In-Ceiling LED Color Lighting Question

[rocky350z]

Now that control4 is integrating the color wheel into the platform I have a few questions for the group regarding RGBW lighting.

Currently my house is setup with all control4 dimmers (wireless wall switches, not panel).  Each room has approximately 4 in-ceiling LED dimmable cans (all the low-profile style) wired to the one switch.  What would you suggest switching the in-ceiling lights out to, if I wanted to do RGBW control (not only for added color but also for the white color temperature)?  Regarding programming, being they are on the wall switch, do they default to the last setting when turned on, or do they need to be reset each time, and will the dimming function still work?

In addition, when I built the house 3 years ago, I had 2 switches installed for LED strips above and below the kitchen cabinets (1 for each) and have yet to install them.  I would also like to add RGBW led strips to be controlled by Control4 in this location, do you have any suggestions for this?  Also, the same question when turned them on/off how will they default?  I also would like to add another feature to the Cabinet lighting that I am not sure is even possible being it is a large open room plan.  I would like to have them automatically come on in specific colors when certain sports games are on TV.  I.E. the lightning is playing at 8PM tonight is there a way somehow for a signal to be sent to Control4 to turn the cabinet lighting on when the game starts to Blue and White?  When Bucs games start to Red and White, USF Football (I know its sad) Green and Gold.  I think it would be a cool factor and be a reminder the game has started.

I appreciate all the great information you all give from this forum

[therockhr]

i am interested to see what the responses will be. I have an idea of what your best move would be for the in-ceiling cans but not for sure if it is ok or not.

[zaphod]

This is just one man's opinion, but I think coloured lights are a gimmick.  I have a bunch of Hue coloured bulbs and when I first got them I played around with the colours and some apps that do special effects like fireworks, holiday lighting, etc.

But after the first month they have been set on a shade of white and that is where they have stayed ever since.

I also have a few RGB LED strips in my house in various places.  They also stay set on white.

[Amr]

12 hours ago, rocky350z said:

Now that control4 is integrating the color wheel into the platform I have a few questions for the group regarding RGBW lighting.

Currently my house is setup with all control4 dimmers (wireless wall switches, not panel).  Each room has approximately 4 in-ceiling LED dimmable cans (all the low-profile style) wired to the one switch.  What would you suggest switching the in-ceiling lights out to, if I wanted to do RGBW control (not only for added color but also for the white color temperature)?  Regarding programming, being they are on the wall switch, do they default to the last setting when turned on, or do they need to be reset each time, and will the dimming function still work?

In addition, when I built the house 3 years ago, I had 2 switches installed for LED strips above and below the kitchen cabinets (1 for each) and have yet to install them.  I would also like to add RGBW led strips to be controlled by Control4 in this location, do you have any suggestions for this?  Also, the same question when turned them on/off how will they default?  I also would like to add another feature to the Cabinet lighting that I am not sure is even possible being it is a large open room plan.  I would like to have them automatically come on in specific colors when certain sports games are on TV.  I.E. the lightning is playing at 8PM tonight is there a way somehow for a signal to be sent to Control4 to turn the cabinet lighting on when the game starts to Blue and White?  When Bucs games start to Red and White, USF Football (I know its sad) Green and Gold.  I think it would be a cool factor and be a reminder the game has started.

I appreciate all the great information you all give from this forum

Ehhh, you are wiring ur lamps in parallel to one dimmer switch? Did I get this part right? A lot of people suggesting Philips WiZ as a great alternative to Hue at half the price, u need to take a look at their line.

To the 2nd part if u can analyze the EPG of your cable box or satellite where u watch these games u for sure can control lighting to anything u want, u will need to write ur own driver or contract someone to do that for you …

[emmabruj417]

control4 is integrating the color wheel into the that platform. for any better result u have to take any high resolution led or monitor   

 

[therockhr]

12 hours ago, zaphod said:

This is just one man's opinion, but I think coloured lights are a gimmick.  I have a bunch of Hue coloured bulbs and when I first got them I played around with the colours and some apps that do special effects like fireworks, holiday lighting, etc.

