What is it?
The ESPixelStick V3 is a WiFi Pixel and DMX single output controller built around the ESP8266 platform. It utilizes industry standard E1.31 sACN and DDP protocols for control of up to 680 WS2811 pixels (4 Universes) or 63 GECE Pixels. It also supports DMX and Renard devices with a built-in RS485 transceiver for driving DMX and differential Renard inputs. The on board switching regulator allows you to power the ESPixelStick with 5V-24V. Just match the voltage of the pixels you are using, no voltage configuration is required. The ESPixelStick firmware is open source with binary builds available.
Where can I get one?
The ESPixelStick V3 is only available from our Store.
How do I program it?
Programming the ESPixelStick V3 is quite simple. The ESPixelStick V3 consists of two parts. The top module, which is a Wemos D1 mini and the ESPixelStick main board which act as a mother board for the Wemos module. To program the ESPixelStick, you need to remove the Wemos module from the main board.
Requirements
In order to program the ESPixelStick, you’ll need the following installed on your system. Please check if your device connects before trying to install any drivers as your system may already have them installed:
- Java JRE 8 or greater
- CH340 Driver (not required for MacOS Mojave 10.14 or greater)
- (Linux and MacOS only) Python 3 – installed by default in current distros.
Programming steps
- Remove the Wemos module from the main board.
- Connect the Wemos module to your computer utilizing a Micro-USB cable.
- Make sure that your Micro-USB cable is a data cable. Many phone charger cables only have the power lines connected.
- Download the latest stable release from the official repository.
- Make sure you follow the link above for the latest stable release. You want to download ESPixelStick_Firmware-X.X.zip.
- Extract the zip file archive and launch ESPSFlashTool.jar. Verify that you can select a CH340 device from the Serial Port drop-down list. If a CH340 device is not available, then either your system does not have the drivers loaded (refer to Requirements) or you have a power-only USB cable.
- Fill in SSID and Passphrase with the credentials for your network.
- Hostname and Device ID are optional and may be changed later from the Web UI. Hostname is the network hostname you want to use for this device. If left blank, a hostname will be auto-generated. Device ID is a plain text name to help you later identify your ESPixelStick from the Web UI.
- For Firmware, select the Pixel option for controlling WS2811 and GECE pixels. Select Serial for control of DMX and Renard devices.
- For Platform, select the option which includes ESPixelStick V3.
- Click Upload to flash your ESPixelStick.
- One finished, you will see “-= Programming Complete =-” in the Status window. Towards the bottom of the Serial Output window, you will find the IP Address of your ESPixelStick.
What Now?
Once connected to your WiFi network, further configuration can be done via the embedded web server. Just navigate to the IP address assigned to your controller and configure the parameters based on your show / lighting / control setup.
Do you have a video on how to setup this up?
I don’t, however DadsTechToys has put together great video walking you through the process. To grab the latest stable firmware however, always use this link to make sure you don’t accidently grab a developmental pre-release.
185 thoughts on “ESPixelStick V3”
Shelby,
I still have and use V1 of your stick. My favorite thing about it is using one as a mobile test unit to troubleshoot pixels. I’d love a physical test button mode that automatically put the stick into colorwash for 200 pixels by default. Pressing again would load whatever was stored in eeprom. Just a thought
With the 4.x firmware that’s under development, you can playback local FSEQ files from the SD card. You could create a test sequence in xLights that does exactly that and configure the stick to run it when it boots 🙂
Is there a diagram of how to power up and connect ws2811 pixel lights to this? I just received my pixelstick and want to make sure I will wire it up correctly before I burn anything out, thanks in advance!
If you look on the bottom, you’ll see there is VIN with +/- and OUTPUT. Power in goes to VIN +/-. For your pixels, it’s the same on the output and you want to use D+ for your data line. D+ and D- are used together when driving DMX devices.
I ordered two of these and set them up to run an 800 pixel mega tree. Its my first time witj xlights or any of this and I like the thought of wifi. What I discovered was I didn’t need to split the tree into two controllers that for some wierd reason running only 400 pixels each got out of sync the left and right of the tree just enough to notice. I added a 5th universe and put 800 pixel made it a single strand of 800 and it ran it flawlessly. Make sure it has its own dedicated router. I had an old one lying around from 2009 and it works great. Sometimes xlights doesnt push the configuration change to the card so make sure to manually set it for the number of pixels and the universe and dmx channels to match. The easiest part was the firmware make sure the usb cable is correct, Im a horder and had ten of them and only 3 had a data connection. Cant stress that enough its not your computer and its not the wemos its your usb cord.
Thanks! I publish the 680 pixel / 4 universe number as “safe” number. As you noticed, you can definitely run more. Once you go over 800 though, it’ll take longer than 25ms to send the data which can cause issues if you’re running a 25ms / 40fps show. If you drop to a 50ms / 20fps show rate, you can actually run over 1000 pixels.
How? Is there a video?
The Christmas Light Guy made a video on it – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9NcJOeuHBY
My version of firmware (Beta 4.0) doesn’t have the same menu options as this video. I don’t have a file management menu option and I can’t select FPP remote as primary input
Did you have a SD card inserted? If so, make sure it’s formatted as FAT32.
