Fairly new Hubitat user, have been tasked with the following:
Install LED light in 3 closets
Door sensor trigger light on when door opens
Daylight color light strip, no need for
One of the things i was hoping to do, was to have ONE z-wave controller with 4 (or more) channels, and one sufficiently powerful Power Supply to drive them.
Does such a controller exist? I see tons of one-channel ones but not 4
I was thinking of using these strips: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CC1X5YJ but open to suggestions. this one is 24v, does that create problems with common/favorite controllers?
What are you going to use to trigger on door open? is it going to be a Door Contact sensor or are you hoping to use some kind of motion sensor to detect when the door is open.
I don't think a 4 channel controller is available to do what you want. I have never seen one and I only know of the Inovelli Zwave controller. You may be able to use a device with 4 relays and control eash trip independently, but that wouldn't give you anything other then on/off.
Personally I would suggest you look at Govee LED Strips. Depending on how dense you need the strip to be would determine which one you want to get. Then you just plug it in and go. The newer ones support Lan control as well so it can be controlled locally. You would need a power outlet near by so there is that though. In theory with a good enough power supply though you could drive more then one strip off of it.
With the strip you linked you may be able to simply get a relay controller and use that.
I have some "ThirdReality" zigbee door sensors i was planning to use.
The main reason for the 4-channel idea was to minimize power outlet use, and space taken up on the inside. the light strip has a simple 24v barrel connector and came with a (optional use) inline dimmer so all i reall need is on/off
i can 'probably' use multiple power supplies, multiple controllers but was hoping to find the perfect(lol) gadget...
OK something to remember with DC power is that it can be distance dependent. The higher the voltage the longer you can go though. One thing to remember is that if you try to go consolidate your power sources then make sure you can get one that can handle the total load. The listing says the strip uses a max of 24 watts so that would mean you need atleast a 24v 4amp power supply. I would try to locate it centrally to reduce the chance of dim lights because of to much distance.
To control it you would probably be best served with just putting inline between the 24 v power source and the strip a zwave relay device. Maybe two Zen17's or a few Zooz Zac98 to just connect to hubitat.
There are also Geldopto controllers. I may have butchered that spelling. But they can be powered by cables or a barrel jack and just pass through the power. I believe they work with 12-24v and are zigbee.
The expensive parts are going to be the controllers. The strips won't be to bad
Would be 1 amp, but would go with something a little higher for overhead and to keep from running the PSU at 100% when they're on.
I think most controllers I've seen are typically rated 5 or 12V up to 24V...you can just look at the product picture and it should have an input voltage stamped on there. But, given you just need on/off, an actual LED controller isn't necessary.
There are various ways to do what you want. I'm with mav that two ZEN17s would fit the bill. You could even hook both of them to the same power source with each each closet on a separate output channel. Just make sure you use a decent 24V supply. I imagine this one would be ample.
You can use ZEN31 RGBW controller with a advanced custom driver.
This driver allows you to control each channel completely independent.
Than use R channel for the strip colset 1, B channel for the strip coset 2, etc.
Furthermore, ZEN31 has for inputs so, you can use them as a switches for
each channel. This way you can use simple magnetic contacts for a door sensors.
This setup potentially may not need even rules.
My thought is that he was running 4 channels which i took as 4 strips. Each strip takes 24 watts so that would 4x24. But you are right in pointing out this is all about the number of strips/led's involved. if he can get two strips and cover the space he needs by cutting them then the power requests adjust accordingly.
Interesting idea and i like it. Just have to remember that the colors represent a closet in this case. The rules for it could get interesting though as if you need two closets running at once you would need to write the rule to handle that instead of simply on off. but a very interesting idea. The Zooz Zac98 though appears to be dirt cheap on TheSmartestHouse.com. when i checked it the price was like 7$ when you consider how much some of the other controllers cost that are designed for LED strips with RGB it may not make sense. Plus single point of failure.
Zac98 is an accessory relay! It will not work just by itself.
For the power calculation please keep in mind each LED requires 30mA at full brightness.
Single RGB LED at full brightness will take 90mA.
Now multiply TOTAL number of LEDs in all 4 strips by this 90mA. This will be max current
for all 4 strips lighted at the same time and at full brightness. Power supply rating must
be 20-30% higher for the safety reason. Please consider safety as priority N1.
ZEN31 is basically 4-channels dimmer, Yes, channels are labeled RGBW but it does not
matter. With advanced driver for this device each channel can be controlled 100%
individually. As a result you will have your 4-channel dimmer with separate control
per channel. Stock ZEN31 driver will not provide an individual per channel control.
I see were I was mistaken. Well then the 2 Zen17's it is.
So there is a Zen31 driver that allows each channel to be seen as a dimmer instead of a color attribute? Technically all RGB controllers are just dimmers for each color.
Yes, this is 100% correct. Furthermore RGBW is a 4 channels and RGBWW is a 5 channels dimmers.
For some reason neither driver I was tried except for the advanced one designed by @jtp10181
does not provide individual per channel control forcing users always to use color settings.
In many cases this is OK but having individual control per channels opens up a lot of side
possibilities. Very good example is your specific case.
Pair of ZEN17 will do the job but they are too big.
Single ZEN31 is very small and it will be a 4 dimmers instead of 4 On/Off relays.
BTW, all my lights are dimmable and controlled by dimmers regardless where they are installed.
I totally agree this is a very creative way to use that device with @jtp10181 advanced driver. I also believe that in the last post in that thread he stated that you can control each channel independently by specify the color so this is a viable option. It just isn't as straight forward as a on/off and set level option. That could lead to complications with apps like RL. Not to hard to overcome though as you just use RM instead then.
