Our bar is coming along so nicely! One of the things I need to do next is make our live edge walnut bar shelves. I want to integrate LED strips to provide some background uplighting. I know they sell some LED integrated wood shelves, but I couldn't find one that was live edge and wasn't like $300+ each for a 24" W x 6"-8" D and these weren't even smart. Approximate length is 12' total.
Looking for recommendations for the follow:
LED diffuser channel. Preferably on the thinner side.
Zigbee or Z-wave RGB Smart LED light strips OR DIY:
RGB LED light strips
RGB Smart Controller
Power supply
Here is a potential one I found. I wonder if I'll still need a diffuser channel for these LED tape strips. Tuya LED Tape Strip Zigbee (Oops this is the WiFi version)
Govee has been doing really good with Matter enabled devices. It is Wifi so not 100% meeting what you are asking, but Matter and Local LAN Api keeps it 100% local. Govee just launched their new LED Strips with Matter and a COB strip with Matter as well.
I have created some Matter drivers for the Govee devices as well that will also enable you to use their LAN API to pass their scenes/Effects on the strips as well.
That Tuya strip is most similar to the Govee Neon Ropes. The Govee Neon Rope 2 versions also support Matter as well.
Nice! I'm not very familiar with Matter. I don't even have it turned on in my hub haha! Do I need any other Matter devices to act as "hops" back to the hub?
Matter is available for C7, C8, or C8 Pro. You may need to turn it on.
Technically Hubitat recommends using a Matter enabled hub that can be a provisioner like Alexa, Home Asistant, or Apple Homekit. This is because the Hubitat Hub can't act as a provisioner to provision the device to other Matter hubs.
I have never done that except that for the initial testing as a beta user. I just take the code Govee provides and use that code to directly add to Hubiat. It does seem to work and function fine (better from my experience). I don't have any other hub device I would want to add the devices to though. if you want to add it to multiple hubs and not use Hubitat as a central point to manage it then it is probably best to use a good provisioning hub.
The nice thing with Govee is you can use pretty much any and all of the management options together. It has a cloud API that would be enabled from the Govee Integration community app, It will likely have the LAN API enabled, and as stated, those devices use Matter as well. I would suggest downloading the Matter driver I created though before adding them or use it after adding them with the generic driver.
If you considering DIY check Pixelblaze + COB addressable strips.
This is WiFi but has 100% local control from HE. Possibilities are endless.
PS.
Before I discovered a Pixelblaze I experimented with endless number of Zigbee/ZWave controllers. Nothing was working exactly as I wanted. But it could be just my specific requirements.
Here is the info I have collected for what devices Govee has that support Matter and the corresponding model numbers. You would probably want to look at the COB strip device, Neon Rope Light 2, Govee Strip Light 2 Pro, or the Wall Lining options. Some of those may still need a diffuser though depending on how it is installed. Govee will likely be a bit more expensive then the DIY options since it is a complete package with light device, controller and power source.
I'm not a fan of Matter but if you go Matter please come back & report. I'm using the Zigbee 3.0 controller below. The controller also supports an RF remote that works excellent. I think this device is actually made by Gledopto.
Gledopto was the one I was looking at, but really hoping there's just a quick oob solution haha. I'm wondering if getting those neon LED strips would make it so I don't need a diffuser.
I prefer this route when possible. Gives you the most options for the type of LEDs and power supply you want to use. You’re not stuck with whatever comes attached to a smart LED driver.
There is certainly merit to getting the individual parts. Then you have to discuss the types of strips. ie the below list
RGB = Single color strip with only color pixels
RGBW= Single color/color temp strip with color and Cool White pixels
RGBWW = Single Color/color temp strip with color and Cool and Warm white pixels
RGBIC = Automated variants of the above types that pixels can be controlled individually or in groups.
The reason you would get strips with the White led's is because generally speaking RGB only strips struggle to make good cool and warm white light because it is emulated.
Each of those options above potentially require different controllers.
Then pixel density is important to reduce the need for Diffusers with 60 Pixel per meter being generally a minimum you want to go for good diffusion. COB lights can generally negate the need for diffuser because they are so high density, but can have more strict lengths available because of that same high density.
