2024 - How to Set Up And Control Addressable LEDs - The ULTIMATE Beginners Guide! 

🚨 UPDATED DAILY! BEST DEALS on AMAZON: bit.ly/48FGnUv ☑Check out my sponsor to begin your FREE 14 day trial to Aura: aura.com/chrismaher Domestic Automation Controller NON Sound React Version: amzn.to/48uRgZP Domestic Automation Controller Sound React Version: (currently out of stock) amzn.to/48uRgZP Power Supply For Plug n Play Controller: amzn.to/3NOiG4v Micro USB Cord + Plug: amzn.to/3tJtOZw ESP32: amzn.to/47gfiWY WS2812b LEDs Amazon: amzn.to/48pDZ4a WS2812b LEDs AliExpress: bit.ly/3RWjjvg SK6812 LEDs Amazon: amzn.to/484mTZX SK6812 LEDs AliExpress: bit.ly/41H0SOl Jumper Wires 20awg: amzn.to/3tBiO0q or amzn.to/3RNJjb0 if the first link does not have any male to female wires left. Wire Stripper: amzn.to/3ts2E9I 5v 10a Power Supply: amzn.to/3NOiG4v Wago Connectors In Line: amzn.to/3ORTbPs Or Wago Connectors: amzn.to/44rFDjo Plug n Play Controller: amzn.to/3H0Puna Power Supply For Plug n Play Controller: amzn.to/3NOiG4v Diffuser Channels: Spotless Diffuser Channel 1m Amazon: amzn.to/47aIujz Spotless Diffuser Channel 2m Amazon: amzn.to/3QoHeDb Diffuser Channel 1m or 2m Muzata LED Store: bit.ly/3NHG5Uw Spotless Corner Diffuser 1m Amazon: amzn.to/3DFhRpf Spotless Corner Diffuser 2m Amazon: amzn.to/3Krqw2q Spotless Corner Diffuser 1m or 2m Company Site: bit.ly/3D3yI4R Videos I mentioned: Plug n Play WLED Pre Installed Controller: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QmMwrOUB_kw.html Gaming Room Setup Video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KbbKAxnpCQQ.html Corner Floor Lamp Video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-O4qNlGxeZeM.html WLED Favorite Settings and Animations: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-D_URUFJvLOo.html The best way to help support my channel is to like, comment, make sure your subscribed and share my videos with as many people as you can. The other way is to use the Amazon links above as I get a small percentage at no extra cost to you if you buy something. Thank you all for the support!

For anyone interested in recreating this, read this first! Most power supplies with barrel connectors that you have lying around the house are not suitable for this project! Some of them may be 12V, some of them 19.5V. Plugging in your ESP32 or the WS2812b strip directly to anything higher than 5 volts without any step-down in between will for sure fry the microchip in no time. You should never, even for a minute or two, exceed the 5V current to the VIN pins for those devices. Even though these are not expensive, please read the information stickers on power supplies. Have a wonderful rest of the day!

This is top-notch quality content. Thank you for these clear and always up-to-date guides. I can't praise the quality enough, You clearly put in the work, Chris.

I've watched so many videos before finally happening across this one, and only now am I feeling remotely confident in installing my LEDs. You're a badass. Thank you so much for your simple and concise explanation!

I love that when you mention something which you know the audiance will want to know more about but have it prepared later in the video, you actually mention it! This makes focusing on what you're presenting a lot more easier, as I know that I don't have to remember to google something afterwards in case it's not being mentioned in the video! (long time subscriber, but wanted to compliment that quality of yours)

After watching this guide a ton, I finally found a project for this. Set up was a breeze. Thanks!

This is an excellent guide and one that I certainly plan on using in the New Year. 👌🏻 Thank you so much Chris. 🙏🏻

So glad you did another ESP32 video with WLED i am also currently working on a WLED project Video and i got stuck trying to set it all up this Video is Very Helpful Chris Thanks Also Happy New Year and all the best for 2024

I’ve recently got into doing stuff like this I’ve been doing cluster gauges and did my sons leds in his room and I’ve been looking for a good tutorial channel and I found it. Thank you this is gonna give me things to do to keep my mind occupied.

Broski, great tutorial, very easy to follow! Thanks and keep up the good work

Very well explained Chris! All the useful info in one place! Thanks to your tutorial I’m was able to configure my own ESP32 without spending hours researching on the internet.

