Controlling 2-Wire Genio Mirabella

nomadicsoul

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Jan 16, 2022
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In 2021 I started my first display which was heavily based on Big W Genio Mirabella 250/500 strings of wifi controllable LEDs. The 240 versions are 2 wire and have RGB pixels, the 500 sets are also 2 wire but the more basic negative/positive swap for the 8 generic patterns.

I bought a set to test out if I could reverse engineer the Wifi API - my intention was to have a website people could scan a QR code to access on the letter box, which would then allow them to change colours and animation patterns on the lights. I got there in the end (and if there is interest I could do a full write up) but it was quite convoluted:

All the Kmart/BigW/Target/Bunnings smart christmas lights are using ESP2866 style chipsets which are linked to the Tuya Smart platform. The various Genio apps etc are just a skinned version of the Tuya base app. To make them controllable I:

- Registered them to Tuya app on my phone
- Assigned static IP on my router so they could be more easily addressed
- Registered as a developer for Tuya to get an API key, developer ket etc
- Ran a CLI script which then exposed the various UUID for each string of lights in my Tuya pp
- Used NodeRED and the Tuya plugin to then use JSON to send commands via Tuya Cloud to the lights to trigger various colours, animation modes
- Used WebSockets on a customer web page I made which in turn would send button presses (via JavaScript) to my NodeRED instance, which then triggered the various API calls for Tuya

This worked well, but I'm looking to WS2811 etc in 2022 (even maybe sequencing). I've invested quite a lot into the Big W product and would like to integrate them into xLights etc. Going via cloud would not be responsive enough, so would like to ditch the store controller and have them on DMX or 1.31 for instant feedback (and it cuts out the round trip to an overseas server too).

I've been looking at the Hanson Electronics site but it seems the 2 wire controller are for the more traditional (i.e. 500 string type set) which has the 8 animation modes (either green/blue or yellow/red on). Are there any third party controllers that could take command of the newer 2 wire RGB "addressable" pixels?

500x 2 wire 'traditional' animation lights: https://www.mirabellagenio.com.au/p...nio-wi-fi-500-led-multicoloured-fairy-lights/
240x 2 wire 'RGB individually controlled' animation lights: https://www.mirabellagenio.com.au/p...enio-wi-fi-240-led-colour-wheel-fairy-lights/
 

David_AVD

Grandpa Elf
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Two wire individually addressable lights will be using some sort of data modulated power system.

You'd need to reverse engineer both the modulation method (hardware) and the data format.
 

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
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I actually bought some of the 2 wire addressable leds late last year to investigate making up a controller to drive them. So far I haven't even opened the pack but it is on my to do list.
 

djgra79

My name is Graham & I love flashing lights!
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Unsure if you have seen it but Kate & Phil bought some of the Kmart pixels and did some explorative research into what makes them tick.
TLDR: they are 5v 2811 pixels but dont have a data out at the end of the string.
 

thewanderingpine

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@nomadicsoul -- are they *individually addressable" LED's? Or just wifi-controlled where they all change the same colour? I was thinking about it this morning as I was cleaning out around some outdoor spots in my back garden. They were tuya - but I converted them to running tasmota. But they aren't individually controllable - the controller changes all the lights connected to it.

But doing some quick searches -- it looks like WLED might support these kind of lights? Maybe you could flash the firmware on the 8266?
 

nomadicsoul

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Thanks all for the replies so far. To answer your questions:
- the 240 count wifi set have two wires and each LED is RGB (i.e. can be assigned various colours via the App i.e. all red, all green, all blue, twinking between various multiple colours etc) hence them having to be individually addressable or a bit more sophisticated at least than just changing polarity etc.
- BigW, Bunnings etc currently don't have them in stock or on their site. They all sold out shortly before Christmas (which is a shame, I was hoping to pick up a few more sets cheaply). The sets can be found on the Genio/Mirabello site however still
- Will look into Tasmota however I am concerned about bricking $40 strings of lights etc and getting into the transformer would be a destructive process. Wish there was a way I could copy the data on to an ESP8266 to tinker with
 

Notenoughlights

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Are they addressable or are the leds pre programmed to respond to a certain frequency sent over the line to do a certain thing, i.e a 1khz ripple go red 1.1khz green 1.2khz blue 1.3khz flash random colours.
 

nomadicsoul

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Are they addressable or are the leds pre programmed to respond to a certain frequency sent over the line to do a certain thing, i.e a 1khz ripple go red 1.1khz green 1.2khz blue 1.3khz flash random colour

Good question - could be a high probability of this!
 

Notenoughlights

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I've just bought 3 sets with the same style of lighting,

Two of them are supplied with a 7VDC adapter and one comes with a 24VDC adapter

The two 5v ones are able to be plugged into each other's power sources (One of which contains all the electronics to run the string) however they do not control each other so it appears. They light up "white" however do nothing more.


Arlec Grid Connect https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/274581667141 (Only link I could find) seem to control these the best out of all the 3 sets with the smoothest transitions and most "pixel like" animations/movement even though they have limited effects.

Lytworx 300 count Smart Fairy Light and Mirabella Genio 240 Colour wheel fairy lights feature similar animations and from what I have been able to test just with the app, (when it works) have limited effects as expected.

I cracked open the controller/power supply for the Arlec set, discovered a Tuya controller inside labelled WB2S

Hopefully this provides more info to anyone trying to work out how these work.
 
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