I just received the v3 ESP and had no issues getting it to work with a roll of ws2811 LEDs running XLights on OSX. Very pleased with how straight forward things were, especially since I’m on a Mac.
I’ve got a SW development background, but not on Arduino or the WEMOS D1 mini. I’ve got Arduino IDE installed and the ESP8266 community board package. The ESPixelStick source doesn’t contain the ESPAsyncE131.h etc files. Where can I get more details on setting up the development environment?
Thanks! You can find information on setting up the development environment here which contains links for all the required libraries. I’m not sure which release of the Arduino ESP8266 core is available in the board manager. If it’s not 2.7.4, you’ll want to pull it straight from GitHub.
I did install 2.7.4. Thanks for the link. I should have paid more attention. Is there a block diagram or schematic of the pixelstick and the WEMOS D1? I’d like to understand the I/O and whether a project idea of mine might work. As an aside, I’ve got a SW development background and experience with embedded systems and might be able to contribute to v4 SW. Feel free to email me if interested.
Thank for this review I just starting to work on my first Show in lights for 2021, and I only use Mac’s so reading this review helped me make the chose to get this unit and start the journey into the Christmas crazy lighting world.
I had to run an application called jar fix to get the java application to run at all
Sounds like another program aside from Java had stolen the .jar file association. Did the program tell you what it was?
Hi
I just received my pixel stick and I’m having trouble with it connecting to my network
I have flash it and that went fine but will not connect any thoughts!
I just tried responding to your email address, but it bounced so hopefully you get this. If you can, shoot me an email to support@forkineye.com with the output of your serial output window along with what access point you are using and if you’re on a static or dhcp network setup.
thanks,
-shelby
I’m struggling setting this up. First off the light does not come on when I am plugged into my laptop. It flashes when it is first plugged in and the cable is a data cable. Also I keep getting this error https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DsmNf2shZhShWKfzr6myNWhWwGWFTAF0/view?usp=sharing. How do I get help?
It looks like you don’t have Java installed. ESPSFlashTool requires Java 8 and greater, which you can get from java.com. You can reach out to me at support@forkineye.com as well if you run into any more issues.
thanks,
-shelby
How should this be wired with a ws2812B strip?
Just wire V+ to V+, V- to ground, and use D+ for the data line.
i bought the pixel stick from amazon and it says that it will support ws2812 but i dont see any firmware for the ws2812 lights please help.
It’s the same protocol. WS2812 are just RGB LEDs with the WS2811 chip integrated into them.
do you know why only one of my pixels power on
Make you have V+, V- and D+ wired correctly on the output side and that your number of pixels is correct on the Device Setup tab.
thank you i seem to be having alot of issues. do you happen to know why im getting this error in arduino
ESPAsyncZCPP.h: No such file or directory
I recommend using the binary release with ESPSFlashTool unless you’re wanting to develop on the project. Not sure why you’re getting the compilation error.
Hello. Any information on how to use this with a DMX512 decoder board? What pins go to what, and what needs to be changed in the program? Also can you run WS2811 pixels AND a dmx512 board from the same stick?
Thanks in advance
You can’t run pixels and DMX devices at the same time as they share the same port. To run DMX512 devices, flash the “Serial” version of the firmware and select DMX as the output in the configuration tab. For the connection, use D+, D- and GND. D+ and D- are the differential DMX pair.
Hi I am looking for directions for programing with a MacBook Pro 2019 as there is not USB port just usb-c I have a adopter but not sure the steps to take as the video here is for windows and the rest I can find are old, and V1 or 2 not this new unit.
Nothing special for it. Just use your adapter and plug it up. More than likely you already have the CH340 drivers installed so you can skip that part. If you have issues launching the jar file, make sure it’s in a world readable directory (your home directory should be by default). Apple’s Java Launcher requires it for some reason.
Amazon tells me it isn’t available in my region. Are the schematics and gerber files available?
Sorry, the gerber isn’t available. Had issues with people making low quality boards and selling them as mine.
I dont know what I am doing wrong but I am wiring the Pixelstick v3 like so… vin +/- to power supply +/- and 5v to + of the power supply and i also tried to go through the pixelstick as well but im still only getting one pixel to light up please help
also i have programmed the stick already .
could the pixelstick be bad
VIN goes to your power supply. OUTPUT goes to your pixels, using D+ as the data line.
when open the esps flash tool i get ” error a jni error has occurred, please check your installation and try again” I have followed you steps and down loaded the lightest java 8 and so forth. I’m New at this can someone point me in a direction?
thanks
What operating system are you on? Are you extracting the archive before running it?
windows 10 home, im not given an option for that. i will try again
You want to unzip / extract it first – https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/zip-and-unzip-files-f6dde0a7-0fec-8294-e1d3-703ed85e7ebc
When will it be sold elsewhere then Amazon??
I’m working on getting my own store setup, should be by the end of this month.
Will your store be shipping to Canada? amazon.com says it is “beyond seller’s shipping coverage” and amazon.ca has the item out of stock.
