I have no idea why I bought this. It’s probably indicative of a deep personal defect that the most compelling selling point is that the thing is 12 bucks. That’s what did it. I have no idea what I’m going to do with these things. I don’t really want them. They are going to annoy me the moment I open the box and remember that I bought them. But hey, $12…
I had to refresh this a gazillion times to find a giphy that wasn’t Alabama 'Tide related… I hope that’s a good consolation prize for all of you 'Tide people this Monday…
isn’t this like the third time in as many months you’ve made these available? are they really selling that poorly? i got the 12 pack a couple of months ago and i can certify these are excellent. fyi these are tuya compatible, which means it’s not too much work to get them to play nice with Home Assistant or HomeBridge, if you’re one of the few crazies like myself who prefers Siri/HomeKit to Alexa or Google Assistant.
@sillyheathen I would be unable to resist the urge to refinish the exteriors in weathered greys, and install tiny xenon tubes in multiple locations to generate random extra-intensity dead-white zap effects.
We set one up under a table and turned it into a nook for my daughter, and ran another beneath the bookshelf over her desk. She loves controlling the color and it’s bright enough to read. I never had luck with HomeKit for “Hey Siri turn off the playhouse” but it works fine with the Geeni app on an older disused/tethered iPhone. AMA
These can be converted for local control with ESPHome and work nicely with home assistant. It is easier now as support for Beken chips was added to the main branch.
You have to set the entire strip to the same color, so it isn’t as nice as strips using ws2811b.
@naething I had some slightly weird results with that YAML, color channels would turn off randomly. Another Meh user sent me this config, which seems to work better: https://codeshare.io/ZJYAwd
Looking into using a set of these inside a cupboard, turning them on/off with a rotary switch in a cord. Would like to know if they can be used sans wifi? If so, what color are they initially after plugging them in?
@OCBill3 Yes, these would work that way. In their out of the box state, if the power is turned off to them and back on, the lightstrip comes on. No setup needed. And it is warm white initially.
Ugh, wish I had waited for these. Just last night (2 hours before these were offered ) we hooked up the Luminoodle set of 6 that Meh had 3 weeks ago. (we only used 3) The first thing my guy says… Turn on the colors!
Me… White white or yellow white? And even though the Luminoodle are motion detection I’m partial to anything smart. I like telling Alexa what to do, I LOVE IT that she listens! Lol
This is the Luminoodle.
Amazon page says 60 watts per string. Is that accurate? Seems pretty high for a 10’ LED strip, considering the amount of light it puts out. Anyone have these and measure the power consumption?
ETA: OK, I see it runs off a USB power supply, so obviously it’s nowhere near that much.
@arlene_wechsler@leaky_wires Yep. Incandescent bulbs typically waste around 90% of their consumed power producing heat. LEDs pretty much invert that. CFLs lie somewhere in between, not as efficient as the LED but far less wasteful than incandescent.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY
I bought these from here the last time they had them and it was a huge mistake.
Issue 1: Box says you can easily connect several lights together to make them longer, but if you connect just 2 strips rogether, the other strip will be significantly dull compared to the other connected strip. It completely throws off the vibe and makes it looks ridiculous. The only way to get even brightness and color would be to NOT connect them together. Each light has to be independently connected to an outlet for even brightness and color.
Issue 2: Connecting the strips to make a longer one is NOT easy. You will curse, kick, scream, and eventually ruin multiple strips. You will never get a perfect connection. One strip will either be the wrong color or will flicker and malfunction. And if you do manage to get a perfect connection between two strips, I guarantee you that in a few days that connection will fall apart and you’ll get messed up colors or constant flickering
Issue 3: Sticky side of the strip doesn’t last. Even with cleaning off any dust from the wall, the sticky side of the strip and the attachments DO NOT LAST. You’ll find them fallen off the next morning or in a week.
Out of the 12 boxes I purchased from Meh, only 4 strip lights survived.
As others have said tuya-cloudcutter and ESPhome(or Tiny libre) will allow these to integrate with HomeAssistant. Lots of google results out there, some linked here are a good starting point. One of the links in this thread, or a past one(6 or 12 pack), has an almost good yaml config, I had to change one item…iirc ledc to libretiny_pwm, ymmv though.
Connecting, or bridging, strips is a losing battle. The silicone coating has to be removed and is difficult to separate. Then the connection is poor, dim 2nd strip. Likely need to solder for sure connection and brightness consistency(someone commented as much).
L(90°) connectors are on Amazon but don’t work well, same as the included extender.
