Inside a Bluetooth RGB controller.
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- The star of this video is the XC610 SoC (system on chip) microcontroller, that is a reminder of how far things have evolved.
With just a regulator, the chip and three MOSFETs it allows remote control of an RGB colour effect by an Android or Apple phone.
Part of the work is being done by the phone app called Happy Lighting, which has to arrange connection, note the location for specific unit control, and provide a human control interface.
The controller does appear to remember the last colour setting after a short delay. Probably to avoid making too many writes to the memory. So you could theoretically connect, set and forget if you wanted a specific colour.
I'm not a huge fan of loading random apps on my phone in case of malware issues. I'm also aware that there are always security issues in any communication network that could allow a bluetooth device like a keyboard to self-run devious strings of keypresses (rubber ducky). Especially given the capabilities of the processors used in many wifi and bluetooth products.
The processor datasheet can be found by searching for xinchip xc610
There is a higher pin count version available, which explains the missing PWM1 module. From the datasheet there does seem to be a significant amount of memory on the chips. I wondered if it might just have been referring to an upper externally addressable range. I guess that's to support the use of more bloated library style code.
The quiescent current of the chip with well written software that puts it into a proper sleep state is just 1uA - or 14uA in suspended mode.
Pretty neat little controller. Very minimalist, and using the firmware to do the serious stuff.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
/ bigclive (extra streams and channel interaction)
Or alternatively:-
www.bigclive.co...
This also keeps the channel independent of RUclips's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
#ElectronicsCreators
The color coding on the diagrams/photos is great, makes it way easier to follow what’s happening and how seemingly random components are connected, giving them a visual context in the circuit’s design.
"Apples Air Biscuits" made me nearly spit out my beer. For those not in England "Air Biscuit" is slang for fart.
I'm English (from Middlesbrough) and I didn't know that 😂
Flight Attendants call it _Crop Dusting._ Spray and go.
I call them Brown Canyon Winds, Stepping on the Barking Spider or Air Raids. Air Biscuit is going in the toolbox now as well. One can never be too prepared for such events.
I'm from London, so we say Horse and Cart for fart. It goes neatly with Pony and Trap, crap. Especially if you follow through.
LOL! Yes, I caught that too. LOL! 😂
"Apple's new air biscuits", indeed! Louis Rossmann might like that joke - if he understood the British slang ;-)
Made me laugh for like 5 mins :P
Maybe after watching this lot of us people search for apple biscuits 😂they thinking that apple have it 😂
Hmm - did Clive sound a little impressed by that chip? :-)
Pulsating red - when you want to put a colorful surrounding on a device where there's a fault.
That's one hell of a Microcontroller. So much power. It puts my Spectrum to shame. LOL.
Nice little product, plenty of variations with either Bluetooth or little remotes if you prefer them too. Oh how lighting has changed, still remember when it was a colored glass bulb, or plate that was used to create a different light effects. Now the sky is the limit, it seems.
umm no this is ancient technology
i didn't even get the british slang and i found air biscuits funny by itself lmao
Biscuits in the UK are cookies in the USA ;) if that helps. Even better... it's not slang, it's just differences in the language, like how they call a large truck (eg a semi truck or a box truck) a lorry.
@@laserhawk64 air biscuit is slang
@@randomplayer6461 True, in and of itself, but I don't think it's chiefly British/UK slang /per se/ -- one, I live in the USA, and I"m no stranger to that meaning for that term. Two, at least two of the replies to the comment by "Gordon Lawrence" below reference people who plainly live in Britain specifically (rather than other parts of the UK) and are distinctly unfamiliar. If I had to guess, I'd say it is known but not common there -- but I don't live there and I've not been since 2007, so I can't be 100% sure.
Any blokes *actually* in the UK want to chime in and help settle this?
I'd say you're right to be a little concerned about the security. Looking at the datasheet for that SOC there's nothing that restricts it to any given bluetooth profile, and they even suggest it as being suitable as a HID (keyboard/mouse), so a malicious device could easily pretend to be a keyboard that auto-types some mischief.
