RGB LED advice

[msgreenf]

working on my bar which will have floating shelves.  I would like to do color change RGB LED's with c4 integration.  Need to cut to size and connect with LV wiring many segments together with gaps in the middle.  Any advice on a product to use?  

It doesn't that Yeelight or Hue will fit this bill.

[tbutman8]

Do you have a preferred communication protocol in mind? You could do this pretty inexpensive if you can get an IR bud there. Using SUPERNIGHT's RGBWW light strip and Alan's Generic lighting driver, you can program all your needs. You can also cut, install extension wires where you don't need the light (going to the next shelf?). Splicing the wires is tedious but doable. 

[msgreenf]

thanks @tbutman8 always knew IR was an option but was looking to avoid that.  Prefer Wifi..

[lippavisual]

You can use just about any RGB LED strips.  You will need at least 4 conductor wire for RGB and 5/6 conductor for RGBW.

Distance from power transformer to the light location will determine the wire gauge required for the homerun.  I usually just do 18/4 for 12VDC and 16/4 for 24VDC on the homeruns.  Then if all the shelves are close to each other, guessing so since its a bar, then you can use 22/4 or 22/6 to either splice or solder between all your strips.

As far as control with C4, the DMX that was on HL is the best, but can be a tad pricey for a one-off solution.  Plenty of IR controlled controllers.  Chowmain has a neat driver for those types.

[alanchow]

Yeelight will let you cut t (there is scissor marks on it for where you should do it) but you can't extend it.  2 meters is the max you will get from a single strip.  Though having said that it is extremely cheap for a full wifi controlled dimmable RGBW strip so just buy more if you need more.

[alanchow]

For those who haven't seen our new two way Yeelight driver here it is.  Yeelight hardware starts from $18 on Amazon for a white wifi dimmable bulb.

the one I have in the video is the $25 RGBW dimmable bulb. Look you can change Color temperature as well!

 

[zaphod]

Does the Yeelight driver just work for their stuff or will it work for other cheap wifi connected lights?  I use some light strip controllers (see here)that work with a phone app called Magic Home.  There is also an API available on github that works with these controllers here:  https://github.com/beville/flux_led.  Any ideas of these would work with this controller?  Currently I use your Generic TCP driver to hit a URL that has some python code adapter from that Github repository to control the light strips.

[msgreenf]

Does the Yeelight driver just work for their stuff or will it work for other cheap wifi connected lights?  I use some light strip controllers (see here)that work with a phone app called Magic Home.  There is also an API available on github that works with these controllers here:  https://github.com/beville/flux_led.  Any ideas of these would work with this controller?  Currently I use your Generic TCP driver to hit a URL that has some python code adapter from that Github repository to control the light strips.

Funny you ask. Those are not the same but it's on my to do list to make a magic home driver. I have some in my bar

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[zaphod]

On 17/08/2017 at 9:06 AM, msgreenf said:

thanks @tbutman8 always knew IR was an option but was looking to avoid that.  Prefer Wifi..

I am a bit late on the response but there is this controller that is a zigbee product.  I have several of these and have them added to my Hue hub so they show up as a Hue light bulb.  Then they can be controlled in C4 like any Hue colored bulb.  There may be a way to add them directly since they are Zigbee.

There are also wifi connected light strip controllers but they aren't as easy to control directly from C4. 

[zaphod]

2 minutes ago, msgreenf said:

Funny you ask. Those are not the same but it's on my to do list to make a magic home driver. I have some in my bar
 

I would be all over that.  I have stripped down the code from the Github repository to just turn lights on and off.  I currently run this on an Apache server that can handle python code, so hitting:

http://192.168.1.104/cgi-bin/led_ctrl.py?ip=192.168.1.211&command=on will switch the lines on.  I have set it up for three commands, on, off and toggle.  When I want to change colours I just use the Magic Home app but you could also do the code for that or other funky stuff like flashing, etc that is available through the app as well.

[alanchow]

6 hours ago, zaphod said:

Does the Yeelight driver just work for their stuff or will it work for other cheap wifi connected lights?  I use some light strip controllers (see here)that work with a phone app called Magic Home.  There is also an API available on github that works with these controllers here:  https://github.com/beville/flux_led.  Any ideas of these would work with this controller?  Currently I use your Generic TCP driver to hit a URL that has some python code adapter from that Github repository to control the light strips.

It only works with their products.  It is their own unique API (which is actually really good - gives instant feedback).

[Hizzle]

On 11/5/2017 at 9:43 AM, msgreenf said:

Funny you ask. Those are not the same but it's on my to do list to make a magic home driver. I have some in my bar

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 

Hey msgreenf,

I'm also looking at a Magic Home setup for bar lights.  I've been playing around with them.  There is actually a full featured "driver" which can be controlled through Mi Casa Vera.  Using that I can switch the light on, off and dim but not control the color through C4.  Have you made any more progress on the Magic Home driver directly for C4?  Thanks.