Power supply is generally just a matter of selecting the voltage your controller/strip use with an appropriate amperage rating based on the length of the strip and how much power it will draw at max. I would calculate the rating you expect the strip to consume at max and then add calculate what the amperage rating needed to only use 80% of the power supply at most at a given time.
Yes. Every Govee Matter device I have added right now was added directly to the Hubitat C8 Pro I have.
When I first experimented as part of the beta release I tried adding them first to Google Home and frankly that was a Nightmare. I did manage it, but it was very painful. I believe it wasn't the fault of the Govee device or the Hubitat hub, but Google home and the gear i have from them. While testing I finally decided during one of my re pairing exercises to try just putting the code directly into Hubitat and it worked.
Now since the testing for the Matter release is done all of the new devices I have have been added directly to the C8.
My process to setup the devices is as follows.
First use my phone to added the device to the Govee app, update if needed, and connect to WIFI.
Use the code either from the Govee app, or the sticker on the device to add it Hubitat using the Matter device add page.
If needed update the driver associated with the device on the device added to the hubitat UI
I have 6 devices added this way, and a few more I could add if I wanted to.
The big pro to this over using the LAN API is that Matter allows us to get device status updates without the Cloud API being involved. Really the only downside I have found to using the Matter integration on devices that really support it is the change in the way color is selected prevents really dim brightness values from being available.
All of that said if you want to connect the device directly to other Matter enabled hubs/devices it may be better to connect to a hub that act as a provisioning hub. As of right now it is my understanding that Hubitat can't do that. So that is just something to consider.
If i get one of these Govees, is there a way to cut them to length and hook them up in parallel to a single controller & power supply or will I need to buy 3 separate ones for our 3 shelves?
That isn't a simple answer. It depends on the item you choose. Some devices do have cut lines and can be cut, while others can't. I am fairly certain the new COB Strips and LED Strips can be cut. The Gen 2 Neon Rope may not be. I haven't used the new Gen 2 rope though.
I have seen videos were someone has cut a strip and put wire in between segments to have sequential separate runs, but i haven't seen them connect two strips to the same controller. It seems like it would be possiblepossible. The main concern would be having enough power. If you take two strips and connect the whole lenghts to one power source then you may draw to much power from the power adapter and through the controller itself.
Some LED Strips are expandable like the M1, so that would have extra headroom, but i suspect strips that are not ment to be expanded probably have a power supply that is just right for the one strip it has.
The total length I need is only 12’ and I’m assuming there is probably a 12’+ product but I could be wrong. I wanted to cut them into 4’ lengths for each shelf but have them controlled by the same controller and power supply
It will not work with Govee, but you could use Litcessory (Amazon.com: Litcessory) with a different lightstrip. Philips Hue/Wiz, LIFX, and Nanoleaf can be cut, have third party extensions to allow for this possibility, and can be brought into Hubitat. The catch is that most of these common lightstrips only go to about 10 feet or so before you start needing a custom power supply. At this length, you might have to very creative.
Edit I’ve got my units off. They can go up to 10 meters not feet, so plenty of length for your plans.
It really depends on what you get. The big catch is allot of devices don't have a way to adjust the LED count on the strip. What that means is when you cut them automations still think there the full lenght so some strangeness can happen.
The govee strips are nothing different from the strips you would get doing a DIY setup. You are just paying for them to be preconfigured, with a set of abilities, with a warrenty.
If you are going to cut and make 4 4ft sections you may want to go DIY as allot of the benifit goes away the more you do that. In theory you could take a 16 Ft M1 strip and cut it 4 times, solder wires to the strip ends and then connect them all to the controller with wagos, but at that point you have no warrenty and it is a crapshoot how long it will work with no warrenty.
Do you have pictures of exactly what you are trying to do? Why do you want one controller for all 4?
Correction i think i would just get 1 of the Govee Cob 9.8ft lights and try it out. Maybe try to to split it and then hack at the left over piece to try to connect it back to it. There is a 16.4ft version of the cob light that could cover it all, but if it doesnt work for you then it would be a bigger loss. That device.is definitely cuttable.
Here is the link for it. To prevent headaches you could just get 4 of the 10 ft kits, and cut it to legnth and be done with it.
If you can deal with only one color per strip I would recommend something like these
They are small , bright and uniform so its nearly impossible to see the individual leds.
I use them with a GLEDOPTO RGBW controller.
