Bauhn/Aldi/Tuya LED Light Strip teardown/review (with USB, Bluetooth, and RGB)

This is an interesting cheap little light strip. it has a few pre-programmed color cycles and reactive music modes, all controllable over BLE. The PCB is simple, as you'd expect, and there's no identifying markings.

[@InstrumentalKINGblog]

I don't know a thing about BT light strips and just have working knowledge about smart devices. But do you absolutely need to use the TUYA app to pair and control this device. I was wondering if I can use my Feit Electric app or Alexa or Google Home apps to pair or group my smart lights. That said, I appreciate the unshelled look at the remote control chip. That is so useful to see and know!

[@oasismike2]

"Not addressable," thank you! .... So hoping to find a DIY ambient light for Mom's TV at Aldi prices (not that Pi-zero is available yet).

[@Basil.Wisteria]

Is there a way to connect it without 2.4G Network? After going through the steps-it tells me to connect to a hotspot and nothing past there works.

[@faeinthebay]

It previously let me set up without Wi-Fi, that was before the Fuchsia switchover. It might not be able to do that anymore.

[@maddieschohn7625]

can u show how to connect it to
the phone

[@faeinthebay]

You reset the strip by holding the button for 2 seconds and letting go so it flashes red. Then open the Tuya app, press the plus button, then wait for the strip to show up with an orange Add button.

[@hdwagyo]

I couldn't pair it with my Bluetooth. How did you do it? I reset the strip multiple times but it stays blue and never blinks...

[@faeinthebay]

I held the reset button for 2 seconds then let go. The strip flashed red 4 times. Then I opened the Tuya app, pressed the plus button, and the strip showed up with an "add" button.

[@darianbarber3763]

How do you get it to sync to music? I have it connected but the tuya app doesn't make it easy at all if it's even possible with them (despite it being advertised). I've tried making a scene but despite me being able to change the color manually ect it refuses to acknowledge that there is a device, even though there is and the app would let me manually do stuff.

[@faeinthebay]

There should be 4 icons im the bottom of the light strip controls. Tap the music note to switch to music sync mode. Then tap the star button to select your pattern and press the play button to activate it. You can also press the gauge button to increase the sensitivity. The microphone is inside the white control box (as I show in the video), so you could take apart the box and add microphone holes if you want to improve the responsiveness.

[@darianbarber3763]

@@faeinthebay honestly from it saying music sync, I thought it would sync into the audio output. Not take input, from a beginner level programming perspective it makes 0 sense.

[@faeinthebay]

@@darianbarber3763 it's very difficult for an app to capture audio output from a modern smartphone. The closest you could get is the audio effects framework in Android, but only a fraction of apps support it. A microphone-based solution doesn't require any pairing and can work with any audio system. It's also much simpler to implement, since you just run the signal through a rudimentary ADC and wait for sound to hit a trigger threshold.

[@ortzinator]

I wish I knew it was only Bluetooth 🙄