Alternative firmware for Arilux LED controllers

This is an alternative firmware for Arilux LED controllers which uses MQTT instead of the default "Magic Home"/"Flux LED" protocol which has numerous reliability problems. The LED controller is a cheap product available on sites like Banggood.com, Aliexpress, eBay and even Amazon which can be easily reprogrammed as it is based on the popular ESP8266 Wi-Fi chip. The controllers are also known to sell under different manufacturer names such as "Firstd". If the product you bought looks similar to one of the Arilux controllers below, it most likely is.

Features

• Remote control over the MQTT protocol via individual topics or JSON
  • Supports transitions, flashing and effects in JSON mode
• Remote control with the included IR control (uncomment #define IR_REMOTE in config.h)
• Remote control with the included RF control (uncomment #define RF_REMOTE in config.h)
• TLS support (uncomment #define TLS in config.h and change the fingerprint if not using CloudMQTT)
• Debug printing over Telnet (uncomment #define DEBUG_TELNET in config.h)
• ArduinoOTA support for over-the-air firmware updates
• Native support for Home Assistant, including MQTT discovery

Supported devices

Model	Color Support	Voltages	Remote	Price	Link
LC01	RGB	5-28V	None	~$8	Banggood
LC02	RGBW	9-12V	None	~$11	Banggood
LC03	RGB	5-28V	IR	~$12	Banggood
LC04	RGBW	9-12V	IR	~$13	Banggood
LC08	RGBWW	5-28V	None	~$12	Banggood
LC09	RGB	5-28V	RF	~$12	Banggood
LC10	RGBW	9-28V	RF	~$14	Banggood
LC11	RGBWW	9-28V	RF	~$15	Banggood

Demonstration

Flash the firmware

Whichever flashing option you choose, ensure your Arduino IDE settings match the following:

Configuration

You must copy config.example.h to config.h and change settings to match your environment before flashing.

Settings for the Arduino IDE

Parameter	Value
Board	Generic ESP8266 Module
Flash Mode	DIO
Flash Frequency	40 MHz
Upload Using	Serial
CPU Frequency	80 MHz
Flash Size	1M (64K SPIFFS)
Reset Method	ck
Upload Speed	115200
Port	COMX, /dev/ttyUSB0, etc.

Option 1

Schematic

Arilux	Left FTDI	Right FTDI
VCC	VCC (set to 3.3V)
RX		TX
TX		RX
GPIO0	GND
GND		GND

Note: To enter in programming mode, you need to pull GPIO0 LOW while powering the board via the FTDI. It's not possible to reprogram the module without soldering the wire to the ESP8266 module. If you are unable or don't know how to solder try option 2 below which can be accomplished without soldering.

The FTDI from the left gives power and it's connected to an USB charger (VCC, GND). The FTDI from the right is connected to the computer and is used to reprogram the ESP8266 (RX, TX, GND).

Option 2

Using the following image, connect RX, TX and GND of a single FTDI to the shown pins on the underside of the board. Plug in the wall power supply and flash using the above settings. It helps to have another person able to plug in the device and start the upload while you hold the pins.

Updating

OTA is enabled on this firmware. Assuming the device is plugged in you should find the device as a Port option in the Arduino IDE. Make sure you are using the settings listed above.

Control

IR

The LED controller can be controlled with the IR remote included with the Arilux AL-LC03 and AL-LC04. The Flash, Strobe, Fade and Smooth functionalities are not yet implemented.

RF

The LED controller can be controlled with the RF remote included with the Arilux AL-LC09, AL-LC10 and AL-LC11. The Mode+, Mode-, Speed+, Speed- and toggle functionalities are not yet implemented.

MQTT

Control modes

This firmware can work with MQTT in one of two ways. To cut down on firmware size only one mode can be enabled at a time. Whichever mode is not enabled will not be loaded to the board.

1. JSON mode. Only one topic will be published and subscribed to (as well as the Last Will and Testament topic). The payload for both will be/is expected to be a JSON object with all properties listed below in it. If a property is missing, the state of that property will change. JSON is great because it reduces roundtrips across the network. For example, if you wanted to turn the light on, set it to full brightness, and make it red, you would have to publish to the state topic, the brightness topic and the color topic. JSON also allows effects and transitions to be specified. No properties are required. You must have the [ArduinoJson] library installed for this to work. If you are have Home Assistant MQTT Discovery enabled, the light.mqtt_json platform will be loaded by Home Assistant instead of the light.mqtt platform. To enable JSON mode, uncomment #define JSON in config.h.

