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Active HyperLED plugin

Klipper Status

Your 3D printer shows what it is doing with a bar of light. A plugin for HyperLED that displays the state of a printer running Klipper.

What it is

A 3D print often takes hours. Instead of watching the screen, you see from the light whether the printer is heating up, printing, paused or has an error. While printing, a green bar grows with the progress.

The plugin is a single file for HyperLED, my LED controller. You install it in the web interface without changing the firmware. It works with printers that run Klipper, a widely used software for 3D printers. I tested it with a Snapmaker U1 running the Extended Firmware by paxx12. On the U1 this firmware is essential, it does not work without it.

Key facts · DG-003
StatusActive · version 1.7.1
LicenseEUPL-1.2
Part ofHyperLED
PrinterKlipper with Moonraker
Tested withSnapmaker U1 + Extended Firmware (paxx12)
ColorsFreely selectable for each state
InstallationOne file, no firmware update
TechnologyLua script
01 — Simulation

How it looks on the strip

This is a simulation with 48 LEDs. It plays through a whole print: heating up, printing, pause, finished, error and a lost connection.

Click a state, drag the progress slider, pick another direction or choose your own colors. The numbers below correspond to the live values the plugin reads from the printer.

02 — Display

What the light means

Every five seconds the plugin asks the printer what it is doing. It turns the answer into a picture on the LED strip.

While heating up, the bar shows how far the nozzle and the heated bed are. The one that is furthest behind decides the length. While printing, the bar follows the progress and only grows, it never jumps back.

You can freely choose the color for every single state in the settings.

Example with 48 LEDs and the default colors. Every color can be changed.
03 — Direction

Aligning the bar

You choose how the bar grows: from the left, from the right, from both sides to the middle, or from the middle outwards.

The plugin recognizes by itself whether your HyperLED has a simple strip or a panel connected and fills the strip in order.

The four directions, shown with a bar filled to 60 percent.
04 — Setup

Set up in four steps

  1. Download the file klipper-status.json from the latest version.
  2. In HyperLED open Settings, then Plugins, then Add plugin, and choose the file. HyperLED first shows what the plugin intends to do. Confirm with Install.
  3. Enter the address of your printer, choose the segment where the bar should run and, if you like, the colors.
  4. Switch the plugin on.

Afterwards the live values on the plugin card show what the plugin is currently reading from the printer. That helps you find a wrong address quickly.

The pictures show the HyperLED interface in English. It is also available in German.

“Install this plugin” window with name, version and a list of what the plugin intends to do.
Preview before installing
Settings with printer address, port, segment, direction of the bar and colors.
Plugin settings
05 — Safety

The plugin only reads

  • It never writes anything to the printer. It only asks.
  • It never changes your brightness. If you pause the plugin or remove it, your own setting applies again right away.
  • If the printer does not answer, for example because it is switched off, the segment goes dark. It does not keep showing an old state.
Note

On some strips that run on USB without their own power supply, LEDs behind the end of the bar can flash briefly. That comes from power and data signal and not from the plugin. A stronger power supply helps.

06 — Requirements

What you need

Warning

On the Snapmaker U1 the plugin only works with the Extended Firmware by paxx12. It is an unofficial community firmware and not from Snapmaker. Read its notes before you install it.

  • HyperLED with plugin support (firmware 0.3.000 or newer). If the strip runs on a slave, the slave needs firmware 0.3.001 or newer.
  • A printer with Klipper and Moonraker that HyperLED can reach on the network. Moonraker normally listens on port 7125.
  • An access key only if Moonraker does not know your HyperLED as trusted.
  • On the Snapmaker U1: the Extended Firmware by paxx12. It is essential on the U1.
07 — The idea

Where the idea comes from

Showing the state of a printer as a bar of light is the idea of drc85: Snapmaker U1 SnapStatus on MakerWorld. It also has the 3D-printed parts for the bar.

My plugin is a new development for HyperLED and contains no code from that project. If you use WLED instead of HyperLED, have a look at drc85's project.

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