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Alternative firmware for Arilux AL-LC0X LED controllers, based on the MQTT protocol and a TLS connection

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Alternative firmware for Arilux LED controllers

THIS REPOSITORY IS NOT MAINTAINED ANYMORE, SEE ESPHome AS AN ALTERNATIVE.

This is an alternative firmware for Arilux LED controllers which uses MQTT instead of the default "Magic Home"/"Flux LED" protocol which has numerous reliability problems. The LED controller is a cheap product available on sites like Banggood.com, Aliexpress, eBay and even Amazon which can be easily reprogrammed as it is based on the popular ESP8266 Wi-Fi chip. The controllers are also known to sell under different manufacturer names such as "Firstd". If the product you bought looks similar to one of the Arilux controllers below, it most likely is.

WARNING: DUE TO A NEW PINOUT, THIS FIRMWARE SEEMS TO BE NOT MORE COMPATIBLE WITH THE NEWEST MODELS (PCB version > 1.4).

ANOTHER FIRMWARE IS AVAILABLE HERE, WHICH WRAPS THE WS2812FX LIBRARY AND OFFERS MANY EFFECTS

Arilux

Features

  • Remote control over the MQTT protocol via individual topics or JSON
    • Supports transitions, flashing and effects in JSON mode
  • Remote control with the included IR control (uncomment #define IR_REMOTE in config.h)
  • Remote control with the included RF control (uncomment #define RF_REMOTE in config.h)
  • TLS support (uncomment #define TLS in config.h and change the fingerprint if not using CloudMQTT)
  • Debug printing over Telnet (uncomment #define DEBUG_TELNET in config.h)
  • ArduinoOTA support for over-the-air firmware updates
  • Native support for Home Assistant, including MQTT discovery

Supported devices

Model Color Support Voltages Remote Price Link
LC01 RGB 5-28V None ~$8 Banggood
LC02 RGBW 9-12V None ~$11 Banggood
LC03 RGB 5-28V IR ~$12 Banggood
LC04 RGBW 9-12V IR ~$13 Banggood
LC08 RGBWW 5-28V None ~$12 Banggood
LC09 RGB 5-28V RF ~$12 Banggood
LC10 RGBW 9-28V RF ~$14 Banggood
LC11 RGBWW 9-28V RF ~$15 Banggood

Demonstration

Arilux AL-LC03 + IR + MQTT + Home Assistant

Flash the firmware

Whichever flashing option you choose, ensure your Arduino IDE settings match the following:

Configuration

You must copy config.example.h to config.h and change settings to match your environment before flashing.

Settings for the Arduino IDE

Parameter Value
Board Generic ESP8266 Module
Flash Mode DIO
Flash Frequency 40 MHz
Upload Using Serial
CPU Frequency 80 MHz
Flash Size 1M (64K SPIFFS)
Reset Method ck
Upload Speed 115200
Port COMX, /dev/ttyUSB0, etc.

Note: If you own a board labeled 1.4 or the board isn't booting, use the DOUT mode instead of the DIO mode to flash the firmware

Option 1

Schematic

Arilux Left FTDI Right FTDI
VCC VCC (set to 3.3V)
RX TX
TX RX
GPIO0 GND
GND GND

Note: To enter in programming mode, you need to pull GPIO0 LOW while powering the board via the FTDI. It's not possible to reprogram the module without soldering the wire to the ESP8266 module. If you are unable or don't know how to solder try option 2 below which can be accomplished without soldering.

The FTDI from the left gives power and it's connected to an USB charger (VCC, GND). The FTDI from the right is connected to the computer and is used to reprogram the ESP8266 (RX, TX, GND).

ESP-12F Layout

Layout

Option 2

Using the following image, connect RX, TX and GND of a single FTDI to the shown pins on the underside of the board. Plug in the wall power supply and flash using the above settings. It helps to have another person able to plug in the device and start the upload while you hold the pins.

Option 2 Layout

Updating

OTA is enabled on this firmware. Assuming the device is plugged in you should find the device as a Port option in the Arduino IDE. Make sure you are using the settings listed above.

Control

IR

The LED controller can be controlled with the IR remote included with the Arilux AL-LC03 and AL-LC04. The Flash, Strobe, Fade and Smooth functionalities are not yet implemented.

RF

The LED controller can be controlled with the RF remote included with the Arilux AL-LC09, AL-LC10 and AL-LC11. The Mode+, Mode-, Speed+, Speed- and toggle functionalities are not yet implemented.

MQTT

Control modes

This firmware can work with MQTT in one of two ways. To cut down on firmware size only one mode can be enabled at a time. Whichever mode is not enabled will not be loaded to the board.

  1. JSON mode. Only one topic will be published and subscribed to (as well as the Last Will and Testament topic). The payload for both will be/is expected to be a JSON object with all properties listed below in it. If a property is missing, the state of that property will change. JSON is great because it reduces roundtrips across the network. For example, if you wanted to turn the light on, set it to full brightness, and make it red, you would have to publish to the state topic, the brightness topic and the color topic. JSON also allows effects and transitions to be specified. No properties are required. You must have the [ArduinoJson] library installed for this to work. If you are have Home Assistant MQTT Discovery enabled, the light.mqtt platform will be loaded by Home Assistant with schema set to json. To enable JSON mode, uncomment #define JSON in config.h.

