Dutch hardware designer LichtBit has launched a fully open-source ESP32-based Art-Net/sACN NeoPixels LED strip controller designed for large-scale lighting installations and custom stage design. Built around an ESP32, the hardware routes lighting data over wired Ethernet or Wi-Fi to manage up to 16 universes of addressable LEDs across 4 dedicated outputs.
We have previously written about various NeoPixel LED controllers, such as the xcrhom WLED Type-C, the Adafruit Sparkle Motion Stick, the full-featured Adafruit Sparkle Motion, and others, which are designed for portable lighting setups and standalone animations. But LichtBit’s board targets the professional event industry by bridging the gap between commercial live-performance software (such as Resolume Arena, MadMapper, or xLights) and low-cost digital LED strips.
LichtBit’s Art-Net and sACN LED controller specifications:
- Development Board – Generic ESP32 based developmt board with ESP32-WROOM-32 MCU
- Display – 128×32 I2C OLED display for real-time device configurations, status, and IP mapping
- Network
- 10/100Mbps Ethernet via WIZnet W5500 module (highly recommended for high frame rates)
- 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n)
- Auto-launched AP mode after 30 seconds of network timeout for standalone debugging/configuration
- Output – 4 physical screw-terminal (4 universes/up to 680x RGB LEDs per output pin, or 2720 in total)
- LED Compatibility
- 3-channel (RGB), 4-channel (RGBW), and 5-channel (RGBAW)
- 3-wire synchronous data-only strips like WS2811, WS2812(B), WS2813, WS2814, WS2815, SK6812
- 4-wire SPI clock-based strips like APA102
- Misc
- Onboard addressable WS2812 RGB status indicator LED
- Physical boot/mode button for configurations (DHCP/Static IP, standalone RGB test cycles, and 10 built-in color presets)
- Art-Net, sACN (E1.31), and WLED sync support
- Power
- Wide 5V to 24V DC input voltage range
- Individual ~8A automotive resettable fuse protection per LED output channel
- 5V level-shifters for clean 5V data signals across long cable runs
- 5V power switch to bypass the internal 12V-to-5V step-down regulator for native 5V setups
- Reverse polarity protection circuits
- Dimensions – TBD
The hardware relies on the I2SClocklessLedDriver library to handle pixel rendering, freeing the ESP32’s processor cores to process network packets from complex software controllers such as Resolume Arena, MadMapper, or xLights. While the main firmware works as an Art-Net/sACN node, the LichtBit board also supports the WLED framework, so if you want standalone effects, you can flash the standard Wi-Fi version of WLED.
Note: For those who want Ethernet capability combined with WLED, an unmerged experimental fork of WLED, WLED-W500, must be used, as the stock WLED branch does not natively support WIZnet W5500 chips via SPI without manual compilation edits.
The developer also provides a custom wled_cfg.json file on the project’s GitHub repo that automatically remaps WLED’s internal configuration to map pins 12, 14, 27, and 26 safely to the onboard level shifters and fuses. The repository also contains 3D design files for an enclosure, binaries, and additional information about the project, while the schematics, PCB layout, BoM, and Gerber files can be found on the EasyEDA OSHWLab project page.
The W5500 Ethernet chip does not support Auto-MDI/MDIX, so there is a small limitation. If you connect the controller directly to a PC, you need to use a crossover Ethernet cable. An easier option is to connect both the PC and the controller through a network switch or router, which works without any special cable.
Traditional stage lighting fixtures use standard DMX512 cables (3-pin or 5-pin XLR). However, a single DMX cable only handles 512 channels (one “Universe”). If you have an addressable LED strip where each LED requires 3 channels (Red, Green, Blue), a single 512-channel DMX universe can drive only about 170 LEDs before running out of bandwidth. To handle large data flows, multiple DMX universes are sent over standard Ethernet networks rather than individual DMX cables. This is done using protocols such as Art-Net and sACN (E1.31), which enable the efficient transmission of thousands of universes from lighting software to controllers.
This board is designed to sit between professional lighting software and raw addressable LED strips, where the software maps a video or complex light show across multiple universes and streams that data over an Ethernet cable. This controller reads those network packets, unpacks the Art-Net/sACN data, and instantly converts it into the high-speed serial data protocols that NeoPixels/WS2812B strips understand.
The fully completed, pre-assembled node is currently available for purchase on Tindie for $82.00 (excluding shipping).
Debashis Das is a technical content writer and embedded engineer with over five years of experience in the industry. With expertise in Embedded C, PCB Design, and SEO optimization, he effectively blends difficult technical topics with clear communication
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