Simple Motion-Activated LED Stair Lighting

 

There are many how-to articles and videos on creating LED stair lighting.  But many of these require substantial modification of the existing staircase or adjoining walls.  I wanted to create a similar effect using WLED, ESPHome and Home Assistant that didn't require modifying my existing stairs.

I loved some of the videos that I saw on interactive, or motion-controlled stair lighting.  But nearly all of these required major renovation.  While giving a more 'professional' installation, if you have viewed any of my other articles or videos, you know that one of my primary goals is that all smart home features be easily removable and/or restored or original state as we will likely sell our home at some point in the next few years.  So my approach is to provide a similar functionality without any permanent changes to the stairs.

UPDATE: After feedback from a YouTube viewer (thanks DorffMeister!), I have replaced my PIR motion sensors with time-of-flight (TOF) distance sensors.  This solved a nagging problem with the bottom motion detector and the open staircase.  Due to the opening at the bottom of the stairs, motion would often be triggered (and the lights turned on) just by walking by the bottom of the stairs.  While the PIR motion sensors work fine in most cases, the TOF sensors offer an alternative.  You can see the upgrade in this YouTube video and read more about it below under the motion detector section.

Part List

As usual, I'll provide a parts list of what I used for this project.

QTY	Description	Notes
2	WS2812b LED Strips (5M)	This will vary based on size of stairs
1	Wemos D1 Mini (5 pk)	Three will be needed for this project
1	5V 40A Power Supply
1	Power Supply Cord
1	Logic Level Converter (10 pk)	Only 1 is needed for this project
2	PIR Motion Detector
1	Aluminum Channel Rail and Diffusers
1	3M Double Sided Tape
1	Flat USB Power Cable (2 pk)	Only 1 is needed for this project
1	USB Wall Charger

	TOF Alternate Sensors	See update under motion sensor
2	VL53L0X TOF Distance Sensor	section below

And some additional or optional parts

QTY	Description	Notes
	JST connectors
	Velcro Cable Grip	Various colors and lengths
	Wire – 18 to 24 gauge
	3D Printed Enclosures
	Solder, Soldering iron, etc.

Note: Some of the above links may be affiliate links.  This does not affect your pricing, but the blog may earn a small commission towards future projects.

My Requirements

While yours will likely be different, here were my requirements for this project:

• No major modifications or non-reversible changes to existing stairs
• Power source and control box on one side only
• Minimal exposed wiring / neat appearance

These goals presented a few challenges... namely, how to mount the LED strips to the stair stringer, how to get 5V power to the upper motion detector and how to get power and LED signal to the opposite side.  I'll cover my solution to each of these below.

General Overview

Here is a general overview of how the system will be configured:

Not to scale - click to enlarge

There are different options here.  For example, you can eliminate the 5V wall charger if desired and wire the one end of the USB cables directly to the 5V power supply.  In my case, I already had an outlet with USB ports available, so I ran the USB cables directly to the AC/charger.  I'm also showing Wago lever nuts for splitting the leads.  You can use standard wire nuts, solder the wires together, etc. In addition, your most convenient AC outlet may be on the opposite side... or even at the top of the stairs.  Regardless, the same general wiring concepts will apply.

This is very similar to other LED projects, but with a couple of key differences.  First, we have two independent LED strips (one for each side of the stairs), so we run power directly from the power supply to each strip.  More importantly, we are taking the single LED data line (green in diagram), splitting it and running the signal to each LED strip.  In effect, this means that the same signal is going to both strips... and both strips will respond exactly the same and stay in sync... if both sides have the same number of LEDs. More on this below.

  

LED Strip Installation

WS2812b LED strips generally come with an adhesive backing.  However, I've found that this adhesive is not very strong and will tend to fail over time, especially with the small amount of heat generated by the LEDs when fully lit.  Add to the fact that I did not want to "stick" anything to the stair stringers that might be difficult to remove or mar the finish when removed, so I opted to use aluminum channel specially designed for LED strip lighting.

These aluminum channels come with diffusers, mounting brackets and very small screws.  This means that I can mount the rails along the stringers and the only impact will be very small holes created by the mounting screws.  In my case, my stairs are 13 steps (approx. 12 ft).  I used 8 brackets per side and also used these same screws to mount the motion detector cases, for a total of 18 small screw holes (one of which was in drywall and another in the newel post for the motion detectors).  This is the only modification made to the existing stair case.

