LED strips, z-wave and Fribaro

I would be more inclined to look into a larger player in the field, such as Philips Hue. http://www2.meethue.com/en-gb/products/?category=131217

 

Smaller companies tend to run for a while and then vanish and the last thing you want is for support for their app to be withdrawn and you then are left with no means of controlling your lights.

Re: app, you're missing the point. It's z-wave, it will link to the Samsung smartthings (or any other z-wave controller) which can in turn be driven by a google home or amazon echo. They're big enough between those 3 to be around for a few years I think.

Work out the cost for Hue LED strips, about 20 metres of them, and then tell me again if you think it's a good idea. I could light the room on a smaller budget by burning cash for the next year I think.

---------- Post added 22-03-2017 at 18:29 ----------

Ah party mode, eh. I use these:

 

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/VLKQP101W.html?ad_position=1o2&source=adwords&ad_id=45425533757

Fascinating. Do you have 4 switches, 1 for each colour? And you pay a man to twiddle the nobs all evening?

Re: app, you're missing the point. It's z-wave, it will link to the Samsung smartthings (or any other z-wave controller) which can in turn be driven by a google home or amazon echo. They're big enough between those 3 to be around for a few years I think.

 

Work out the cost for Hue LED strips, about 20 metres of them, and then tell me again if you think it's a good idea. I could light the room on a smaller budget by burning cash for the next year I think.

Im still of the opinion you get what you pay for when using connected technology. If you could control the lights directly from Google home or amazon echo or Apple Siri, then I would be in agreement, but using a 3rd party bridge could bite you on the ass.

I tried a 3rd party Apple Airplay device once, never again.

The Samsung bridge? Echo and Home don't do zigbee or z-wave natively, the only option to control any of that stuff is through a bridge. That includes the philip hue stuff, nest stuff, and a whole host of other brands and big names.

Z-wave and zigbee are industry standards, they aren't owned by one company which could disappear.

The Samsung bridge? Echo and Home don't do zigbee or z-wave natively, the only option to control any of that stuff is through a bridge. That includes the philip hue stuff, nest stuff, and a whole host of other brands and big names.

Z-wave and zigbee are industry standards, they aren't owned by one company which could disappear.

Nest and Philips do not use 3rd party bridges which is what I stated above was my concern having experienced how bad they can be in respect to Apple Airplay.

Fascinating. Do you have 4 switches, 1 for each colour?

Nooo! Gosh I doubt I could cope with a party as exciting as that!!

Nest and Philips do not use 3rd party bridges which is what I stated above was my concern having experienced how bad they can be in respect to Apple Airplay.

Philips have an implementation of a zigbee bridge, nest uses a proprietary standard.

Samsung amongst others have an implementation of the industry standard z-wave protocol.

Either way, for 20 metres of philips hue LED it would cost a fortune, it's ridiculously overpriced.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/philips-hue-lightstrip-plus-smart-led-starter-pack-a20uf

£70 starter pack is 2m in length

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/philips-hue-lightstrip-plus-smart-led-extension-kit-a21uf

£20 per 1 metre extension.

£460 to do it with Hue, and to be honest, the brightness is insufficient to be the primary lighting in a room.

I did a previous room for this

10m x RGB 15w 24v commercial grade @ £11 p/m = £110

Transformer 150w IP @ £50

RGB controller and receiver @ £40

Soldering @ £12

P+P£8

TOTAL: £220 + vat

You can see that it's 24v 'commercial grade' LED strip, which does cast sufficient light to be the primary lighting for a room, and the cost/metre is 2/3rds what Philips are charging.

I'm going to give one of those Fibaro controllers a go I think. For £40 I can afford to write if off if need be and replace it with a regular controller.

Admittedly I'll have to get a bridge as well, so it's not quite as cheap as it seems, but if it works I can start adding more peripherals and controls.

Philips have an implementation of a zigbee bridge, nest uses a proprietary standard.

Samsung amongst others have an implementation of the industry standard z-wave protocol.

I only stated that 3rd party bridges are an issue. You can try to dress it up any way you wish, but my experience is, having a 3rd party bridge is an issue.

I will sign off with a quote from Benjamin Franklin: The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of the low price is forgotten.

To be fair, your first comment was about the size of the company and the app they provide disappearing when the company does.

Samsung addresses the size issue, and an industry standard protocol the second.

Although you do have a point about interoperability, it's not all sunshine and roses, I'm trawling google home/smarthings boards at the moment. It's actually looking like a hue hub and a 'compatible' but not philips product might be a good way to go.

The Fibraro hub is very expensive, hue hub, much cheaper.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00NMSQ4QQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3W13RV4FFCGFU&coliid=I18WJ4VYKE5JPQ

That apparently works with the hue hub. And I suppose I can always add hue bulbs if I like in the future then.

Ultimately the whole market is still evolving, some companies will die, products will be discontinued, and no doubt some will go out of date. So long as they actually keep working for my purpose though I don't suppose I really care...

Hi. I got these for my disco club.

To be fair, your first comment was about the size of the company and the app they provide disappearing when the company does.

Samsung addresses the size issue, and an industry standard protocol the second.

 

Although you do have a point about interoperability, it's not all sunshine and roses, I'm trawling google home/smarthings boards at the moment. It's actually looking like a hue hub and a 'compatible' but not philips product might be a good way to go.

The Fibraro hub is very expensive, hue hub, much cheaper.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00NMSQ4QQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3W13RV4FFCGFU&coliid=I18WJ4VYKE5JPQ

 

That apparently works with the hue hub. And I suppose I can always add hue bulbs if I like in the future then.

 

Ultimately the whole market is still evolving, some companies will die, products will be discontinued, and no doubt some will go out of date. So long as they actually keep working for my purpose though I don't suppose I really care...

But your comment was in reply to mine about 3rd party bridges

But I hadn't suggested using one... Unless you mean the one by Samsung? You're not calling them a small company are you?