Modify battery operated device for wifi control

I have a garden sculpture illuminated by 11 LEDs in series, and powered by four 9 V batteries in series (i.e. 36 V). I would like to be able to control this from inside my home. I studied a previous post on this topic from May 2017 but the only solutions I saw there would require me to modify the power source to ‘mains power’ (which I am understanding to mean running wires to it from my home 110 AC power supply). This is not an option. Does anyone have a solution for me that will allow me to have wifi control of this battery powered device without hard wiring it for 110 AC? thanks!

Most battery powered Wi-Fi devices can only run for two or three hours without needing a battery recharge or a new battery because Wi-Fi is just very power-hungry. That’s why you don’t see many battery powered Wi-Fi lights, for example. There are obviously some such as the Wi-Fi cameras, but those use much more expensive technology.

Does it have to be Wi-Fi? This forum is for people who are using the Samsung smartthings ™ home automation platform So all of the questions and answers are assumed to be in that context. If you have a smartthings hub, you might Have some options with other protocols like zigbee or Z wave.

Also, we need to know what country you are in, as the device selection does vary somewhat.

If you are not interested in getting the Samsung smartthings platform, then I suggest you ask your question in the Reddit home automation sub forum. They are brand agnostic.

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By the way, if the current set up has any kind of switch or button that turns it on/off, you might also be able to add the equivalent of a “robot finger” just to push that button or activate that switch. But I know not all garden fixtures would have this. if it does, post a picture of the on mechanism and we can recommend an appropriate actuator. This is a pretty common automation approach for devices which are on a different type of current than the regular house current, because then you don’t have to worry about wiring anything.

See option 4 in the following FAQ:

And, yes, for Terminology “mains power“ is the AC power you get from the outlets in your home, sometimes called “wall power“ for this reason. We used to call it “grid power“ but now with solar electricity that no longer applies.

Thank you JD for that very helpful reply! I confess, I had no idea that ‘smartthings’ was a brand name of a particular product–and I don’t own one… I’m guessing that setting up such a network for this application alone is probably not cost-effective…

I am in the U.S., and the switch on my sculpture is a toggle typeswitch-tog-lds so perhaps the robot finger approach could work… But I will also try your suggestion regarding the Reddit page… thank you!!

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