"Presets" refer to a particular combination of animation, color palette, and speed/intensity/brightness settings. Making the presets is a lot of fun - you get to play around in WLED and find settings that suit your style.
"Playlists" are a scripted list of Presets that will play in a specific order (or shuffle) for a specified amount of time. WLED gives you a lot of control. You can also set your playlist as the default setting when WLED boots up, so you can just turn them on and go.
Play with the effects and colors until you have the lights in a mode you want to save. Click over to the "presets" tab and click "+ Preset". Give it a name and save it to your list.
Once you've saved a few presets, you can string them together into a playlist. The playlist options include the ability to set your duration (how long each preset plays) and the transition time.
Take note of the number assigned to your playlist. In the next step you'll set up WLED to default to this playlist on startup.
Head to Config --> LED Preferences and scroll down until you find the Defaults section. Here you have an option for "Apply preset 0 at boot". Enter the number of your playlist here and click "save". Now when you boot up WLED your playlist will load first automatically.
You can also control the default brightness here. If you're finding your battery life to be too short, turning the brightness down will help.
Segments
Segments in WLED let you partition your LED strip into multiple sections, each with its own effect, brightness, and color settings. This is particularly useful when you want different parts of your project to display unique animations or remain static while others move.
I want my wreath to stay green while the garland pulses in red and white candy cane stripes. The wreath is right in the middle of my strand, so I need to tell WLED to treat those specific pixels as a different segment. Here's how to make that happen.
Segments interact with your presets in a way that can be a bit confusing. The easiest way to get started is to make sure you have at least one preset saved in your list. Once you're happy with your segment setup, save a new preset (or update an existing one). Then, whenever you load that preset your segment setup will be restored.
The reason for the confusing interface is that segments can be used in all different kinds of configurations on the same board. You can have one preset with three segments and a different preset with five completely different setups. Make a master preset with your favorite settings so you don't get lost.
I made separate segments for the right side garland, the left side garland, and the wreath. Input the start and stop LED for each segment. Select the check mark on the segment you want to edit, then select your effect and color palette. That selection will ONLY affect the checked segments.
I selected the Right and Left segments and then selected the "Flow" effect and a the Red Shift palette.
Then, I unchecked the Right and Left segments and checked the box on Wreath. I made the wreath a solid green.
Once all the segments are behaving the way you want, save the configuration as a preset.
Segment 0 can't be edited, it will affect the entire project.
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