I apologize if this is not the appropriate place to ask this question. Please remove it if not.
I am planning to add several Govee lights that use this Govee Integration V2, starting with under-bed strip LED lights. Could you recommend an LED strip lighting Govee product that has worked well for you in this application? I am looking for something that supports different colours, can be folded to navigate 90-degree corners during installation, and is compatible with the Govee app and Govee Integration V2.
At this point I would probably try to find a way to use either the M1 Matter enabled strip or the new Neon Rope 2 device.
The reason is they have the most flexibility as both of those devices support the Cloud API, LAN API, and Matter. The new Govee Integration V2 will work with both of those devices as well. This gives you several options for control so you aren't locked into one way or the other.
Each control method has it's advantages and disadvantages.
@mavrrick58, thank you for your suggestion. I truly appreciate your input.
However, I have some concerns about this product:
Cost: At $105.00 Canadian dollars, it exceeds my budget.
Matter: My current experience with Matter has not been positive, and I prefer to wait for improvements.
Rope: I'm unsure if the rope will provide the sharp 90-degree turns I need.
Given these concerns, I don't believe this product is a good fit for my current requirements. Nevertheless, I appreciate your recommendation and remain open to exploring other options.
As far as Matter goes, it just makes it a option and you don't have to use that. I Got the M1 Strip to test Matter. There is no doubt that it can be a pain to pair with matter through other sources like Google Home and such. That said Govee attaches a matter key to their devices. I use that key to pair the devices directly to the Hubitat and it has worked great each time. I wouldn't worry about it going directly to the hub itself. Just plug the device in and pair it to the Govee Home app. Let it update if needed. Then on Hubitat go to the Hubitat device add screen for matter and enter the code on the device itself and let it add. The option to add the device with matter disables after 15 min so be ready to add it once the device is powered on. If you wait longer then that simply turn the govee device off, Unplug it for a min or 2 and then plug it back in. Give it a min and then do the add process on the hub as stated above.
The cost is what it is. The M1 is Govee's top LED strip with 4 in one pixels to give you RGBW with a density around 30 p/m. That just means it will give good dense light from the strip and can be bright. There are cheaper options, like their basics led strip that change that density to potentially an unreasonable number. It depends on what you want but the quality of light is significantly better. You can also get it in varying lengths and you can expand the strip easily by just attaching an expansion strip on the end.
Simply put you are getting what you pay for with the M1. The Basics strip that supports wifi and lan api can be a decent option to lower cost, but will not be as bright and less dense pixel count.
The Neon Rope 2 can make pretty sharp bends. It is supposed to be more flexible than the previous version and i could make the old one do a 90 degree turn with probably a radius of 1-2 inches. I like the rope because it ensure diffused light Incase it every becomes visible.
If you need it to be super tight then a LED Strip is really the only option. Also the brightest option will be with the M1
I am testing a new build now with a update to do some of the stuff discussed with @oldcomputerwiz above. I am also trying to see if I can make a small change to some startup management routines to reduce CPU impact for some stuff that may be needlessly overwriting some data to ensure it is current. Hopefully the testing won't be to long as I just moved it to my prod hub.
@mavrrick58, thank you for your detailed response. I appreciate the thoroughness and the time you took to provide all that information.
Thank you for your input on the Matter setup. Your detailed explanation reinforces my concerns. I think I'll hold off on Matter until it becomes more stable, easier to set up, and reliably stays connected. I’d prefer to avoid any additional tech challenges for now.
I understand the great features of the Govee M series and recognize its potential in a multimedia room or other public area where its full splendour can be appreciated. However, for my use case, I'm just looking for a night light to softly the floor around our bed, so we don’t trip over the cat. It will only come on for about a minute or so, late at night when triggered by movement. Given this infrequent use, I prefer to pay only for what I need. Let's face it, the cat's dramatic flair doesn't justify high-end lighting!
Given the construction of the bed and its undercarriage area, I need to adhere the strips to the side rails and footer, requiring very tight corners. Therefore, an LED strip is the preferred format.
To be honest, based on your response, I am now reconsidering whether Govee is the right fit for this requirement or possibly others. Originally, I thought of using something like the H615A1A3 or H618A, but if the lower-cost options do not provide the perceived value, I think I may look elsewhere. In fact, I may go with Kasa, as my brother's setup looks great and it was a value-priced product. I'm glad I didn’t jump headfirst into implementing them and asked for some opinions first.
From your last post i agree the M1 is probably to costly to make sense.
