ColorChase Handbook

Before you start

ColorChase talks to your controller over Bluetooth. There is no account, no Wi-Fi and no internet connection needed once the app has loaded — everything happens directly between the phone and the controller.

How you open it depends on the phone.

On Android, Location must be switched on and set to Precise in the phone's settings. Android ties Bluetooth scanning to location services even though this app never looks at where you are. Approximate is not enough — with it the controller simply never appears, which looks like the app is broken when it is a permission setting.

Finally: a controller talks to one app at a time. If you have any other LED app open and connected, close it fully before connecting here.

Getting connected

First time through, in order:

1. Power the lights

   The controller needs power before it will advertise itself. On a vehicle that usually means ignition on, or the accessory circuit live.

2. Tap Connect controller

   Your phone shows its own Bluetooth chooser — that list comes from the phone, not from this app.

3. Pick the controller

   It appears as SP105E. If you have more than one, they all show under that same name — these controllers carry no name or serial of their own, so nothing in that list tells them apart. Pick either one.

   Once it connects, the app may ask which controller is this? and offer to flash it. Tap that, watch which strip blinks, and tell it which one it is. That is how each controller gets a name you recognise, and it is expected behaviour rather than a fault.

4. Wait for it to connect

   It says Connecting, then the controls appear. This takes a second or two.

Once connected, tap a color and the lights should follow immediately. If they do not, go to If something goes wrong.

The main screen

Color

Drag around the outer ring to choose a color. The eight squares underneath are shortcuts to common ones. Tint toward white pulls the chosen color toward white for pastels — at 100% you get white regardless of the ring.

Power

The circle in the middle of the ring turns the lights on and off. With several controllers connected it brings them all to the same state rather than toggling each one separately, so one tap turns everything on and the next turns everything off.

Brightness

Seven levels, from 0 to 6. The controller does not accept a percentage — it only accepts one step at a time — so the app steps it for you and shows where it landed.

Patterns

There is no published list of what each of the 200 patterns looks like, so the only way to find the ones you like is to step through and watch. The Effect catalog in the support tools lets you name them as you go, and once named they show up by name elsewhere in the app.

Several controllers

A vehicle often has more than one — halos on one, underglow on another. The app handles as many as you can pair.

Adding another

Tap Add controller and pick it from the list. Give each one a name you will recognise later — Halos, Underglow, Rock lights — by tapping its row in the Controllers list.

Groups

Tap New group, tick the controllers that belong in it, and name it. Then use Sending to at the top to choose whether your next tap goes to one controller, a group, or everything.

Reconnecting later

On iPhone, saved controllers reconnect on their own when you open the app.

On Android, controllers are not remembered between sessions, so each one has to be chosen from the list once per session. The button counts them down for you: Connect all (2 left), then Connect the last one. Pick either one — the app identifies which it is and restores its name, groups and settings.

Favorites

Set up a look you like, then tap Save under Favorites and name it. Tapping it later restores that look.

A favorite saved while a group is selected records what each controller was doing separately, so you can save a look with a pattern on the halos and a solid color on the underglow, and get both back with one tap.

Music sync

The phone listens on its microphone and drives the lights from the beat. The controller has no microphone of its own, so all the listening happens on the phone. Tap Music sync to open its screen.

Starting it

Set the mode and the patterns first, then tap Start listening and allow the microphone when asked. The screen is held awake while it runs.

The four modes

If you have named effects in the Effect catalog, both random modes pick from those rather than from all 200, so you only get patterns you have already decided are worth using.

Choosing the two patterns

You should not have to type numbers. Pick the effect you want on the main screen, come back, and tap Use current as first. Do the same for the second. Set them before you start listening.

The quickest way to find a good pair is to run Two random patterns until something looks right, then read the two numbers out of the log and type them in.

Act on every N beats

How often it acts. 1 is every beat, which suits swapping between two patterns. 4 is one bar in most music and suits random patterns, which look frantic any faster.

Sensitivity

Turn it down if it reacts to talking or road noise. Turn it up if it misses beats or the music is quiet or far away. Low settings only respond to clearly loud music; high settings will pick up almost any sharp sound.

The readout

Under the button, two lines report what it is hearing:

Everything on this screen is remembered on the phone, and included in Backup.

Controller setup

Under Advanced setup. These three settings live in the controller itself, not in the app, and they have to match the strip that is actually wired to it. Getting them wrong is the usual reason colors come out wrong.

Tap Read device to see what the controller currently holds, change what needs changing, then Write to controller. It asks twice, because this writes into the controller rather than the app.

Backup

At the bottom of Advanced setup. Your controller names, groups, favorites, named effects and music settings live on that phone only. Nothing is stored online.

• Copy my settings puts everything on the clipboard. Email or message it to yourself to keep it safe.
• Restore settings pastes it back, on this phone or a new one.

Restoring brings back names, groups, favorites and each controller's settings. The Bluetooth pairings themselves cannot transfer between phones, so on a new phone you pair the controllers once and everything else is already waiting.

If something goes wrong

The controller is not in the list

• Check the lights actually have power.
• On Android, check Location is switched on.
• Close any other LED app completely — the controller accepts one at a time.
• Move closer. Bluetooth through a vehicle body has limited range.

It connects but nothing happens

• Check Sending to — you may be driving a different controller or an empty group.
• Try the power button once. If the lights were off, everything else is being applied to a dark strip.

Colors are wrong

Red and green swapped, or white coming out tinted, is almost always Color order in Controller setup. Part of the run staying dark is Total pixels set too low.

It will not reconnect

On Android this is expected — see Reconnecting later. On iPhone, open the controller's row and tap Pick again; that gets a fresh pairing and keeps the name and groups, unlike removing and re-adding it.

The lights freeze

Power-cycle the controller. These modules can be overwhelmed by a fast burst of commands and stay stuck until power is removed.

Reporting a problem

Flashtech support may ask you for a report from the app's support tools. There is a Copy report button that puts everything needed on the clipboard so you can paste it into an email. Support will give you the code to open that section if it is needed.

Known limits

Things the app genuinely cannot do, so you are not left wondering:

• Android has to be re-paired each session. Each controller is chosen from the list once every time you open the app. One tap per controller. iPhone remembers them.
• Moving patterns drift apart across several controllers. Each runs its own animation and there is no way to link them. Restart effect on all in group puts them back in step whenever you want, and automatic cycling keeps them on the same effect, but drift within a running pattern cannot be prevented.
• A pattern cannot be paused or restarted part-way through.
• Brightness and speed have seven steps, not a continuous range. That is the controller, not the app.
• Music sync needs the app open and stops with the screen off.