How to Connect WLED to Home Assistant — Complete Guide (2026)

If you have already set up a WLED controller, you know how satisfying it is to control your lights from your phone. But the real power of smart lighting comes when you stop reaching for your phone and let your home do it for you.

Connecting WLED to Home Assistant unlocks motion-activated lights, schedules that follow sunrise, and automations that tie your lighting to your doorbell, TV, or smart sensors. Best of all, the whole thing runs on your home network — no cloud subscriptions, no data leaving your house.

This guide walks you through the setup in under 15 minutes.

Why Connect WLED to Home Assistant?

A WLED controller on its own is already great. You get over 100 effects, presets, segments, and an intuitive phone app. What you do not get is automation that reacts to your home.

Home Assistant fills that gap. It is the most popular open-source home automation platform in the world, and it integrates with WLED natively. Together, they let you:

• Automate based on time — slowly brighten your bedside LED strip at 7 AM to wake you naturally
• React to sensors — walk past a motion detector in the hallway and your lights turn on, then switch off after two minutes of no movement
• Trigger from devices — dim your accent lights to warm white when your TV or projector powers on
• Visual alerts — flash red when your alarm system detects something, pulse green when your washing machine cycle finishes
• Combine with Zigbee and Matter — use Zigbee motion sensors, door sensors, or thermostats as triggers for your WLED lights

The best part? Every one of these runs locally on your network. No cloud, no subscriptions, no monthly fees.

Want voice control too? You can control WLED through Alexa or Google Home via Home Assistant, but this requires either a Nabu Casa subscription (simplest setup, cloud-based) or manual configuration with your instance exposed to the internet. If you want a free local-only option, the Emulated Hue integration tricks Alexa into seeing your WLED lights as Philips Hue devices — no cloud needed.

What You Will Need

Item	Notes
WLED controller	Any controller from the shop — from the compact mini to the 16A high-power models
Home Assistant instance	Running on a Raspberry Pi, NAS, NUC, or any always-on machine
Same network	Both devices on the same Wi-Fi or LAN segment
WLED firmware 0.14+	Most recent controllers come pre-flashed with a current version

Already have a controller but not sure which one fits your project? Read our guide to choosing the right WLED controller.

Step 1 — Confirm Your Controller is Online

Open the WLED app (or navigate to your controller's IP address in a browser). Make sure you can:

• Turn the lights on and off
• Change colours
• Switch between effects

This confirms the controller is working and reachable on your network.

Make a note of the IP address — you can find it in the WLED app under Info, or by checking the device list in your router admin panel. It will look something like 192.168.1.45.

New to WLED altogether? Start with our beginner's guide to get familiar with the basics first.

Step 2 — Add WLED to Home Assistant

WLED has built-in support in Home Assistant. The integration is maintained by the Home Assistant core team, so it stays up to date with each release.

Automatic Discovery (Recommended)

1. Open your Home Assistant dashboard
2. Go to Settings → Devices & Services
3. Click the Add Integration button (bottom right)
4. Search for WLED
5. Home Assistant scans your network for compatible devices
6. Your controller appears in the discovered list — select it and click Submit

Home Assistant automatically adds all available controls: on/off, brightness, colour, colour temperature, effects, segments, presets, and the ability to see which effect is currently active.

Manual Setup (If Discovery Fails)

If your controller does not show up (this can happen if mDNS is blocked on your network), add it manually:

1. Click Add Integration and search for WLED
2. Choose "I want to add a specific device"
3. Enter the IP address you noted in Step 1
4. Click Submit

That is it. The integration configures itself — you do not need to edit YAML files or restart Home Assistant.

Step 3 — Create Your First Automation

With the connection established, let us build something useful. Here is a simple automation that turns your TV backlight on at sunset.

1. Go to Settings → Automations & Scenes
2. Click Create Automation → Start with an empty automation
3. Trigger: Add Sun → Sunset (optionally offset by -15 minutes so the light is on before it is fully dark)
4. Condition: Add State → Entity: your WLED light → State: off
5. Action: Call service → light.turn_on → Select your WLED light
6. Save

Now your lights come on automatically as the sun goes down. Here are three more automations worth setting up:

Hallway with motion sensor Trigger: Motion sensor detects movement → Action: Turn on WLED light → Wait: 2 minutes of no motion → Action: Turn off. Useful for stairs, corridors, and utility rooms.

Morning wake-up Trigger: Time 07:00 → Action: Set brightness to 1% → Delay: 15 minutes → Action: Gradually increase brightness to 30% with a warm colour temperature. A much nicer start than a phone alarm.

Cinema mode Trigger: TV turns on → Action: Set WLED brightness to 10%, switch to warm white → Trigger: TV turns off → Action: Restore previous settings. No more glare on the screen during dark scenes.

Troubleshooting

Home Assistant cannot find my controller

• Verify both devices are on the same network (same router, same subnet)
• Restart the controller by unplugging it for 10 seconds
• Refresh the Integrations page in Home Assistant

Colours look wrong or mismatched

• In the WLED app, go to Config → LED Preferences and verify your LED type (WS2812B, SK6812, APA102, etc.). An incorrect LED type causes colours to display incorrectly

Automations do not trigger

• Open the WLED web UI and check the firmware version under Info. The integration requires WLED 0.14 or newer. If your controller is on an older version, update through the firmware update tool in the WLED web interface

Controller disconnects from Wi-Fi

• Check that the controller is within good range of your router. ESP32 Wi-Fi is generally reliable, but thick stone walls or long distances can cause dropouts
• For installations where stable connectivity is especially important, consider using the GLEDOPTO GL-C-017WL-D controller, which is known for more reliable Wi-Fi performance and stable operation in permanent smart lighting setups

The Takeaway

WLED on its own gives you beautiful lighting. WLED plus Home Assistant gives you a home that responds to you automatically — no phone required.

Whether you are starting with a single strip behind your desk or planning full-room lighting across multiple zones, the process is the same: connect the controller, add it to Home Assistant, and let your automations run on their own.

Still choosing the right hardware? Browse the full WLED controller collection at zelco.co.uk — each model is pre-flashed, tested, and ready to connect to your smart home.