Hey everyone,
I’ve been working out an idea and wanted to get some help designing a custom LED sequencer system for my car that works off WLED running on an ESP32. What I’m trying to do is take the factory signal wires from the car—like the turn signals, reverse lights, brake lights, and parking lights—and use those 12V lines to trigger different lighting effects. But instead of just powering bulbs directly, I want to feed those signal lines into an ESP32 that controls all the lights digitally through WLED.
Here’s the setup I’m envisioning:
- The vehicle’s existing 12V signal lines (turn signal, brake, reverse, parking, etc.) get tapped into—not to drive the lights directly, but as input triggers to the ESP32.
- Each signal input will trigger a preset animation or lighting effect using WLED.
- The actual LEDs (strips or modules) will be powered and animated entirely through the ESP32 + WLED setup—not directly connected to the 12V car outputs.
- I’d love to make the system as modular as possible. I imagine needing at least two ESP32 boards, but realistically I may need four—one for each corner of the car: front left, front right, rear left, rear right.
Desired Features:
1. Multi-Channel Output
- At least 14 channels for Color A and 14 channels for Color B.
- Each channel should be rated at 300mA, so I can power some decent LEDs per channel.
- Ideally would allow sequencing effects across all 14 outputs per color.
2. Input Triggers from Vehicle
- Turn Signal Input: Triggers a preset where the lights chase in sequence (like 1 through 8 turning on one after another) and then do a “breathe” effect in amber/orange.
- Brake Input: Lights flash rapidly in red, then hold steady in red while the brake is applied.
- Reverse Input: Triggers a bright white animation (like strobe or pulsing) to improve visibility.
- Parking Lights Input: Enables Daytime Running Light (DRL) mode—something subtle like a soft fade in white or blue.
- Ignition Signal: When the car turns on, a one-time welcome animation plays across the lights. Think of it as a boot-up animation when the car starts.
Wiring Plan:
I want to wire the factory bulb sockets (or wires) directly into the ESP32 as input signals. These are 12V lines, so I know I’ll need to step them down to 3.3V for the ESP32—probably using voltage dividers or optocouplers for safety and stability.
From there, the ESP32 would read the GPIO pin states and based on which one is active (like if the blinker line gets 12V), it would switch to the corresponding WLED preset.
Technical Needs / Questions:
- What’s the cleanest way to safely wire multiple 12V input lines to an ESP32?
- Has anyone successfully triggered WLED presets based on GPIO input and could share their method or code?
- What’s the best way to store and switch presets smoothly in WLED based on these triggers?
- Any suggestions for syncing multiple ESP32 boards or should each one be independent?
- Can I run multi-channel outputs (14+ channels) from ESP32 reliably using external drivers like ULN2003, PCA9685, or SPI expanders?
I’ll also be linking two sequential LED controller modules I found that could help achieve this, but I want to build something custom that gives me full flexibility—especially if it’s going to be tied into the car’s lighting system.
Appreciate any advice or guidance, especially from anyone who’s done something like this before. I’ve seen some close examples but nothing that ties it all together quite like this—seamlessly reacting to the car’s inputs with custom digital effects.
Thanks in advance!
—The Black Jimmy Neutron
basically want to create something similar to these.