Recent versions of Android do tell you what the device you're connecting is representing itself as though, so if you see Input Device on something like this you know to steer clear.
As for the random app, I suspect it'd be fairly easy to write a generic controller app for these (and make it open source for safety). There can't be too many different ways to control lights, I might acquire some and have a play.
Android has at least gotten better about sandboxing and limiting the really damaging stuff visible to apps, and iOS has always had a good track record of that.
For the security of the Bluetooth stack itself I’d be less worried; the manufacturers of this cheap crap probably aren’t interested in attacking your phone (and keyboard-based attacks would be difficult to pull off due to the variety of UI layouts and lack of incoming feedback), and the attack surface for someone maliciously rewriting the controller code with a targeted attack requires someone to already have the sort of physical access to your stuff that means you have bigger problems.
look into wled, its open source software for esp32s and esp8266s
There's already RUclips videos and stuff about this protocol. It's the same as "Triones" which I think I found a nice protocol writeup on a git repo host online. I got a standalone battery powered single LED version called "Lumin+" - that's your search term to find at least one RUclips series reverse engineering the protocol - though not as completely as the writeup I found.
I don't actually know how you start using a Bluetooth low energy hid device, mine are all high energy, but I suspect it's quite different than the very app-driven way of writing an attribute on this light. I mean, no reason the chip can't do both, but I don't think connecting for light purposes opens you to hid automatically.
Edit: here's that page github.com/madhead/saberlight/blob/master/protocols/Triones/protocol.md
I love these type of videos,I started watching your videos many years ago because I greatly enjoyed all your tear downs and explanations on all the various led lights and the power supply circutry,even though switching power supplies now practically power everything,their operation is still a bit of a black art and watching videos such as the ones you make really show just how fast the rapid state of electronics and computer technology is truly progressing.
I slit a sleeve, a sleeve I slit, removed the slitted sleeve, I did!
The ramping red would be great if you wanted to pretend you lived at NORAD, or in the kids’ rooms to tell them it’s dinner time without having to yell across the house over their AirPod music.
The master of RGB is Daves Garage, a good starting point is his Tiki Fire Umbrella video
I always liked smart home solver videos
That default magenta color explains why I always see magenta LED strips in kids windows in the neighborhood. They probably buy these things, give up on the app, and just leave it the default color when they turn the lights on at night.
"Air biscuit" 😂
I have some TCP internet light bulbs, and last night they went yampy (haywire) started flashing on and off like a particularly boring disco (ask your granny), for hours on and off, my neighbor must have thought I had lost it, just flicking the switch on and off. I had to dig out some real bulbs. then at 20 past 12 last night they started working again. they said the server went down. not happy I didnt even think that they were being fed from somewhere other than the app on my phone. worrying tbh
The 'S' in 'IoT' stands for security!
My e.io smart socket plug failed yesterday for me as well
@@AgentWaltonSimons But it's bloody worrying, I use them for when I'm not home or coming home late, this place is a sh**hole, so they are essential.
Install an alternative firmware on it, if that's not possible then throw it away
Something like this should never be connected to an server
@@blackcountryme Set up something like Home Assistant to control the lights instead of OEM controllers
The ble protocol for that is already reverse engineered mostly, so you could control it eg with an esp32 and esphome or so.
A couple of decoupling. That made me chuckle
"One moment....please."
Flash back to 2008 when my network controlled RGB pot lights had two double sided pcbs and thumbnail sized Mosfets! Wifi was a hassle back then and Bluetooth was flaky as hell. To quote Simon Whistler, "The past was way worse!"
Playing 'Snap' with this I've got the 'Industrial version' 5-24V DC @ 192W in the garden shed. Mind could do with an amplifier interface, keep frying it with way, way too many M's of LED tape along the soffits and pergola in the garden. It's cool if you use the music option, playing music hardily audible on the mobile, syncs in for disco style on BBQ nights! 👌👍😃
you might be able to solder on extra power wires to the +5v and ground halfway along the tape without it affecting the RGB controls
I have 12V strings surrounding upstairs windiws, driven by a custom-made circuitboard attached to Raspberry Pi Zeros. I program them in Python with colors and patterns suitable to the holiday, or on regular days inhave them go through a red-orange-yellow-blue-yellow-orange red fade cycle that is synchronized with the sunrise and sunset (as per sunrise-sunset.org).
