Controller platforms

The four controller platforms we build

Y96 switches fixed-colour RGB, RGBW and RGBCCT rails for strip, string, downlights and lawn lights that show one colour along their full length. Y16 drives addressable pixels, up to a thousand per controller, for TV backlights, corner lamps and firework lights whose effects travel. G01 places dozens of fixtures under one 2.4 GHz broadcast so that a single remote reaches a whole garden. Master–slave sync runs the identical effect on several fixtures at the same instant without data wiring between them. The controller hardware, the app and the server are designed in-house; each platform page states the platform's limits, its control paths and the app that pairs with it.

The four platforms

Y96 — fixed-colour RGB, three to five channels

The platform for strip, string, downlights and lawn lights where the whole run shows one colour at a time. Three channels for RGB, four for RGBW, five for RGB plus tunable white. Bluetooth app control plus infrared, 433 MHz and 2.4 GHz remotes, and support for three-wire copper-wire strings.

Y16 — addressable pixels, up to 1000 per controller

The platform for effects that move: TV backlights, corner lamps, sound-reactive lamps and firework lights. A single-chip design driving up to a thousand individually addressed pixels on two outputs, with two hundred-plus dynamic modes, eight music modes, and configurable pixel count and wire order.

G01 — broadcast group control over 2.4 GHz

One remote or one phone reaching dozens or hundreds of lights at once across a radius of roughly twenty metres. No infrared window in the enclosure, so the controller can be concealed. Built for lawn lights, downlights, spotlights, night lights and sensor lights installed as a set.

Master–slave sync — many fixtures, one effect

A master unit takes commands from the phone and rebroadcasts them to paired slaves, so every fixture runs the identical effect at the same instant, music mode included, driven by the master's microphone. The platform behind car ambient lighting and any installation that needs strict synchronisation without data wiring between fixtures.

How they compare

	Y96	Y16	G01	Master–slave
What changes on the light	Whole run, one colour at a time	Every pixel individually	Whole run, one colour at a time	Whole run on every fixture, identically
How the emitters are driven	Three to five colour rails, one mix along the run	Serial data on one wire; every pixel holds its own value	Colour rails; commands arrive on the shared 2.4 GHz broadcast	Colour rails; the master relays commands to every slave
How many fixtures one command reaches	One	One	Every fixture in range, dozens to hundreds	One master plus all paired slaves
Control paths	Bluetooth app, IR / 433 MHz / 2.4 GHz remote, buttons	Bluetooth app, 2.4 GHz or IR remote, buttons	Bluetooth app, 2.4 GHz remote, buttons	Bluetooth app to the master; slaves follow the master
Music mode	Microphone on the controller	Microphone on the controller, eight modes	Four music modes	Master's microphone drives every slave
Typical lights	Strip, string, downlight, spotlight, lawn light	TV backlight, corner lamp, sound-reactive lamp, firework light	Lawn light, downlight, spotlight, night light, sensor light	Car ambient lighting, downlight and spotlight sets, corner lamps
App	Lotus Lantern	Magic Lantern	Lotus Lantern	Lotus Lantern

For a light that is misbehaving rather than a platform to be understood, three guides cover the faults behind most of the support messages we receive: colours coming out wrong, first-time pairing, and strip length and power.

The functions behind the platforms

These terms appear on packaging, in product listings and in the app. Each one names a capability rather than a product.

Colour RGB (七彩)

Red, green and blue emitters mixed under pulse-width modulation, so the whole run shows one colour at a time: single colours such as red, blue, green, purple, yellow, cyan and white, plus the jumps and fades between them. A fourth or fifth channel adds a dedicated white or a tunable white beside the three colour rails. These are the rails Y96 switches, and they cover ambient strip, decorative string, downlights and lawn lights.

Addressable colour (幻彩)

An IC beside each emitter — the WS2812B family and its equivalents — gives every pixel its own address, so colour and brightness are set per point instead of per run. Chase, flow, meteor, gradient and marquee effects all follow from that: a serial data stream travels down one wire and each pixel takes the value meant for it. Y16 drives up to a thousand such pixels per controller.

Voice control (语音控制)

Spoken commands in place of a handset: on, off, brightness, colour, mode. Two paths exist. Cloud voice sends the audio to a server, which is what a smart speaker does. Our fittings that listen use the other path: a recognition chip inside the fitting, a fixed command list, no audio leaving the room, and an answer even with the router off. The wake word and the sensitivity are set per device in the app. Offline voice control sets out what that trade is like to live with.

Broadcast (广播)

One transmitter, many receivers: a remote or a phone sends a single command and every fixture in range acts on it at the same moment, with no fixture paired individually and no wiring between fixtures. G01 broadcasts over 2.4 GHz across a radius of roughly twenty metres, which is how a whole set of lawn lights or downlights changes together from one handset.

Master–slave sync (一拖多同步)

Broadcast gets one command to many fixtures; master–slave keeps those fixtures in step. The master takes the command and relays it to its paired slaves, so colour, brightness, effect phase and on/off state stay identical across all of them rather than each drifting into its own timing. Music mode is driven by the master's microphone alone, so a row of fixtures pulses as one.

Two-wire multifunction (两线多功能)

Two conductors carry the power and the function together. A two-wire string is a single circuit and every emitter on it holds the same state, so its modes come from how the supply itself is driven: an eight-mode Christmas string steps through its sequence this way, and a 2-wire dual-white strip alternates polarity so warm and cool emitters take turns. What it buys is wiring — two conductors through a tree or along an eave instead of four. Its limit is resolution: two interleaved groups need a third wire, and per-pixel control needs a data wire and belongs on Y16. 2-wire versus 3-wire dual white shows where that difference appears.

Common questions

Can the platform inside a light be identified without opening it?

Usually, from the app it pairs with and from what it does. Colour travelling along the run means addressable pixels, Y16. One remote changing every light in the garden at once means G01. Several fixtures running the identical effect with only one of them reacting to sound means master–slave. A single fixture showing one colour at a time means Y96.

Are these the only controllers you make?

No. These four go into most of the lights we build controllers for and are the platforms documented to this depth. Dedicated controllers for curtain lights, light screens and mesh-networked fixtures are described in their own product guides.