ws2812b | Home Assistant | Page 1

idle leaf Jul 31, 2025, 2:30 PM

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Hey all,
Can anyone offer any reading or good guides for how to deal with ws2812b leds in home assistant? I'd like to be able to change a strip or led colour to indicate certain conditions whether that be an environmental value or just to remind someone that it's time to take out the recycling rather than refuse bins.
If anyone has any suggested reading I'd really appreciate it 🙂
Thank you

hollow ice Jul 31, 2025, 2:32 PM

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Using an esp with wled installed is my go to method, it might be overkill in this case, but it integrates great with home assistant (though it is also a more diy solution, what's your interest in diy/electronics solutions?)

idle leaf Jul 31, 2025, 2:44 PM

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I'd like to create indicators for temperatures / other numerical or text values (text specifically being UV level corresponds to LED colour), but if possible I'd also like to be able to use the ESP for esphome duties (kitchen one has an oled which tells when the cat was last fed for example to stop her being fed by four people and then being sick...... multiple times).
I have another ESP in the garage which records temperatures in the garage, outside in ambient for example - it would be useful to have a visual display of for example the chest freezer temperature to make sure it's doing okay out there in the heat / cold.
I guess what I'm asking is, can home assistant do the above without me having to dedicate an esp entirely to illumination (you may be able to tell but I love virtualised hardware and having the ability for physical kit to do more than one thing!).
Thank you so much for your response.

mossy leaf Jul 31, 2025, 3:07 PM

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https://esphome.io/components/#light-components

ESPHome

ESPHome main documentation

idle leaf Jul 31, 2025, 3:11 PM

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thank you! Having a read now, I need to learn how to use conditions to set light characteristics from sensors within ha - that's next 🙂

hollow ice Jul 31, 2025, 4:10 PM

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The esphome ws2812b support works well, I use it for backlit keypads

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You can totally run i2c sensors alongside the LEDs

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You can even use automations in esphome to drive the lights directly from the sensors and avoid having the home assistant middle man

idle leaf Jul 31, 2025, 4:41 PM

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Steve-O the way you say it makes it sound so easy! I get the feeling I need to go back to university and invest more time in programming though! 🙂

hollow ice Jul 31, 2025, 5:29 PM

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Esphome at least makes that part a lot easier (Even coming from an embedded systems developer background)

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Though sometimes the yaml is a massive pain to figure out how to bend it to your will

low plank Aug 1, 2025, 4:48 AM

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Hi, if you want a led screen to show info, take a look at the Ulanzi Clock with the Awtrix 3 software. It's around 40/50 euros and has a lot of possibilities

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I have 2 and probably get more 🙂

#ws2812b