But after the first month they have been set on a shade of white and that is where they have stayed ever since.

I also have a few RGB LED strips in my house in various places.  They also stay set on white.

i could see that but its not just colors with the smart bulbs. The temperature of the whites is nice as well. 

[therockhr]

20 hours ago, rocky350z said:

Now that control4 is integrating the color wheel into the platform I have a few questions for the group regarding RGBW lighting.

Currently my house is setup with all control4 dimmers (wireless wall switches, not panel).  Each room has approximately 4 in-ceiling LED dimmable cans (all the low-profile style) wired to the one switch.  What would you suggest switching the in-ceiling lights out to, if I wanted to do RGBW control (not only for added color but also for the white color temperature)?  Regarding programming, being they are on the wall switch, do they default to the last setting when turned on, or do they need to be reset each time, and will the dimming function still work?

hopefully someone else will chime in and say i am wrong but I dont know if you can add smart bulbs to to your existing setup without making the c4 dimmers unusable. if you had dimmer keypads i think you could retain some functionality.

[RAV]

Red, Green, Blue should not be what we focus on, that's a gimick and the fun for a time. (media room and sports, cool, accents sure, a whole room, rare)

Go to the Ketra website. Watch the slides, it's hard to even see a light fixture.
It's about lighting the space, changing it's mood and function, layering the materials and accenting the colors.
Color is the spice, color temperature is the main course.

https://www.ketra.com/

My point being, it's not about primarys, or 4 ceiling cans each a different color.
It's about chaning the feel of a space, a living room that is at times a singular space to relax in AND others a place to party, or converse.

[therockhr]

26 minutes ago, RAV said:

Red, Green, Blue should not be what we focus on, that's a gimick and the fun for a time. (media room and sports, cool, accents sure, a whole room, rare)

Go to the Ketra website. Watch the slides, it's hard to even see a light fixture.
It's about lighting the space, changing it's mood and function, layering the materials and accenting the colors.
Color is the spice, color temperature is the main course.

https://www.ketra.com/

My point being, it's not about primarys, or 4 ceiling cans each a different color.
It's about chaning the feel of a space, a living room that is at times a singular space to relax in AND others a place to party, or converse.

you are right but I think most people (at least on this board) are more interesting in starting at having the ability to do it and then see what kind of things they can do with it.

it seems like a lot of the videos and literature i see it kind of appears that the downlights are just doing white temperature and not colors. the colors seem to come from lamps and other fixtures (i could totally be viewing this wrong though).

[Cyknight]

15 hours ago, zaphod said:

This is just one man's opinion, but I think coloured lights are a gimmick.

Indoors - mostly, unless it's a room 'with a function' or something like outdoor lighting. (Party room, or specialty items like glass bottle shelves lit with RGB) - in MANY cases, it ends up always white, or always a single colour.

That said, nothing wrong with a gimmick or two!

 

That said, tune-able white is a different matter.

 

On 6/22/2022 at 12:31 PM, rocky350z said:

What would you suggest switching the in-ceiling lights out to

Nothing specific from me here but a few pointers:

-C4 dimmers as such do not control colour.

-What you'd want to do is set them to always on, and program the buttons.

3 hours ago, therockhr said:

hopefully someone else will chime in and say i am wrong but I dont know if you can add smart bulbs to to your existing setup without making the c4 dimmers unusable. if you had dimmer keypads i think you could retain some functionality.

-Personally I would program them to change the warmth on tune-able white - maybe a double and triple tap top an bottom to select favourite colours instead. But yes keypads would obviously give you many more options.

[TFlury]

17 hours ago, zaphod said:

This is just one man's opinion, but I think coloured lights are a gimmick.  I have a bunch of Hue coloured bulbs and when I first got them I played around with the colours and some apps that do special effects like fireworks, holiday lighting, etc.

