Addressable LED lighting is truly an amazing technology, allowing us to control a multitude of individual points of light with just a single data line. This works well in the vast majority of cases, but what if you run into a situation where you’d like to use a commercial LED controller some of the time, then switch to an ESP-based solution, such as WLED for phone control?
While you might be able to put together a solution for this scenario, Wasatch Pixels has one ready to go in the form of their LED Controller Multiplexer. This board takes in data from two control signals, and outputs it as a single data output to your LED strip/assembly.
The ESP/WLED controller is connected to the Data 1 terminal, and the commercial controller (or even a second WLED unit) is connected to Data 2. When the WLED device is powered on, the Multiplxer passes along data from this input, and when it’s off it defaults to signals from Data 2. Screw terminals are provided for easy board connections, allowing you to get started with custom dual lighting with ease!
Of course, if you need a few ideas for what to do with your addressable LEDs, check out this 2018 post on hacked Holiday lighting. It’s never to early to start preparing!
