[Q]Does MiBoxer FUT035W+ has Beken chipset and is it supported with OpenBeken?

Hi guys.

The main and the only question is in the title.

TL;DR

I ordered FUT036W from eBay. It is from a China seller. However, the seller sent me a message that he currently has no FUT036W in stock and that he can send me a "similar one," and asked if it is OK. I told him that I cannot say neither OK nor not OK if I don't know which model is the "similar one," especially because I don't want to use it with Tuya cloud. I told him that I need something that can be flashed either with OpenBeken or Tasmota/ESPHome, so I asked him to provide me a model, then I can tell if it is OK. This morning, he sent me a photo of the similar one. It is FUT035W+, but as you can imagine with Chinese sellers, shortly after that I received an email from eBay that my package is on the way (without my confirmation that FUT035W+ is OK for me). Yes, I know I can complain to eBay and most probably they will return my money, but I would rather keep this FUT035W+ if someone knows and can confirm that it has a Beken chipset and it could be flashed with OpenBeken, also successfully configured.

Many thanks in advance.

Hello. Well, I know this device and I think you could find some details on our very forum just by searching for it. There is already a topic about Miboxer LED controller.

This device, at least in the version I know, is using BK7231 chip, but it's also using TuyaMCU, which means that there is no direct PWM control of LED, LEDs are controlled via secondary MCU which is connected to WiFI module via UART. I don't know why manufacturer chose this way, but it makes firmware change problematic.

You can just desolder TuyaMCU (the MCU) and connect wires from PWM pins of BK7231 module to the proper MCU outputs and then configure PWM LEDs in BK, but it requires some soldering work.
You can also try using TuyaMCU protocol to control LEDs, but they seem to have some kind of strange packet format, that is only partially known so far.

In my opinion this device is supportable, but it's the most problematic LED strip controller I know. I know many BK7231 LED strip controllers, and they are all PWM based and very easy to flash, well, except the Miboxer - the Miboxer is using TuyaMCU....

See related topic:
https://www.elektroda.com/rtvforum/topic3969126.html

Thanks for the answer.

Hmmmm, soldering is not a problem, I'm soldering something all the time 😁, just if I know what should be connected from Beken board to TuyaMCU, but I believe will figure out (maybe not, who knows 😁).

p.kaczmarek2 wrote:

This device, at least in the version I know, is using BK7231 chip

Do you pointing here on this exact model, MiBoxer FUT035W+, which was sent to me or on MiBoxer in general?

Please ignore strikethrough text below I wrote before. I just read carefully blakadder templates and found it is a template in case that the original WiFi module being physically replaced with ESP. Sorry for spam 😁. So I believe you was pointed to MiBoxer LED controllers in general.

I'm asking because I'm a little confused with CN no name manufacturers (who wouldn't be 😁). I also saw before the thread you mentioned (https://www.elektroda.com/rtvforum/topic3969126.html), and because of this thread I decided to buy FUT036W, cause I believed it could be flashed with OpenBeken. But this morning I also saw there are Tasmota templates on blakadder for https://templates.blakadder.com/miboxer_FUT035W.html and https://templates.blakadder.com/miboxer_FUT039W.html, so this means these guys are not Beken chipset, they are ESPxxxx, right?

p.kaczmarek2 wrote:

In my opinion this device is supportable, but it's the most problematic LED strip controller I know. I know many BK7231 LED strip controllers, and they are all PWM based and very easy to flash, well, except the Miboxer - the Miboxer is using TuyaMCU....

Yes, I agree maybe I made a mistake with choice. Now I'm going to slight off topic, but btw what would you recommend? I need something to supply 12V 10A to basic dummy white LED strip and to be able to dim it properly. So the strip is not addressable, it has no warm/cold, etc. just a basic strip with 2 rails, V+ and V-. The controller needs to be controllable via WiFi (I don't want a ZigBee) and needs to support either OpenBeken or Tasmota/ESPHome, doesn't matter, at the end it anyway goes to Home Assistant.

Many thanks.

The Blakadder side you linked (with a broken link, btw, please fix) says that this device is not using ESP. Still, it seems to list some other module, which is strange to me, as both I and @plum have received a BK7231 version of Miboxer.
As far as I know, @plum has single colour version and I had an RGBCW version.
This strip is obviously not addressable, it's a simple RGBCW strip (or CW, or single color, depending on version).

If you want to buy something easier to flash, preferably without TuyaMCU, you can check our list:
https://openbekeniot.github.io/webapp/devicesList.html
Try searching/filtering it for LED strip or anything. Click on device name to open the topic/teardown.

Btw, why don't you open your device? It's very easy. I am curious to see which version you've got. Most likely you have Beken one as well.

Links fixed, thanks for notice. Firstly, I put them in url tag, don't know why they broke with this.

Thanks for devices list hint, I forgot it exist. I am not so much experienced with Beken, mostly have Tasmota/ESPHome devices, about 30 of them, and only one OpenBeken device, but I am sure I saw this page before and unfortunately forgot it ( https://openbekeniot.github.io/webapp/devicesList.html )

Trust me, first thing when I receive the device from ebay/Aliexpress is to open it and take a look, but this certain device was sent from China yesterday, I didn't receive it yet, and I believe I will get it in next 20-40 days.

This was one veeeery long shipment and it seems bad luck at the end.

First to make clear, at the end seller sent me FUT036W as I initially ordered, not FUT035W as he said he will sent, confusing 😁. Anyway, after almost 2 months, FUT036W finally arrived today.