But after the first month they have been set on a shade of white and that is where they have stayed ever since.

 

1 hour ago, Cyknight said:

Indoors - mostly, unless it's a room 'with a function' or something like outdoor lighting. (Party room, or specialty items like glass bottle shelves lit with RGB) - in MANY cases, it ends up always white, or always a single colour.

That said, nothing wrong with a gimmick or two!

 

That said, tune-able white is a different matter.

It really depends on the person and environment so I would say Zaphod and Cyknight are both right. I work for a LED lighting company and have the product in my home. 

Tunable White in the bedrooms - I could set it to be circadian rhythm but my wife and I both prefer the cool 6.5k so that never changes.

In my living room and patio I have multiple spots with RGBW strip. Those mostly run in light scenes on a schedule and all turn white except part of a star trek logo I made and put strip in. I only activate the color if I am jamming out or playing some video games and want to watch them bounce with the audio.

I have seen a lot of cool things done with RGBW lighting but Indirect Lighting with trays and crown generally looks a lot better being an accent versus RGBW in ceiling can lights. They do have their place but as the primary light in a room 99.9% of the time they will just be white. 

[LollerAgent]

19 minutes ago, TFlury said:

Tunable White in the bedrooms - I could set it to be circadian rhythm but my wife and I both prefer the cool 6.5k so that never changes.

In my living room and patio I have multiple spots with RGBW strip. Those mostly run in light scenes on a schedule and all turn white except part of a star trek logo I made and put strip in. I only activate the color if I am jamming out or playing some video games and want to watch them bounce with the audio.

I have seen a lot of cool things done with RGBW lighting but Indirect Lighting with trays and crown generally looks a lot better being an accent versus RGBW in ceiling can lights. They do have their place but as the primary light in a room 99.9% of the time they will just be white. 

I think that tunable white with a circadian rhythm is ideal -- at least for us.  We have strips in various parts of the house (toekicks, above cabinets, accents, etc) and it's nice having "cool" light in the mornings, and very "warm" light in the late night (when we walk into the bathroom at night, our toekicks glow ~2700k at a very dim level).

I have color in some spots as well, but hardly ever use them.

[rocky350z]

Thank you all for your feedback, you have given me a lot of ideas and something to think about.  I am still a little confused on the programing of the switch.  Cyknight stated "Personally I would program them to change the warmth on tune-able white - maybe a double and triple tap top an bottom to select favorite colors instead".  Does that mean I can still use the switch to turn it on to a specific state, or on/off? The bottom to change preset colors?

For strip lighting could I do the same?  Would I need a DMX controller to get three stirp to display the same thing (One switch control 3 plugs above three areas of the cabinet)?

Thank you for your input.

[C4 User]

27 minutes ago, rocky350z said:

Thank you all for your feedback, you have given me a lot of ideas and something to think about.  I am still a little confused on the programing of the switch.  Cyknight stated "Personally I would program them to change the warmth on tune-able white - maybe a double and triple tap top an bottom to select favorite colors instead".  Does that mean I can still use the switch to turn it on to a specific state, or on/off? The bottom to change preset colors?

For strip lighting could I do the same?  Would I need a DMX controller to get three stirp to display the same thing (One switch control 3 plugs above three areas of the cabinet)?

Thank you for your input.

Yes. You can have the buttons on the switch or dimmer disconnected from the load itself and then used for whatever programming you want. So you can program the buttons to turn the smart bulb on/off or to select scenes/colors, etc. Keep in mind that if you disconnect the buttons from the load, you will want your dealer to give you a way to turn the load on/off by some button programming or a touchscreen if you have T3’s or T4’s.

[emmabruj7]

According to  my pov i ve visit this site so If your motion sensor has an electromechanical relay, any LED bulb will work fine. If the monitor sensor has an electronic switch, the sensor might not be compatible with low-wattage LED bulbs as they require a minimum load to power the sensor on the circuit.