Upgrade Aldi/Casalux LED chain to wled

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1

As usual for the holiday season, german discounter ALDI once again had his ‘CASALUX’ labeled LED chain with an IR remote and some simple effects built-in for 9,99 Euro. . 5 Volt … :wink:

IMG_3542
IMG_35421920×3413 328 KB

So I bought it and pryed open the case.

I desoldered the wires and the IR receiver (seemed to be a tsop) and soldered everything to an ESP32s I had laying around.

Works like a charm with the power supply from the package and even the IR remote works (ir.json is attached)

And here is the fitting ir.json:

{
  "desc": "40-key-casalux",
  "0x10EFD02F": {
    "label": "Bright +",
    "pos": "1x1",
    "cmd": "A=~16"
  },
  "0x10EF30CF": {
    "label": "Bright -",
    "pos": "1x2",
    "cmd": "A=~-16"
  },
  "0x10EF2AD5": {
    "label": "Off",
    "pos": "1x3",
    "cmd": "T=0"
  },
  "0x10EF12ED": {
    "label": "On",
    "pos": "1x4",
    "cmd": "T=1"
  },
  "0x10EF827D": {
    "label": "Red",
    "pos": "2x1",
    "cmd": "FX=0&R=255&G=0&B=0"
  },
  "0x10EF807F": {
    "label": "Green",
    "pos": "2x2",
    "cmd": "FX=0&R=0&G=255&B=0"
  },
  "0x10EF40BF": {
    "label": "Blue",
    "pos": "2x3",
    "cmd": "FX=0&R=0&G=0&B=255"
  },
  "0x10EFC03F": {
    "label": "White",
    "pos": "2x4",
    "cmd": "FX=0&R=255&G=255&B=255"
  },
  "0x10EF52AD": {
    "label": "Yellow",
    "pos": "3x1",
    "cmd": "FX=0&R=255&G=255&B=0"
  },
  "0x10EF20DF": {
    "label": "Orange",
    "pos": "3x2",
    "cmd": "FX=0&R=255&G=128&B=0"
  },
  "0x10EFA05F": {
    "label": "Teal",
    "pos": "3x3",
    "cmd": "FX=0&R=0&G=128&B=128"
  },
  "0x10EF609F": {
    "label": "Purple",
    "pos": "3x4",
    "cmd": "FX=0&R=128&G=0&B=128"
  },
  "0x10EF28D7": {
    "label": "Quick+",
    "pos": "4x1",
    "cmd": "SX=~+16"
  },
  "0x10EFE01F": {
    "label": "Slow-",
    "pos": "4x2",
    "cmd": "SX=~-16"
  },
  "0x10EF10EF": {
    "label": "Preset1",
    "pos": "4x3",
    "cmd": "PL=1"
  },
  "0x10EF906F": {
    "label": "Preset2",
    "pos": "4x4",
    "cmd": "PL=2"
  },
  "0x10EFA857": {
    "label": "Preset3",
    "pos": "5x1",
    "cmd": "PL=3"
  },
  "0x10EF8A75": {
    "label": "Preset4",
    "pos": "5x2",
    "cmd": "PL=4"
  },
  "0x10EF4AB5": {
    "label": "Preset5",
    "pos": "5x3",
    "cmd": "PL=5"
  },
  "0x10EF00FF": {
    "label": "Preset6",
    "pos": "5x4",
    "cmd": "PL=6"
  },
  "0x10EFF807": {
    "label": "Preset7",
    "pos": "6x1",
    "cmd": "PL=7"
  },
  "0x10EF38C7": {
    "label": "Preset8",
    "pos": "6x2",
    "cmd": "PL=8"
  },
  "0x10EFB847": {
    "label": "Preset9",
    "pos": "6x3",
    "cmd": "FP=40"
  },
  "0x10EFCA35": {
    "label": "Preset10",
    "pos": "6x4",
    "cmd": "FP=~-"
  },
  "0x10EF58A7": {
    "label": "A Refresh",
    "pos": "7x1"
  },
  "0x10EF9A65": {
    "label": "Stop",
    "pos": "7x2",
    "cmd": "FX=0"
  },
  "0x10EF02FD": {
    "label": "Sens+",
    "pos": "7x3",
    "cmd": "FX=~+1"
  },
  "0x10EF6897": {
    "label": "Sens-",
    "pos": "7x4",
    "cmd": "FX=~-1"
  },
  "0x10EF629D": {
    "label": "Sound1",
    "pos": "8x1"
  },
  "0x10EF9867": {
    "label": "Sound2",
    "pos": "8x2"
  },
  "0x10EFB04F": {
    "label": "Sound3",
    "pos": "8x3"
  },
  "0x10EFD22D": {
    "label": "Sound4",
    "pos": "8x4"
  },
  "0x10EFFA05": {
    "label": "Sound5",
    "pos": "9x1"
  },
  "0x10EFDA25": {
    "label": "Sound6",
    "pos": "9x2"
  },
  "0x10EFF20D": {
    "label": "6/18hour",
    "pos": "9x3"
  },
  "0x10EFEA15": {
    "label": "Clear",
    "pos": "9x4"
  },
  "0x10EF7A85": {
    "label": "30min",
    "pos": "10x1"
  },
  "0x10EF5AA5": {
    "label": "60min",
    "pos": "10x2"
  },
  "0x10EF728D": {
    "label": "90min",
    "pos": "10x3"
  },
  "0x10EF6A95": {
    "label": "120min",
    "pos": "10x4"
  }
}```
2

Hi, I really like your idea and bought myself a fairy light rgb led strip on amazon. Which type of LEDs are used in your strip from Aldi? I have three wires. Wenn I use the strip on my esp32 the LEDs are lighting up but are changing their color all the time although I have the “solid” effect activated in wled. I tried changing the type of led in the settings but with no effect.
Did you have any experience with this?

Cheers Chris

3

My WLED runs with the WS2812B driver, color order is brgw. The ws2812b I tried first since it is a 5V power supply (I checked that before buying, beecause I wanted to use the power supply also for the esp32).

In your case the flickering colors could be everything from wrong voltage level on data line (3,3V vs 5V?) to wrong protocol to noise on the line.

Sorry, can not give much useful from afar.

Maecki

4

Thank you very much for your answer. It seems to be more of a controlled changing of colors than a flickering.
Did you know what you leds you get with the Aldi product? Or did you give it a shot and you were lucky to make it run without much trouble?

5

Pure luck and the willingness to fry 10 Euros :wink: But the 5V were a hint.

Maecki

6

Hi,

I made my strip work too. Driving all three wires from my ESP did the trick. Before I had ony the data wire connected to the ESP and the power came from the original controller.

Chris

1 Like
7

You need common ground. So you would have to connect data and ground to the controller.

1 Like