    JSON properties
    Name Data Type Example Description
    brightness Integer, 0-255 255 The brightness to set to
    color Object/dictionary {} A dictionary with the below RGB values
    color.r Integer, 0-255 255 The red color to set to
    color.g Integer, 0-255 255 The green color to set to
    color.b Integer, 0-255 255 The blue color to set to
    flash Integer, number of seconds to flash 10 If true, light will flash with either colors provided in payload or previously set colors. Integer is number of seconds to flash for.
    state Boolean true The state of the lights, true = on, false = off
    transition Integer, number of seconds to transition 5 If greater than 0, light will transition from old values to new ones for the given number of seconds
    white_value Integer, 0-255 255 Controls the whiteness level of the lights. Only supported for RGBW and RGBWW. Only the first white level is set, there is no support for setting the second white level on RGBWW lights
  2. Individual topics mode. The firmware will publish and subscribe to at least 11 topics and expect specifically formatted payloads for each of them. The full list is below.

    Individual topics
    State
    # Topic Payload
    State rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/state/state ON/OFF
    Command rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/state/set ON/OFF
    Brightness
    # Topic Payload
    State rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/brightness/state 0-255
    Command rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/brightness/set 0-255
    Color
    # Topic Payload
    State rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/color/state 0-255,0-255,0-255
    Command rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/color/set 0-255,0-255,0-255
    White

    White is only supported for RGBW/RGBWW models (LC02, LC04, LC08, LC10, LC11).

    # Topic Payload
    State rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/white/state 0-255,0-255
    Command rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/white/set 0-255,0-255

Last Will and Testament

The firmware will publish a MQTT Last Will and Testament at rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/status. When the device successfully connects it will publish alive to that topic and when it disconnects dead will automatically be published.

Discovery

This firmware supports Home Assistant's MQTT discovery functionality, added in 0.40. This allows for instant setup and use of your device without requiring any manual configuration in Home Assistant. If you are using the MQTT JSON mode, the light.mqtt_json platform will be loaded. Otherwise, the light.mqtt platform will load. light.mqtt_json is required for full functionality. There are a few one time steps that you need to take to get this working.

  1. Install the [ArduinoJson] library.
  2. Add discovery: true to your mqtt configuration in Home Assistant, if it isn't there already.
  3. In your Ardunino libraries folder, find PubSubClient and open PubSubClient.h for editing. Change MQTT_MAX_PACKET_SIZE to 512.
  4. Uncomment the HOME_ASSISTANT_MQTT_DISCOVERY and HOME_ASSISTANT_MQTT_DISCOVERY_PREFIX definitions in your config.h file.
  • You can change the discovery prefix (default is homeassistant) by changing HOME_ASSISTANT_MQTT_DISCOVERY_PREFIX. Make sure this matches your Home Assistant MQTT configuration.
  1. Upload the firmware once more after making the previous changes.

From now on your device will announce itself to Home Assistant with all of the proper configuration information.

Attributes

Installing the [ArduinoJSON] library and uncommenting HOME_ASSISTANT_MQTT_ATTRIBUTES in your config.h will cause device specific attributes to be published. These can be consumed by Home Assistant to improve the display of the light, as well as provide some useful debugging information. The attributes payload looks like this:

{
  "BSSID": "AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF",
  "Chip ID": "000AAB12",
  "Hostname": "ARILUX000AAB12",
  "IP Address": "192.168.1.2",
  "LED Strip Type": "RGB",
  "MAC Address": "GG:HH:II:JJ:KK:LL",
  "Model": "LC01",
  "Remote Type": "None",
  "RSSI": -68,
  "SSID": "my-funny-wifi-name",
  "Telnet Logging Enabled": true
}

Configuration for Home Assistant

configuration.yaml

mqtt:
  broker: 'm21.cloudmqtt.com'
  username: '[REDACTED]'
  password: '[REDACTED]'
  port: '[REDACTED]'
  discovery: true

light:
  - platform: mqtt
    name: 'Arilux RGB Led Controller'
    availability_topic: 'rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/status'
    brightness_command_topic: 'rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/brightness/set'
    brightness_state_topic: 'rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/brightness/state'
    command_topic: 'rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/state/set'
    json_attributes_topic: 'rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/attributes'
    rgb_command_topic: 'rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/color/set'
    rgb_state_topic: 'rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/color/state'
    state_topic: 'rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/state/state'
    white_value_command_topic: 'rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/white/set'
    white_value_state_topic: 'rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/white/state'

Todo

IR remote

  • Flash
  • Strobe
  • Fade
  • Smooth

RF remote

  • Mode+
  • Mode-
  • Speed+
  • Speed-
  • Toggle

Licence

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Home Assistant Community Discussion Forum

For further information and to join the discussion for this firmware check out this thread on the Home Assistant Community Discussion Forum.

Contributors

If you like the content of this repo, please add a star! Thank you!

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Alternative firmware for Arilux AL-LC0X LED controllers, based on the MQTT protocol and a TLS connection

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