For a long time now we have wanted to put strips around the ceiling in our family room. I am fairly certain that I am going to use RGBGenie hardware. There are some things I am not too sure on though.
As far as appearance goes, how is everyone concealing the hardware? I want a fairly stealth install but I'm not sure what people are doing to conceal the controller.
Maybe I missed it on the site but I'm not sure how long of a run I can do without needing repeaters.
What chipset (LED) plays best with them?
In theory, because it is low voltage, you could hide the controller maybe in the basement, a closet, or in a built-in bookshelf or similar. The wiring from the controller could run through the walls and come out (presumably) in the crown molding area. Probably would be easier than a new outlet at ceiling height, and hiding a brick of a controller somewhere. Unless you wanted to make a cover like an old doorbell has or something.
There is a length limit depending upon what controller (or more specifically what voltage) you choose. The 24V stuff can have longer lengths, but even then I would consider running multiple feeds instead of trying to make a big loop. If you do a loop, the beginning LED are almost always brighter than the end of the line ones. If the beginning and end butt together, it will be noticeable.
I just use the cheapest bulk RGBW or RGBWW (depending upon controller) strips I can find on Amazon or Ebay, and I think they are OK. Not sure if I would be happier with Hue or something premium like that, I mostly have these as a little accent here and there, so exact color rendering isn't terribly important to me.
I have a couple of LED string lights setup. In both cases, I have power going to them, and both have wiring going to the switch in case I eventually need them to be controlled directly. For now however, they are controlled via the hub.
Here’s one - this is Sheetrock on a 2x4 and 2x2 frame:
This is how its powered (This is the top left from the first picture). It is using a Zigbee control via Hue:
Here’s another one that is built using pressed wood:
It has two power options - Plug or pass-through to a closet:
As you can see, because of the angle, the setup cannot be seen or is barely noticeable from ground level.
For the second setup, I use the Inovelli light strip - works great.
In both setups, I paint the inside with chrome paint to help with the light reflectivity.
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