Connecting Wasatch Pixels Advanced Eight Controller for Use with WLED and
xLIghts
1) Connect input wires to controller (+V, -V from power supply, and an Ethernet cable to a network
shared with xLights computer.) Connect green power and data connectors to +V, -V (sometimes
labeled G or GND on pixels) and D (data) lines on pixel strings.
2) Turn on power and observe green Ethernet activity light illuminated and flashing with Ethernet
traffic
3) Find network IP address of controller. This can be done by using a network scanner such as any
one of these: [Link] . Or, more easily download the WLED app
to a phone or tablet, click on the large “+” sign at the top right of the screen, then press the
DISCOVER LIGHTS… button. WLED will discover your controller if your phone or tablet is
connected to the same network as the controller is. Click on the check mark on the top right
corner of the app screen. On the main screen you should now see your WLED controller. Note the
IP address of the controller to be entered into xLights.
4) Open xLights
5) Make sure you are on the Controllers tab
6) Click the Add Ethernet button
7) On the right side of the screen give the controller an appropriate name in the Name field
8) From the Vendor pull down list select WLED
9) From the Model field that will appear after you select WLED in the Vendor field, select WLED
10) From the Variant field that will appear after you select WLED in the Vendor field, select Generic
ESP32
11) Go to the IP Address field and enter the IP address that you found in step 3
12) Under protocol select your desired protocol. It is recommended to use DDP for the best
performance between xLights and the controller
13) Select the Save button on the left side of the screen
14) Go to the Layout tab, create a prop
15) Under the details of the prop on the left side of the screen and in the dropdown menu of the
Controller field, select your controller (It will be listed by the name you gave your controller in
step 7)
16) Go back to the Controllers tab
17) On the left side of the screen, reselect the controller you created
18) At the bottom of the screen click the Visualize … button
19) Find the model you created in step 14 and drag it from the right of the screen to the left side next
to one of the available ports. (Note xLights will by default list 8 ports here. If you have a QUAD
controller, you can only use Ports 1-4 here. If you have a SIX controller, you can only user ports 1-
6 here. If you have an EIGHT controller, you can use all 8 ports.)
20) Close the Visualizer … window that was open
21) Click on the Upload Output button at the bottom of the screen. This will upload the appropriate
pixel count to be assigned to the appropriate pins in WLED. You can verify this if you go to your
WLED app or the controller’s IP address in a web browser. Click on Config, then select LED
Preferences. Under the Hardware setup section, you will see the information for the respective
pins. You can select the appropriate Color Order here if necessary (it is defaulted to GRB in WLED.)
DO NOT change the pin numbers or the Data outputs on the screw terminals will not correspond
correctly to Port number in the xLights visualizer. Verify the Count of pixels is correct as sent from
xLights. If you made changes here in WLED, Save them and exit the configuration.
22) Repeat Steps 14-21 for other props you want to setup in xLights. If running a 40 FPS sequence,
it’s recommended you have no more than 600 pixels per port. If running a 20 FPS show, you can
use up to 800 pixels per port.
23) In the WLED app or on the WLED page for your controller in a web browser make sure the power
button is turned on
24) Start your sequence in xLights with the output to pixels Light Bulb selected on, and you should
see the animation(s) running on your pixels
Note: If you don’t want any WLED animations to play while xLights is not outputting data to your pixels,
you’ll need to go to WLED and create segments that correspond to the number of pixels on each port of
the controller. Then select black for all three color options on the WLED Colors Tab. Go to the Effects Tab
and select the Solid effect. Save this to a Favorite in WLED. The go back to Config, LED Preferences and
scroll down to the line: Apply preset [ ] at boot and enter in the preset(Favorite) number of the black
solid effect you just created. Go to the top or bottom of the page and click Save.
Now when the controller is powered, it will default to having the WLED Power button selected ON, but
WLED will not be illuminating the lights when xLights is not sending sequence data.