Permanent eave lights on WLED, from your phone

What WLED is

WLED is free, open source firmware for the small ESP32 and ESP8266 controllers that drive addressable LED strips, and a lot of permanent lighting systems now run on it. It works on your home Wi-Fi with no cloud account behind it, so it doesn't depend on any company's server.

Any WLED app can control it, and so can a web browser: type the controller's IP address and you get WLED's own control page. WLED Max is one of those apps. We make it, and we're not part of the WLED project (kno.wled.ge) or connected to any lighting installer.

First, back up each controller

Your installer set up the LED counts, the power limits and maybe some presets and timers. Save a copy of all of it before you change anything. It takes a minute per controller.

1. In WLED Max, open Settings > Backup & Restore. Under Create Backup, pick a controller and tap Backup Now. Do it for each one. The backup holds the settings, presets and custom palettes, and stays on your phone.
2. For a copy that isn't only on your phone, open each controller in a browser, go to Config > Security & Updates and tap Backup presets and Backup configuration. Rename the two files with the controller's name, like front-cfg.json.

One more thing: ask your installer before you update the firmware. The app's firmware update installs the standard WLED build, and if your installer used a custom build, its extras would be replaced. How WLED backups work.

Getting started with two or three controllers

Most houses with permanent lights have two controllers, sometimes three, each running one stretch of roofline. The idea is to set them up once so that a single tap changes the whole house.

1. Find your controllers

Put your phone on the same Wi-Fi as the lights (not a guest network). In the Devices tab, tap + and Discover Devices. The app looks for WLED controllers on your network, so there are no IP addresses to type. On an iPhone, allow Local Network access when it asks, or the search finds nothing. If a controller doesn't show up, Manual Entry takes its IP address, and this guide covers the usual reasons.

2. Name them by roofline section

Controllers often show up with names like "WLED" or "WLED-2". Open each one in the Control tab and use Rename in its menu: "Front Roofline", "Garage", "Back Deck". Pick whatever tells you at a glance which part of the house it is. The name is saved on the controller too, and can be up to 24 characters.

3. Make a group called House

On the Devices tab, tap the grid button at the top (Manage groups), then Create Group. Name it "House" and tick every controller. The group's header in the device list gets its own power button, so the whole roofline turns on or off with one tap. A controller can sit in more than one group, so "Front" and "House" can overlap.

4. Send one look to every controller

Long-press an effect on the Effects tab or a preset on the Presets tab and choose Apply to Multiple Devices. It lists your controllers by group: tap Select All next to House, then Apply. Once the House group exists, the same menu also has Apply to House, which does it in one tap. Global Presets also offer Apply to All Devices.

A catch with presets saved on a controller: applying "preset 5" tells each controller to load its own preset 5. If the controllers have different presets in that slot, each side of the house shows something different. Copy presets from one controller to the others first (Backup & Restore > Copy Presets Between Devices), or save the look as a Global Preset, which lives in the app and works on any controller. More on controlling several lights.

5. A preset for each holiday

Our holiday lights page collects the guides with exact settings for each holiday, from candy cane stripes to C9 style bulbs with dark gaps. Set a look up once, save it as a preset, and copy the presets to your other controllers so the slot numbers match.

There are also ready-made Christmas and Halloween preset files on that page. Loading one replaces every preset on the controller, including any your installer made, so back up first. Load the same file on each controller and the slot numbers line up, which makes Apply to Multiple Devices simple.

For repeating patterns like 2 red, 1 white, use Pattern Maker (new in WLED Max 1.1.4). On the Control tab, tap Make a Pattern (or on the Presets tab, tap + and New Pattern):

1. Pick a template under START FROM. See all shows all 34, grouped into Christmas, Halloween & Fall, Holidays, Sports & Teams, Celebrations & Causes and Everyday.
2. Change the colors (up to 6, each 1 to 10 bulbs in a row) and Dark bulbs between colors (0 to 4). One repeat can be up to 16 bulbs. The pattern shows live on the roofline while you edit.
3. Pick a Motion if you like: Twinkle, Glow, Sparkle, Wave, Sweep or Chase.
4. Tap Save as Preset. Turn on Start with this pattern when the light turns on if it should come back after a power cut.

Pattern Maker works on one controller at a time, so it doesn't show while a group is selected. Save the pattern on one controller, then copy it to the others with Copy Presets Between Devices, or make the same pattern on each. A Chase pattern also keeps a palette on the controller, so make Chase patterns on each controller instead of copying them. More on repeating patterns.

6. On at sunset, off at bedtime

WLED controllers have their own timers, so the schedule keeps running with your phone off. Each controller keeps its own timers, so set the same ones on each.

1. Make an Off preset: turn the lights off and save that as a preset. A WLED timer always runs a preset, so turning off needs one. (If you loaded one of our preset files, slot 10 is already Off.)
2. The controller needs to know where it is for sunset. In the app, open the controller's Device Settings > Time & Macros and enter latitude and longitude (Edmonton is about 53.55 and -113.49, Calgary about 51.05 and -114.07). Leave UTC Offset at 0 there; the named zone below takes care of it. For daylight saving to switch by itself, pick the named time zone once in WLED's web page (Config > Time & Macros, US-MST/MDT for Alberta, which follows the same dates).
3. In Device Settings > Schedules, look at what's already there first, since your installer may have set timers. Then Add Schedule: Trigger Sunset, an offset if you like (-15 turns the lights on a little before dusk), your holiday or everyday preset, Every day.
4. Add a second schedule at a set time, 23:00 for example, running your Off preset. Tap Save Schedules.

Date ranges ("only December") and the limits of each WLED version are in the sunset schedule guide.

Free for one controller, Premium for the house

WLED Max is free for one controller, with everything a roofline needs. What we charge for is more than one. Premium is a one-time purchase in the App Store or Google Play, shows the price in your currency, and adds unlimited controllers. There's no subscription and no account.

We'd rather say it plainly: a house with two controllers needs Premium to use WLED Max for the whole roofline. Groups, Apply to Multiple Devices and copying presets between controllers only make sense with two or more. Try the app on one controller first, then decide. If you don't want to pay anything, WLED's own web page and the free official WLED app control any number of controllers. Free and Premium in detail.

Guides for permanent lights

Each one shows the steps in WLED's web page too, so they're useful with any app.

• Holiday lights with WLED All our holiday guides in season order, plus the preset files.
• Christmas and Diwali patterns Red and green, candy cane, C9 style bulbs with dark gaps, warm white twinkle, each with exact settings.
• Halloween effects and presets Orange and purple, Halloween eyes along the roofline, lightning, and a timer that stops after October 31.
• Holiday colors for WLED Color values that look right on LED strips, for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Lunar New Year and more. Goes up October 22
• Turn WLED on at sunset Timers that run on the controller, with date ranges so the Christmas look only runs in December.
• Presets and the power-on preset What a preset stores, copying presets between controllers, and what the lights do after a power cut.
• Control several WLED controllers at once Groups, Apply to Multiple Devices, and WLED sync for lights that should always match.
• Back up and restore a WLED controller Which files hold your settings, schedules and presets, and how to put them back.
• Roofline power and wiring Why the far end of a long run looks dim or orange, and how power is fed into a roofline. Goes up October 24
• The app can’t find your lights Wi-Fi bands, guest networks, VLANs and the iPhone Local Network permission.