[BK7231T] Sylvania smart+ WIFI 6.5ft LED flexible light kit teardown and openBK template

I bought this device from Ollies Outlet! These devices have an app that is basically nonfunctional at this point. They are very poorly built tuya devices, and I even had to fix the solder connections on this one! This is my first post here, and my first modified device with the openBK7231T firmware!

I used a ch341a to connect to these pins on the module. I was surprised to see that the bottom still had all of the labels! You actually don't need to remove the module from the main PCB; I was just curious about what the bottom looked like. I followed this guide https://www.elektroda.com/rtvforum/topic3951016.html to flash, but I didn't need an external 3.3v power supply. Maybe that's because I was plugged into a usb3 port? I use fedora linux, and I used the python script because the .net flashing application kept giving me errors on both windows and linux.


Here Is a closeup of the top of the board. Notice that the wires aren't connected very well! I re-soldered them with flux after taking this picture. The solder used on the board seemed extremely soft... I was able to indent it with my fingernail and it melted at around 400F.  


Here is a closeup of the bottom of the board! There doesn't seem to be any middle layer on the green PCB; just a top and bottom!
Check out that power connector! It's just plain missing a whole connection! How are they saving any money by not soldering that?!


Here is what came in the box: The gray piece can be just popped out with a fingernail, but I used a small screwdriver.



I have been testing some of the beta options in the firmware! "Flag 37 - [WiFi] Quick connect to WiFi on reboot" option works great! The experimental smooth LED transitions work too! This device works the same at both 1ghz and 600mhz, but the temperature at 1ghz can get above 80C.
There is no IR sensor, and there are no buttons. I wonder how they expected people to reset the devices? Maybe it had something to do with power cycling?
Both the box and the strip say that this is a RGBWW strip, which I guess technically is true, but it's actually an RGBCW strip.
The power supply it comes with is 12v 1a. It says on the front of the box that it's expandable to 13 feet, but I'm thinking that if I used a chunkier power supply that it could go even further! Is this the correct thought process?

I have a template to share! Let me know if anything needs to be changed!


I saw on the github that there's free stuff for people who help add devices to the database... How does that work? If I submit more devices, do the incentives increase? Ollies has a bunch of different devices in the corner of the store just collecting dust...

Added after 10 [minutes]:

An almost separate question: The LEDs on this strip don't turn on until the UI reaches between 3-4%, but when I set PWM to 1/255, they turn on at their lowest level just fine. Is this expected? I see stuff elsewhere in the forum about clamping, but it doesn't make sense to me. Can someone link me to documentation about this, or confirm that it's a bug?

Thank you for sharing! We'll contact you soon with a little gift.

Those devices are indeed reset by power cycling.

I think it's a shame they have no buttons, you can consider doing this mod:


Regarding the slider - hmm, I am not sure at the moment, but you may be experiencing gamma curve. It was submited by a contributor, so I am not the author of this feature, but I know the readme is in the docs: https://github.com/openshwprojects/OpenBK7231T_App/blob/main/docs/led_gamma_control.md

Btw, it's nice to see you actually entered topic URL in wiki field.

Added after 1 [minutes]:

PS: What do you mean by 1GHz and 600MHz?

>>21715608

I tried disabling the "gamma ramp" with flag 32 in the config, that fixed it!
I will edit the code block in a minute with the new flags:
"flags": "411311105",

Disabling the gamma ramp completely breaks the color LED. It fixes the two white LEDs but the color is just broken until I turn it back on. Is there a workaround for that?

I misread what flag 11 says! Flag 11 - "[PWM] BK7231 use 600Hz instead of 1kHz default"
It runs very hot at 1kHz but is fine at around 38C at 600Hz. The case doesn't get hot anymore! The stock firmware made the plastic case very warm to the touch.

Edit: so weird thing, enabling flag 32 doesn't change the flags section in the template at all.