[msgreenf]

Coming soon. No eta yet

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[Mark LaBelle]

I love my dmx controlled RGB.  I have them everywhere....  Domaudeo.com Man, they are highly configurable and spot on.  No "popcorning" and works with any RGB lighting.  

BTW, that IP Driver for the Samsung works flawlessly.  It just took some time for the system to catch up and get acclimated. 

 

[jingcha]

On 12/15/2018 at 5:18 PM, Hizzle said:

Hey msgreenf,

I'm also looking at a Magic Home setup for bar lights.  I've been playing around with them.  There is actually a full featured "driver" which can be controlled through Mi Casa Vera.  Using that I can switch the light on, off and dim but not control the color through C4.  Have you made any more progress on the Magic Home driver directly for C4?  Thanks.

Hi Hizzle,

Did you try integrating Alexa smart skills for Magic Home, I recently installed the LED RGB lights with Magic Home controller in my Media room, with Alexa voice commands I could change the colors, I haven't tried to get other functions such as gradual fade, the flashing mode or the changing LEDs with music on with Alexa

[Hizzle]

Hello jingcha,

I haven't tried using Alexa but I got most everything working I wanted by using Vera and Control4.  Since my lights are all z-wave, that is why I have Vera.  I've tried the Control4 z-wave controller and it just doesn't support many devices.  So, Vera has a plugin to manage Magic Home.  It is written in Lua, so my thoughts are that it may be able to be reused for Control4 drivers.  This is outside of my expertise.  msgreenf mentioned he is working on a driver.

I am able to manage everything through Vera including dimming, changing colors, setting modes, etc...  First create a scene in Vera for colors and modes.  Then from Control4 I created the led strip light as a dimmer.  After that, create and map the Scenes in Control4 for the different colors and modes.  I can now turn the light on, change the colors through the scenes, and also control dimming of the lights.   So far it works how I want it to work.  If I want to change to a different color, that isn't defined as a Scene, or turn on a different mode (rarely used) I'll just use the Magic Home app.

[mindedc1]

If you have a Vera you can just use a Fibaro Zwave RGBW driver. I am controlling bar lights, ceiling rope lights, and under stair lights in my home theater through control 4. You can certainly make scenes on the Vera and trigger them but using the extravedge driver and directly controlling the lights is easy. Each channel will show up as an independant dimmer and you can also have a master dimmer controll all channels. 

I am actually using white LEDs for one of the Fibaros and have broken the channels out to independent strips. Works like a champ.

[Hizzle]

8 hours ago, mindedc1 said:

If you have a Vera you can just use a Fibaro Zwave RGBW driver. I am controlling bar lights, ceiling rope lights, and under stair lights in my home theater through control 4. You can certainly make scenes on the Vera and trigger them but using the extravedge driver and directly controlling the lights is easy. Each channel will show up as an independant dimmer and you can also have a master dimmer controll all channels. 

I am actually using white LEDs for one of the Fibaros and have broken the channels out to independent strips. Works like a champ.

Hey mindetc1

are you using Home Magic modules or MiLight?  I believe I had MiLight working like you describe, 4 color + white channels, but it would be great if it worked on Home Magic too. 

[msgreenf]

I am working on a native magic home driver

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[mindedc1]

1 hour ago, Hizzle said:

Hey mindetc1

are you using Home Magic modules or MiLight?  I believe I had MiLight working like you describe, 4 color + white channels, but it would be great if it worked on Home Magic too. 

Niether. I'm using a Fibaro via Vera.

 

1 hour ago, msgreenf said:

I am working on a native magic home driver

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
 

I looked at the protocol, looks super easy to implement. The only negative I see is no feedback, you would have to assume that if the TCP connection is good that the device is actually responding to the command. I say that, the guy that decoded the protocol didn't seem to identify any form of response from the device. Perhaps he was uninterested in feedback and there is some nice functionality. 

[zaphod]

Here is some stuff on Github that controls these.  I used this as the basis for my hacking to use these lights in C4 using an intermediate web server and WebEvents plus Generic IP driver.

 

https://github.com/beville/flux_led

[Hizzle]

Hey msgreenf

Any progress on the Magic Home Driver?  I've got 2x so would be happy to be a beta tester.  Just let me know.

Regards,
Hizzle

[msgreenf]

No

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[msgreenf]

On 1/13/2019 at 7:32 PM, Hizzle said:

Hey msgreenf

Any progress on the Magic Home Driver?  I've got 2x so would be happy to be a beta tester.  Just let me know.

Regards,
Hizzle

there is a driver now - I didn''t write it but i use it and it works great!

 

https://www.drivercentral.io/platforms/control4-drivers/lighting/nexlux/

[msgreenf]

On 1/2/2019 at 2:34 PM, zaphod said:

Here is some stuff on Github that controls these.  I used this as the basis for my hacking to use these lights in C4 using an intermediate web server and WebEvents plus Generic IP driver.

 

https://github.com/beville/flux_led

driver out! 

there is a driver now - I didn''t write it but i use it and it works great!

 

https://www.drivercentral.io/platforms/control4-drivers/lighting/nexlux/