I'm thinking about adding some LED strip lighting, and of course want to have the HE able to control it. I've seen several references to the Gledopto controller, and was wondering about the combination of these two:
Firstly, will these two play nicely together, and if so, what can I expect? Does the whole strip show a single color, or can I control individual lights, in the style of a WS2812 based system, e.g. Adafruit neo-pixels.
The GLEDOPTO ZigBee controller will work just fine with Hubitat, I have a couple of those. Anything it controls will be a single color for the whole strip, it is NOT a WS2812-style control.
Those strips seem pretty generic and the GLEDOPTO should readily control them. The only thing I sometimes find with strips is that red/green might be swapped (not necessarily with these specific ones, just something I have stumbled on with cheap RGB strips). You would likely have to cut off the connector that the strips have so you can use the wires to go directly to the GLEDOPTO's terminals. So you should be comfortable doing that.
The only thing you would be missing out would be a White LED set with that strip. That controller is capable of RGB+CCT so it can do RGB + Correlated Color Temperature (basically can control two white LEDs in addition to the RGB so you could do almost any color and variation of white you might want). You can find LED strips that do that (or simpler RGBW which only includes 1 white LED, either cool or warm) but they are more expensive and usually use 24v.
The RGBW LED strips are usually a decent compromise if you still want something that can just do white (or a combination of) as long as you are good with either the cool white or warm white they usually can do easiest.
WS2812 style would have been nice, but it's by no means a drop dead show stopper. One color for the entire strip will be fine.
That somewhat goes hand-in-hand with the lack of white LEDs, again that turns out to be an acceptable compromise. For the most part these will be used for "accent mood lighting", so they'll be showing various colors rather that being a source of "primary" illumination, which is where the whites would make sense.
I appreciate the warning about colors being switched. And I'm not at all afraid of using a soldering iron so fixing them won't be a problem if the issue arises.
No soldering iron fix needed. When you put the wires into a controller just do a test. If red comes on when you select green, swap the wires.
I (personally) have one type of LED strip capable of individual control over Z-Wave, the Inovelli LZW45. I also have a number of DIY projects I have made controlling WS2812 LEDs (both Pixels and strips) that are linked over the network to my Hubitat.
I wrote simple firmware for a ESP8266 controller and a simple driver that can control it from the Hubitat. There is also the WLED project that has a community driver for Hubitat as well. So it is possible to get as custom as you want depending on the level of effort.
@snell what do these multi-capability controllers do when faced with a "simple" COB LED Strip containing a series of 3000K DC24V LEDs ?
Obviously on/off control and dimming via HE control would be all you'd get, but do you buy these 5in1 controllers for the "future-proofing" or is it best to just go find the one that does JUST the straight white LED on/dim/off control vs the full RGB stuff. And is that called WW + CCT or what?
Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge in this domain.
There are not that many single-color controllers that I have seen, but I will admit to really never looking. I have always bought RGBW or RGB+CCT controllers. I do have one where I use the controller with just a single color (white) strip and it works fine.
So, I am not an expert by any means. To my knowledge the RGBW are 4 "channels", red, green, blue, and a white. Which definitely helps if you want white for lighting or a color mix that involves white (pink, lighter colors, etc...). RGB can mix to make MOST colors but it depends on the strip, controller, etc... and white is always the toughest to get to. So having the white directly part of it helps. That white is either going to be warm or cool though, so make sure you use which type you want for your application.
RGB+CCT go a step further. With RGBW you have one white. RGB+CCT is the "5 channel" that allows for warm white AND cold white LEDs also. This allows them to be mixed to get almost any color temperature you want (maybe even using the RGB a bit as well). These types just give you so many more accurate color possibilities but can require more "fiddling" as a result. If you had the option, would you settle for good enough type of thing? There are not as many of these and the LED strips cost more and use more power, but it is what I TRY to find first, then go to RGBW.
Of course there is basic RGB... Or getting into individually addressed LEDs or other fancy stuff... But that is a different topic.
I just did a couple searches and I did find a couple things. Basically they are the CCT portion of a RGB+CCT controller. I have no idea about this first one and the company behind it but it is pretty reasonably priced even just to try it out (no idea about shipping or such though, just unit price): https://www.superlightingled.com/dual-white-led-controller-zigbee-30-fut035z-p-4171.html
As I am discovering, and many already likely have, there is a BOAT LOAD of these that ALL LOOK THE SAME and have the same if only sightly different Specs. Makes you wonder if they really are copying each other or if there is like five primary manufacturers and everybody else is just relabeling on those components.
Lots have had experience with the GLEDOPTO so maybe I'll give that a try. Although I'd say it still falls into the "looks-like-a-lot-of-others" category.
Not that Lowes is the place to buy lights, but I can walk right back in with them if I have an issue. These are the kind I'm looking for (not as nice as another set on Amazon but they come with a Mean Well power driver which seems to be one of the "been-around-awhile" names in power.
UL and/or RoHS seems to be hit or miss with this stuff which makes it extra challenging if you care. Seems some of the working ends of this kit would always end up stuffed/mounted where overheating might not be noticed right away.
So THANKS, I think I have all I need except for the wire-to-strip connectors which I've seen videos showing successful use of vs soldering. Will attempt to cut the 5 meter LED strip up into 6 pieces and run two sides of the kitchen. Will need two of the power & logic as a result.
Like you mentioned, it mostly seems to be just a few companies with an awful lot of rebranding happening. There are only so many manufacturing lines for these in China after all. So not only do you get relabeling but you also get some brands that are "after hours" batches from those same manufacturing lines. Generally pretty close but not usually the same quality. I remember an article a couple years back that it is the line equipment that is the main item, not the labor, and not the individual parts being used, that drives a lot of this stuff. Keeping that equipment going under different brands gives the company that owns the line a plus. Many of them do not even sell the products themselves under their own brand, they are there purely to make the products for other companies.
I bristle at the thought of "electronics you custom install, want to last, and not burn the house down" ...being put together by no-sense-of-ownership entities. But I guess that's where we are at.
Like many will say at Costco, "if you like that odd-branded item, buy a couple...it won't likely be there in the same or better form & fashion next year".
