RGBIC is usually where it’s at for color lighting, because you can do all kinds of dynamic cool stuff with them. These only do one color, but they are RGBW with tunable white light so they are useful for practical lighting as well and you don’t have to deal with crappy off color white lighting. At this price, might as well get in for some.
@haydesigner I assume you’re wondering about how water resistant they are. IP44 makes me think they’ll fill with water if it rains. If you can keep them away from direct contact with large amounts of water and dirt, they might last. IP44 means they’re supposedly fine for splashing water, whatever that means, and will keep out particles larger than 1mm. How much splashing water and how much you can trust the rating would be my concern. I’ve bought some “IP67” rated lights that ended up filling with water from being outside in the rain, so I treat the ratings like I treat the lumens ratings for random Chinese lights… it’s all just made up numbers with no actual regulation or testing. I just noticed the controller is IP20 rated, so that pretty much needs to be indoors.
@warpedrotors For controllers, your can also put in a small plastic tub/box as long as it’s sealed up.
Run the cables through each end of the box with the controller inside, then tape or caulk up the holes. Works fine for holiday decorations for sure. Does nothing for operating temp mins/max off course.
@haydesigner I have strip lights along my front garden bed. Once I had everything all set up, I put a big ole piece of heat-shrink tubing over each connection and shrunk it down to seal. They’ve worked fine through weather.
@thechilipepper0 Take #2 being $3 cheap and practical meaning not so useful unless there will be an outlet every 2 feet. Foresight power strips being a daily in the not so distant future.
@thechilipepper0
You need a bigger power supply, these are dinky. And there’s no end connectors. You could tie 2 or 3 to one controller+bigger psu if you set the controller up in the middle and did some splicing of pigtails.
I personally throw out the crap controllers and use zwave rgbw led drivers. I get a cheap psu off Amazon that has the right voltage and 3-4x the amperage. The controller expects bare wires so I slice the ends off everything and junction at the controller.
However generally I use longer 20ft strips to make the more expensive led driver cost effective.
@thechilipepper0 They claim you can splice them together, but good luck. You literally have to cut one, strip the silicone layer, and cinch them to a connector. I tried that on two of them and they both failed.
@thechilipepper0 They look like the ones that I bought earlier in the year. They did come with connectors, but they were really finicky. They connected, but the second strip would be a completely different color. We gave up on the connector and my husband somehow got them to align and stay aligned without the connector.
It wasn’t super-easy though. Still, we do have it working around a big bay window on our house.
@thechilipepper0 I bought these previously and spliced together several pairs. Trimming the ends to properly expose the contact pints was definitely finicky, but they worked with no problems. Can’t vouch for more than 2 spliced together.
Anyone else remember Philips Ambilight TV sets, the ones with built-in rear-mounted ambient LED lighting that changed with the onscreen source material? I still want one.
@PooltoyWolf I finally hooked up my govee dreamlights on my new TV tonight. The camera mapping thing is not perfect but it’s very cool and mesmerizing to watch.
I do think I saw that they have a newer version that captures the HDMI signal before it goes to the TV, but not sure how that works if you’re doing native streaming stuff or OTA TV.
If you have more govee lights in your system, the video mode can drive all the other lights too.
@PooltoyWolf I still have a 37" Philips Ambilight that I bought in 2006. I have it mounted in an office that is more like a glorified closet full of my crap so it doesn’t get used but it’s just too cool to part with. Was awesome back then and maintains awesome status today.
@PooltoyWolf I built one of those. There is a huge fanbase around it. Check out a piece of software called Hyperion NG. If you dont mind a little bit of soldering - its a fun project to do!
@PooltoyWolf@djslack I backed a Kickstarter yeeeears ago for a product called Dreamscreen that intercepts the HDMI to make the lights match the TV. It works. It’s flaky as all hell, mostly because it’s not really supported anymore, but it does work, and it’s super, super cool in a dark room.
@Waterpumpee I still really want one! I’m hoping I find one someday at a garage sale, thrift store, or on the curb. They’re not easy to identify from the front, so I have to stay vigilant LOL.
