Hi all,need some advise on the above.
I'm wanting 2 5-8mtr long light strips for the kitchen. I currently have 2 Phillips hue Lightstrip plus but what I'm wanting to do is use the Lightstrips in a plaster in led channel in the ceiling but the problem I have is that the ZigBee control box on the Phillips Lightstrips are about six inch from the start of the led strip. This causes a problem as I don't really want the ZigBee control box in the ceiling and also part of the ceiling is solid concrete so where would the ZigBee control box go.
I could always cut and lengthen the cable between the led strip and the control box but I'd rather not. So was looking at alternatives.
Any ideas🤔
Cheers kev
Just to make sure... You are looking for alternatives to the control box? I have had good luck with both Dresden FLS-PP lp and the GLEDOPTO controllers. They handle bare wires so you can use any sort of RGB or RGBW strip, even extended with other wires. Less satisfied with Lightify Flex Strips.
If you are looking for just LED strips, there are many RGB or RGBW ones out there. I would always recommend RGBW at this point.
I am still looking for a controller that could handle WS2812 or similar LEDs.
I would like the same functionality as the lightstrip plus is possible and would like hue integration as all the lights in the house are hue.
Hoping this is possible. 
Just look for a controller that uses Zigbee or ZLL as it's protocol. If a controller works with Hue, they are likely to report that on their listing since it is probably the most popular one around. For example, here's one from RGB Genie that uses zigbee that is compatible wit hue
And user @Gnant is one of the founders of the company and is a Hubitat user as well. So, he can speak to connecting it via Hubitat vs. Hue.
Personally, I would connect directly to Hubitat wherever possible. You are going to get much better performance and it is one less thing to fail in the chain of control. Is there a specific reason you want to keep it tied to Hue?
If you don’t want to cut the cables.. there are plenty of different sized extension cables you can buy on Amazon
I’m just remodelling our kitchen and am using Hue lightstrips under all the cabinets and above kick-boards along with a couple of extensions and ‘loops’ to get everything well lit.
Andy
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Thanks for the info.
I want to still use my hue dimmers to control the Lightstrips ,I've been advised I can pair my dimmers to HE but I've not tried yet. If this is possible then I suppose it changes things.
Also all the other lights in the kitchen will be hue so I'd like the colours to match.
Cheers kev
Yeah I've seen them but the lightstrip plus connectors are 6 Separate connectors on each end so from what I see there not the cleanest of connectors.
Yes, definitely don't want to mix and match strips. I've seen reports from people that buying the same brand of those cheap Chinese Analog strips give different colors between batches. If you have the money for them, hue will definitely give you the best consistency. I just can't bring myself to shell out that kind of money for biased lighting. I know it looks cool but I haven't got that kind of money to burn quite yet.
I’ve been planning the kitchen work for a few months so picked up all my hue stuff cheaper on prime day or black friday
I usually get £20 off and a free 1m extension strip.
Still had to buy 6 though 
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That's a pretty good deal though. I always seem to think of it when they are at the highest price of the year.
The one thing with hue that I just can't get over is paying all that money for analog strips. For those kinds of prices, you should really be getting digital, individually addressable leds. It opens up a much bigger realm of possibilities when it comes to effects.
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That is what I wound up doing. My Hue bridge is now empty. And the new color picker on the dashboard made it an easier decision.
The benefit I noticed right off the bat was that the polling was much quicker. For example, if I had a lighting rule where one Z-wave light went off and I wanted it to turn off another light on my bridge, it would take quite a while for the hue light to go off. Even when I had polling set to 10 seconds. Directly connected, a second at the most.
But that is just my personal experience. Others will recommend keeping the hue lights on the bridge. So it really is just about what works for you.
Yeah, anything hue is going to screw up your Zigbee mesh eventually. Better to keep those on your bridge. What i meant was pick a device that pairs well with HE and pair that directly.
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