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We are having a discussion in another thread about some of this, particularly the strips.  It seems like DMX is the best way to control them.  But an option that I like is the Dresden Elektronik ballast that is Hue compatible - it makes the controller/strip show up as a Hue light bulb.  You can then control it in C4 using one of the Hue drivers.

Here is the Dresden controller:  https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-electronic-ballast-interface-certified/dp/B00NMSQ4QQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1533234894&sr=8-1&keywords=dresden+elektronik

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The problem with the Hue driver is that it is less functional than the DMX one.  Once C4 finally releases a color wheel that can be used in the lighting section, the Hue integration may change for the better.  But as of now, the DMX solution is far superior.

If all you do is turn lights on/off and change the color every now and then, both options will give you that.  I just find that the DMX solution does it better/easier.

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I am sure you are correct, but if you already have Hue stuff and don't want to get into DMX then this is an option.  I also find some of the Hue apps fun like their holiday apps that simulate fireworks, new years, halloween, etc.

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On 8/2/2018 at 2:35 PM, zaphod said:

We are having a discussion in another thread about some of this, particularly the strips.  It seems like DMX is the best way to control them.  But an option that I like is the Dresden Elektronik ballast that is Hue compatible - it makes the controller/strip show up as a Hue light bulb.  You can then control it in C4 using one of the Hue drivers.

Here is the Dresden controller:  https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-electronic-ballast-interface-certified/dp/B00NMSQ4QQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1533234894&sr=8-1&keywords=dresden+elektronik

Might be better off just getting the Hue strips. In my opinion they might be better as they do RGBCCT. Lots of choices if you don't want to do DMX and feel like hacking something into Hue. Lots of controllers can be had off aliexpress. GLEDOPTO is a brand that offers controllers. Use your own balast.

I don't think there is a perfect solution at the moment. I don't think you can go wrong with either. They just have different compromises at this time. For me the color wheel limitation on the TS is disappointing. 

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2 hours ago, Pounce said:

Might be better off just getting the Hue strips. In my opinion they might be better as they do RGBCCT. Lots of choices if you don't want to do DMX and feel like hacking something into Hue. Lots of controllers can be had off aliexpress. GLEDOPTO is a brand that offers controllers. Use your own balast.

I don't think there is a perfect solution at the moment. I don't think you can go wrong with either. They just have different compromises at this time. For me the color wheel limitation on the TS is disappointing. 

True if you are doing a very short run.  The Hue light strips are about $90 for 2m and they sell extensions for about $30 for 1m.  Compare that to generic strips that you can buy for about $10-$20 per 5m roll - plus the controller and PS.  But if you are just using one zone then you only need one controller - but you may need to amplify the signal every 10m or so.   IMHO the Hue strips are so short as to be pretty much useless.  True these $10 stips may not be as good quality-wise but I haven't had an issue with the ones that I have indoors - the ones outdoor exposed to the elements have given me trouble.

I also have some strips with the $5 controllers that use IR.  Alan Chow has a Generic IR driver that can control these.  So that is another option but you need LOS to a controller or IR blaster.

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2 hours ago, Dave w said:

You also need the Hue Hub and hue drivers for all the above (non-dmx) options, correct?

Correct, so it makes more sense if you already have some Hue stuff.  There is at least one free driver and at least one premium paid driver.  You can get the Hue starter kits with a couple of white bulbs for about $50-$60.  I have some Hue bulbs in areas where I couldn't easily retrofit my existing switches - so I keep the switch on and control them with C4.  So I already had a Hue hub.  And I like some of the fun Hue apps for colour control.

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18 hours ago, zaphod said:

True if you are doing a very short run.  The Hue light strips are about $90 for 2m and they sell extensions for about $30 for 1m.  Compare that to generic strips that you can buy for about $10-$20 per 5m roll - plus the controller and PS.  But if you are just using one zone then you only need one controller - but you may need to amplify the signal every 10m or so.   IMHO the Hue strips are so short as to be pretty much useless.  True these $10 stips may not be as good quality-wise but I haven't had an issue with the ones that I have indoors - the ones outdoor exposed to the elements have given me trouble.

I also have some strips with the $5 controllers that use IR.  Alan Chow has a Generic IR driver that can control these.  So that is another option but you need LOS to a controller or IR blaster.

Yea, the cost is one of those compromises. I've been through this analysis and one of the considerations is long term care and feeding. Hue updates their firmware every so often and there could be a point where not having hue branded stuff could be an issue. Not saying it would, but it's a consideration. Like I'm waiting for them to update their bulbs to implement memory for the color and dim level so when power is cycled they don't default to something else. When that happens there will be a difference in programming that can happen.