And due to the nature that the adhesive on the LED strips isn't that strong, I always opt to add a little 3M double-sided tape to the channel, then attach the strips to this tape (after removing the LED strip backing):

(Note: This same double sided tape will be used to 'hide' the flat USB cable to the bottom of the channel to feed power to the top motion detector - see below)

Install identical channels and LED strips (same number of pixels) on each side of the staircase.  Before installing the LED strips in the channel, solder leads (either JST connectors or adequate wiring lengths to reach the eventual controller and power supply locations) to the end of each side of the LED strips:

Carefully note the data directional arrows on the LED strips.  If you are installing the controller at the bottom of the stair case, the arrows on each side of the stairs should point 'up' the staircase.  Alternatively, if installing the WLED controller at the top of the stairs, these arrows should point 'down' the staircase.  Both sides should point the same direction.  Note that the LED strip on the opposite side of the power supply and controller will require substantially longer leads.  I recommend initially leaving plenty of extra wire... it can always be cut to length later.

Install the aluminum channel (with 3M double-sided tape) on the stringers.  Then carefully install the LED strips in the channel with the leads soldered on.

Motion Detectors

Note: The first section is the original install using PIR motion sensors.  The updated version using TOF sensors, as described at the start of this article and seen in this YouTube video follows.

The wiring of the motion detectors is pretty simple and straightforward: 

The VIN pin of the PIR sensor is connected to the 5V of the D1 Mini, GND to G and the OUT pin of the PIR is connected to D6 on the D1 Mini.  You can also use the 3V3 pin on the D1 Mini to VIN of the PIR.... check the specifications of your particular sensor.  The D1 Mini will be powered via the micro USB port.

On the subject of PIR sensors, many of the lower cost options may experience electrical interference due to a lack of shielding.  This will lead to false triggers and cause your stair lights to come on at random times.  The PIR sensor I linked in the parts list above has worked well for me without random triggers.

I enclosed the motion sensor assembly in a 3D printed enclosure.  I added "fins" to limit motion detection to a specific area.

Top motion detector

Bottom motion detector

To get the USB power to the top motion detector, I used a flat USB cable, the double-sided 3M tape and ran the cable on the underside of the LED aluminum channel.

Both motion detectors are then powered via the USB cable to either a 5V wall (phone) charger plugged into AC power, or the ends of the USB cables can be cut off and the USB cable wired directly to the 5V 40A power supply (take care to observe polarity).  Only the power lines from the USB cable will be used.  If connecting directly to the power supply, simply cut and terminate the unused data wires.

The D1 Minis will be flashed using ESPHome and will be shown in Home Assistant as a simply binary sensor (type: motion).  More information and the full ESPHome code is shown below.  

Updated Time-of-Flight (TOF) Distance Sensors:

The upgraded sensors use the same base enclosure (just with a different lid) and the same USB cable for power as the above PIR sensors.  The only difference is the sensor and the wiring.

Note that for the D1 Mini, you must use D1 and D2 for the clock (SCL) and data (SDA) lines, respectively.  Keep the wiring between the sensor and D1 Mini relatively short so it will fit in the enclosure.  You can power the TOF sensor with either the 3.3V or 5V line (it accepts anything from 2.6 - 5.5 V)

As you can see, both sensor types use the same base enclosure.  In my case, I just unplugged the USB cable from the PIR sensor, connected it to the TOF sensor and mounted the new box using the same holes from the old enclosure.  The link to the .stl files for printing this enclosure (with both lid types) can be found at the end of this article.

WLED Controller

I have an separate blog on creating the WLED controller, installing the WLED software, initial setup and integration into Home Assistant.  See Building your own LED light strip controller for details.  However, there are two modifications to this build for the stair lights:

1. Instead of one outbound data line that will connect to the LED strips, we will need two... one for each side of the stairs as shown in the overall wiring diagram above.  You can simply add a second data out line (green wire in the diagram) to the same output pin of the logic levels shifter (e.g. HV1) or split the data line after it leaves the controller (but don't do both!).  By duplicating the data signal to both sides of the stairs, the lights will always remain in sync as they are receiving the same data signal, if both sides have the same number of LEDs (see below if this isn't the case in your install).

2. You need to select a power supply with enough power to fully light up all the LEDs (both sides).  But when setting up WLED, only enter the number of LEDs on ONE side of the stairs as the total number of LEDs and cut the power supply setting in half.  This is because we are duplicating the setup, as far as WLED is concerned, on the opposite side of the stairs.  For instance, if you have 220 LEDs on one side  (440 total with both sides) and a 40 amp power supply, enter your info WLED as follows:

Note that I used 18 amps instead of 20 (for my 40 amp power supply).  Just to be extra cautious, I like to limit the amps to less than the maximum of the power supply.  The LEDs will still be very bright at this setting.