I should have my store setup by the end of this month and will support shipping to Canada. Anyone you see selling on Amazon.ca is not me and is either reselling boards or knock-offs.
what is the best program to use with pixel stick? i see there is a program like xlights and led easy, oh yeah what type of controller is this.
and by the way thanks for all you help!! its has been very interesting learning this new skill.
ESPixelStick was designed for those who are into DIY holiday lighting shows, so the majority of users are using xLights or Vixen 3. It is however, a standard sACN (e1.31) controller, so you can use the software of your choosing. It really depends on what you’re wanting to do with (pre-sequenced shows vs live control).
Any way to make this receive and output simple RGB PWM signals from XLights?
Sorry, PWM output is currently unsupported.
I have successfully installed the firmware on the PixelStick and it controls the LED strip. I need to control the strip with DMX so I installed the Serial version of the firmware on the PixelStick and the LED strip just illuminates the first 15 or so LEDs. The Effects tab from the web interface does almost nothing…it just illuminates a few more pixels the further down the list I go.
Can anyone help me understand how I can use the sACN DMX (E1.31) over 802.11b/g/n Networks. Just push me in the right direction and I can take it from there. I am just not sure what is going on with the serial firmware (using 3.2).
OK…I figured it out….don’t use the Serial firmware version and multicast must be on. I have it working fine.
What is the AP Fallback setting in the Wireless section of the web interface? Will this fallback to the last successful wi-fi connection if the update fails (bad password or network SSID?).
The AP fallback setting will make your ESPixelStick turn into an Access Point if it can’t associate to your network. It is recommended to ONLY turn it on if you are unsure of the credentials for the AP that you are connecting to. When running a show, you’ll want to leave it off because there is a chance it would go into AP mode if failing to connect to your AP for the first time. When disabled, the ESPixelStick will continually attempt to connect to the configured AP, rebooting as needed until the connection is made.
The “Pixel” firmware is what most people will use and is for controlling ws2811/ws2812 and GECE pixels. The “Serial” firmware is for controlling DMX521A based devices like can lights that you would typically see lighting a stage.
Shelby,
When powering up the V3 after sitting for a while, the lights work okay for roughly 45 seconds and then they flicker randomly in all colors and will not respond. If I power down and reboot, only 1 led is on (white).
Is there something that I am doing wrong, or is there something wrong with the controller?
Can you explain your setup more? Type of pixels, voltage, other devices on the network, sequencer being used, etc…
WS2811, 12 volts, espixelstick is the only thing I have used so far (no sequencer yet). I have 2 wired cameras and 1 wireless camera plus 1 computer running on the network currently.
Could the wireless camera be interfering with the espixelstick as they are both on 2.4 ghz signal?
So are you just using the built in effects? If so, which one and how many pixels? Are they bullet nodes? Also, you can email me at support@forkineye.com if you wish.
I’ll shoot you an email this weekend.
Thanks!
Don
What kind of 5 amp fuse is that on the LED board? The Yellow one. I am having trouble finding any that look like that online and I want to have spares in case we are on tour and have one blow. Backups for backups is the life…I have complete spare ESPixelSticks but want spare fuses, connectors and even LED strips for field repairs.
The are Low Profile Mini ATM (ATM-LP) fuses. Can find them on Amazon or your local auto parts store.
the brightness level setting? i see the default it 1. what would be the setting for 30%?
1 is 100% and .3 would be 30%.
I can’t seem to get my version 3.0 to finish flashing and give me the IP address
Here is a snapshot of my ‘error’
load 0x4010f000, len 3584, room 16
tail 0
chksum 0xb0
csum 0xb0
v2843a5ac
~ld
��
ESPixelStick v3.2 (Nov 3 2020)
SDK:2.2.2-dev(38a443e)/Core:2.7.4=20704000/lwIP:STABLE-2_1_2_RELEASE/glue:1.2-30-g92add50/BearSSL:5c771be
File system initialised
Total bytes in file system: 59236
/config.json624
/www/esps.js.gz42745
/www/index.html.gz3969
/www/esps.css.gz10163
No mqtt settings found.
No effect settings found.
– Configuration loaded.
– Listening for 510 channels, from Universe 1 to 1
Connecting to Houselight as esps-2fedec
Connecting with DHCP…………………………
*** Failed to connect ***
*** Timeout – Reverting to default SSID ***
Connecting to ENTER_SSID_HERE as esps-2fedec
Connecting with DHCP……………………..
The SSID is case sensitive, so make sure that’s correct. Let me know if that’s the issue or not.
thanks,
-shelby
I am trying to make a custom effect and am new to the Arduino environment. I have everything setup and able to compile and upload via usb successfully, but my question is if there is a better/quicker process for testing than I am doing now.
I want to be able to make some changes to the code, compile then upload to the espixelstick to test with pixels connected to it. Can I have the usb connected from the pc to the D1 while also having my power supply connected to the terminals? I am guessing no and have not tried that yet in case it would fry something. So that leaves me having the d1 connected to the pc via usb, then when I upload a new sketch having to disconnect it go to my work bench connect that all up and then do the testing.