They also dimm at 6 pm and brighten up at 9 am so as to be conducive to sleep. And i have four identical sets that stay synchronized with each other via IP multicast over the built-in wifi. They also have web servers so i can change the color patterns from my tablet.
Someone kept themselves busy during lockdown. Or just avoiding the family? 😁
Any guide to do something like that? It sounds pretty cool
@@diezgp A better option might be to have a single Pi 3/4 (or even Pi Zero W) running Home Assistant as the controller, with multiple esp8266/esp32 boards running espHome connected to the LEDs.
Pis are great but they run a full blown OS from an SD card that can be corrupted by power cycling, not my first choice if I have to deploy half a dozen.
I wanted Pink as it's such a nice colour
That Chip Insane...
Usually boot pin or boot button means the mcu has a serial bootloader inside so you can program the mcu using a usb to uart ttl adapter just like an arduino.
Add a set of relays in place of the LED strip and that could be a nice remote control for appliances or lighting. Not a bad little board you found! Congratulations! 👍
The WiFi RGB strip is also single chip and more open to making it do more than leds, e.g. power applications, Train sets, door opening and other phone remote functions.
I am constantly amazed by the technology we have today
I have no use for one of these but have wanted one for a year. Time to come up with justification to purchase some.
5:24 is why i watch this channel
(i understand NOTHING about electronics)
Yes, the processing power is crazy. We used to do everything with an 8 bit micro based computers, these days not even good enough to run a LED or two
7:38, looks like it could be configured to be a 12vdc cigarette plug with the fat tabs for neg, and the central pos
I think the first computer I worked on had less computing power than that chip.
Always entertaining and informative clive.
I was wondering if its possible to construct a power supply to save buying batteries to use multiple e-cig batteries just to test kits when built. Probably 5 and 9 volts. Cheers, and keep up the good work
You can get voltage boost circuits that could increase the voltage from a cell to a higher adjustable level..
I had never heard the term " Air Biscuit " until I watched the classic oldie 'Weird Science' and yeah, bugger all in stuff nowadays ...cheers.
Nice little driver but I prefer the ws2811 type LEDS and use my computer to drive them
any security risks would seem to mainly revolve around the app and what things it’s exactly doing. I’ve purchased some Chinese smart home devices whose companion apps force me to set up an account and grant location access just to work they won’t work without tha “cloud” feature , even when I’m only looking for a simple local control.
in this instance , there just doesn’t seem to be enough functionality to warrant using a smart phone app; I would still favor the traditional versions that include an RF dedicated remote control that can do all the same things. they are typically super cheap as well; I bought them as stocking stuffers for Christmas 2020..
The remotes always end up breaking, not working, or just get lost too quickly I find.
Android requires the coarse location access permission from all apps that use Bluetooth. Sounds odd but Bluetooth can be used to reveal location information.
@@dekjet I always found that really weird, and tbh Android permissions aren't anywhere near fine-grained enough...
nice I liked the orange bit
I love my RGB strips that light my house (with 2x Sylvania WiFi LED bulbs) but it took a LOT of buys to get the same setup.
First lights I bought were 12V/G/R/B. The next 3 sets were 12V/B/R/G and totally not useable in connection with what I had (I don't do soldering, since I was jabbed with a soldering iron and had molton tin splashed on me, in metal shop in 8th grade.) so I sent them each back one at a time.
Took a month to get my second set that was 12V/G/R/B. I wish someone would slap the MFG's around, and set a single standard. LOL
Wow your s62 is really fairing better than mine Clive. I'm already on my second and this needs "a new screen"
Wink wink 2 year warranty
I am really interested in the possibilities for this controller thanks for the awesome video dude!
This is a BV9900 Pro (also has thermal camera.)
@@bigclivedotcom OoOoOo I thought it was the 62 cos of the angled corners
I'll be sure to check it out thanks dude
Thanks for sharing this useful information.
