Finally got around to adding lights (LED strips) to two of our closets today. (lots of pics)

Why Hubitat Elevation Here's a cool thing I did!
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We have three closet that have no lights inside of them that I've been wanting to add lights to for a long time. One is the Pantry in the Kitchen, that I still trying to figure out the best way to run power wire to. But today, I was able to get lights (LED strips) setup in two of the three closets.

The small storage closet on the first floor at the end of the hall, requires you to turn the hallway over head light just to be able to see anything. But once you stand in the door way of the closet, you lost half of your light trying to look around. The same was also for the small closet in our basement.

So I ordered the Onforu 33ft LED Strip Light, 5000K Daylight from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DVFRH42/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I used what I needed of the LED roll in the first floor closet and the 12v power plug that came with the kit. I used the rest of the LEDs in the basement closet, and had an extra 12v power plug to power it. I didn't use the dimmer controller knob it came with, I left that in the box.

On the first floor closet, I'm using door contact sensor to turn on the one of the Zooz double outlets that the LEDs are plugged into. A simple rule, Open = On, and Close = Off.

For the basement closet sliding doors, I didn't want to waste two contact sensors for each door. So I used an Iris motion sensor on the back wall, inside of the closet. This way it would trigger no matter which of the two doors were opened. When the closet motion sensor get tripped, it turns on an Ikea outlet that the LEDs are plugged into for 1 minute then turns back off again.

I was very happy on how everything turned out, and how easy it was to set it up in Hubitat... :grin:

Before pics....

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After pics....

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Led strips attached around the inside closet door frame.
All the LEDs are the same 5000k brightest, the different angel of the pic makes some the look as the are warm white, but there not.

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Here is the Basement Closet........

Before pics.....

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After pics....

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28 Likes
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Looks great !

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Thanks!

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Very nice ..

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Looks great! I might suggest contact sensors on the doors instead of motion. I think you'll be happier with the instant on and off features of a contact sensor. I use the iris ones I find on ebay a lot. They're snappy and do the job. Very nice, bright look in all of the closets. Mind sharing what LEDs and controllers you used for the project?

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I like it! I may steal this idea! How did you get power to those closet lights though? Most closets don't have ac outlets.

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That shouldn't be a barrier.. It's really easy to run power.. Chances are there is an outlet on the opposite side of one of those walls

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If you're going to use single channel LEDs, like the ones linked above, and you want dimming control, I can recommend the RGB Genie Single Channel Zigbee module.

They're still running their 25% off sale too! Best part...the controller will also connect to a Hue bridge, so the module isn't system dependent.

But, if you just want on/off control and don't care about dimming, you could use a Sonoff SV. That module plus a hard-wired contact sensor would allow you to both control the lights and have the contact sensor all built into one package. You can even build the logic to turn the lights on and off directly into the module, and still be able to bypass with Hubitat if you wanted to. I just completed a similar project about two weeks ago but instead of using LEDs strips, I used left-over under-cabinet LED lights I had laying around after I upgraded my under-cabinet lights to the Sylvania Edge-lit ones. This definitely isn't the cheaper option if you're buying parts but if you already have them laying around, then they're free! :slight_smile: I have bi-fold closet doors so the LED bars mount perfectly on the hinge side of the door.

As far as power, one of the closets I had to run power to was on the second floor and I have an attic so that one was easy. And if you are using LED strips, you can always put the power supply in the attic and just run the low voltage line down to the closet. That's a lot safer than working with line voltage.

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@nkyspike

Very nice!

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I'm too much of a CT snob.. If you use any of the other RGBGenie Z-wave models.. I have a driver that you can use a CT strip with ..

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Well, you would also need a strip that has dual cool white and warm-white channels. Which is a little bit over-kill for a closet, IMHO. But all of the multi-channel controller have an RGB, RGBW and RGBWW mode.

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Not for me.. But that's personal opinion..

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This is what I use when I just want white... (CT)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XCGKM3Z/
Correction:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NRMX43G/

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But then you need a 2 channel controller and those are a lot more expensive than single channel.

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How is it I both love and hate something at the same time?
I never thought about strip lighting in closets. Absolutely love it , especially with contact sensors.

Absolutely hate it....but only because I have to do it now!

Good thing is I have several sections of led strip lighting and I think I have a couple of RGB controllers in my junk drawer!

Great pics and great project idea.

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Cost of the forum....free. The cost of coming on the forum grows the longer you spend here. I just can't figure out if it grows exponentially or logarithmicly. :wink:

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I'm hooked too!!!!! Need to investigate this.

Oh how true this statement is....................................

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Hidden costs :slight_smile:

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I'm out of likes. So I just wanted to say that I loved these comments.
:heart: :heart: :heart:

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@april.brandt

As I listed above...
I used the Onforu 33ft LED Strip Light, 5000K Daylight from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DVFRH42/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

As far as how I'm controlling them.
The LED strips are powered directly by a 12v power supply (one it came with) that is plugged into a smart outlet. When the door contact senor opens it just turn the smart outlet on, and the LEDs turn on, at full brightness. When the door closes, it then turn the LEDs off using Hubitat Lighting Rules.

With that LED strip kit that I listed above, it come with an inline dimmer. But I never used it, I went with full power when it turns on.

2 Likes