Thanks Chris. I'm just about to start getting into the LED game and this helps a lot

yooooo i was about 1,5 hours into arduino when i found your video. you answered all my questions and gave a quick alternative . Thumbs up, love it my car will look so riced out, i cant wait

Thank you. I wish everyone could keep it that simple 👍🏻

I love you, i allways get exited when i see your new video, keep going❤

Thank you so much for breaking this down

This was so helpful! thank you!!!!!

What a fantastic video bro. Thank you

Love the videos I’d love a guide for outdoor leds, precautions to take how connect them with gaps

best explanation ever...🙏 thanks...👍

Hope that you had yourself a wonderful Christmas Chris? Happy New Year my friend.

Wow that's a great room setup!

Awesome! Thank you!

Best wishes from the U.K Chris!!! Always great content Bud👍👌

Outstanding video great information!

Your channel is really helping me out and giving me some great ideas. What is the advantage of a COB led strip vs a strip of SK6812? How are they different?

This is awesome, been wanting to switch over to wled for lighting projects but seemed like a lot to learn. This video definitely simplifies it. Do you have a recommendation for how you could better seal up the esp32 and wiring into a more finished package (like a 3d printed case with different wires that don't stick way out like those jumpers do from the board)? I feel like the main downside of this setup is you have a random control board and wiring + connectors just laying around on the floor or wherever.

I love your videos, it has helped me with so many projects…thank you so much! Love from India ❤️

Thank you for your videos.

OMFG, your gaming room is killer. I sooooo looove it.

Always love your videos! You have any luck getting an ESP32 to work with DMX?

God bless you, Chris!

THANK YOU!

I saved this video since I will need to watch it several times before I get it. Nothing to do with you, it's just how I process. I've been dabbling with LEDs since the late 80's... yes, I am old but still a geek. My friends call me transistor head. I am a gadget fiend. Even though I've been using LED's and have a huge collection, I am really interested in doing the animations myself rather than buying pre-programed ones. Thank you for the great video. Be well, be safe and always be careful. Rocket13

I fucking love smart home lighting esp rgb stuff. I have a 22ft x 11ft cloud ceiling in my game room. I’ve been dying to do diy tech stuff for so long. And honestly I’m going to start with lights 110% because of your videos that I’ve been watching for the past year +. THANK YOU for all the time and effort you put in to your content. It’s fantastic and so god damn informative. THANKS AGAIN!

I love that WiFi network you just got a new sub. JESUS LOVES YOU!

Amazing video! liked and subscribed.

Nice Videos. It would be great to see how you manage a multi-strip setup. Like for example 5 strips on a ceiling. all together or seperate?

You're the greatest!

I"m so glad you made this video. I really want to try this. Is there a way to connect the to smart home assistant like Alexa?

Dooooooooood what a proper video damn!!!!! 100% sub

Thank you for educating us. If I want to install 3 individual led strips in a ceiling (each about 15’ in length) and I want each strip to do the exact same thing, do I wire them in parallel, in series or should each strip be individually wired back to the controller? (and I’m talking about individual addressable led strips).

Thanks @CrisMaherDIY for all you’vê done this year. I wish you a 2024 with light ! 😂

Amazing😮

Great videos, as usual, Chris. Have you done anything with the 2.4Ghz RF multi zone controllers? Im interested in controlling a few zones with a wireless on wall controller. Toe kick lighting etc.

Chris, thanks for the very informative videos. I have been following and watching for some time and decided to take the leap into the DIY led projects. I have been following this video to the letter, but I am stuck. After switching back to my home network and opening the app to discover I keep getting the no lights found display. Double-checked network credentials, and everything looks good, and the led strip is lit. Any suggestions or ever experienced this? Thanks again for the great videos

Would be nice to have a guide about how to set maximum current depending on the setup

Love the video, thank you Chris! If my LED location (hallway) is a good distance from power (say 30-40ft) how much power loss would you get running the power to the strips over that distance?

Thanks for this video. I’m interested in having just a few smaller LED strips at various places in my home. Is it possible to cut from the main strip and use a few as 20-30 LEDS attached to an ESP32 ? Thanks.

Great video thanks you. Wanted to do this for a long time but never felt I could do this. Beginners question. Do you need 1 controller per led strip?Or did I miss something.

Great Beginners Guide Chris! Do you have any video with big 60A power supply for big projects? Is it too complex to connect?

Thank Y O U!