These just might be the new candy corn (keeping an eye out for a pallet deal). Got these back in May, same price. The one useful installation I did was for pantry lights. I rigged an old USB power bank charger (2200mAH if I recall) to replace the wall wart (no AC outlet in the pantry) and spliced in a NC micro switch and they do a great job lighting it up from inside the door frame. The adhesive was decent and they come with clips you can screw in to hold them up (though the screws are nasty tiny).
Having said that, after giving away a couple of sets, I still have the rest of the case just sitting there. Maybe I will find more fun small projects (10’ max each, as while you can daisychain these together, the lights get pretty dim after 2 sets).
Customizing and changing light patterns on these is pretty much impossible because the controller app is slow, unresponsive, and frequently fails to connect altogether. Daisy-chaining also didn’t work. For this price, however, I still found them useful to use as back lights in places where lamps and switches can’t go. I use Google voice commands to turn them on and off but couldn’t get anything else to work by voice control. For less than $4 apiece I’d say they’re just good enough.
Your order number is: drab-dreadful-cheerleader
… oh, yeah - I had a couple of dates with her when I was a junior in high school. She didn’t even have a good personality!
These would be a lot better if they dropped the whole wifi/app bull****. Just press the button a few times until you have the color you want and you’re done.
Reasonably terrible lights, incredibly awesome for $3/ea! If you sidestep the app and do a bunch of mucking around with Tuya developer accounts, tokens, etc. then you can get them added to home assistant / home kit. Not for the faint of heart, but they’ve been working pretty reliable for me.
The best use case I’ve found is under-bed lighting and top-of-bookcase lighting, running them at about 3-5% brightness. I’m considering trying them for “glowing picture-frame” lighting, but that’ll require some luck with measurements and stealth with the cables.
Don’t expect too much, but they’re definitely worth $3… just a challenge to use all 12 of them.
@TexasDex Now I’m wondering about flashing WLED on the controllers and possibly using each individual chain as an extremely elongated “pixel” in a chain.
@zaiemv That would be great! I found mine somewhere online since ltchiptool couldn’t autodetect, but it seems like a lot of the time when I set it to a particular color one of the channels ends up being off, e.g. I try for orange and just get red.
@werehatrack Heh, not with these - I’ve got several neopixel matrices that I intend to do that with, along with a likely-dead project that’s just eight parallel neopixel strips in fancy-pants aluminum channels. That one’s been VERY loosely on-and-offed for something like six or seven years now.
These have been almost useless. Too short, daisy chaining may as well be impossible, and I was into the fourth box before I could get one to even pair. Extremely disappointing.
@OCBill3 I was able to set the color I wanted and then when power was applied it came on in that color. This is with my micro switch arrangement in a pantry.
Using the app sucks. It does not always return to the color I set, and the color wheel screws up pretty much every time. Purely applying power seems to be reliable.
Specs
Product: 12-Pack: Merkury Innovations Smart Wi-Fi LED Strip (9.8’)
Model: MI-EW010-999WW
Condition: New
Works with the Geeni App
What’s Included?
Price Comparison
$119.88 for 12 at Amazon
Warranty
One year limited warranty
Estimated Delivery
Thursday, Nov 2 - Monday, Nov 6
LED strippers?! Technology is amazing!!
@yakkoTDI talk about getting flashed!
12 pack? 4 pack? Whatevs.
RGBIC is usually where it’s at for color lighting, because you can do all kinds of dynamic cool stuff with them. These only do one color, but they are RGBW with tunable white light so they are useful for practical lighting as well and you don’t have to deal with crappy off color white lighting. At this price, might as well get in for some.
Anyone use these for outdoors? Curious as to how durable they are…
@haydesigner I assume you’re wondering about how water resistant they are. IP44 makes me think they’ll fill with water if it rains. If you can keep them away from direct contact with large amounts of water and dirt, they might last. IP44 means they’re supposedly fine for splashing water, whatever that means, and will keep out particles larger than 1mm. How much splashing water and how much you can trust the rating would be my concern. I’ve bought some “IP67” rated lights that ended up filling with water from being outside in the rain, so I treat the ratings like I treat the lumens ratings for random Chinese lights… it’s all just made up numbers with no actual regulation or testing. I just noticed the controller is IP20 rated, so that pretty much needs to be indoors.