I should have seen that video *before* I ordered the LED strip w/o BLE controller.
The bad news is - there seems to be no reasonable way to get some development kit or the chip itself :( Would be nice to have ability to program my own BLE button...
I have this app but I have some car headlights that use it. They have the exact same interface and everything. I think they are also worth the wiring
Hello Scott Manley here...
I just bought what must be the super-deluxe model of this - Bluetooth (very similar looking app), WiFi (works with Alexa and Google Home, although I've not tested this), an IR remote, wall wart, spare coin cell for the remote, spare 3M sticky tape should I want to move it, a couple of connectors for joining additional strips, the 5m LED strip, and (for some reason) an IPA soaked lens cleaning cloth - and it cost me less than a tenner from a "well known online retailer". I wonder what the profit margin on these things is?
would like to see some argb lights taken apart there a bit more interesting due to being able to make multiple effects on the same strip and have a better color range normally
Ive seen those those xc610 soc chips in cheap bluetooth audio boards from ebay. I have a sideline of retro fitting bluetooth audio into vintage boomboxes and just looked at one and yep a xc610.. yes therr is no security on these chips no pin codes anything can connect to it.
Very nice video Sir
oh that needs to go in my dinosaur sculpture.
These microcontrollers are way more advanced than my first computer
I have a similar set that also uses the same app. Though mine has a proper small circuit board. It also has an infrared remote.
and i thought that the BK2491/3231 was a ridiculous chip but no this is even more silly thank you.
Seems the datasheet is little more than an ad, there's no register set or programming manual or SDK.
_"Air biscuits"_
LOVE IT. New word for the Clive dictionary. XD
Nice to think they wind the LED strips using old 1/4inch tape machines. Nostalgia is not what it was.
Thanks for helping me sane Clive
32MHz to drive some LEDs, tell this the people that went to the moon with kind of your pink pocket calculator :)
And my 4MHz PIC software that has to generate the 8-bit PWM on three channels in code because there weren't any PWM modules.
well i guess that is more for the bluetooth than for anything else. usb needs 48mhz usually for example.
The boot pin is probably the reason it comes up magenta every time. Because you don't need green for magenta, otherwise it would come up "white"
144 W? I think they forgot a decimal place.
Should be 144 leds i'd guess.
Hey Big Clive, have you been to the secret bunker near St Andrews? Would like your thoughts on the engineering there.
Gamers also love rgb color,i love to see when the color changes slowly, peaceful ✌️
Btw wow your phone looks the CAT model,that has rigid strong body,and Sapphire display? maybe.
Bv9900 pro.
@@bigclivedotcom wow amazing,the specifications are awesome, saw the review you did,sorry didn't recognize the model
Great video as always. I have looked but an not find the particular bluetooth and LED strip you are exploring. I wanted to purchase a few. Do you have the name and location ?
It was an eBay listing. They tend to change over time.
Maybe the pulsing red or the pulsing red and blue would be good for an alarm system?
Personally I am not one for too much flashing or strobing in my lights. I prefer lights to just do the job of creating light :)
ruclips.net/video/2IeU7Cck0hI/видео.html Someone has wired smart lights up to their alarm system
And the real amazing part is they probably sell that chip for a dime.
Air Biscuits are apples proprietary version of American cookies, complete with 5G. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
there are better quality light strips and apps too really to be fair a lot of these can use the same apps too instead of the one that came with them too. i have had good luck with tuya working with some different brands instead of the app they came with. all myi lights are wiz connected lights and the kitchen light strip has a controller called "songbird" i think but using tuya app. for me wifi is better then bluetooth because i can control it from outside the house too since they connect to alexa and google Assistant and stuff.
got this from reddit page but sure there are other places that can tell you what is compatable with what too.
"As a Chinese smart device manufacturer, I know which app the product uses depends on the communication module on the PCB. The products on Amazon are basically Tuya modules. So you can download Tuya, Smart Life, and Smart living. Of course, there are other customized ones, but it's better to use Tuya or Smart Life because these two are standard versions with high stability. "
"Smartlife(Tuya), MagicHome(FluxLED) and eWeLink(Sonoff) are the main ones; most others are branches of those apps"
I have these lights they use the same app I really dig em just wish you could customise them more
Somebody get Clive a club laser to tear down.