If you plan on having multiple light strips (for example your game room where you had desk light and 2-3 separate shelf lighting) does each light strip have to have its own esp board and power supply? or is there a way to connect multiple strips to one power supply and board?

Chris, you nailed it as always...I really enjoy your channel! Just wondering what version of wled you loaded on your esp32? I see a14.1 version that has an "audio reaction" option. Is that the update of the 13.x version? Thanks again!

Hi Chris, this tutorial is great. I have question related to the power adapter. Can you wire the lights to a low voltage transformer bypassing the power adapter? I am planning for outdoor landscaping lights and would like to connect all the lights to a low voltage transformer by taking advantage of the govee controller. Please let me know your thoughts.

Looks great! I’m looking at putting something like this on a machine that changes colour depending on machine state. Can the inputs on the arduino be programmed to change the lighting pattern?

great vid

Hi Chris Watched an earlier video of yours and got a bit confused as to why my leds where still flickering. After some digging about it turned out to be the length of the signal wires I used. I tried hooking my speakers and tv to one esp device and used long 1mm cables. Not the right way. You can use the skip the first led and solder in a single led to boost the signal but I still think it’s better to use a signal booster if your going to do it this way. Thanks for all the great info and maybe this is something you can expand on or explain in a diffrent video. Thanks

Hello @Chris, how easy is it to cut the led strips and use them as separate ones ? For the model you mentioned in the video. Thanks.

Thanks for the awesome tutorial! Working on a simple project atm using your info. I just have 2 question. When adding a more beefy psu you dont have to connect the micro usb? This is power through the psu? And how do you know the limit on the MA. Is there a calculation or do you always take a bit less than the psu can supply?

Hi Chris, your video is so nice and do you know how to let the Mic function valid in the newest verson of WLED APP?

Do you recommend running a separate power source for the ESP32 and only connecting the data line to the led’s if the led voltage is greater than the recommended voltage for the ESP?

Awesome Video, 1 thing I'm confused about is how do you add multiple strips to a single controller? or would you need a controller per strip? then manage them all in signal?

Hi! so I'm about to start a new project with modding my xbox 360 and purchased some govee led lights. Inside the xbox 360, there's a 12v and ground connection, but i assume that wouldn't work as the govee lights have 12v, G, R, B, would a raspberry pi work with this? if not, could i possibly use the included govee connecter and solder that 12v and ground to motherboard to power? If there's any way i'd be able to get into contact with you and get some help on this project that'd be awesome!

Really, really good... right up to the point where you forgot to tell people about the voltage the power supply needs to be.. it must be 5V. Also you should have a resistor on the data line and capacitor across the power lines

Hey Chris. Thanks for shoaring your Videos. Say, is the WLED software also running on MacOS? Greetings

extra note- sometimes those jumper wires are called Dupont wires.

Can you add input from sensors, such as if a button is clicked the lights will do a specific effect?

I need help I bought some BTF-LIGHTING FCOB WS2811 IC RGB Strip 720LED/m will they work with that WLED controller because I bought a different controller but after watching your videos I like how the WLED controller works and how you can have the leds in parallel and all the different features ir offers

Chris would you go for 15m loong setup with SMD 60led/m or FCOB. (RGBWW options)

If i power my leds with a separate powersuply can i remove the red and white going on the esp? Thnkx

So are IC rgb strip only OC because of the controller? Or is there something different about the actual strip itself

If you run the strip using the heavy voltage, does the voltage backwards run the WLED circuit board?

Hi Chris. Been following for a while and have now decided to give it a go based on this tutorial. I'm in the UK so cant get the exact model ESP32 booard you have but i cant get the lights to power on. I've confirmed with a multimeter that the pins i'm using for power are giving a 5v output and i'm pretty sure my data pin is correct and set correctly in WLED. While using a different brand of LED lights, i'm also using WS2812B LEDs with 300 over 5 meters. Is there anything i might be missing here?

I'm new to the whole area with WLED and microcontrollers. bought an ESP 32 and installed the WLED software (works perfectly) but have a different pin name ( 5:53 ). Are there any instructions on which pin which cable of the LED strip should be Connected to?

Ever thought making a video showing how these LEDs can be used for professional lighting applications? Being able to control them through dmx, pixelmapping, or artnet capabilities?

Chris I noticed you are not using a level shifter for the data line. How does that work? does your ESP use 5v logic for the data output?

Very nice video. Do we need the diffuser channels or can we also use the strip without them?