@warpedrotors For controllers, your can also put in a small plastic tub/box as long as it’s sealed up.
Run the cables through each end of the box with the controller inside, then tape or caulk up the holes. Works fine for holiday decorations for sure. Does nothing for operating temp mins/max off course.
@haydesigner I have strip lights along my front garden bed. Once I had everything all set up, I put a big ole piece of heat-shrink tubing over each connection and shrunk it down to seal. They’ve worked fine through weather.
@haydesigner @kostia
What a clever idea!
Too late to get these scary lights before Halloween.
Can I get a 4 pack for $12 or an 8 pack for $24? Start a lightmates site so we can split these up.
Can these link together to create one long stand or does each one need to be plugged into an outlet?
@thechilipepper0 each has to be plugged in separately.
@thechilipepper0 Take #2 being $3 cheap and practical meaning not so useful unless there will be an outlet every 2 feet. Foresight power strips being a daily in the not so distant future.
@thechilipepper0
You need a bigger power supply, these are dinky. And there’s no end connectors. You could tie 2 or 3 to one controller+bigger psu if you set the controller up in the middle and did some splicing of pigtails.
I personally throw out the crap controllers and use zwave rgbw led drivers. I get a cheap psu off Amazon that has the right voltage and 3-4x the amperage. The controller expects bare wires so I slice the ends off everything and junction at the controller.
However generally I use longer 20ft strips to make the more expensive led driver cost effective.
@thechilipepper0 They claim you can splice them together, but good luck. You literally have to cut one, strip the silicone layer, and cinch them to a connector. I tried that on two of them and they both failed.
@thechilipepper0 They look like the ones that I bought earlier in the year. They did come with connectors, but they were really finicky. They connected, but the second strip would be a completely different color. We gave up on the connector and my husband somehow got them to align and stay aligned without the connector.
It wasn’t super-easy though. Still, we do have it working around a big bay window on our house.
@thechilipepper0 I got a big pack of these thinking they could be combined, but there’s literally no plug on the end.
@thechilipepper0 I bought these previously and spliced together several pairs. Trimming the ends to properly expose the contact pints was definitely finicky, but they worked with no problems. Can’t vouch for more than 2 spliced together.
Anyone else remember Philips Ambilight TV sets, the ones with built-in rear-mounted ambient LED lighting that changed with the onscreen source material? I still want one.
@PooltoyWolf I finally hooked up my govee dreamlights on my new TV tonight. The camera mapping thing is not perfect but it’s very cool and mesmerizing to watch.
I do think I saw that they have a newer version that captures the HDMI signal before it goes to the TV, but not sure how that works if you’re doing native streaming stuff or OTA TV.
If you have more govee lights in your system, the video mode can drive all the other lights too.
@PooltoyWolf I still have a 37" Philips Ambilight that I bought in 2006. I have it mounted in an office that is more like a glorified closet full of my crap so it doesn’t get used but it’s just too cool to part with. Was awesome back then and maintains awesome status today.
POPSOCKETS! SPROCKETS! DAVY CROCKETT! AWESOME!
@PooltoyWolf I built one of those. There is a huge fanbase around it. Check out a piece of software called Hyperion NG. If you dont mind a little bit of soldering - its a fun project to do!
@PooltoyWolf @djslack I backed a Kickstarter yeeeears ago for a product called Dreamscreen that intercepts the HDMI to make the lights match the TV. It works. It’s flaky as all hell, mostly because it’s not really supported anymore, but it does work, and it’s super, super cool in a dark room.
@Waterpumpee I still really want one! I’m hoping I find one someday at a garage sale, thrift store, or on the curb. They’re not easy to identify from the front, so I have to stay vigilant LOL.