Cool...
Clive normally films his tear downs at 02:15 AM!!
I think it may be a simple bluetooth serial communication. Can you share the link to the app!
If I could make a kind suggestion, could you use a dark or black background as I binge watch RUclips at night and other channels that use black are easier on the eyes. Happy to make a PayPal donation towards something suitable (and fireproof)! Just let me know. Thanks.
You've no idea how much history is invested in that bit of particleboard. The burns, the flux stains, the dremel marks... it's practically a member of the family. Probably sounds like I'm joking, but I'm really not.
Magenta and Cyan, very ZX Spectrum.............
...but does it carbonate?
Carbonation is the new Crysis
Did you measure the length of the antenna? I think you take the speed of light divided by the frequency you want and then divide that total by four
I have one, that uses that same app, on the back of my tv. It pulls too much power from the tv’s USB port that it makes the tv whine. It whines the loudest when the leds are red and the tv will just cut the power to the port if the leds brightness is above 80%
Air Biscuit...... Pharp!
_"all the colours"_
Aww you should've said _"all the colours the tape can"_ like last time! XD
I was just cringing at the LED'S cooking each other on the coil 🙄
I have read some of the BLE specification and it is a nightmare compared to standard Bluetooth and that is a pain compared to wifi.... yeah my coding sucks.
Thanks Big Clive :)
Fortunately they don't run at full whack. I wouldn't leave them running on the coil for a long time.
They don't get anywhere near hot enough and he didn't run them anywhere near long enough to cause any problems. Why would you say "I cRiNgEd" instead of asking, "is it going to harm the strip if you have them on whole it's coiled up," if you don't know? I don't get why people do that. If you don't know, ask.
We need a big Clive builds a power wall
Those TX and RX pads make me want to wire up an FTDI board and reprogram it, so why can't they use something easy to hack like an ESP32? Firefox thinks the site with the datasheet is dangerous, so I'm not going there to find out if the XC610 can be programmed, and if there's any possibility of those of us who don't like leaving the safety of the Arduino IDE being able to do it!
On the other hand, I don't understand why anyone would want multi-colour lighting. I just use lights to see what I'm doing, and so I don't trip over things when moving around, But I'm still curious and want to play with some!
Mood lighting.
i have some bluetooth controlled led tape lights as well, mains powered and the funny thing is that they are made by a company called MINGER, someone needs to tell the chinese what there name means in english :D
I think ugree was taken.
I, a Swede, could now tell you the story about the Honda Fitta... :D
That's not slang in the USA ;) although our English is arguably a bit rougher than that of the original source. Walk down nearly any street in any city or town (size doesn't matter here, sorry boys!), you'll hear what I mean...
Nice, I like it! :-))
I would like to use this RGB controller in a car. For the headlight halo ring. Does it hold the same RGB value/setting after car is parked overnight? Meaning few hours/ days of zero voltage on the controller? thanks!
Features may vary between controllers. Some may hold the last setting.
They have a waning not to power it with led s on the spool like this
I wonder what else you could control with this driver. You have 3 mosfets controlled plus a 5v power rail. 3 dc motors and you might have an rc car. :)
As long as your motors don't draw more than an amp...
If it is BLE it’s probably easy to reverse, I did that a while ago with my Lampster using „LightBlue“ iPad app itblog.eckenfels.net/index.php?/archives/527-The-Lampster-Bluetooth-Details-BLE.html (and has zero security) . Unlike apples air bisquists (u1 chip)
Done it using an Arduino nano and it remote control - much safer than bluetooth
Yes but i would ad esp 01 so its wifi controller cause remotes are kinda old
Can that chip emulate an LM3909, though? Probably not!
Why not use some in your streams as some nice backgrond light might look nice 😊😉
That's 144 Chinese watts, or about 40 normal watts...
Probably missing a decimal point there, I would say 1,44 watts a lot more realistic.