The other option is to have the espixelstick all connected to the power supply and pixels. Compile and export the binary in arduino, use the java ESPSFlashTool.jar to build an efu(which takes a while) and then do an OTA update on the espixelstick via web.
So back to my original question, is there a better process that I don’t know about that could make testing with live pixels quicker?
Thank you for your time and for developing this great hardware/software!
You can have the pixels and power supply connected, but as you may have noticed you can’t physically connect the USB cable. If you buy some stacking Wemos D1 Mini shield headers, you can plug those those into the socket and elevate the Wemos module so you can connect to it. As for programming / adding effects, I would like at the Unify branch. There are MANY changes in there, including the ability to run you own effects generated from xLights locally on the SD card. The Unify branch will become main / 4.0 soon.
thanks!
-shelby
Having trouble getting my computer to run the firmware software, I installed the drivers and java and when I run the JAR file i just get a flash of a window and it closes as fast it opens. Any suggestion on how to get it to work????
What OS are you on? You can contact me via email at shelby@forkineye.com as well.
thanks,
-shelby
I am trying to connect my ws2811 pixels to this sick. When I connect the pixel to the power, it powers on, but the pixels do not light up. Do I need to set the pixels on separate power as well?
Did you try the test patterns under effects? You can contact me via email at shelby@forkineye.com as well.
Is it possible to run a WS2815 strip with this controller? If so, how would I connect the backup data cable on the WS2815. Thank you!
I haven’t personally tested it, but you should be able to split the D+ line off to both for the first pixel, then the WS2815 chain will handle redundancy from there.
With V4 coming along would it be possible to control individual pixels via MQTT from Node-red ?
The MQTT implementation doesn’t allow for the control of individual pixels, just the preset effects. With V4, you can also trigger sequences from the SD card via MQTT.
Is there a way that this will run from a FPP setup just like any other board? DO I just set the IP address as a proxy through my FPP to my wireless network?
It will work the same as any other controller with FPP. I personally don’t run proxy setups. I have my Pi on my show network and routes setup on my router so that I can access it along with my ESPixelSticks.
Would the number of pixels increase with the use of an ESP32 and a higher clock speed?, or is the limit down to network UDP frame speed.
There are a couple of hard limits involved. On the ESP8266, only one output is available because I use the UART for generating the pixel data. The number of pixels on that output is limited due to the timing of the WS2811 signal and the desired refresh rate you want. For a 25ms refresh rate, the limit is closer to 800 pixels. I personally run a 720 pixel test matrix at 25ms show rates. 680 pixels is advertised since it’s an even 4 universe boundary and to account for less than adequate wifi setups. I do know of people that run over 1000 pixels on a single output, but you’re limited to a 50ms show rate. As for the ESP32, two outputs are currently supported in the Unify branch.
Thanks Shelby, With the two outputs of the Unify branch would that be 800 pixels per pin or in total? also, will an ESP32 fit the V3 board?
and can I use Vixen for SD card sequences rather than Xlights?
Sorry too many questions ! 😉
When will V4 be available? I need to use my ESPPixelStick to control a remote prop for a Halloween show.
Thanks in advance for your time! Respectfully, Eric
We’re planning to have a stable V4 firmware released in time for Halloween. If you want a pre-look, the automated built un-tested binaries are attached as artifacts to the GitHub workflow items here – https://github.com/forkineye/ESPixelStick/actions. Just click on the first one in the list and look for “Release Archive”.
cheers!
-shelby
Shelby, Thanks!! I will get started building the prop and getting everything into xLights.
Thanks for the reply!! Eric
Hi, Christmas is coming and I would like to redo the lighting on DMX this year. How does it look like with the availability of ESPixelStick on Amazon? I live in Europe so I need count with delays in delivery. Thank you.
We have our own store now that supports International orders now – https://forkineye.com/product/espixelstick-v3/. They’ll ship out by the following day.
thanks!
-shelby
Shame on me, I missed the SHOP button here 🙁 Thank you!
I’m planning out an installation for Christmas indoors with 15,000 pixels. So i’m figuring up i’ll need at least 100 of these devices. Is that too large of a scale to have on one Wifi network? How many of these devices would you feel comfortable with recommending to use on one Wifi network?
Thank you,
Aaron
For an installation that large, I would recommend wired controllers if they are all discrete elements. While there are users using 50-80 controllers for home shows, their total number of pixels is lower and they’re using multicast outputs on isolated wifi networks, where multiple controllers are listening to the some of the same data as other controllers. A unicast setup with that many controllers is just asking for issues. What really matters is the RF environment, total number of channels you need to send, and the refresh rate of the show. Given it’s an indoor commercial environment, I imagine the WiFi is pretty congested already.
I’m having an issue with any sort of fading via sACN. Everything seems to be on or off with no ability to fade dimmer or color. When I go to mix color it will just snap to the last color I selected.
What are you using to feed the sACN data and what is your network setup like? Is the sACN source wired or wireless? You can email me if you prefer – support@forkineye.com
What is a good power supply for this?
