How To Make DUMB Lights SMART (For the LAST TIME)

OK, so I probably spent way too much time making these dumb lights smart, but It just needed to happen! ESP32, ESPHome and Home Assistant to the rescue!

I made a bad purchasing decision a few years ago. At the time, these cheap pole accent lights seemed like exactly the thing I needed, but the remote made me crazy. So, instead of buying new ones, I decided to fix these ones with some electronics. I used an ESP32, some resistors, some MOSFETs, and a new power supply to make a smart controller. I even created my own custom PCB using an app called Fritzing.

I used ESPHome to program the ESP32 and then connected it to Home Assistant to handle all the automation. Now I'm happy with these lights.

Home Assistant: https://www.home-assistant.io/
ESPHome: https://esphome.io/index.html
Fritzing: https://fritzing.org/

Home assistant light template: https://github.com/gmorse81/HA-backup/blob/master/configuration.yaml#L43
Fritzing file: https://github.com/askcloudarchitech/light-automation-Home-assistant-esphome-example/blob/master/lights.fzz

videos mentioned in this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZYxZyq5l6c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpv3nMLzSFI


00:00 - Turning Dumb Lights Smart
00:17 - The Problem with My Lights
00:43 - Attempt 1 - IR Blaster
01:18 - Dumb Light Disassembly
01:54 - The unknown LED strip
03:41 - All the parts necessary to smarten these lights
04:23 - Wiring the Color LEDs
05:43 - Wiring the White LEDs
06:33 - Disaster Strikes!
07:31 - Designing and Building a Custom PCB
08:35 - The Finished Product
08:54 - Wrapping it up with Home Assistant Software