@@UltimateAlgorithm Actually 7.3 watts, Clive had a USB tester in there if you watched the video
Very nice! A year ago I reverse engineered the BLE protocol for a very similar controller that works with the same App:
github.com/arduino12/ble_rgb_led_strip_controller
Mine are 12V and the SoC name is blurred out, but have a 12MHz crystal- see PCB at the end of my repo.
I wanted to use one main ESP32 to control 8 of them but ended up using ESP32 + 24CH DMX controller for better performance :)
wait what, so RGB doesn't make natural light, what do we need for natural light, thinking of plant's, could you let me know please Clive.
The hydroponics industry could answer that.
@@bigclivedotcom thats who sold me the red green and blue lights to raise the seedings
Hi Clive, why do you and Squeeky Dave call filter caps (in parallel with the load), de coupling caps (in series with the load), it’s very annoying.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decoupling_capacitor
@@bigclivedotcom, thanks Clive, it was interesting read, but religion isn’t real just because lots of people believe it, they have always and will always be filter capacitors a pi filter for example, two caps and a choke.
if you pronounce the L in solder odds are you call them decoupling capacitors
@@brendanrandle, I also pronounce the p in pink, but what does the ability to English have to do with it?
Meant to imply that it's mostly Americans that refer to them as filtering capacitors
Hah - I can't believe i never realised you were an internet God now Clive ! Long time since terrorising drunks with laser pens from the top floor :p
Terrorizing people from the top floor looking down is a very godlike thing to do. Lightning, laser, what's the difference -- a fan of Clive from the depths of the mysterious Orient
Yeah, I didn't realise it was going to turn out like this.
@@bigclivedotcom Now you must want to deal with the skeletons in your closet. Do you want to outsource it to India? I already have his name
Oh cool! I recently repaired a compatible light ("Lumin+" Bluetooth mood light bought in a Five Below store here for $5 - just a single RGB led) using a collection of greatest hits in Chinese ic's: j3y, A5SHB, and the 662 ldo (at least for the non clones, the last letter is just a batch code). (Died by reverse voltage from my bench supply, colors of battery were backwards.) There's a fair bit of info online on the protocol, seems easy enough to hack. You just send the right handful of bytes over Bluetooth low energy. (There's a RUclips series on reverse engineering the lamp I have and controlling with an esp32 board.) This is also the same protocol (and app basically) as the Triones app and lights. I started writing a driver for esphome to easily connect it to my smart home stuff, but I haven't gotten that working yet.
Protocol is here: github.com/madhead/saberlight/blob/master/protocols/Triones/protocol.md
I do really wish the xc610 were available to folks like us, it seems really nice, and easy package to hand solder. The Lumin light has a really clever power button circuit I'm now quite familiar with: it starts the flow of current with a press, the micro can keep it on until it wants to turn itself off. While it's running, the button can also be used as a normal input button to the micro. (Schematic in the FCC filing was helpful)
Apple air tags are nrf52840 (arm cortex m4, pretty beefy) plus other stuff. Western trackers often use nrf51 or 52 series chips.
Location permissions are just to be able to use Bluetooth low energy, since your location could be inferred from the devices near you. Good to be safe like that, but leads to lots of bad reviews if devs don't explain "yeah we need location permissions to talk to this Bluetooth thing".
Does it have a data sheet or more of a book?
I also got that keyfob because I was curious if it had GPS functionality inside (sale descriptions made it look like that a bit) but all I am able to do is let my tablet miauw :D when the tracker is too far from tablet
The tracking function was probably based on it being a crude clone of the Tile trackers that require a phone with a matching app uploading a keyfob's location to a base computer. I doubt these will be more useful than just a close range key finder.
@@bigclivedotcom yea it was only 2 Euros and I got it out of curiosity.
Neat, but not something you'd want to install in a public place, anyone with the app could mess with the settings.
I wonder if an immediate next door neighbour could mess with the settings through the walls(s)...
About all of them make you make a accout so you works need to figure out what app it uses then the login that the person set to even try and do that really. From. What i seen that don't let multiple accounts connect to same controller but can have same account on multiple devices to control from more them one phone so family can all have it on there phones and stuff to control lights too