I am looking for recommendations for RGBW recessed lighting. In order of importance, my requirements are:
- New-work/non-retrofit
- RGBW
- Individually controllable. I'd like to be able to use multiple fixtures in a room in different ways, by scene, including some off versus on etc.
- Local, not including LAN over WiFi as my WiFi-enabled IoT devices are on a separate VLAN
- Gimbaled. It would be nice if they could be directional, but this is not critical
I see lots of similar questions with lots of answers, but I have not yet seen one that matches my requirements exactly. Nor can I find one when searching online. I even tried asking ChatGPT!
Thank you in advance for any advice anyone may choose to offer!
From my research so far, it seems like my choices are:
Lumary, with something like this. I think I'd prefer 6" to 4" and I don't like that it's WiFi controlled.
or
Govee, with something like this. I lean towards this, despite the lack of a gimbal, because from what I've read Govee has been gradually adding local support for devices. So there is hope for it coming eventually. Also, they claim to support Bluetooth so there is maybe a DIY solution to be had.
Note the "frequently returned item" notation by Amazon for those.
For my money, the only viable choice is Hue. Philips Hue Smart Slim 6 Inch LED Downlight - White and Color Ambiance Color-Changing Light - 1 Pack - 1200LM - Indoor - Control with Hue App - Works with Alexa Google Assistant and Apple Homekit - Amazon.com
They're not cheap but they work fine with HE without needing the Hue hub, so you can bind lights directly to Zigbee switches if you have the need or desire to do so. I'm going to be installing a bunch of these in my garage in the near future.
I also have around 25 of the 4" and 6" retrofit versions all over the house. Everything just works, colors are great, brightness is great, etc. Only complaint is that they're rough on the wallet, but there seems to be no real competition in this space for whatever reason.
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Yikes, thank you! I somehow totally missed that. I even knew to look for it because I caught it on other solutions I found while search Amazon.
I'm not sure what you mean by binding the lights directly to Zigbee switches. What I'd like to do is to add each light in a room individually into my HE so I have the option to control them individually. I may also install a scene controller in that room, which would not necessarily control the electrical supply to the lights, but just toggle scenes in the HE and have the lights react.
It's the same thing as creating an association between zwave devices.
You can bind a zigbee switch to a zigbee light so that the switch sends commands (e.g.: on, off, dim up, dim down) directly to the light. You need a hub to set this up but once the binding is created, the switch directly controls the light even if the hub is down.
It's slightly faster because the switch is not sending an event to the hub, which has to process the event and then fire whatever rule(s) are set up to respond to the event. It also ensures that the switch controls the light regardless of the state of the hub, effectively acting the same as if it was a dumb hard-wired switch.
You can also bind switches to each other (for 3 or multi-way setups) and bind switches to zigbee groups so one switch directly controls many lights, again without the hub needing to do anything.
None of this prevents any of the lights being controlled individually.
Okay, understood. I initially thought you were telling me that local control was only possible as a point-to-point between the fixture and the switch. Or, in other words, that the HE would not be a part of it.
I will look at these very closely. The first room I'm trying this in my house will only require four of them, so I'm too concerned about the price.
