General System Use
This is where the magic happens. Now that you’ve done the hard work of flashing, wiring, configuring and assuring your sensors and LEDs are working, it’s time to actually use the thing. Whether you’re adjusting colors or patterns via the web app or controlling the system via MQTT or the API, these pages cover the “how-to” of your new LED controller.
Some of these topics will only apply to the primary controller while others apply to both the primary and any wirelesss sensor controllers. This will be indicated in the following topics as necessary.
Understanding Active vs. Default Settings (Primary controller only)
The primary controller actually has two independent groups of settings. Up until this point, we’ve primarily covered the default settings. But there is another group of settings called the active settings.
Default Settings
These are the settings that are saved to a local configuration file and are automatically loaded any time the primary controller boots up. This includes the previously covered hardware settings, but also things like the LED color, effect and speed used along with the LED brightness and LED On Time have default settings that are saved as part of the configuration.
Active Settings
Active settings are ones you make via the web application (or via MQTT/API) that are in effect for the current active session. They remain in effect until changed or until the controller reboots, at which point the default settings become active.
How to Determine Which Settings are Being Modified
As a general rule, any page or section that is going to make changes to the saved defaults will have a button labeled as either “Save & Reboot” or “Set as Defaults”.
These buttons also have a reddish/pink background to indicate they will make a permenant change to the configuration file. Buttons that say “Apply” or are have a green background generally mean that the values will only update the ACTIVE settings.
Active settings are applied immediately, which is another clue. Changes to DEFAULT settings always require a reboot to save/reload any changes.
In This Section
- Options and Settings – Managing both the RGBW bulb and the internal LED strip (PRIMARY controller only).
- Calibrating ToF Sensors – Determining the proper trigger distance for your ToF sensors (PRIMARY or WIRELESS controllers).
- Controller Commands – Using specialized system and maintenance commands (PRIMARY or WIRELESS controllers).
Each of the following pages details the various methods of routinely controlling and interacting with your project.