The ESPixelStick V3 hardware can run from 5V to 24V DC. If using with pixels, just match your pixel voltage.
Didn’t see anything on how to set the device up to
Run DMX 512 devices, could someone please help me?
When flashing the 3.2 firmware, select the serial version. As for the connection to the ESPixelStick V3 hardware, connect the D+, D-, and GND lines on the output to your DMX device. The ESPixelStick can be powered with 5V-24V DC.
I have an ESPixelStick with firmware 3.2 loaded. I have a BTF ws2812b LED strip for lights and for testing purposes I am running them off of a battery bank for power. I have the positive and negative of the power bank connected to VIN+ and VIN- and then V+, D+, and V- connected to the strips +5V, Din, and GND. It seems to be working but the only effect I can get to work is “chase” and when I try to change to another whether it’s solid, lightning, etc. my PixelStick loses it’s blue LED indicator on the WEMO and then I get a socket error. Not sure if it’s just an under power issue or if I need to do something else.
Thanks,
Derek
Sounds like an under power issue. Try configuring the output to 10 pixels so that it isn’t lighting the whole strand. A full strip of 5v pixels will pull several amps.
Thanks for the very quick response. It absolutely was the problem. I did think about reducing the pixel count but either it didn’t save when I tried or didn’t follow through like I thought I did.
Thanks agin
I am running RGB strips with 138 pixels (x3 for three colors) off a USB 5v power bank. It will run for about 4 hours. I have to limit the maximum brightness of the LEDs to 70% (.7 in settings) because any brighter, 100% white will draw too much power and the pixel stick resets.
I tell this because it is possible to drive a lot of pixels on a battery if you compromise on brightness.
Hi, in setting up the D1 Mini, the blue light came on and blinked when reset when plugged into USB. Flashed it using the steps on your site but the flash failed. Now the blue light will not turn on when pressing reset. Nothing happens. Did I get a bad D1 Mini board?
The blue light will only light up when flashing it or when configured to transmit pixel data. Have you tested it?
I’ve been using your firmware for the past few years for simple Christmas lights at home and am very happy.
Every time someone asks me about E1.31 and LEDs and such, I always point them to you as it is the most stable bit of firmware I have ever come across (“it just works”).
As you have moved to a new platform that includes an SD card, I need to ask whether it is possible to use a D1-Mini without an SD card reader or whether I need to use something like this: https://www.wemos.cc/en/latest/d1_mini_shield/micro_sd.html (I think I have one).
If there is a schematic, it would help but if your firmware works with the generic SD card “shield”, life is good. Either way, you’ve made a huge contribution to the community (as poorly defined as that might be).
Thanks! You can use that one, but you’ll need to re-configure it to use GPIO15 as the CS pin if you want to use the binary builds. MISO, MOSI and CLK are the same (12/13/14).
It is certainly worth a try, I have a bunch of them. I don’t think the CS pin on the one(s) I have is selectable but it certainly might be with a bit of scraping, cutting, and 30 gauge wire. The wemos.cc documentation shows solder pads on the back for CS and there are other versions that aren’t a “shield” and have all the necessary pins brought out.
Also: The ESP32 version has the advantage of… More pixels? Higher framerate? If this is a RTFM question, just say so.
Thanks!
I lied, I don’t have “a bunch of them”, but I will get some.
And the one I bought from you arrived today! Very excited to try it.
OK, a question: I know you are not sharing your schematic (understandable) but would you kindly share the part number of the device you use to drive the line to the pixels? While preparing some long 3-conductor cables for my LED Christmas, I discovered that my standard level shifter/driver (TC4427) wouldn’t drive 25′ of 18/3 but your ESPixelStick did. Now I’m confused because the TC4427 (“1.5A Dual High-Speed Power MOSFET Driver”) is designed to be a line driver so it should no have any trouble driving 25′ of 18/3 – it drives 12′ without trouble and the electrical difference between 12 & 25 feet of 18/3 is pretty small. There’s something funny going on, and I’ll drag out my scope and see what it is. But the path of least resistance is changing what my standard driver is…
Same chip as V2? MC74VHC1G125? Curious about how you came to pick this chip (I’m looking for an education here).
I’m not familiar with the TC4427, I’d have to look at the datasheet on it. The MC74VHC1G125 should be up to the task, but for the V3 I actually use a TI UA9638CDR which is a RS422 differential driver so that DMX can be done as well. If you wanted to go really far with your pixels, you could wire D+ and D-, then add a differential receiver to the other end.
When I try to run the Flash tool I get this message:
Java Application lunch failed.
I am running Mac OS 12.1 and Java Version 8 Build 321.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
It’s a Mac security thing. You need to run it from the command line (java -jar ESPFlashTool.jar) and follow the MacOS pop-up instructions to allow it to run.
When are you going to produce, I am waiting to buy some of this ESP sticks..
I should have more available for shipping next week.
Waiting for Espixel stick , please let me know
When can I get some of this?
