🚗 Car-LED-Master: Raspberry Pi GPS-Aware Controller

A smart, automated LED controller for vehicles using Raspberry Pi, GPS U-blox, and Bluetooth LE.

This project was born out of frustration with low-quality Chinese mobile apps. By using a Raspberry Pi integrated into the car, we can control "ELK-BLEDOM" / "LEDBLE" type strips automatically based on real-world environment data.

Credit: The Bluetooth protocol logic is based on the reverse engineering work by 8none1/ledble-ledlamp.

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🔥 Why this project?

Standard LED apps are often unreliable and require manual interaction. This system is autonomous.

The "Tunnel & Garage" Logic:

The system monitors a GPS U-blox module via gpsd.

• GPS Signal Lost (Tunnel/Parking): The LEDs automatically dim to a specific minimum (min_target) to avoid blinding the driver in dark environments.
• GPS Signal Recovered: The system restores full brightness if it's daytime.
• Night Mode: Using the system clock and month, it calculates sunset/sunrise to adjust intensity automatically.

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🛠️ System Architecture

The script runs three main threads concurrently:

1. GPS Monitor: Listens to gpsd via sockets to detect signal status.
2. MQTT Client: Fully integrates with Home Assistant for remote control.
3. Flask Web Server: Provides a sleek, mobile-responsive dashboard for manual overrides.

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⚙️ Configuration Variables

Variable	Description
DEVICES_CONFIG	Dictionary containing MAC addresses, custom names, and color orders (RGB/GRB).
min_target	The specific brightness floor for each strip when in "Dark Mode" (Tunnel/Night).
MQTT_BROKER	IP of your local MQTT broker (e.g., Home Assistant).
GPSD_HOST	Usually 127.0.0.1 if the GPS is connected to the Pi.

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🧠 Logic Breakdown

1. Smart Brightness (auto_brightness_task)

Every 10 seconds, the system evaluates:

• Condition A: Is it daytime? (Calculated based on the current month).
• Condition B: Do we have a GPS fix?
• Result: If it's day AND we have signal, 100% Brightness. If we enter a tunnel (No signal) or it's night, it drops to 5% or 1% automatically.

2. Custom Bluetooth Protocol

The Chinese controllers use a specific hex header. This script handles the translation:

• Brightness: 7e0401[LEVEL]00000000ef
• Color: 7e000503[R][G][B]00ef

3. Integrated Web UI

Access the control panel by navigating to http://<your-pi-ip>:5000. It features:

• Dark Mode design.
• Toggle between Auto/Manual modes.
• Individual color pickers and power switches.

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🚀 Quick Start

1. Install dependencies:

   pip install asyncio bleak paho-mqtt flask
   

2. Setup GPSD: Ensure your U-blox module is running:

    sudo gpsd /dev/ttyACM0 -F /var/run/gpsd.sock
   

3. Run the controller:

    python3 car_led_controller.py