What if one side has more LEDs than the other?

So, what do you do if your stairs are curved or has a landing and you have more LEDs on one side vs. the other?  I'll refer to the rather crude, and not-to-scale drawing above to explain.  And for this purpose, the LED data line is connected to both LED strips at Pixel #1 at the bottom of the stairs

First, to determine the total number of LEDs for the purposes of selecting a power supply, you need to use the TOTAL number of LEDs... 200 in the above example.  The power supply needs to be sized to provide adequate power to all the LEDs.

But, when entering the number of LEDs into the controller firmware (WLED or custom firmware), you should only enter the number of LEDs from the longer (or larger) LED strip.  This would be 125 in the above example.  Why?  Well, the LED controller is sending out a single signal to light up certain LEDs, based on pixel number or position.  Since the highest pixel number available (on either side) is pixel 125, if we enter the total of 200, then the controller will try to send a signal to light up pixels 126-200, which don't exist.  This won't cause an error, but will cause a "lag" for certain effects, like a wipe or chase effect, because the controller will be taking time attempting to light up pixels that don't exist.

So, what happens on the "shorter" side in this case?  Well, it depends on the LED effect chosen.  If you are using some sort of sequential effect that light up the LEDs in order (or reverse order) like chase or wipe, then the lights will appear to be in sync part of the time and out-of-sync at other times.

In a sequential effect, the controller is basically sending a signal that says 'Light up pixel 1, then light up pixel 2, then pixel 3, etc.' all the way to the total number of pixels.  If we start the effect at the bottom of the stairs (pixel 1), then the lights will stay in perfect sync.. up to pixel 50.  At that point, pixels 56-75 will light up in sequence.  On the right, or short side of the stairs, this will light up the pixels all the way to the top of the stairs.  But on the left (long) side, pixel 75 only reaches the top of the landing.  At that point, the remaining 50 pixels will light up on the long side.  Signals for pixels 76-125 on the short side will just be ignored, as those pixels just don't exist.

When reversing the direction, the controller is going to light up pixel 125, then 124, 123, etc.  This means that the first 50 pixels are going to light up on the long or left side before anything happens on the right side.  Once the signal is sent to light up pixel 75, the first LED will light up on the short side.  This will continue until pixel 50, where the landing is lighting up on the long side, but the top section of stairs are lighting up on the short side.  Once pixel 50 is reached, the lights will once again be in sync... and stay in sync down to pixel 1.

What can be done about this?  Well, not much (sorry).  That's just how addressable LEDs work.  However, use of other effects that do not light up the LEDs in sequence may be much less noticeable in terms of synchronization due to different number of LEDs.  You may need to experiment with different effects and find one that works best for you.

Final Assembly

Simply connect everything together as shown in the above diagram.... 5V and GND from the power supply to the WLED controller and each of the LED strips.  Two data lines (from the same output) will run from the WLED controller to each LED strip as well.  Whether you wish to use JST connectors, spade connections or direct soldered connections is up to you.  I like having the ability to disconnect components if necessary.

Finally, will be finding the best solution for you for the wiring runs.. and to make them as inconspicuous as possible.  In my case, I ran the wiring to the opposite side of the stairs under the lip of the bottom tread and used Velcro cable grip (it is available in various colors) to both hide and keep the wiring in place:

While this isn't necessarily that 'hidden' or attractive when viewed from this angle (photo taking while lying on the floor), in all honesty, it is barely noticeable when standing or going up/down the stairs:

Again, one of the goals here was to not make any permanent modifications to the stairs (or the carpet in this case).  The entire installation could be removed in about 15 minutes and the only remaining indication of anything prior would be the very small screw holes in the stringers from the aluminum channel mounting clips.

ESPHome Code

IMPORTANT UPDATE! I have now moved all the code for both ESPHome and the Home Assistant automation and entities into a Github repository.  This repository also contains more information and multiple options on how to install and integrate these items into your Home Assistant configuration.  Please see the following repository:

LED Stair Lights Home Assistant and ESPHome Code

===============

The following information has been superseded by the code and information in the Github repository listed in the above update.  The following information is simply left here for those that may have used the information in the past, or for those very familiar with editing YAML and Home Assistant configuration files.