Like you I do not mind hacking my own stuff together. I have maybe 100 meters of LED strip or various types that I have used for projects over the years. Home lighting to hula hoops with 9DOF logic. When you start pushing down the hacking path the DMX choice becomes the smart choice. Not without compromises, but total control and commodity product options. The driver and controller option from  Domaudeo are pretty slick.

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1 hour ago, Pounce said:

Like you I do not mind hacking my own stuff together. I have maybe 100 meters of LED strip or various types that I have used for projects over the years. Home lighting to hula hoops with 9DOF logic. When you start pushing down the hacking path the DMX choice becomes the smart choice. Not without compromises, but total control and commodity product options. The driver and controller option from  Domaudeo are pretty slick.

And there is no way that you would do 100 meters of strips with Hue as they don't make sense for long runs.

I have tried to read a bit about DMX but it isn't clear to me what you need.  To use DMX with generic RGB strips I guess you need a DMX controller - but do you need some general master controller that controls all DMX devices on a system?  Is this what Domaudeo makes that has a C4 driver?

If that is the case then does the Domaudeo DMX device play the part of the DMX USB interface in the below diagram, and the C4 controller plays the part of the PC?

Piture-of-DMX-USB-DMX-diagram.jpg

 

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Yes, the PC is C4 and the controller is the serial box from Domaudeo.

The one they offer currently uses serial connection to C4. You then have DMX decoders attached to lighting in some form. A decoder has channels. Each channel is a single wire connection. An RGB strip has 3 channels for control. An RGBCCT has 5. Along with the DMX decoder you need the LED driver/power supply. So an example is you get a $40 12 channel controller to control 2+ strips of LED with length defined by the driver etc you chose.

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We have several retrofit RGB lighting solutions.  I'll list down the compatible models below with hardware pricing (going to list non RGB as well for those interested).  Probably not for everybody but its good for quick in and quick out retrofit affordable lighting.

 

Yeelight (Wifi Retrofit.  No hub or cabling required) - https://www.chowmainsoft.com/yeelight-control4

White Bulb ($12.72 USD) - https://www.gearbest.com/smart-light-bulb/pp_278478.html?wid=1433363

White Bulb with Color Temp ($15.99 USD) - https://www.gearbest.com/led-light-bulbs/pp_1664061.html?wid=1433363

RGBW Bulb ($17.89 USD) - https://www.gearbest.com/smart-lighting/pp_361555.html

2m RGB Strip ($29.99 USD) - https://www.gearbest.com/smart-lighting/pp_424884.html

 

TP-Link (Wifi Retrofit.  No hub or cabling required) - https://www.chowmainsoft.com/tplink-control4

White Bulb - ($19.99 USD) - https://www.tp-link.com/us/products/details/cat-5609_LB100.html

White Bulb with Color Temp ($24.99 USD) - https://www.tp-link.com/us/products/details/cat-5609_LB120.html

RGB Bulb ($34.99 USD) - https://www.tp-link.com/us/products/details/cat-5609_LB130.html

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13 hours ago, zaphod said:

@alanchow - And don't forget your generic IR driver that I use for some strips with the ~$5 IR controllers that come with IR remote controls.

Oh yeah totally forgot about the Generic Lighting Driver (even though i have it running my daughters bunk bed RGBW lighting). https://www.chowmainsoft.com/generic-lighting-driver

IR Controlled RGBW Controller ($4.49 USD) - https://www.banggood.com/DC-12-24V-2A4-Channel-40Key-RGBW-Led-IR-Remote-Controller-Dimmer-For-RGBW-Strip-Lights-p-1016889.html?rmmds=search

5m RGBW strip + IR Controlled Controller ($14.99 USD) - https://www.banggood.com/5M-SMD5050-RGBW-Waterproof-300-LED-Strip-Tape-Rope-Light-Kit-40-Keys-IR-Remote-Controller-DC12V-p-1130613.html?rmmds=search

 

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I had some Hue strips from before I had my C4 system installed, and a few months after having my C4 system installed, I decided to put them on the top of my kitchen cabinets facing the ceiling. I didn't have enough to cover all my kitchen cabinets, so I bought a different brand that was on sale called Yeelight. They were a little better because they didn't need a hub, like the Hue does. 

