yawl-controller

ESPHome

FastLED or NeoPixelBus

You may create your own firmaware using ESPHome and FastLED or NeoPixelBus library or download ready to use firmware.

For more information about FastLED library:

ESPHome FastLED Light Platform https://esphome.io/components/light/fastled.html
FastLED repository https://github.com/FastLED/FastLED
ESPHome NeoPixelBus Light Platform https://esphome.io/components/light/neopixelbus.html
NeoPixelBus repository https://github.com/Makuna/NeoPixelBus

Download ready to use firmware

Download firmware yawl-controller-fastled.bin or yawl-controller-neopixelbus.bin from this repository for 3-wire LED strip (NeoPixels, one data wire). If you want to use 4-wire LED strip (DotStars, two wire, one data and one clock) please read below.

Build the firmware itself

3-Wire LED Strip

NeoPixels, one data wire:

WS2811, WS2812, WS2812b, WS2813
APA106
SK6812
LC8812
TM1814,TM1914,TM1829

Download YAML configuration file yawl-controller-neopixelbus.yaml or yawl-controller-fastled.yaml from this repository and compile using ESPHome.

4-Wire LED Strip

DotStars, two wire, one data and one clock

APA102
SK9822
LPD6803, LPD8806
WS2801
P9813

FastLED

Please change light options in yawl-controller-fastled.yaml

light:
  - platform: fastled_spi
    id: light_1
    rgb_order: GRB
    chipset: APA102
    data_pin: GPIO2
    clock_pin: GPIO1

NeoPixelBus

Unfortunately NeoPixelBus does not support GPIO2 and GPIO1 for 4-wire LED strip. On ESP8266 NeoPixelBus supports only GPIO13 for data_pin and only GPIO14 for clock_pin.

Please read Getting Started with ESPHome and Getting Started with ESPHome and Home Assistant

Build the firmware from command line

If you want to flash firmware from command line you may skip this section and go to “Flash using command line”

1) Edit file env.cmd from yawl-controller/firmware/ESPHome/ directory.

Set PYTHON_PATH to Python installed on your system.
Set ESPHOME_VENV to path to virtual environment where ESPHome will be installed.
Set ESPHOME_REPO to url for ESPHome repository. Default: https://github.com/esphome/esphome
Set ESPHOME_BRANCH to branch name or tag in ESPHome repository. Default: release 2) Run install_esphome.cmd. The latest version of ESPHome will be installed. 3) Run compile_fastled.cmd or compile_neopixelbus.cmd. The firmware will be compiled and copied to yawl-controller/firmware/ESPHome/ directory. yawl-controller-fastled.bin or yawl-controller-neopixelbus.bin will be updated.

Connect controller to computer

YAWL Controller	USB to Serial Adapter
3.3v	3.3v
Ground	Ground
IO0	Ground
TX	RX
RX	TX

Flash firmware

Flash using ESPHome Flasher

Download flasher https://github.com/esphome/esphome-flasher/releases
Open the flasher tool.
- Serial port: select COM port where the controller is connected (there is probably only one option).
- Firmware: Browse to the location where you downloaded your compiled firmware and select your firmware.
- Click Flash ESP and wait.

esphome_flash

The controller will be flashed now, you can follow the progress in the console window. When finished writing the firmware, switch off controller.

Flash using command line

1) Edit file env.cmd from yawl-controller/firmware/ESPHome/ directory.

Set PYTHON_PATH to Python installed on your system.
Set ESPHOME_VENV to path to virtual environment where ESPHome will be installed.
Set ESPHOME_REPO to url for ESPHome repository. Default: https://github.com/esphome/esphome
Set ESPHOME_BRANCH to branch name or tag in ESPHome repository. Default: release 2) Run install_esphome.cmd. The latest version of ESPHome will be installed.

Once done, you can then go ahead and run the following command flash_fastled.cmd or flash_neopixelbus.cmd which will instruct ESPHome to flash YAWL controller firmware. This will take a minute or two to complete, at which point you will then be asked how you want to upload. Select the option for serial and it should begin to upload.

yawl_flash

Assuming everything was successful, you can now disconnect everything from the USB adaptor.

Connect controller to Wi-Fi network

When you are using ready-to-use firmware, at the first start, the controller will create its own network “yawl-controller-XXXXXX”.

When you are connecting to the fallback network, the web interface should open automatically (see also login to network notifications). If it doesn’t open, you may also navigate to http://192.168.4.1/ manually in your browser.

In this web interface, you may manually override the WiFi settings.

Additionally, you may upload a new firmware file.