Setup: Powercore
So. You've just gotten your order and it includes a couple of Powercore lights. You screw in the little cap, it lights up, that's nice. But how do you customize it to your liking, so it looks more striking? Let's take a look at the setup and beautify your getup.
We'll be creating a video version of this as soon as possible, since it's a little hard to explain these things with just text sometimes.
What you'll need:
- The powercores. You'll be setting up one at a time, so just put on the twist cap on one of them to light it up.
- A phone, tablet, laptop or computer that can connect to a new wifi network. Ideally, a phone, since you'll probably be using the WLED mobile app in the future.
Setup 1: Hotspot from your phone
This method will allow you to maintain access to your Powercore's customization interface even while on the go and outside the house. The benefit is that, well, you can change colors while on the go. The downside is that you're going to be using more energy on both the phone and the cores (which will be maintaining wifi connectivity). This is a pretty small power drain though, all things considered.
From an Android phone (Android 12 / 13):
- Go to your phone Settings (swipe down, press the Gear icon)
- Tap Network and Internet.
- Tap Hotspot and Tethering
- Tap Wifi Hotspot to turn it on. Tap it again to open its settings.
- Here, give the hotspot a name that you can easily remember (like, I dunno, "powerknobs" for example). Then, in Hotspot password, type in a password you'll be using in a moment to configure the cores.
- You can return to your home screen now.
From an iPhone (iOS 13):
- Open Settings, Cellular, Personal Hotspot
- Turn on "Allow others to join"
- Put in a wifi password you will remember.
- Note down, at the bottom of the screen, the name of the wifi in "To connect using Wifi" (for example, it might be "Evie's iPhone".
- Exit out of settings.
Once that's done from either Android or iPhone, you need to connect to the Core and configure it - you'll need to repeat those steps for both cores, one at a time:
- From your settings, connect to a new wifi (on android, long press the Internet button from the swipe down menu).
- Wait a bit for the wifi list to refresh, and locate one that's called "WLED-AP". Tap on it.
- The password for the WLED-AP connection is wled1234 . Use it to connect.
- Depending on your phone, either the wled interface should open directly, or you might have to tap on the "Sign on to WLED-AP network" notification.
- Once open, tap the "Config" gear icon, then "Wifi Setup".
- Tap the "Scan" button, and wait for it to see networks.
- In the drop-down under "Network name", you might see your temporary hotspot. If you do, tap it. If not, tap "Other Network" and manually type in the name exactly in the Network name box (like "powerknobs" or "Evie's iPhone" as described above)
- Put in the password for your network that you created above
- Tap "Save and Connect" at the top of the screen.
So, that should do it for now - you'll get a notice about reconnecting with the new IP, but it should disappear in a few seconds. Once that's done, turn off the first core by removing its twist cap, then do the same steps above for the second core. Note that you won't have to put in the wled1234 password this time since it's technically "the same network" but beyond that the instructions are the same.
After all this is done, make sure your wifi hotspot is still on - or turn it back on if it turned off during this setup. Either way, with the hotspot back on, you can turn on both cores and let them light up.
Now's the time to actually install the WLED Native app, which will be used to control your cores. Click here to download the app for Android, or here for the iOS application.
Once the app turns on, you should, normally, usually, if all went well, see your cores appear, probably under the name "WLED".
If that doesn't happen... well, time to contact us to get some personal one on one help from me, Evie!