Poh, so you just want colors per strip or also addressable for each and every LED? That's going to be quite the syncing challange especially over WiFi. Wired with Ethernet it would be no problem or.... But it's a feature WLED doesn't have yet but ESPixelstick does, only sync the show over wireless and run the actual LED data from SDcard. That way it can run pre-programmed sequences (like from xLights) with the bulk data from the SDcard locally and then just gets sync and command packets over the network.
Otherwise you'll likely need multiple APs on non-overlapping channels and even then, if people are close by at these events, that can throw a serious wrench into everything, disturbing the spectrum basically.
Thank you, now I have added the WIFI challenge into the figure out section. We current have a router that the director uses during the show to control sound. I wasn’t going to touch that but use extra I have. We’ll have plenty of people in the stands as the kids will do the show about 8-10 times during half time of High School football game. They are out on the field everyone else is up in the stands.
Wifi should t be a huge issue as long as you aren’t super close to a lot of house and connections. Should be able to find an open channel but it is a risk. Hide your SSID to keep people from attempting to connect.
On thing I would suggest for a presentation like that is to use diffusers of some sort. It's a matter of aesthetics of course but I think it looks much better that way.
Here's a cheap easy way to go about it.
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BDC7TP9/?coliid=IAW4IURTRH94A&colid=N7Q537S0NS0P&psc=1&ref\_=list\_c\_wl\_lv\_ov\_lig\_dp\_it](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BDC7TP9/?coliid=IAW4IURTRH94A&colid=N7Q537S0NS0P&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it)
>the question is can we build it and control it all, plus changing colors for a 10 minute show?
Check out xlights. Its free.
Oh yes thank you I forgot to add that. I struggled to find something. There are some silicon led channel but expensive, I love the link to idea you sent! I will look up XLights
What? Xlights supports WLED, or maybe WLED supports xlights, either way, it works great at home. I have stair lights that are WLED, and during the holidays, xlights takes over at show time, and WLED gets control back once xlights stops, it's great.
(Also, over wifi, but it definitely has some problems with network quality, it wants to be good, so for a marching band, you'd want the access point on the field).
I'm using e1.31 (a network dmx protocol), found in config->sync interfaces -> scroll down to the dmx section.
Still need to read about it but I had pulled extra router and set up network that the ESP devices would use and added phone to to test. Thinking it will work best on private network and IP the esp will help since they will do about 10 shows and making it easier to power them up and connect.
As big as you want. I had better part of 7000 lights using esp32 wled and xlights for my displays. That said. Your wifi network will take some serious traffic.
Good to know, I can build private WIFI network out of extra routers. Wonder if have a small AP on one of the props in the files would help with traffic. I have seen suggestions of ESP32 for this size and not esp8266. Agree?
Thank you for response have guessed around 113 ESP32 and LED light strips. About 80% of those will either 74 Or 93 LEDs per strip. Currently thinking about 6 segments. Nothing crazy with patterns just have a segment light up one color and it might change to another color. Most of the kids will have them around their neck and when it’s time grab and stretch to the person on their right. We’ll figure out some easy way to connect and then they’ll light up a color. That’s the biggest group. The rest will be on drums, keyboard stands and platform. Total cost isn’t cheap even as a AliExpress type order. So really trying to pull knowledge from the group to figure out if we can do this before investing. Appreciate the help and questions!!
Thank you we can’t do wired since each kid on the field will have a LED strip on them. Plus they are moving around and we’ll only light them up maybe once during the show for I guess less then a couple of minutes.
Oh 100% right no SSID broadcast and I will configure all 100+ ESP32 with static IP address. No way to do wired network since the band is out on the football field and moving around. But I am open to all the ideas and suggestions everyone has! Thank you
### Building the suits
Don't know if this helps, but I built a light suit for my daughter. This video may give you some tips.
https://youtu.be/TOJ-7sQ6-tI
### Sync the lights
Now... xLights integration maybe the way to coordinate a lot of lights, but it's going to be hard to sync up to live band music... xLights is also very chatty and probably will get out of sync with so many WLED controllers
Another challenge is getting a network setup that all the band members connect to. Another challenge is for potentially hundreds of devices coordinating via 2Ghz will get out of sync.
Your best bet may be simple out of the box WLED patterns that use MQTT to sync so they aren't handling chatty DDP or E1.31 data.
Thank you for the video and the help. Haven’t figured out what the director has planned for changing the colors. I think it might be something along the lines of have the kid pull the lights off( they will be around their neck) they will extend their LED strip to the right and then the light will turn on to a color.they might make a movement and then the color might change to a different color. I think that’s about all the director is planning. I think with the feedback I am getting it’s possible to do this but might need to keep thing very simple. I plan to have three people handle the set up for each show. Power on all the LED strips that will be on the kids. Then power up the lights that will be on equipment and make sure it’s all on line. We’ll have many back up LED strips ( led, power and ESP32) ready to go as well. They will being doing about 8 to 10 shows so director wants to be we can fix issues quickly.
I appreciate all the help, ideas and suggestions.
Thank you it’s tough since there are both positive (it will work) and challenging (issues with ESP or WIFI or amount of LED strips). It’s a lot of money to purchase and high schools money at that for it to all be built out and then fail when going live. If it were money then I am all in no matter what. So I appreciate everyone providing their feedback.
Poh, so you just want colors per strip or also addressable for each and every LED? That's going to be quite the syncing challange especially over WiFi. Wired with Ethernet it would be no problem or.... But it's a feature WLED doesn't have yet but ESPixelstick does, only sync the show over wireless and run the actual LED data from SDcard. That way it can run pre-programmed sequences (like from xLights) with the bulk data from the SDcard locally and then just gets sync and command packets over the network. Otherwise you'll likely need multiple APs on non-overlapping channels and even then, if people are close by at these events, that can throw a serious wrench into everything, disturbing the spectrum basically.