I would like to run 2 RGB flood lights at the end of my landscape lights, when the landscape lights turn on, I want ESPixelStick V3 to turn on the floods, and execute maybe an Xlight Sequence. Is that doable? Power is 12V DC
If the floods are controllable via ws2812 or DMX, then yes. To execute sequences, you’ll need to insert an SD card and load the ESPixelStick 4.0 beta firmware. You’ll be able to upload your sequences in the proper format using FPP Connect in xLights once the ESPixelStick firmware is configured.
Is an SD Card needed for ESPixelStick V3 ? I am thinking that v4 might needed for storage of local sequences, but does V3 requires one.
The SD card is only required on the V3 for local sequence playback which is available when using the 4.0 beta firmware.
Hi, Cool device! Can you tell me the manufacturer and part numbers of the terminal block connectors so that I can mate a few toys to the ESPixelStick V3? Thanks!
Thanks! This is the plug that is used – https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/538-39500-5006
cheers,
-shelby
Can one use the D1 mini Pro instead of the D1 mini with your board?
I haven’t personally tried it, but know others that have. Shouldn’t be any issues.
thanks,
-shelby
Can the V3 not be back fed power from the pixel string like the V2?
It can, I run my columns off the V3 this way.
thanks,
-shelby
Hi, looking to purchase an Espixelstick V3, what is the price also how much to post to the UK,
$28 and $11.89 USD shipping to UK. You can order here – https://forkineye.com/product/espixelstick-v3/
thanks,
-shelby
Coupla things. Got your stick and it hooked up perfectly.
However, the WEMOS module loses it’s WIFI connection to my PC after a short time.
Also can the V3 chip have the V4 firmware flashed to it??
When it loses connection, is it rebooting or are you having to manually reset it? Yes, the V3 hardware supports the ESPixelStick 4.x firmware. Reach out to me at shelby@forkineye.com with any issues you are having.
thanks,
-shelby
Thank you. lost connection was caused by a non-dedicated router. Thanks
And also, how to I set the thing up to use Arduino? Please bear with me; I’m an extreme noob.
Have the 4.x zip file. Found the flash tool in the DIST sub-directory. Get all manner of errors trying to flash the firmware, mostly complaining about missing files. Help??
One last issue ( hope), MicroSSD card slot is flaky . I insert the card, sometimes it is recognized, many times not. Help??
I just ordered 2! Very excited, I use
LOR controllers so it will be nice to start converting them to wireless DMX yayy thank you!!
Hi Shelby,
I have a couple of V3 that I have been using for two years. One suddenly stopped, looked and see D1 is burnt. The D1 mini also is bad. I was able to remove it and the pads look good. Can you tell me the component so I can try a locate one? I can’t seem to find a schematic anywhere online. Thanks in advance.
It’s a TVS protection array – D5V0L2B3W-7. Here’s a mouser link – https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Diodes-Incorporated/D5V0L2B3W-7?qs=gfe7vQ8txpVrbfzrBYBzaA%3D%3D
cheers,
-shelby
Thanks Shelby
Hi, will you put stock on amazon?
I need two, I am an international buyer, so it is safer for me the amazon shipping.
I will not return them, i need them for good.
Please, let me know, you can email me if you want.
Sorry, but I no longer sell on Amazon. Amazon didn’t allow me to ship internationally either.
In that case, how much is the estimated delivery time to Chile?
Will there be a tracking number?
Thanks
The details on the service I use are here – https://support.pirateship.com/en/articles/4854238-list-of-countries-with-full-tracking-for-simple-export-rate. According to that link tracking stops once it hits the border of Chile. International shipping is $11.89 USD.
I have 516 pixels. Can this device support this and if so, do I need to inject power?? And at what point?
BTW, I’m running WLED
The strips are 300 LEDS in 5 meter I have two 5 meter strips across the front of my house.
Thanks….. Love your V3 , BTW.
It can, you will need to power inject though. How much depends on your particular pixels, voltage, quality of the wiring, gauge, etc.. I would wire a strip and see how far you can go before you start seeing dimming at full white, then go back a good bit from there and inject power at that interval throughout the display. Thanks, and good luck with your display this year!
cheers,
-shelby
Thanks again for making a great product. Just finished converting and consolidating to the V3 pixelstick from v2, including moving to firmware 4 beta4 and getting the latest FPP and xLights to work with it. The lights work great, the network traffic is minimal, no need for separate networks any more. Seems like a great build quality as usual. I had some confusion on getting FPP to work with firmware 3,2 until I realized that since I had it correctly running from xLights, I just needed to upload the config (UDP all) to the FPP from xLights. From there, moving to 4 was somewhat unintuitive but a Youtube video from JustinZDesign helped me get the rest of the way. If there is any ‘glitch’ I’ve seen, its that the diagnostic view sometimes hangs for a bit during show playback, but since its really more to verify you have data going to pixels (not to watch an actual show), its more than adequate. And probably, that’s more to do with trying to run a lot of pixels on a minimal device (esp8266). Keep up the great work!
Thanks! 4.0 it still considered beta and has some stability issues. If you aren’t using the SD card, I’d recommend staying on 3.2. If you do want to use the SD card or test 4.0, the CI releases have fixed lots of things since beta 4 and can be found here – https://github.com/forkineye/ESPixelStick/actions/workflows/build.yaml. Clicking on the latest run and going down to “Release Archive” well download the latest builds.
cheers!