How do you caulculate how many Pixels you can run on your power supply? I'm looking at setting my daughters room, around the top of the wall near the ceiling about 52' with 60 pixel/meter. Little over 3 sets 5 volt (guessing around 950 +/- pixels). Do I need two different power supplies or can I add power at the end and be okay? what size power supply would you use?

Hi Chris, I now have 2 WLED BTC light strips set up. Maybe I asked this q on another video, but is there a case for the ESP32 or a larger one that can tuck in the jumper wires and LED strip connector? Thank you!

If you power the lights via the brick, does it give power to the esp 32 dev board?

9:48 Don't you need an extra connection from PSU to ESP32 in terms of sending power to the module itself too? Can you connect more led strips along the line and supply them with power using only the "power injection point" of the first strip in series, like PSU to 1st strip, and then white & red wires of 1st strip to 2nd strip's white & red wires and so on? (besides main 3 wires for sure) Or should you connect each strip's "power injection point" to the PSU individually?

There’s some beginner level info in there but this felt like an intermediate level video.

So, you can connect more than one NodeMCU ESP32 to the same wifi and control all with the same or differents effects at the same time??

I am doing a project that will be black, the spotless diffusers only have a white cover option, do you recommend a diffuser with a darker cover?

I see you didn’t twist the esp32 cables and plug them into the power supply like your old vid. Is that no longer needed?

Thx for making these vids - super helpful! Have you tried using the three wire LED WRGB like in this video with the plug and play controllers? Most of the plug and play controllers I'm seeing (Ericsity/Gledopto) seem to be setup to work with WRGB but expect a 5 wire WRGB vs. 3.

Hey Chris, first of all, congrats for these AWESOME vídeos! You’ve been doing a great job. I’m facing an issue: i’m using an ESP32 and i can’t see the WLED-AP after unplug it from PC and connect with the usb charger on power. I only can see the WLED-AP right after install the firmware connected on PC. I’m trying everything for a week, but the only thing i can do is install the WLED firmware and it’s everything ok, but once i remove it from PC’s USB, i need to reinstall if i reconnect on PC or nothing appears when connected to power supply… I’ll be very thankfull if someone could help me 🙏🏾

I have one of those cheap LEDs that come with a Gosund USB controller but they are 4-pin can they be used or is it ok with only 3 pin LED strip is ok?

Wait does the barrel plug add resistance or why does cutting the adapter off make it brighter?

What if I want to put more than 5 meters? Nice video!

Thank you for many useful videos. I found that most controller including the ESP32 is limited to 10A. Do you have to put in multiples ESP32 for certain length? I plan to cover my office with 60 ft of addressable WS2813 or WS2815 but I found that the Amp for my length for either would exceed the 10A limit of the controller. Do you have any suggestion how to solve this problem? Thanks...

Hey, i wanne put a strip of 1350 led's in my room. How would you suply the power for that? a nice video, thanks

i've read some comments trying to find a 5v 10amp power supply that many people experience that they are over volted ~5.7v a) will this destroy the setup b) what is the best psu for this kind of setup

You make great videos. Thank you! Question; Are there addressable led strips with white light good enough to be used as the main light source in the room. RGB doesn't even matter. It can only be a range from WW to CW. And that it can be controlled with WLED. How to calculate how much is enough? I plan to install led strips in the ceiling using aluminum profiles for drywall. I want to get light traveling effect when turning the lights on and off.

thank you for this great video But I admit I'm a little lost knowing what to do if we only want one power supply for the ESP as well as the LED strip Because in the detail of your video you have to independently power the ESP and independently the LED strip, what I would like to be able to do in a clean, efficient and secure way is to power everything via a single power supply

get the IP67 for your kitchen. A lot of people use steam or moisture producing countertop appliances like crockpots, coffemakers, pressure cookers, and of course over the range or cooktop

Hey there, i hope you can help me. Just wired and programmed the esp . But whatever total leds i choose i cant use more than 50leds. And no leds light up if just from the usb port. Using a 5v4a for injection.(ik its not enough but lower brightness is ok)

i have a 100W (5V 20Amps) switching power supply, can i use it for the project? I have a 5 meters led strip with 60 leds/meter, but i will only use only 2-ish meters in total. Can i connect the strip directly on the power supply?

ok i have a question. my project needs 15m and i think i want to use the SK6812 with RGBNW and 60 leds per meter. how do i wire a power supply to all three correctly that each individual 5m look the same?