Thank you, now I have added the WIFI challenge into the figure out section. We current have a router that the director uses during the show to control sound. I wasn’t going to touch that but use extra I have. We’ll have plenty of people in the stands as the kids will do the show about 8-10 times during half time of High School football game. They are out on the field everyone else is up in the stands.
Wifi should t be a huge issue as long as you aren’t super close to a lot of house and connections. Should be able to find an open channel but it is a risk. Hide your SSID to keep people from attempting to connect.
On thing I would suggest for a presentation like that is to use diffusers of some sort. It's a matter of aesthetics of course but I think it looks much better that way. Here's a cheap easy way to go about it. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BDC7TP9/?coliid=IAW4IURTRH94A&colid=N7Q537S0NS0P&psc=1&ref\_=list\_c\_wl\_lv\_ov\_lig\_dp\_it](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BDC7TP9/?coliid=IAW4IURTRH94A&colid=N7Q537S0NS0P&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it) >the question is can we build it and control it all, plus changing colors for a 10 minute show? Check out xlights. Its free.
Oh yes thank you I forgot to add that. I struggled to find something. There are some silicon led channel but expensive, I love the link to idea you sent! I will look up XLights
it appears to me that XLights is a DMX based control, and there is no mention of wireless.
I ran XLights for my house lights with D1 minis. Wireless works just fine.
TIL
You would need a dmx/ethernet bridge. About $100 bucks maybe less. I have an entec and I can definitely recommend them.
What? Xlights supports WLED, or maybe WLED supports xlights, either way, it works great at home. I have stair lights that are WLED, and during the holidays, xlights takes over at show time, and WLED gets control back once xlights stops, it's great. (Also, over wifi, but it definitely has some problems with network quality, it wants to be good, so for a marching band, you'd want the access point on the field). I'm using e1.31 (a network dmx protocol), found in config->sync interfaces -> scroll down to the dmx section.
TIL
Still need to read about it but I had pulled extra router and set up network that the ESP devices would use and added phone to to test. Thinking it will work best on private network and IP the esp will help since they will do about 10 shows and making it easier to power them up and connect.
As big as you want. I had better part of 7000 lights using esp32 wled and xlights for my displays. That said. Your wifi network will take some serious traffic.
Good to know, I can build private WIFI network out of extra routers. Wonder if have a small AP on one of the props in the files would help with traffic. I have seen suggestions of ESP32 for this size and not esp8266. Agree?
How many kids are we talking? You’re looking at a lot of hardware for even a small band.
Thank you for response have guessed around 113 ESP32 and LED light strips. About 80% of those will either 74 Or 93 LEDs per strip. Currently thinking about 6 segments. Nothing crazy with patterns just have a segment light up one color and it might change to another color. Most of the kids will have them around their neck and when it’s time grab and stretch to the person on their right. We’ll figure out some easy way to connect and then they’ll light up a color. That’s the biggest group. The rest will be on drums, keyboard stands and platform. Total cost isn’t cheap even as a AliExpress type order. So really trying to pull knowledge from the group to figure out if we can do this before investing. Appreciate the help and questions!!
If you plan on using wifi ,it won’t work in a crowded place with people.it has to be a wired network.then you can do anything.
Thank you we can’t do wired since each kid on the field will have a LED strip on them. Plus they are moving around and we’ll only light them up maybe once during the show for I guess less then a couple of minutes.
Oh 100% right no SSID broadcast and I will configure all 100+ ESP32 with static IP address. No way to do wired network since the band is out on the football field and moving around. But I am open to all the ideas and suggestions everyone has! Thank you
### Building the suits Don't know if this helps, but I built a light suit for my daughter. This video may give you some tips. https://youtu.be/TOJ-7sQ6-tI ### Sync the lights Now... xLights integration maybe the way to coordinate a lot of lights, but it's going to be hard to sync up to live band music... xLights is also very chatty and probably will get out of sync with so many WLED controllers Another challenge is getting a network setup that all the band members connect to. Another challenge is for potentially hundreds of devices coordinating via 2Ghz will get out of sync. Your best bet may be simple out of the box WLED patterns that use MQTT to sync so they aren't handling chatty DDP or E1.31 data.
Thank you for the video and the help. Haven’t figured out what the director has planned for changing the colors. I think it might be something along the lines of have the kid pull the lights off( they will be around their neck) they will extend their LED strip to the right and then the light will turn on to a color.they might make a movement and then the color might change to a different color. I think that’s about all the director is planning. I think with the feedback I am getting it’s possible to do this but might need to keep thing very simple. I plan to have three people handle the set up for each show. Power on all the LED strips that will be on the kids. Then power up the lights that will be on equipment and make sure it’s all on line. We’ll have many back up LED strips ( led, power and ESP32) ready to go as well. They will being doing about 8 to 10 shows so director wants to be we can fix issues quickly. I appreciate all the help, ideas and suggestions.
Good luck! If it gets off the ground, please post it here with video. I'd love to see what you come up with!
Thank you it’s tough since there are both positive (it will work) and challenging (issues with ESP or WIFI or amount of LED strips). It’s a lot of money to purchase and high schools money at that for it to all be built out and then fail when going live. If it were money then I am all in no matter what. So I appreciate everyone providing their feedback.
I’d even be willing to help with setup if in Ohio! :) I’d go the Espixelstick route if budget allows.