Columbia Figure Skating Club (MD) - WLED-based Show Lighting

Simple WLED lighting project for Columbia Figure Skating Club, initially designed for use on large staircase set pieces used in the Harry Potter show of 2022 and subsequently used in holiday Nutcracker shows.

Background:

Four LED control devices were assembled using a WiFi-equipped ESP32-based microcontroller dev boards. These devices run the WLED firmware into project boxes. Each box is similar, but may contain minor hardware differences with respect primarily to input voltages due to the use of differing buck/boost voltage converters. Each box is labeled with a name, as well as its power input requirements.

Wireless Networking:

The controllers communicate using WiFi 802.11b at 2.4GHz. When the controllers power-up, they will first seek out a pre-programmed wireless access point (WAP) with the SSID of CFSC-WLED-AP using a stored password. If the WAP cannot be found, the WLED firmware will fallback to act itself as standalone access point using the same pre-defined password, but whose SSID is the name printed on the box (ie: CFSC-WLED-01). This allows for the device to be re-programmed in the abscense of the expected WAP in the event that the expected WAP is lost or damaged.

Device Mounting for Wireless Access Point (WAP):

In past shows, the WAP was located above the disused electic ice resurfacing machine (beneath the scoreboard). It was taped onto the painted cinderblock walls using gaffer's tape, being careful not to fully block the air vents on the top surface of the device. The two antennas should be pointed mostly upwards, but each with a slightly different angle. It may not be totally necessary to mount it in this manner, but we thought it best to get it away from the metal of the resurfacing machine while also using a dedicated power outlet high up on the wall that would reduce the potential of the WAP being unplugged during the show.

In this location, all of the control boxes connected successfully from their positions on both the near and far side of the rink, and the operator was able to send commands to the controllers using a web-enabled tablet computer from anywhere in the near-half of the rink (farther distances were not attempted, but likely would have worked).

WiFi Access Point (WAP):

• Linksys WRT54G (S/N: CDF003168204)
• MAC: 00-06-25-BB-FA-85
• Power Input: 5VDC/2A
• SSID: CFSC-WLED-AP
• WiFi Protocols: 802.11a + 802.11g
• Password: SkateShow
• Security: WPA2 Personal (PSK) + AES
• IP: 192.168.1.1
• Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
• DHCP Enabled: Yes
• Firmware: Tomato v1.28
• Web UI:
  • URI: https://192.168.1.1
  • Username: admin
  • Password: SkateShowAdmin

WLED-based Controllers:

• CFSC-WLED-01:

  • Hostname: CFSC-WLED-01.local
  • SSID: CFSC-WLED-01 (when acting as ad-hoc AP)

• CFSC-WLED-02:

  • Hostname: CFSC-WLED-02.local
  • SSID: CFSC-WLED-02 (when acting as ad-hoc AP)

• CFSC-WLED-03:

  • Hostname: CFSC-WLED-03.local
  • SSID: CFSC-WLED-03 (when acting as ad-hoc AP)

• CFSC-WLED-04:

  • Hostname: CFSC-WLED-04.local
  • SSID: CFSC-WLED-04 (when acting as ad-hoc AP)
  • Indicator/Button: Not wired to power or microcontroller GPIO

• All

  • Firmware: WLED v0.13.1
  • Power Input: 12-36V 10A
  • Power Connector: 5.5mm x 2.1mm, Center Positive, 16 AWG
  • WPA2/PSK (WiFi Password): SkateShow (when acting as ad-hoc AP)
  • Microcontroller: ESP32-DevKitC / ESP32-WROOM-32U. An ESP32-based development board by a generic manufacturer.
  • LED Output Channel Configuration:
    • CH1 on GPIO 2
    • CH2 on GPIO 4
    • CH3 on GPIO 16
    • CH4 on GPIO 17