As far as I understand, this is not Beken chip at all.

If I check in another thread also with FUT036W, on @mplum photos there is a chip which is declared as "Model: CB3S". Next, if I google-fu for CB3S, I can find the info on Tuya site that it is based on BK7231N.

As you can see on my photo above, on my chip it is written "Model WBR3", and Tuya site says it is some W701-VA2-CG 😥

I have no idea could this be flashed with OpenBeken and should I try at all.
At the end, I am very sad cause I didn't ordered FUT036Z (ZigBee) instead of FUT036W 😁

Not yet, but we're working on that. Please stay tuned and watch for updates. The chip you got is very rare, we don't get that one often.

Thanks for the blazing fast answer.
I wish you good luck and a fun time with development.

Well, for now, can you get ESP12 module? It's pin-to-pin compatible with that one. You could do a replacement.

Have you seen our YouTube hot air desoldering tutorial?
https://www.youtube.com/@elektrodacom

This is one of the options that comes to mind. It is not mandatory to fit in the original package in my case because this will be installed in a big wooden box with more than enough room, so I meant to use NodeMCU ESP8266 or ESP32 WROOM connected with wires because I have a lot of them (but rather 8266 because it would be a waste of 32).

Another thing I am thinking about is this: https://jacksonraila.wordpress.com/2021/01/17...r-home-assistant-using-sidoh-nodemcu-esp8266/. As I understood, it is possible to make a MiLight hub of ESP8266, then integrate it into Home Assistant via LimitlessLED integration, and in this case, the dimmer device does not need to be flashed with custom firmware. I can see this device can be controlled locally from the MiLight app without signing in to the cloud. It's strange that there is no HA integration for the device only without the hub.

I respect developers and don't like to ask for ETA, but in this case, I'm very curious Do you have some estimation regarding OpenBeken support for this chip?

And regarding de-soldering - I solder very often, but will look at the video you recommended because I like your channel 😄

I don't think it matters, but to be sure, please check the respective pinouts of each module. The basic footprint should match. RX, TX, VDD, and GND.

You can also do a TuyaMCU capture with the original Tuya firmware first:
https://www.elektroda.com/rtvforum/topic3970199.html#20528459
That way, you will be able to configure Tasmota later more easily.

As far as I know, Tasmota supports the TuyaMCU colors, so it should work.

@p.kaczmarek2: Thanks for all your prompt responses. In the end, I didn't touch a firmware or hardware modified FUT controller. Instead, I went with the easy path and made a Milight hub emulator of ESP8266 and NRF24L01. I flashed it with this firmware, added the FUT controller to the hub, and integrated the hub to HA via MQTT. Yeah, I know, this has no relation with OpenBeken anymore, but if you ever add support for this chip, you can let me know here. I should receive an email notification.

Hello,

I have the same FUT035W but the chipset is a CB3S. I managed to flash it with OpenBeken and it's working great, but I'm not sure how to translate the configuration from Blakadder templates to OpenBeken.

https://templates.blakadder.com/miboxer_FUT035W.html

{"NAME":"FUT035W","GPIO":[0,2304,0,2272,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0],"FLAG":0,"BASE":54,"CMND":"DimmerRange 0,1000 | TuyaMCU 11,20 | TuyaMCU 21,22 | TuyaMCU 23,23 | TuyaMCU 98,101"}

I've added this to the autoexec.bat but I'm pretty sure it's wrong.



Help?

Also, the device seems to get disconnected from WIFI after a while for some reason. Heartbeat from the TuyaMCU?

Thanks and much love

Hello, there are two ways you can approach it.

1. Ignore Blakadder template, just first do this to get baud rate setting from Tuya:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WunlqIMAdgw&ab_channel=Elektrodacom
If it's not default 9600, modify cfg, you can also add tuyaMcu_defWiFiState to make sure device is always treated as paired (even without MQTT connection):

Then save, repower device, and in Web App log, look for TuyaMCU packets, they will tell you whether you receive something.
You can use then this command to request all dpIDs from device:


2. Alternatively, you can look up our docs here;
https://github.com/openshwprojects/OpenBK7231T_App/blob/main/docs/commands.md
This will tell you the syntax of our command:

Then you can see that quoted OBK config uses dpID 1 as a toggle, and dpID 2 as a dimmer.
Now look up Tasmota docs:

https://tasmota.github.io/docs/TuyaMCU/#fnid
Syntax is:

It seems that this:

Maps Relay (constant Tasmota-only identifier 11) to dpID 20

This:

Maps dimmer (constant Tasmota-only identifier 21) to dpID 22

This:

maps CCT to dpID 23

This:

does some kind of special function, I am not sure about it currently:


Is your device a CCT strip? I think, with the following information, you can map toggle and dimmer channels for a good start, then we will look into CCT setting. Let me know if something is unclear, or if you need me to write a config for you.

Oh my lord, that actually worked! Thank you so much, my friend.

Here's my autoexec.bat

So now the only thing left is CCT control, right? You basically need to have a second slider for that?

I don't need CCT since the strip doesn't support it. It's just a plain white LED strip under the bathroom sinks that is now triggered by Ikea's motion sensor.

Works beautifully. I believe I have other Tuya chipsets around the house, so I'll probably be taking a few of them apart now that I have found this gem.

Again, thank you very much!

I think that with recent updates the Miboxer controllers may work also with our new LED driver, try following code:

But this applies mostly to RGB/RGBCW versions, so maybe there is no need to update CW versions.