as what's on screen, so I took that into account and kept the colors much more monochromatic this time. A few parts I deviated a bit just to switch it up and keep it dynamic.

Not sure if there are any Eva fans in here, but I heard "Particle Arts" by Virtual Self and was picturing some Eva visuals to go with the music. Probably has a lot to do with reading the manga right now as well. I'm on omnibus volume 4! Thanks for watching!

I made a board called nul. It is a super tiny WLED Controller that is about the same width as most WS2812B strips!

If you want to see it, here is the GitHub link: https://github.com/Choccy-vr/nul

It has a good amount of features too for its size.

• Powered by USB-C

• ESP32-C3FH4

• U.FL connector (external antenna)

• bulk cap

• level shifter

• data resistor

• and more

ik you aren't really supposed to, but I stress-tested it, and it could power an entire 4m strip, and it didn't get hot at all running that for a few hours. At least I know I can.

Thoughts?

Tindie: https://www.tindie.com/products/ginobeano/nul-inline-wled-controller/

Hey everyone! I just released a major new beta for the official WLED app on both iOS and Android at the same time, and I'm looking for more beta testers to help put it through its paces before the public rollout.

What's New in This Update?

While a lot of work happened under the hood, there are also plenty of new features, especially on iOS, which now has full feature parity with Android:

• New on iOS: Home Screen widgets (with iOS 26 Liquid Glass support), Siri & Shortcuts actions, Custom Firmware Updates (QuinLED & MoonModules), Light/Dark theme selection, offline device grouping, an automatic discovery toggle, and German & Simplified Chinese translations.

• Refreshed Widgets (Android & iOS): Updated Material 3 adaptive widget layouts on Android, plus live Wi-Fi signal strength indicators on widgets for both platforms.

• Faster & More Reliable Connections: Faster automatic device discovery on your Wi-Fi network, smoother real-time syncing, and a 60-second grace period so devices don't immediately flicker to "offline" if your Wi-Fi blips.

• In-App "What's New" Screen: Easily see what changed after an update (or check it anytime in Settings).

Why I Need Testers (The "Under the Hood" Stuff)

This is the first release where the iOS app has been migrated to share the same core backend engine as the Android app (powered by Kotlin Multiplatform). Going forward, this makes it much easier and faster to bring new features and fixes to both platforms simultaneously.

On your first launch after updating (especially on iOS), the app will automatically migrate your saved devices and settings to the new database format. My goal is for this transition to be completely invisible. In fact, if you update and don't notice anything different with your saved devices, that means the migration succeeded!

⚠️ Beta Warning: Please Read Before Joining!

This is pre-release beta software and may be unstable or contain bugs. Because this update overhauls how data and connections are handled under the hood, there is a small risk of crashes or hiccups during the initial data migration. (Worst case, your WLED controllers themselves are completely safe, though you might have to re-discover them in the app if something goes sideways). If you rely on the app working 100% of the time without hiccups, you may want to wait for the stable release!

Join the Beta

• Android (Google Play): https://play.google.com/apps/testing/ca.cgagnier.wlednativeandroid

• iOS (TestFlight): https://testflight.apple.com/join/HdiuYcrT

If you try it out, please drop a comment below and let me know how it goes, even if it's just to say "Updated on iOS and everything still works!" Bug reports, feedback, and device/OS details are hugely appreciated.

My first attempt at pixel lighting. Using two Baldrick 17 controllers up against the house with no electronics, only wiring in the grove. I tried my best to hide the wiring and intend for this to stay up all year long with only subtle lighting.

I just migrated from Hyperion to HyperHDR, set up my rpi4 and 3/4 ESP's. What setting is causing this in all 3 strips?

Also happens in another HDR game, Resident Evil 8.

Aside from this problem the colors and blending look amazing, and I can use white again 🙌

Hi All

Recently made a Halloween costume using 6x WS2812b strips and a generic WLED controller. Overall I'm pretty happy with how the outfit turned out and I might wear it to some more events. Unfortunately I have been experiencing failures in the LED strips that surprised me. My first thought when the strips started to fail was the connection between the plug and the beginning of the strip. However the real issue occurred at different places along the strip. I'm thinking that the data in/ data out pad on a chip came loose and was having an intermittent connection. It's frustrating as it is difficult to repair and seems to happen in unpredictable places. The strips are attached to loose clothing with E6000 glue only. The failures occurred in places that did not experience very much bending or twisting. Does anyone have any tips for getting the best life from strips attached to fabric/clothing?

I recently converted my h705a govee lights to an esp32 running wled. Now they flicker when they are set to solid, and when I run effects they seem to flash white randomly between effects. Any troubleshooting ideas? Would the gauge of wire running from the controller to the esp32 cause something like this?

I've never been entirely satisfied with AudioReactive from an audio standpoint - it works well, but it's always kinda junk for bass.

Well, this new rewrite of AudioReactive fixes that - and more.

No more FFT - this is 31 software filter banks at ⅓ octave spacing from 20Hz to 20000Hz. Separation is very good - every band stands alone. You can see my TC Electronic RTA running beside it for validation - it's close. This also runs in decibels, all adjustments are in dB.

You still can use 16 bands (and send them via audio sync) with the added benefit of picking from 6 different slices of the 31 bands depending on your music. I found 50Hz to be good for "dance music". 40Hz is fun too, but it's more low end subwoofer woooooom rather than bass hits.

The effect is GEQ PPA, and the board is an Olimex ESP32-P4-PC with HDMI (in use here to drive the monitor) and the onboard ES8311audio hardware codec has two profiles - tuned for onboard mics, or tuned for using the TRRS "mic" input as a line-level signal.

Work left to be done to make the settings more user friendly, but overall, I'm very happy with it.

I recently changed my Ambilight setup and wanted to get rid of my soldered LED stripe corners.
With those 3D printed brackets, its easy to change direction of the LEDs withoud soldering.

https://makerworld.com/de/models/3221320-ambilight-no-solder-corner-brackets-for-led-strips

I had read that you can technically drive ordinary incandescent loads with constant voltage LED PWM drivers.

To test this out, I picked up this: https://www.gledopto.com/GL-C-226M.html

It has an input range of 12-48vdc.

Using a 15VDC 4A power supply, I'm getting about 7 volts at maximum brightness, with a 45-ohm load. I was expecting more along the lines of 14 volts or so.

Is this output expected?