When I had my new projector installed in my media room, I also had all my equipment racks mounted flush into the wall. I asked the installer about adding some LED strips to light up the front of the racks, and he installed some LIFX LED strips, which I think work the best out of all of them. They also don't need a hub to operate, and the colors are much deeper and more saturated than all the others. Another thing I like about the LIFX LED strips is if you have them hooked up and someone turns off the power to those LEDs on accident, or if your power went out, when power is restored back to the LED strips, they turn on to whatever color was set when they were cut off. With the Hue LEDs, they default back to white, and the Yeelight don't come back on at all. Both of those you must go into the app, or the complicated C4 interface, and set them back up how they were. The LIFX LED strips automatically go back to the color they were on before they lost power. So this, not needing a hub, and having more saturated colors put LIFX on the top of my list.

I've been looking into the Colorbeam lighting for a new project I'm starting soon, but I don't know much about them yet. I know they're DMX controlled, so you won't have to worry about WiFi interference, but I haven't seen them in person to comment on how they look. They were recommended by a few people I know, so if the colors look at good as the LIFX and they're not crazy expensive, I might end up replacing all of my LED strips. With 80 clients on my home network along with 225 Zigbee clients, anything to reduce the radio interface is a plus. 

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40 minutes ago, rolldog said:

I had some Hue strips from before I had my C4 system installed, and a few months after having my C4 system installed, I decided to put them on the top of my kitchen cabinets facing the ceiling. I didn't have enough to cover all my kitchen cabinets, so I bought a different brand that was on sale called Yeelight. They were a little better because they didn't need a hub, like the Hue does. 

When I had my new projector installed in my media room, I also had all my equipment racks mounted flush into the wall. I asked the installer about adding some LED strips to light up the front of the racks, and he installed some LIFX LED strips, which I think work the best out of all of them. They also don't need a hub to operate, and the colors are much deeper and more saturated than all the others. Another thing I like about the LIFX LED strips is if you have them hooked up and someone turns off the power to those LEDs on accident, or if your power went out, when power is restored back to the LED strips, they turn on to whatever color was set when they were cut off. With the Hue LEDs, they default back to white, and the Yeelight don't come back on at all. Both of those you must go into the app, or the complicated C4 interface, and set them back up how they were. The LIFX LED strips automatically go back to the color they were on before they lost power. So this, not needing a hub, and having more saturated colors put LIFX on the top of my list.

I've been looking into the Colorbeam lighting for a new project I'm starting soon, but I don't know much about them yet. I know they're DMX controlled, so you won't have to worry about WiFi interference, but I haven't seen them in person to comment on how they look. They were recommended by a few people I know, so if the colors look at good as the LIFX and they're not crazy expensive, I might end up replacing all of my LED strips. With 80 clients on my home network along with 225 Zigbee clients, anything to reduce the radio interface is a plus. 

Yeelight has a 'default state' option which allows you pick a scene or recover to the previous state or you can just leave it as the default which is an off state.

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13 hours ago, rolldog said:

I've been looking into the Colorbeam lighting for a new project I'm starting soon, but I don't know much about them yet. I know they're DMX controlled, so you won't have to worry about WiFi interference, but I haven't seen them in person to comment on how they look. They were recommended by a few people I know, so if the colors look at good as the LIFX and they're not crazy expensive, I might end up replacing all of my LED strips. With 80 clients on my home network along with 225 Zigbee clients, anything to reduce the radio interface is a plus. 

Colorbeam is crazy expensive, so I may have saved you some research time.

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6 hours ago, lippavisual said:

Colorbeam is crazy expensive, so I may have saved you some research time.

If you're looking at Colorbeam, you should also look at LumaStream. I think their new tunable white is a better option.

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On 8/14/2018 at 8:54 AM, lippavisual said:

Colorbeam is crazy expensive, so I may have saved you some research time.

That’s what I’ve heard, but I’d really like to see them plus the have some really cool designs, like being flush mounted into the drywall. I bought one of the LIFX beams, which are modular magnetic pieces that hook end to end, but when I put them in my equipment room, where I have an AP installed, the LIFX beam modules put off so much WiFi interference that nothing else could connect to the AP. This is why I’d like to see the Colorbeam. They sell the only wired LED strip I’ve seen that integrates well with Control4. To be honest, I think Control4 really needs to update their UI for colored lights. I have some RGB LED strips in various spots, but I never use the Control4 interface to operate the lights. If they could add some sort of color wheel, that would be a bonus. I’m not smart enough to know what percentage of the primary colors are used to make up all 16 million colors.

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  • 1 month later...

Yeelight is my preferred choice, however the light strip is only 2m long, Chowmain Driver is solid rock and works flawlessly with C4.  TCO = Driver + Hardware is way below any other and the quality is superior.

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