Exterior LED Strip lighting control

[morrisdlx]

Please excuse me if I am posting in the wrong thread.

I have a “U” shaped house built around a pool/deck area. On each end there are outlets in the soffit. I had hoped to use these to power led strip lighting attached to the inside of the pool enclosure. I have a quote for the strip lighting but, I am a little confused as to the best way to integrate this lighting into my Homeseer automation. I had planned to put a waterproof box on the wall near the outlet and am looking at an outdoor zwave extension cord to provide me with on/off options. Does this make sense?

[eliashall]

I ran multi color LEDs on my house eves.
I use a single 12V 300Watt power supply, then wire the LEDs through a selection of "Qubino Z-Wave Plus RGBW Controller ZMNHWD3" so I can control different sections independently.
if you only need a single color, with no granular control, then any Zwave outlet will work.

[mulu]

Or use a z-wave outlet. Most if not all are not made for outdoors, though but you could build a weatherproof box around it. Check with your electrician. These solutions only give you on/off options, though. You might want to look into LED strip light controllers so you can also dim the lights or even control the color if you have color LEDs.

[morrisdlx]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

After posting my thoughts for lights around my pool deck and reading the many threads on LED lighting, I realize I have little understanding of can be done. So, I think the best thing is to tell what I would like to achieve and then incorporate your recommendations. Here is what I want to be able to do:

• Activate lights using a variety of Homeseer scenarios, motion, sunset etc.
• Remotely activate the lights from an HSTouch application.
• Link the activation of these lights via IFTTT such that when the home security system is activated I can turn them on as a deterrent.

I am not that interested in a multi-color solution and therefore have not spent much time looking at that type of lighting. As such, I did not worry too much about controllers.

With the above provided, can you recommend a straightforward install?

Thanks

[Michael McSharry]

The integration with HS is the easy part. The LED controller you need will depend upon the type of LED lights you are installing and the number of LEDs that are being powered. For controllers you will find the biggest selection to be WiFi. Do you have WiFi coverage to the pool area. A typical controller is Shelly RGBW2. This will easily service 4 white strips for a total of more than 60 ft for each controller used. There are also higher amperage controllers with smaller selection and less potential for control via HS.

[morrisdlx]

The integration with HS is the easy part. The LED controller you need will depend upon the type of LED lights you are installing and the number of LEDs that are being powered....

At this point I was planning on a very low wattage white LED solution. https://www.flexfireleds.com/outdoor...t-by-the-reel/

[mulu]

Wow, $135 per strip light... Granted mine are cheap lights produced in China and they are for indoor applications but $135 is crazy... Just my 2 cents...

[123qweasd]

All of my outdoors lighting (Light strips, flood lights, light strings, RGB and RGBWW controllers. Lots of it.) are from Aliexpress/China (outdoors rated); Installed in 2015 + unforgiving canadian winters... never had a single issue. Actually purchased multiple spares as I was expecting failures and they are still in the boxes.... 15ft waterproof rgbww strip : 10usd shipped.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3290..._backgroup_101

I see no rational reason to pay 135usd...

[Michael McSharry]

These are rated at 2.9 watt/ft which is typical of all LED strips. Assuming you are using 24V this implies a power supply of 2 Amps/strip. The WiFi Shelly RGBW2 and the Zwave Fibaro RGBW both support a max of 288 watts or up to 100 ft of lights. I'm certain the quality of the LEDs at this link is good, but the price is 10 times higher than commodity versions such as https://www.amazon.com/Tasodin-Water...7169777&sr=8-2

Select WiFi vs. Zwave based upon your coverage range and personal technology preference. It likely will be the HS Zwave plug-in for the Fibaro and something like mcsShelly or mcsMQTT for the WiFi. Other plug-in options are available for both.

The plug-in will provide devices for each of the four channels of light strip per controller. If you need more than 100 ft then use multiple controllers. Either multiple power supplies or one large one sized at 150% of the amperage you expect to use. You have the challenge of the physical install of the lights and the power supply to the controllers. The controller also needs to be protected from the weather.

All plugins will provide on/off and dim control that can be activated by event that provide your first requirement. mcsShelly and mcsMQTT also provide the ability to ramp at a specified rate. You need to define the triggers and number of events that will be involved in control of the lights.

The device model works from HSTouch just as it does from events. You just need to define your UI to bring the lighting devices to the screen.

I do not have specific knowledge of the setup for IFTTT, but there are many examples on this message board. The question I would have is the need to use IFTTT and introduce the cloud into your control solution. Of course if the security system is not integrated with HS but does support IFTTT then this makes sense.

[JimSpy]

While we're on the subject, I'm brand new to LED strips. I have one set that is controlled by Magic Home, and I got the Magic Home Plugin, but I have no idea how to configure it. I've already done Device Discovery and that works, but what goes in the field Magic Home Settings: Device: 2CF432AB5CF4? I assume I just leave the rest to default or change as needed.

Also, my wife got a set that responds to the Smart Life app. Is there a SmartLife plug in?

[Michael McSharry]

Smart life is Tuya. HS4 has Tuya and 3rd party plugin exists in beta form for HS3.

i think there is a magichome plugin. In my case I flashed Tasmota firmware in the magichome controller and use mcsMQTT plugin.

[Alex_W]

Wow, $135 per strip light... Granted mine are cheap lights produced in China and they are for indoor applications but $135 is crazy... Just my 2 cents...

It's really hard to say unless you've had both products in your hands. I've seen some commercial grade LED tubes and bulbs that provide superb light quality and durability, but they are not inexpensive. The biggest difference between these products and residential grade components is in the build quality and the color rendering.

There can also be safety issues, especially with LED replacement tubes that operate directly off line voltage (bypassing the ballast). There is only one system that I know of that uses tubes with internal circuitry that will prevent accidental electric shock when installing the tubes and provides sockets that are rated for AC line voltage while providing ingress protection.

https://secureservercdn.net/192.169....oHX_LED_X8.pdf

I'm sure they are significantly more expensive that tubes sold at retail, but then again they won't kill you while installing them. I've also seen these tube installed a warehouse and the quality of the light impressed me so much that I replaced the LED bulbs in my home with HX bulbs. They were not inexpensive but everything in the house looks better and my wife loves them. Happy Wife; Happy Life.

Sometimes you get what you pay for. Not always, but sometimes.

[123qweasd]

I wouldn't recommend using AC line voltage outdoors for lighting. Not needed with LED efficiency and as stated above just unnecessarily risky. 12V or 24 v DC does a great job, no risk involved. Keep your power supply(ies) and controller(s) indoors and just bring 12v wires outdoors. Make sure you check your cable lenghts and pick the right gauge based on voltage drops.

[838Joel]

Quick question about using led strips, 12v or 24v which is better? Or that does not change anything!

I have some led light at the moment and they use 12v... But I was thinking of replacing some with led strips that I can change the colour etc. Will need maybe 5 or 6 strips of 19 feet long. Any recommendations? Power, voltage, etc

Thanks,
Joel

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[Eman]

Quick question about using led strips, 12v or 24v which is better? Or that does not change anything!

I have some led light at the moment and they use 12v... But I was thinking of replacing some with led strips that I can change the colour etc. Will need maybe 5 or 6 strips of 19 feet long. Any recommendations? Power, voltage, etc

Thanks,
Joel

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

ZHITING DC Power Converter Regulator Waterproof，DC/DC 24V Step Down To 12V 20A 240W



Look out for AMPs output : Amazon UK But you can also search that end. You can power it (input) a few ways


Eman.