The first of the two new lights I’ve just received is the . Ok, so its a bulb… so what? Well, not only is the white very bright, the colours are bright, too. All too often with RGB bulbs, the individual colours are pathetic – not these. There is only one white – warm white – but that works for me. Originally I used this light with the Blitzwolf APP but there is a Tasmota template and that is now in use thanks to Tuya-Convert.
Next I have the – colours not quite so bright as the BW-LT21 but this bulb has it’s own features like a full range of whites from 2700K to 6500K – AND it has a nice white infra-red remote control (no setup – it just works). There’s a Tasmota template for this one, too. Don’t underestimate the latter – i.e. Tasmota template complete with a set of rules to control the lamp with the IR remote and of course via WiFi/MQTT. Blakadder has done a great job of keeping these all together in a convenient place. I’ve done the conversion – it works. Thanks, Banggood. Both of these lights are E27 fitting.
Above, the BW-LT27 is all set up and ready for business with Tasmota, its IR remote and my Alexa Echo.
All in all a fine pair of additions to my collection. In the image above you see the BW-LT27 box, IR remote and my Tuya-convert rig comprising an otherwise redundant Orange Pi Zero (running Armbian) and a Wemos D1 ESP8266 board all contained in an RPI-case. I added a little flourish to the code and a function so I can start up the box, simply type “tuya” and..
Somewhat sadly – April 15, 2021, after being out of use, sitting on my bench for several weeks, I have to report that the LT21 is DEAD – it does not respond to Tasmota OR the Blitzwolf APP (and switching off and on several times in a row does nothing). It WAS working just fine on Tasmota but I’ve been playing with other lamps and now it is dead. With Tuya-convert no longer working – it looks like the BW-21 is dead in the water. Oh, well. The BW-27 however continues to work just fine.
Does the existence of a Tasmota template for both of these models imply that they’re flashable (Sorry, I’m still new at this…this isn’t obvious to me)? How would you go about doing this?
Hi Steve – yes the existence of templates does confirm that they are flashable and in this case there are templates for both as I’ve detailed in the blog. HOW varies – in a switch, often the easiest way is just to get the old FTDI out and TASMOTIZER… the more convenient way (especially on-site) for say a bulb might be to make a tuya-convert rig – covered elewhere in the blog. But read on…
I ended up with an Orange Pi Zero + ESP-12 module set up to run tuya-convert (Armbian) – an old Raspberry Pi (2 or better) would also work. So typically the install would run on the old PI which would talk to the ESP12 via WiFi which then makes an access point available to the bulb which emulates the TUYA access point etc etc – but read the relevant blog entry (or others written by people who know what they are doing 🙂 )
Here’s a sneak preview of another upcoming option – I just spoke to my long term friend and collaborator – he’s working on a wireless FTDI PCB – two identical small boards which will seamlessly communicate over WiFi to offer the equivalent of a serial FTDI. Blog entry coming up in the next few weeks.
Blitzwolf devices usually works with Tuya App, and what works with Tuya may flashable with tuya-convert (OTA). I’ve already flashed multiple noname Tuya based RGB bulbs with success. Only question is the GPIO usage which is answered if a template already exists for the specific device.
I’m going to have to try the TUYA APP next time to confirm – I’ve already converted mine to Tasmota (using tuya-convert) so it’s too late for that.
not completely true, but i saw your “may”… to be clear, what works with tuya app is what tuya choose to make work with tuya app, it’s by no means an indicator that something is tuya-convertable… even rtl based devices work with the SAME tuya app…
You are right there are some rtl based device in the wild, but BW-LT21 has a Tasmota template and it has got an ESP chip. Generally it is a good idea to lookup templates.blakadder.com before buying stuff. 🙂
even that is not a warranty… teckin swapped from esp to rtl without even rebranding or reversioning their products, which had a proper template on blakadder site… and there are chats on tasmota discord channels about blitzwolf starting to do the same, can’t remember in which models now…