===============

If ESPHome is not installed in Home Assistant, or if you have not created a new node before, you can find information on how to do so at Getting Started with ESPHome and Home Assistant.  In this case, you will be creating two nodes/binaries... one for the top motion sensor and one for the bottom.  Both will be identical, except for the node name (e.g. top_stair_motion and bottom_stair_motion) and the entity names for Home Assistant.  Once you've created the node via the wizard, you need to add the following to the generated YAML code:

Note: The code shown here is for the original PIR sensors.  You can find the updated ESPHome code for the TOF sensors in the Github repo listed above or in this gist file. 

binary_sensor:

  - platform: gpio

    pin: D6

    name: "Stair Motion Top"

    device_class: motion

This is for the top motion sensor in my case.  Similarly, you add the same binary sensor information to the node for the bottom motion detector:

binary_sensor:

  - platform: gpio

    pin: D6

    name: "Stair Motion Bottom"

    device_class: motion

    filters:

      - delayed_on: 500ms

Notice that I have added a half second delay for my bottom sensor.  This is due to the fact that the opposite side of the stairs are open and motion is detected as someone approaches the stairs (nothing I could really do to block it), so by adding a 1/2 second delay, the lights actually come on as an individual starts up the stairs.  You may or may not need this delay... or the time may be different... in your case.

Once you've updated the YAML configuration, compile and download the binary file.  Then you can use ESPHome Flasher or other utility to upload the binary file to your D1 Mini.  

Note: With the most recent release of ESPHome, it is now possible to complete the initial upload of your ESPHome configuration via USB right from the ESPHome configuration page.  But this currently requires SSL/HTTPS for your Home Assistant install.  This may change in the future, but for now, you can compile and download the binary file and upload via ESPHome Flasher or other utility.

Home Assistant Entities and Automations

IMPORTANT UPDATE! I have now moved all the code for both ESPHome and the Home Assistant automation and entities into a Github repository.  This repository also contains more information and multiple options on how to install and integrate these items into your Home Assistant configuration.  Please see the following repository:

LED Stair Lights Home Assistant and ESPHome Code

===============

The following information has been superseded by the code and information in the Github repository listed in the above update.  The following information is simply left here for those that may have used the information in the past, or for those very familiar with editing YAML and Home Assistant configuration files.

===============

Note: If you are not experienced with YAML automations, I have another video that will walk you through, step-by-step, on how to recreate my automations using the Home Assistant UI/Automation Editor: Recreate a YAML Automation Using the Home Assistant UI

Once your have flashed WLED and your two motion detectors, Home Assistant will auto-discover and prompt you to add these devices.  When accepted, you will find the following entities created for you (your names may be different depending upon how you configured your devices):

binary_sensor.bottom_stair_motion

binary_sensor.top_stair_motion

light.stair_lights   #WLED entity for stair LEDs

WLED will also create some additional sensors and switches, but for the purposes of automation, these are the only three entities with which we are concerned.  But there is two additional entities we need to create.  One is an input_boolean, and you can create it via the UI helper function in Home Assistant, or via YAML... whichever you prefer.  Here is the YAML:

stair_auto_leds:

  name: Stair Auto LEDs

  initial: on

This is created so that we can easily toggle on/off the automations that cause the lights to come on with motion.  You may wish to disable the feature at certain times.

The second entity is a timer.  This is used to shut off the motion-activated lights if the opposite motion detector doesn't get triggered.  This might happen if someone starts down the stairs, stops and reverses direction and the other motion detector never fires.

stair_motion_timer:

No other information is needed.  This is simply created under your timers: section in your configuration.yaml, or in your separate timers.yaml if you have one.

Automations:

I'll describe the highlights and certain sections of the automations to control the LED lights below.  But you can see the entire automation file (in plain text/copyable format) in my Github Gist Home Assistant WLED Stair Lighting.  For this example, someone is coming down the stairs. 