For adhering these…Take care separating the peeling paper from the adhesive strip(otherwise the adhesive comes off with the paper and you only have a little adhesive residue to hold it on.
I noticed the adhesive would come off with the peeling paper from the far end. Easiest fix for this is cutting the end of the tape and trying to separate the paper from the adhesive, makes it easier. You’ll know when you get just the paper released, paper isn’t sticky.
Specs
Product: 3-Pack: Merkury Innovations Smart Wi-Fi LED Strips (9.8’)
Model: MI-EW010-999WW
Condition: New
Works with the Geeni App
What’s Included?
Price Comparison
$29.85 (for 3) at Amazon
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Jan 8 - Thursday, Jan 11
Stripper lights?! Just what I needed.
@yakkoTDI sidedeal has the strippers for rent to go with it today.
Christmas tree lights?
A bit late, methinks.
I have no idea why I bought this. It’s probably indicative of a deep personal defect that the most compelling selling point is that the thing is 12 bucks. That’s what did it. I have no idea what I’m going to do with these things. I don’t really want them. They are going to annoy me the moment I open the box and remember that I bought them. But hey, $12…
/image iconic-freezing-tidings
/giphy iconic-freezing-tidings
I had to refresh this a gazillion times to find a giphy that wasn’t Alabama 'Tide related… I hope that’s a good consolation prize for all of you 'Tide people this Monday…
isn’t this like the third time in as many months you’ve made these available? are they really selling that poorly? i got the 12 pack a couple of months ago and i can certify these are excellent. fyi these are tuya compatible, which means it’s not too much work to get them to play nice with Home Assistant or HomeBridge, if you’re one of the few crazies like myself who prefers Siri/HomeKit to Alexa or Google Assistant.
@octoturt I also have 12 pack. Am happy with them.
Have used 2 of the 12 so far. 3 is a far more reasonable number.
It’s getting harder and harder to find stuff that isn’t “smart” in some way or requires an app, or is tied to one of the monitoring pucks these days…
@finalremix yep, I’m with ya.
Methinks I need more of these! I just finished the burrow from Harry Potter and used these inside.
@sillyheathen I would be unable to resist the urge to refinish the exteriors in weathered greys, and install tiny xenon tubes in multiple locations to generate random extra-intensity dead-white zap effects.
Where did the kit come from?
@werehatrack I designed it in Inkscape.
I have two cncs that I make stuff with. Watch out cause I have the pew pew power! 
I am proud to say that teenage me would consider adult me some sort of hedonist.
I got these but haven’t successfully been able to connect 2 together yet.
@jimmythemoose THIS! The daisy-chaining on these things is horrible. I ended up just giving up on the whole thing.
@jimmythemoose I gave up on using the supplied connectors and just soldered them together. I now have 7 strings together without intensity loss.
Just in time for Christmas, in Meh’s universe.
@hchavers
YES, Christmas 2024! Lol
We set one up under a table and turned it into a nook for my daughter, and ran another beneath the bookshelf over her desk. She loves controlling the color and it’s bright enough to read. I never had luck with HomeKit for “Hey Siri turn off the playhouse” but it works fine with the Geeni app on an older disused/tethered iPhone. AMA
These can be converted for local control with ESPHome and work nicely with home assistant. It is easier now as support for Beken chips was added to the main branch.
You have to set the entire strip to the same color, so it isn’t as nice as strips using ws2811b.
First, use cloud-cutter to install a kickstarter ESPHome:
https://github.com/tuya-cloudcutter/tuya-cloudcutter
Then, build a new firmware image in ESPHome and install it via the kickstarter using OTA.
This is the device profile:
https://upk.libretiny.eu/?profile=merkury-innovations-mi-ew010-999ww-led-strip-v0.0.2
The YAML that gives has a slight error… you need to change the board to generic-bk7231n-qfn32-tuya (with a n vs. bk7231t with a t).
@naething I had some slightly weird results with that YAML, color channels would turn off randomly. Another Meh user sent me this config, which seems to work better: https://codeshare.io/ZJYAwd
Oh and there’s a nice step-by-step guide at https://digiblur.com/2023/08/19/updated-tuya-cloudcutter-with-esphome-bk7231-how-to-guide/
@octoturt how’d you get it tied to Siri‽ Would love a pointer…
@sillyheathen Nice work!!
I don’t think these are 9.8 inches…
@rickjennings64 They’re 9.8 feet. Did they used to say inches? (I didn’t read close enough back at the beginning.)