These just might be the new candy corn (keeping an eye out for a pallet deal). Got these back in May, same price. The one useful installation I did was for pantry lights. I rigged an old USB power bank charger (2200mAH if I recall) to replace the wall wart (no AC outlet in the pantry) and spliced in a NC micro switch and they do a great job lighting it up from inside the door frame. The adhesive was decent and they come with clips you can screw in to hold them up (though the screws are nasty tiny).
Having said that, after giving away a couple of sets, I still have the rest of the case just sitting there. Maybe I will find more fun small projects (10’ max each, as while you can daisychain these together, the lights get pretty dim after 2 sets).
@Jonas4321
I see the pantry lights
I have to admit that these are lousy.
Daisy chaining never works well. It might if you could solder the 4 leads. The crimps don’t work as needed.
They also lose connection to the app occasionally, forcing a re connect of blue tooth, and adding it back as a new device.
The app isn’t the greatest either.
1980s me: “OOOOOOOOOoooooh!”
Current me: “NO” slaps hand
Customizing and changing light patterns on these is pretty much impossible because the controller app is slow, unresponsive, and frequently fails to connect altogether. Daisy-chaining also didn’t work. For this price, however, I still found them useful to use as back lights in places where lamps and switches can’t go. I use Google voice commands to turn them on and off but couldn’t get anything else to work by voice control. For less than $4 apiece I’d say they’re just good enough.
Your order number is: drab-dreadful-cheerleader
… oh, yeah - I had a couple of dates with her when I was a junior in high school. She didn’t even have a good personality!
These would be a lot better if they dropped the whole wifi/app bull****. Just press the button a few times until you have the color you want and you’re done.
Reasonably terrible lights, incredibly awesome for $3/ea! If you sidestep the app and do a bunch of mucking around with Tuya developer accounts, tokens, etc. then you can get them added to home assistant / home kit. Not for the faint of heart, but they’ve been working pretty reliable for me.
The best use case I’ve found is under-bed lighting and top-of-bookcase lighting, running them at about 3-5% brightness. I’m considering trying them for “glowing picture-frame” lighting, but that’ll require some luck with measurements and stealth with the cables.
Don’t expect too much, but they’re definitely worth $3… just a challenge to use all 12 of them.
OWLS! TOWELS! JOWLS! AWESOME!
I was able to flash ESPHome on one of these, using these directions: https://digiblur.com/2023/08/19/updated-tuya-cloudcutter-with-esphome-bk7231-how-to-guide/ , to avoid all the nasty tuya cloud stuff, but I probably need to figure out better settings since the light didn’t always change to the right color.
@TexasDex I’ve got esphome on a couple of these and it works great. I can try and get you the config when i get home
@TexasDex Now I’m wondering about flashing WLED on the controllers and possibly using each individual chain as an extremely elongated “pixel” in a chain.
@zaiemv That would be great! I found mine somewhere online since ltchiptool couldn’t autodetect, but it seems like a lot of the time when I set it to a particular color one of the channels ends up being off, e.g. I try for orange and just get red.
@bibulb Planning to build an ultra-low-res DIY display board?
@werehatrack Heh, not with these - I’ve got several neopixel matrices that I intend to do that with, along with a likely-dead project that’s just eight parallel neopixel strips in fancy-pants aluminum channels. That one’s been VERY loosely on-and-offed for something like six or seven years now.
@zaiemv Any chance you could share that config?
@TexasDex Here you go! https://codeshare.io/ZJYAwd
@zaiemv Thanks! I had to upgrade from the libretiny esphome fork to regular ESPHome, but after that it worked great! No color weirdness or anything.
These have been almost useless. Too short, daisy chaining may as well be impossible, and I was into the fourth box before I could get one to even pair. Extremely disappointing.
Do these light up upon being plugged in or do they require the app to be accessed? If they do light right up, what color?
@OCBill3 I was able to set the color I wanted and then when power was applied it came on in that color. This is with my micro switch arrangement in a pantry.
Using the app sucks. It does not always return to the color I set, and the color wheel screws up pretty much every time. Purely applying power seems to be reliable.
These work great in an RV. Key circus music.