Does it have to be under the bed. Something we did in my home was to replace the some outlet covers for some with built led's that are triggered by lack of light. Use next to no power and the cover connects to the recepticle behind the cover and super easy to install. Because there use is when it ia completely dark the little light they put out actually does allot. The ones i got were SnapPower.
I also think there was a device by Thirdreality that pluggs into an outlet and has a night light and motion sensor. If i remeber right it connected to hubitat with zigbee as well
Here is the link to it.
THIRDREALITY Multi-Function Night Light, Zigbee Repeater, 3-in-1 Combines a Motion Sensor, a Illumination Sensor and RGB Color Night Light, 1-100% Adjustable Brightness, Zigbee hub Required https://a.co/d/hd3di6r
These are on sale for $10. Are controllable via this integration and allow full color and scene control. They are short, but could be a bargain choice for your application. Just check that they are long enough. Perhaps if you only run them along the bottom of the bed and up the sides a bit, you could make it work. Kind of cool to have it allow colors/scenes too. Amazon.com
The current firmware didn't work well with Hubitat at all. Might have changed so I should retest, but mine is currently back in the box waiting for Third Reality to fix their firmware. See: Night Light - #29 by wiegout
Unfortunately, in our main bedroom, we have no exposed outlets. We do have one behind the bed with a power bar controlling our two bedside lamps, via Kasa Wi-Fi plug. These are our reading lights, and trust me, they're bright enough to rival a lighthouse in the dead of night! I tried having them come on at night once and regretted it instantly. My plan was to use an outlet on the power bar for LED strip lights. Thanks for the idea, though.
I’d face the same issue with the THIRDREALITY Multi-Function Night Light. Honestly, I wandered around the house for half an hour trying to find a place for it. Thanks for the suggestion anyway, too bad it has firmware issues (Thanks for the heads up @wiegout)!
I was revisiting all the Govee strip lights on Amazon Canada and came across this one: Govee RGBIC LED Strip Lights 16.4ft. Is there any reason I couldn’t use this one? Would it work with your version 2? The only thing I am not sure of is can I dim them which maybe important.
Thanks @wiegout for the suggestion! I’d prefer using a 16.4ft strip, which would cover about three-quarters of the bottom bed area—just enough to make it look like our bed is levitating!
I can relate. I have very limited power around my bed and run power strips on both sides as well. The key with the LED Strips is you need to ensure it is not a bluetooth only device, and that it has a pixel density that is high enough you will get a sufficient light pattern for your use. If the lower density doesn't really matter then any strip with wifi will likely be fine. Just be careful because so many of the really cheap options are bluetooth only.
Many of the Govee Devices have a Nightlight scene to reduce the brightness. There are also ways to reduce the brightness even beyond the brightness settings of the strip itself.
We have a rather large headboard and I mounted a strip on the back of the headboard outlining it. I installed motion sensors under the bed, on each side, so that when either of us gets up, the headboard is back lit. It offers plenty of non-direct light to see where we are going. I used a generic RGBW LED strip and a zigbee Gledopto controller from amazon. I think I have $35 in the whole thing. They may cost a bit more now but should still be reasonable.
I just pushed some updates to Github. 2.1.5 is now the current release
What was added with this latest update.
A new command was added to the Govee Device manager to allow you to update all scenes on all devices.
A new command was added to all light device drivers to all a user to trigger scene refresh on a device
The process to update/refresh scenes was broken out to it's own method to enable the new commands, and to limit impact
The scene initialization process was changed to allow more granular control. During a reboot the Govee Device Manager device will now trigger each device to load it's scene data. This was modified so that this cpu intensive process can be done sequential for all Govee devices instead of all at one time.
A new preference option was added top allow users to specify if they want to use DIY/Scnes/Snapshots from the cloud or Lan. By default, it will be disabled and direct future devices to the cloud. For existing devices, they will default to enabled .
Added state value to Govee Device Manager device to show number of child devices. managed
I recommend installing with HPM because it will ensure items are installed smoothly in the right order.
Because of the quantity of items supported and reusing of code the integration uses libraries for common code. If you are installing from github with copy/paste you need to install the libraries before appd and driver code. This is because they use the libraries when being compiled. I still recommend using HPM if possible.
If anyone is having problems getting scenes to be loaded after the last update. Please check if it is resolved by clicking on the new command button in the Govee Device Manager to do a "All Scene Reload".
If that fixes it please perform a repair through HPM.