-shelby
The video and the written documentation are both excellent. I’m new to this led strip stuff, but successfully programmed and connected the pixelstick. My goal is to use the pixelstick in a theatrical performance application: to have dancers wear led costumes that light up/react to live music in real time. Using Ableton Live to first capture the midi notes/analog signals, Ableton will then send either midi data/osc data to Lightjams, and then sending out Sacn from lightjams to the pixelstick, I think I’ve finally got it. I’ve only tested a short 13 pixel strip with some basic drum beats, but the results are very promising. I haven’t seen any noticeable lag using the basic router that came with my internet/cable service. Great product, and the youtube video made it a lot easier for me.
What do you recommend for power the pixel sticks? I am only using it to run about 300 pixels in my daughter room so smaller the better
It depends on the pixels. 5V and 12V pixels will have different requirements. Once you know how much current one of your pixels requires, multiply it out and by the appropriate size power supply. Most lighting displays utilize 350W industrial style power supplies which would be overkill. A 200W supply would probably be plenty (depending on the pixels) and you could possibly go smaller if you don’t plan on running them at 100% brightness on full white.
Will these run wled?
Yes, they can. Thanks!
I bought 3 of these and want to use them as FPP remotes. I had trouble with using a 32GB SD card. It would not recognize the card and lock everything up if the card was inserted when then unit was powered on. I would have to power it off, remove the card, power it on, put the SD card in, go to the Admin page and reboot, then it would recognize the card. But when I turned it off and on again, it would have the same problem. I then put in a 16GB SD card and that solved the problem. Everything worked and it always recognized the card after power up. I’m not sure if I was supposed to do something different so it would recognize the 32 GB card when I installed the software, but for now, I have a working solution.
Works great now.
That’s a rather odd issue. Do you have a link for the cards that are giving you problems? I’ve tested with various name brand and generic 32GB cards without issue.
thanks,
-shelby
I found that SanDisk Ultra work, but the ones that didn’t work are Kootion and Kexin brands. I was able to use a 32Gb SanDisk ultra and it worked fine. Here are links for the products:
These worked:
SanDisk 16Gb – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M55C0LK?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
SanDisk 32 Gb – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M55C0NS?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
These didn’t work:
Kexin 16Gb – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XKG1B7M?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
Kootion 32Gb – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WJ359P6?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
Hope this helps.
I see that ESPixelStick v3 supports DMX devices via E1.31 sACN. Would I be able to use it to drive say a 10 DMX channel laser device that’s controlled via xLights or LedFX? So EXPixelStick in effect creates a wireless DMX fixture. How would this be setup?
Yep, you can do this. When flashing the ESPixelStick 3.2 firmware, just select the “serial” version. Then you will have the option to output DMX. The ESPixelStick V3 hardware a differential driver on it, so you just connect the D+ and D- lines to the corresponding lines on your DMX device.
Has anyone successfully used ESPixelStick with a moving light? Regardless of what I do the moving light doesn’t accept any messages
Yes, there are many people who are using it with many different DMX devices including moving heads. Did you load 3.2 with the serial firmware and select DMX for your output? Go into the Diagnostics tab of the controller and see if it’s receiving the channel data.
How whats the max amperage the ESPixelStick V3 handle? I’m curious how many strips I can hookup directly to the output terminal blocks. I want to control x4 5M 12v RGBW strips that are 19.7W/M. I’m thinking I’ll likely need to power the strips separately and just use the EXPixelStick to control them.
It’s fused for 5A. You’ll need to check the current draw for your strips which will be dependent upon how many pixels per meter they are. You’ll probably want to power each strip regardless since the copper is usually pretty thin in them.
Could I run v3.2 of the firmware (DMX)on an ESP-01S which has 1 MB flash.
If it works are there any drawbacks to a Wemos D1 mini I’m using now?
I recently added a couple of moving heads and am starting to add them to my sequences and play a bit. I run a mostly wireless system and really enjoy the flexibility of being able to use WLED (and even da-tester) to control my pixels outside of xLights. For my DMX moving heads I am using ESPixelsticks flashed as DMX controllers. Can anyone recommend something similar to WLED for these DMX lights to control them manually? So far I have only been able to get da-tester to work outside of xLights.
By manual control, do you mean from the web interface on the controller or via software other than xLights? Keep in mind commercial lighting consoles may be doing multicast only so your wireless network will need to be setup to support that (and multicast enabled within the controller firmware).
Thank you – that makes total sense!
How many channels will this support when flashed DMX? I have these working wonderfully for some 11ch moving heads but am wondering if this will support 64ch to xlights for a laser device?
One full DMX512A universe which is 512 channels.
cheers,
-shelby
I was uploading sequences to the V3 pixel with v4 software via FPP Upload in xlights, and noticed its throwing a warning that soon xlights wont support uploading to remotes less than v6. I also haven’t found in the docs advice on if we should be uploading compressed or uncompressed to the pixelstick.. Should I be worried about the xLight warning (or just stop updating it?) – and does it matter which format I upload? I would think the lightweight controller on a pixelstick would prefer to not have to decompress files on the fly (if thats what it does..). Oh by the way AWESOME product still. Rock solid hardware (even my V1s are still working great!).