Note: Version 2021.12 (and later) of Home Assistant made major changes in how WLED services are called.  The updated version is shown below the old version:

Start lights when top motion detected (Home Assistant v2021.11 and earlier):

- alias: Top Motion Lights On

  trigger:

    platform: state

    entity_id: binary_sensor.stair_motion_top

    from: 'off'

    to: 'on'

  condition:

    - condition: state

      entity_id: input_boolean.stair_auto_leds

      state: "on"

    - condition: state

      entity_id: light.stair_lights

      state: 'off'

  action:

    - service: wled.effect

      data:

        entity_id: light.stair_lights

        effect: 'Wipe'

        reverse: true

        speed: 220

    - service: light.turn_on

      data:

        entity_id: light.stair_lights

        rgb_color: [255,255,255]

    - service: timer.start

      data:

        entity_id: timer.stair_motion_timer

        duration: '00:00:15'

Start lights when top motion detected (Home Assistant v2021.12 and later - changes highlighted in bold): 

- alias: Top Motion Lights On

  trigger:

    platform: state

    entity_id: binary_sensor.stair_motion_top

    from: 'off'

    to: 'on'

  condition:

    - condition: state

      entity_id: input_boolean.stair_auto_leds

      state: "on"

    - condition: state

      entity_id: light.stair_lights

      state: 'off'

  action:

    - service: number.set_value

      data:

        entity_id: number.stairs_speed

        value: '220'

    - service: switch.turn_on

      data:

        entity_id: switch.stairs_reverse

    - service: light.turn_on

      data:

        entity_id: light.stair_lights

        rgb_color: [255,255,255]

        effect: "Wipe"

    - service: timer.start

      data:

        entity_id: timer.stair_motion_timer

        duration: '00:00:15'

This automation is triggered by detected motion by the top motion sensor.  It checks our input_boolean to assure that the auto-lights are enabled and that the lights are currently off.  If both of these are true, it set the WLED effect to 'wipe', reverses the wipe direction (since we want the lights to wipe from the top down) and sets a speed for the effect.  It then turns the lights on and starts a 15 second countdown timer.

Stop lights when bottom motion detected:

- alias: Bottom Motion Lights Off

  trigger:

    platform: state

    entity_id: binary_sensor.stair_motion_bottom

    from: 'off'

    to: 'on'

  condition:

    - condition: state

      entity_id: input_boolean.stair_auto_leds

      state: "on"

    - condition: state

      entity_id: light.stair_lights

      state: 'on'

  action:

    - service: light.turn_off

      entity_id: light.stair_lights

In this case, when someone reaches the bottom of the stairs and triggers the bottom motion detector, we check again if the auto-led function is enabled and that the lights are currently 'on'.  If so, the lights are simply toggled off.

Turn off lights after timer expiration:

- alias: Stair Timer Expires

  trigger:

    platform: event

    event_type: timer.finished

    event_data:

      entity_id: timer.stair_motion_timer

  condition:

    # Assure no motion occurring

    - condition: state

      entity_id: binary_sensor.stair_motion_top

      state: 'off'

    - condition: state

      entity_id: binary_sensor.stair_motion_bottom

      state: 'off'

  action:

    - service: light.turn_off

      entity_id: light.stair_lights

If 15 seconds have elapsed after the lights are triggered (or whatever time you defined in the 'lights on' automation) and no motion has been detected, simply turn off the lights.  This might occur if someone starts down the stairs and reverses direction... never crossing the opposite sensor.

Two additional automations are required... that are simply the opposites of the ones above.... lights on with bottom motion, and lights off with top motion.  Again, the full code is available at Home Assistant WLED Stair Lighting (HA 2021.11 or earlier) or Home Assistant WLED Stair Lighting Updated (HA 2021.12 or later).

Additional Notes

• You may need to adjust the WLED speed setting and/or the timer length, depending upon your install.
• You are not limited to using the 'wipe' function of WLED.  You can use any of the available effects by passing in the effect name in the automation.  See the WLED Wiki Effects List for a complete list of effects.
• You can also use any color you prefer and set other options.  See the Home Assistant WLED Integration documentation for more details.

Final Thoughts

There are much fancier, more professionally made LED stair lighting systems.  But my goal was a simple solution that did not require any modifications to the existing staircase.  Your mileage may vary!  Note that if you have substantially longer stairs, a mid-staircase landing or other situations different than mine, you may have to make some adaptations in your installation... including power injection at some point in your LED strips (likely required if you see flickering or color fading at the far end of the strip), or even an additional motion detector at a landing or 90º bend.

Also remember that you have the full gamut of WLED at your disposal.  You aren't limited to just motion detection events, but can color your stairway with a multitude of colors and effects for holidays, parties, special events... or just because!

By request, if you have a 3D printer here are my basic designs that I used for both the motion detector enclosures and the Electrocookie/WLED controller enclosures:

Motion Detector Enclosure

Electrocookie Enclosures

Let me know in the comments if you have any thoughts or questions!

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