   JSON properties

   Name	Data Type	Example	Description
   brightness	Integer, 0-255	255	The brightness to set to
   color	Object/dictionary	{}	A dictionary with the below RGB values
   color.r	Integer, 0-255	255	The red color to set to
   color.g	Integer, 0-255	255	The green color to set to
   color.b	Integer, 0-255	255	The blue color to set to
   flash	Integer, number of seconds to flash	10	If true, light will flash with either colors provided in payload or previously set colors. Integer is number of seconds to flash for.
   state	Boolean	true	The state of the lights, true = on, false = off
   transition	Integer, number of seconds to transition	5	If greater than 0, light will transition from old values to new ones for the given number of seconds
   white_value	Integer, 0-255	255	Controls the whiteness level of the lights. Only supported for RGBW and RGBWW. Only the first white level is set, there is no support for setting the second white level on RGBWW lights

2. Individual topics mode. The firmware will publish and subscribe to at least 11 topics and expect specifically formatted payloads for each of them. The full list is below.

   Individual topics

   State

   #	Topic	Payload
   State	rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/state/state	ON/OFF
   Command	rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/state/set	ON/OFF

   Brightness

   #	Topic	Payload
   State	rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/brightness/state	0-255
   Command	rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/brightness/set	0-255

   Color

   #	Topic	Payload
   State	rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/color/state	0-255,0-255,0-255
   Command	rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/color/set	0-255,0-255,0-255

   White

   White is only supported for RGBW/RGBWW models (LC02, LC04, LC08, LC10, LC11).

   #	Topic	Payload
   State	rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/white/state	0-255,0-255
   Command	rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/white/set	0-255,0-255

Last Will and Testament

The firmware will publish a MQTT Last Will and Testament at rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/status. When the device successfully connects it will publish alive to that topic and when it disconnects dead will automatically be published.

Discovery

This firmware supports Home Assistant's MQTT discovery functionality, added in 0.40. This allows for instant setup and use of your device without requiring any manual configuration in Home Assistant. If you are using the MQTT JSON mode, the light.mqtt_json platform will be loaded. Otherwise, the light.mqtt platform will load. light.mqtt_json is required for full functionality. There are a few one time steps that you need to take to get this working.

1. Install the [ArduinoJson] library.
2. Add discovery: true to your mqtt configuration in Home Assistant, if it isn't there already.
3. In your Ardunino libraries folder, find PubSubClient and open PubSubClient.h for editing. Change MQTT_MAX_PACKET_SIZE to 512.
4. Uncomment the HOME_ASSISTANT_MQTT_DISCOVERY and HOME_ASSISTANT_MQTT_DISCOVERY_PREFIX definitions in your config.h file.

• You can change the discovery prefix (default is homeassistant) by changing HOME_ASSISTANT_MQTT_DISCOVERY_PREFIX. Make sure this matches your Home Assistant MQTT configuration.

5. Upload the firmware once more after making the previous changes.

From now on your device will announce itself to Home Assistant with all of the proper configuration information.

Configuration for Home Assistant

configuration.yaml

mqtt:
  broker: 'm21.cloudmqtt.com'
  username: '[REDACTED]'
  password: '[REDACTED]'
  port: '[REDACTED]'
  discovery: true

light:
  - platform: mqtt
    name: 'Arilux RGB Led Controller'
    state_topic: 'rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/state/state'
    command_topic: 'rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/state/set'
    brightness_state_topic: 'rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/brightness/state'
    brightness_command_topic: 'rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/brightness/set'
    rgb_state_topic: 'rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/color/state'
    rgb_command_topic: 'rgb(w/ww)/<chipid>/color/set'

Todo

IR remote

• Flash
• Strobe
• Fade
• Smooth

RF remote

• Mode+
• Mode-
• Speed+
• Speed-
• Toggle

Licence

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Home Assistant Community Discussion Forum

For further information and to join the discussion for this firmware check out this thread on the Home Assistant Community Discussion Forum.

Contributors

• @KmanOz: Codes for the RF remote (Arilux AL-LC09)
• @DanGunvald: RGBW/RGBWW support
• @robbiet480: General cleanup and merging of RGBW/RGBWW code

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