ESP NOW sync in AP mode 8 devices

Issues
1

Hello all,

I have made 8 suits powered by batteries, that we are going to wear for a weekend (Dutch Carnaval). The 8 ESP32 are all in AP mode and now controlled via a Wiz remote with playlists, (sound reactive). Once a playlist is selected via Wiz remote (all have exact same presets) it goes great.

I also want to be able to use the Sync feature if the ESP NOW but I cannot get it to work. I used the normal "Sync to this device wit other devices that are in a network, but not yet all in AP mode and not connected with each other via a “traditional network”. Is this possible or need all controllers be connected in a AP of 1 particular device?

Best outcome would be that every WLED instance can control every WLED instance (8 total) without a network. (I used external antennas but range is unknown and people will walk in and out of range)

2

Hi,
I have a similar project. We’re a group of about twenty musicians and we’ve equipped our instruments with LED strips. I’d like to equip them with small ESP32 modules to synchronize the lighting and effects later on.

I find the ESP-NOW solution appealing because the musicians are constantly moving, and it would prevent signal loss. But I’m not sure about the speed of this solution…

I also know that it’s possible to work with wireless DMX modules, but it seems less advanced for effects in wled and more expensive.

I’m continuing my research, but I still haven’t found similar projects to exchange practices with. I’m glad to finally see that I’m not the only one who’s had this kind of idea.

3

check posts by user “krztov” on discord, maybe it helps

4

Hi all,

We had carnaval and it went well, I would say.
See video for preview:

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Some presets with scrollings text, real fun!

8 people with 8 ESP’s with external antenna’s, allmost 500fairypixels per suit.
Everyone with a powertool battery of their choice between 18-20V; 2-5Ah (overkill, after 8 hours 1of 5 bars gone on power indicator of battery)
Software Amp limiter 450mA (2x because front back and arms/leg are 1 output), so real-life max 900mA limit.
7-40V to 5 volt UBEC (6amp) works more efficient than buckconverter
All with own digital mic, for individual sound effect handling
All with own pushbutton for individual operation(next/previous preset and brightness)
Set up as:
Matrix front
Matrix back (copy of front, same signalwire)
Armleft matrix
Armright matrix (copy of armleft, same signalwire)
Legleft matrix
Legright matrix (copy of legleft, same signalwire)

(All one esp32 output, wanted 3 seperate output, due to potential wire breakage, but got a lot of interference, so got back to 1 output with 3 matrices back to back and doubled it for front/back and arms/legs)

All in AP mode, no connection between ESP’s
All ESP’s connected to 1 remote
All with exactly the same playlist
If everyone is “on”
Sync everyone with remote to same preset/playlist.
Get drunk (optional) and party

In your instance, you can create a preset for each song with a “off” preset in between and cycle them with 1 master remote.

I found that range with external antenna is of excess of 150m. (in theory 350m?) but plenty far.
If 1 is out of sync (it happens sometime in 8 hours. reset them all to 1 specific preset and than cycle again.

The Wizremote has 4 button’s, I programmed them to:

1: Playlist 1 (master playlist, also starts upon power up)
2: preset 100 (hardreset to presetnumber for all(took me a long time to get this right with the remote, importand to reset all to sync again)
3:Next preset (from100=101 from 101=102 and so on to 165 in my instance and start cycle
4: previous preset(inverse of above)

all ESP’s are on AP mode, no WIFI connnection in between, but all synced to Wizremote. (IF you open WIFI on phone, you can see all WIFI networks (In my case Carnaval 1-8) and you can connect indivually but it’s not neccesary)

*all presets can be playlists

Hope it helps and clarify it a bit.

I am still looking for the ESP-NOW sync between instances but havent got it working. One wiz remote helped me a lot, would like to have more available but as of 15.0 there’s no option.

Maybe a real ESP-NOW protocol sync can work, but I could not get it to work, in my timeframe anyway.

5

thanks for sharing, this looks awesome

not sure you know but you can make your own “WizMote” now:

6

Thanks,

It was now a big succes! I have a year untill the next one, will do some addons with gifs on another matrix and hopefully with multiple remotes or an better understanding of the esp now communucation within wled. Many to many, so that all instances can commence a “sync” command, not only one remote. But i could kot do it without help of you guys. In the meantime I have other wled projects, love leds and the community.

7

Very cool!

8

Hi, I’m a newbie to this forum, and had been looking at a related problem.

I recently developed an open-source ESP32/ESP-Now solution to perform crowd lighting and simulate the effect of the Pixmob wristbands used by Coldplay at a recent festival (Electromagnetic Fields - also known as EMF) in the UK. The aim was to light up a crowd with zero configuration. The festival has created some quite spectacular badge hardware, and we were able to get the audience to become part of the show on one of the stages.

There are two components: a Director (e.g. the transmitter), which transmits packets over ESP-Now, and Lumes (receivers), which are simple receivers that respond to those commands. Communication is one-way, allowing an unlimited number of Lumes to pick up the signal up to (theoretically) 100m.

The Director can:

  • React to audio via its built-in mic (if available)
  • Respond to ARTNet/DMX commands from a lighting desk.
    • One user was able to use an M5Stack Atom device with a POE boot and plug it directly into their ArtNet switch on a stage.
  • Perform pre-programmed light shows to music using an orchestrator running on a PC/Mac.
    • I’ve got a few cue files for Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres that I’ve made to demo it.
  • Transmit IR to make the Pixmob Aurora wristbands light up again.
  • Act as a relay to ensure good coverage up to 300m+.
  • An M5Stack Stick C is half the size of a matchbox, has a mic, can do FFT for beat analysis, and can last 90 minutes on its own internal battery or connect to a USB-C source for longer.

Lumes can:

  • Autostart, scan and lock on to an ESP-Now based heartbeat over multiple channels without user intervention.
  • Respond to lighting cues.
  • Display lyrics or other messages if a display is connected.
  • Dynamically enable repeater mode at the edge of a crowd if no other repeaters are detected, thereby supporting a one-way dynamic mesh if needed.
  • A lume can be as complex as a Tildagon, or as simple as an Atom. An Atom is around 1/4 the size of a matchbox and requires USB-C power, but can drive a small LED strip directly, or more if external power is supplied to the strip. If you want to go smaller, you could strip it back to the ESP32 CPU I suppose.

I’ve called it NocturNation, and am now wondering where to take it next. It’s built to run without reliance on a wifi network, as those are unreliable/require configuration, which isn’t really an option at a festival.

I’m curious to know if anyone else is interested in the work I’ve done, and if/how the substantive work done on WLED can somehow be used with this, or even if this should become part of the WLED community?