There have recently been major changes to 4.x that will break xLights uploading / config compatibility. We’ll have a new beta coming out soon, but you can grab the latest dev releases from the CI archives here – https://github.com/forkineye/ESPixelStick/actions/workflows/build.yaml. The fseq format is V2 sparse uncompressed.
thanks!
-shelby
I’m looking to buy one of these for a dmx bracelet transmitter. I have no had any luck getting it to work with a kulp board. Have you tried running any DMX brackets off this device?
I haven’t, but it does have a differential DMX transmitter built-in for controlling DMX512A devices.
cheers,
-shelby
Will this product be made available on Amazon again?
We have no plans to continue selling on Amazon in the future. You can purchase the ESPixelStick V3 hardware from our own store here – https://forkineye.com/product/espixelstick-v3/
cheers,
-shelby
I couldn’t find a lot of info on setting up my 3.2 version of the Espixelstick for 3-pin dmx. For anyone else trying, here are the connections.
“V-” is pin #1
“D-” is pin #2
“D+” is pin #3
I am trying to plug my v3 into the computer and I think it is not maintaining power. I get a small blue flashing light for a tiny instant when I first attach it, or when I press the reset button, but it doesn’t maintain power after that and the light is out. As a result the serial port is not available when I’m trying to flash firmware or anything like that. Am I doing something wrong or do I have a faulty board?
The blue LED is tied to the data line, not power. It will stay lit once it is flashed and has an output configured. If the controller isn’t showing up on your computer, more than likely you’re using a USB cable that doesn’t have the data lines (charging / power only cable). Make sure the cable isn’t just for charging and let me know if you have any more issues.
I just received my first ESPixelstick. When I connect it to my computer, the led indicator light flashes twice quickly then goes off. The computer does not respond to it being plugged in. What am I doing wrong?
More than likely you’re using a charging only cable that doesn’t support data. The blue LED only lights up when it is being programmed or has an output configured.
I’m going through multiple issues. All prerequisites and data cable requirements met.
I too got “the led indicator light flashes twice quickly then goes off”. I verified it was a data cable. I saw a CH340 device on COM4. Programming failed 100% of the time. I saw it was also showing up on COM9 as a USB Serial Port (NOT as USB-Serial CH340). I tried uploading it over COM9, at which point the blue power light was on 100% of the time. It then tried to connect to wifi but kept failing. Passphrase was verified as being correct. So I am back to trying COM4 (CH340) and it still keeps failing.
It sounds like you may have some driver conflicts going on. The Wemos module of the ESPixelStick should only show up as a CH340. The behavior of the blue light is correct. It’s connected to the data line and only lights when flashing or loaded with firmware and an output is configured. What OS are you using and what version of the firmware are you trying to flash?
I am new to this area of fun and am attempting to start small. I have xlights, ESPixelStick V3, a 4′ coro 3D tree with 200 ws2811 pixels. What I am attempting to do is have the controller start up on power up and run the program without having a computer or wifi involved. I currently have the tree working as programmed using the network but haven’t been able to run independently. Question 1, did I need to have a micro sd installed before flashing? The card is formatted fat32, I downloaded the xlights program onto the card via computer directly and then inserted into pixelstick. Question 2, am I attempting to do things without the proper controller and if so, what should I be using. Lastly I have not been able to make xlights run the program in a continuous loop and I don’t know where else turn. The instruction videos are all about multiple models and complete shows, not simple individual projects. Any help with info or on where to turn for info/help would be greatly appreciated.
The micro SD card is only needed if you wish to upload sequences directly to the ESPixelStick. This is supported in the 4.x firmware. To utilize it, you need to have the controller configured correctly within xLights and use the ‘FPP Connect’ feature to upload the sequence. This allows the controller to run sequence loops in standalone mode or to play sequences back using FPP multisync.
P.S. I was going to try using 4.x firmware but could not locate any place to download, all it states is pre release. Is it yet available or still under development? Again Thanks in advance
4.x is still a beta release. You can grab the latest beta here – https://github.com/forkineye/ESPixelStick/releases or the latest development release here – https://github.com/forkineye/ESPixelStick/actions/workflows/build.yaml
Hi, recently bought EspixelStick V3.0 – flashed using V3.2 firmware – on the Admin page there are only ‘update Firmware / Reboot buttons’ no backup/restore buttons showing
Do I have the right software /firmware version?
That is correct. Backup / Restore was added in 4.x.
Will WLED software work properly on the ESPixelStick hardware? Are any changes required to do so?
Yes, it will. No changes required.
I would like to run FPP standalone on my espixelstick to control a couple of wash dmx flood lights. There would be no other controllers to connect to for a master. Is this possible?
You can’t run full FPP standalone per say, but you can load the 4.x beta firmware, add an SD card, upload sequences from xLights and play them standalone. You can make a playlist on the stick or choose the uploaded sequences that you want to play.