Looking into using a set of these inside a cupboard, turning them on/off with a rotary switch in a cord. Would like to know if they can be used sans wifi? If so, what color are they initially after plugging them in?
@OCBill3 Yes, these would work that way. In their out of the box state, if the power is turned off to them and back on, the lightstrip comes on. No setup needed. And it is warm white initially.
@OCBill3 you can also use a cabinet door switch to flip them on automatically when you open the cupboard.
Ugh, wish I had waited for these. Just last night (2 hours before these were offered
) we hooked up the Luminoodle set of 6 that Meh had 3 weeks ago. (we only used 3) The first thing my guy says… Turn on the colors!
And even though the Luminoodle are motion detection I’m partial to anything smart. I like telling Alexa what to do, I LOVE IT that she listens! Lol 
Me… White white or yellow white?
This is the Luminoodle.
@Lynnerizer I wanted exactly these, in this wide-range of colors.
What I didn’t really grasp onto is that the shortest time until turn off is 15 minutes, NOT seconds.
I thought one of my other PIR detectors might be converted and dropped in. To many signal lines.
Still looking
Amazon page says 60 watts per string. Is that accurate? Seems pretty high for a 10’ LED strip, considering the amount of light it puts out. Anyone have these and measure the power consumption?
ETA: OK, I see it runs off a USB power supply, so obviously it’s nowhere near that much.
@arlene_wechsler 60 watt equivalent is probably what was meant. watt is a measure of power not light stupid marketing departments…
Means roughly 800 lumens which for leds is about 8-10 watts.
@arlene_wechsler @leaky_wires Yep. Incandescent bulbs typically waste around 90% of their consumed power producing heat. LEDs pretty much invert that. CFLs lie somewhere in between, not as efficient as the LED but far less wasteful than incandescent.
Kids like these in their bedrooms, could be a good birthday gift.
/giphy resplendent-nice-ribbon
/showme penguins attacking someone with led light strips
Top tier white elephant gifts
The write-up on this was awesome. Yes… the teenage version of myself would have been pissed off if I didn’t buy this.
HIKING! VIKINGS! STRIKE KING [BRAND FISHING LURES]! AWESOME!
It is incredibly unclear if the “9.8 feet” is per 3 strips or per strip.
Being on Meh I assume the former. Because per strip would actually make this a decent deal.
@Pufferfishy each strip is 3meters (9.8ft) long.
@Pufferfishy 3m or 9.8ft per strip.
Gave them to my 16yr old Granddaughter for Christmas… she was
DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY
I bought these from here the last time they had them and it was a huge mistake.
Issue 1: Box says you can easily connect several lights together to make them longer, but if you connect just 2 strips rogether, the other strip will be significantly dull compared to the other connected strip. It completely throws off the vibe and makes it looks ridiculous. The only way to get even brightness and color would be to NOT connect them together. Each light has to be independently connected to an outlet for even brightness and color.
Issue 2: Connecting the strips to make a longer one is NOT easy. You will curse, kick, scream, and eventually ruin multiple strips. You will never get a perfect connection. One strip will either be the wrong color or will flicker and malfunction. And if you do manage to get a perfect connection between two strips, I guarantee you that in a few days that connection will fall apart and you’ll get messed up colors or constant flickering
Issue 3: Sticky side of the strip doesn’t last. Even with cleaning off any dust from the wall, the sticky side of the strip and the attachments DO NOT LAST. You’ll find them fallen off the next morning or in a week.
Out of the 12 boxes I purchased from Meh, only 4 strip lights survived.
/giphy cherished-delicious-greenery
As others have said tuya-cloudcutter and ESPhome(or Tiny libre) will allow these to integrate with HomeAssistant. Lots of google results out there, some linked here are a good starting point. One of the links in this thread, or a past one(6 or 12 pack), has an almost good yaml config, I had to change one item…iirc ledc to libretiny_pwm, ymmv though.
Connecting, or bridging, strips is a losing battle. The silicone coating has to be removed and is difficult to separate. Then the connection is poor, dim 2nd strip. Likely need to solder for sure connection and brightness consistency(someone commented as much).
L(90°) connectors are on Amazon but don’t work well, same as the included extender.
For adhering these…Take care separating the peeling paper from the adhesive strip(otherwise the adhesive comes off with the paper and you only have a little adhesive residue to hold it on.
I noticed the adhesive would come off with the peeling paper from the far end. Easiest fix for this is cutting the end of the tape and trying to separate the paper from the adhesive, makes it easier. You’ll know when you get just the paper released, paper isn’t sticky.