H801 LED Controller
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Home / Cheap Wifi MQTT Controlled LED strip using Tasmota and Home Assistant
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Cheap Wifi MQTT Controlled LED strip using Tasmota and Home Assistant

When it comes to LED strips the market is flooded with expensive premium brands such as LIFX. This post offers a cheap alternative that is not only affordable but also works offline and integrates well into existing smart home systems via MQTT.

Tasmota has been my firmware of choice for years due to its stability and customisability. I wrote before about flashing Tasmota to cheap Officeworks light bulbs and this post uses simliar concepts. The process involved carefully opening up the controller housing and connecting jumper wires and flashing a new firmware to the controller.

Bill of Materials

The following BOM contains AliExpress affiliate links.

ImageProductFeaturesPrice
H801 LED Controller - Top
H801 Wifi LED Controller
  • RGBW 4 Channels
  • DC5-24 Volt input
FTDI Programmer Cable Connection
USB to Serial Programmer
  • FTD1232
  • Use to flash Tasmota firmware to H801
20AWG Wire
  • Dual Core
AC TO DC Power Supply
  • 12V 5A output (match your LED strip)
5m LED Strip 5050 Warm White
  • Pleasant Warm White color
Breadboard Jumper Wires
  • Used for flashing controller
LED Strip, Warm White, 5050 LED chip @ 120led per meter$12.00 for 5meter
H801 Wifi LED Controller$13.00
Some 20AWG cable to extend the LED cables
FTDI FTD1232 USB to serial programmer to flash firmware$6.00
jumper wires for flashingon hand
AC to DC power supply 12Volt 5Amp$20.00

Instructions

  1. Open the H801 Controller case

    Open the case and locate the 4 pins used to flash firmwareH801 LED Controller - Open Side Top

  2. Follow Tasmota Documentation for flashing instructions

    The documentation shows how to flash Tasmota on to the H801 controller.

  3. Connect wires to USB programmer and controller

    It’s best to use female to male jumper wires. Connect the female end to the USB programmer and insert the male end into the exposed pin wholes on the H801 controller. Make sure you orient the connector such that the VCC pin (red/pink wire) connects to VCC on the controller.
    It is not necessary to solder anything because you can just push on the wires to ensure they stay in contact with the board during the 30s flashing process. Using some electrical tape to create a makeshift connector that holds its shape is very helpful.FTDI Programmer Cable Connection

  4. Connect H801 to power supply

    Connect the controller to 12V power supply and wait for the tasmota-**** Wifi network to appear in your network list.

  5. Connect to Tasmota open Wifi network and configure your Wifi connection details

  6. Use Backlog to configure all settings

    I created a Backlog command you can paste into the Tasmota console to automatically configure many settings at the same time using a single command. I set all my devices to report data at 120s intervals. setting the time zone correctly is also advisable to avoid headaches later. Replace the placeholder values below and execute the command.

    Backlog TelePeriod 120; MqttUser mqtt_user; MqttPassword mqtt_pass; MqttHost 192.167.1.5; WebPassword webpassword; timezone +8; SetOption59 1;

    SetOption59 is required to ensure HomeAssistant compatibility. It makes the Tasmota send tele/%topic%/STATE in addition to stat/%topic%/RESULT for commands.

  7. Set up device in Home Assistant

    See next section for more details


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Home Assistant Integration

mqtt:
  light:
    - name: Kitchen Led
      state_topic: "tele/son_kitchen_led/RESULT"
      command_topic: "cmnd/son_kitchen_led/Power5"
      state_value_template: "{{ value_json.POWER5 }}"
      brightness_state_topic: "tele/son_kitchen_led/STATE"
      brightness_command_topic: "cmnd/son_kitchen_led/Channel5"
      brightness_value_template: "{{ value_json.Channel5 }}"
      brightness_scale: 100
      optimistic: false
      qos: 1
    - name: Bedroom Led
      state_topic: "stat/son_bedroom_led/POWER3"
      command_topic: "cmnd/son_bedroom_led/Power3"
      brightness_state_topic: "stat/son_bedroom_led/RESULT"
      brightness_command_topic: "cmnd/son_bedroom_led/Channel3"
      brightness_value_template: "{{ value_json.Channel3 }}"
      optimistic: false
      qos: 1
    - name: Headboard Led
      state_topic: "stat/son_bedroom_led/POWER2"
      command_topic: "cmnd/son_bedroom_led/Power2"
      brightness_state_topic: "stat/son_bedroom_led/RESULT"
      brightness_command_topic: "cmnd/son_bedroom_led/Channel2"
      brightness_value_template: "{{ value_json.Channel2 }}"
      optimistic: false
      qos: 1

Continue your adventure here

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