The app and scenes guide: warm white every night, color when you want it
The lights are the hardware; the app is what you live with. How it's organized, the schedule we set up on install day, and the scenes people in Clark County and Portland actually use:
How the app is organized
Minleon's controllers run the Pixel Dancer app on iOS and Android. Each controller port is a zone (two on the dual-port controller), so the front and back of the house, or the house and a shop, run independently. Effects are split between roofline effects (chase, blend, fireflies, sparkle, lightning, a security mode) and grid effects for 2D layouts. Schedules can be saved months in advance, up to 20 per controller, each with a time window and dates. Remote access works from anywhere once the controller is on your home network.
What it doesn't publish: voice-assistant control and music sync. If either is a must-have, say so at the measure and we'll confirm what the controller generation we install supports.
The everyday setting we save for you
Warm white, 40 to 60 percent brightness, dusk to 11pm, every night. On the dedicated white diode this looks like architectural downlighting on the fascia, not a holiday display. It's the setting that keeps neighbors and HOAs happy, and it's what most owners run 300 nights a year.
Security-minded owners change the window to dusk to dawn and drop the brightness to 30 percent. A 220-light pebble system at that setting is about 24 watts.
Scene recipes
Two minutes each in the app. Static or slow-fade patterns read best on cut-up rooflines; chases look good on long straight eaves and busy on gables.
| Scene | Recipe | Schedule |
|---|---|---|
| Christmas classic | Warm white with a slow twinkle, or red / white candy cane, or red / green alternating | Thanksgiving to Jan 2 |
| Halloween | Orange / purple alternating; green accent on the garage; flicker the last week | Oct 24–31 |
| Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Veterans Day | Red / white / blue three-color repeat, slow fade | Day of, plus the weekend |
| Seahawks | College navy / action green / white | Game days |
| Timbers | Ponderosa green / gold | Match days |
| Trail Blazers | Red / black / white | Game days |
| Ducks / Beavers | Green / yellow · Orange / black | Saturdays in fall |
| Cougars / Huskies | Crimson / gray · Purple / gold | Saturdays in fall |
| Valentine's | Red / pink | Feb 7–14 |
| St. Patrick's | Green with a white sparkle | Mar 15–17 |
| Easter | Pastel pink / yellow / lavender / mint | Holy week |
| Graduation, birthdays, new baby | School colors · any two colors · pink or blue | As needed |
Zones in practice
Front and back on separate schedules is the standard two-zone setup: warm white on the street side, color on the lake or patio side for a party. A shop or a second building usually gets its own controller and shows up as its own zone in the same app. Trees wrapped with diamond lights can share the roofline port or run on their own.
When the internet goes out
The controller keeps running its saved schedule. You lose remote control until Wi-Fi returns; the lights don't notice. After a router change, reconnect the controller to the new network from the app.
Packages mentioned
- Deep Pebble Track — from $35/ft, controller included
- D35 Puck Track — $35/ft, controller included