“The purpose of bias lighting is to reduce the perceived brightness of the display as a result of the contrast with the slightly illuminated area around it. This reduces the eye strain and fatigue that occurs when viewing a bright display against a very dark background for an extended time, and increases the perceived blackness, perceived highlights and overall contrast of the display.”

Whilst a smart light strip might be of even more use, I felt that along with my recent purchase of my very first 4K TV, it was time to go a step further than that and try out something that could provide not only a smart strip experience but also utilise ‘screen mirroring’. This function is designed to extend the viewing experience beyond your screen with lighting that matches what you see on (the edges of) the screen in terms of colour and brightness, changing and adjusting in real time. There are a few products out there that support this kind of function, although not many are also HomeKit compatible, or if they are, they tend to be quite expensive – the Hue Sync Box, for example, is currently selling for US$177 for the box alone, before you’ve even paid for compatible lighting products.

This is where Nanoleaf has stepped into the arena, with its own take on this feature, called the 4D Screen Mirror and Light Strip Kit. I’ll be taking a look at this product and offer you my thoughts on how easy (or not) it is to set up, any pitfalls that I encountered that you might too, and whether bias lighting is actually enough without the screen mirroring functionality.

PACKAGING

I’ll give it to Nanoleaf – they do make decent packaging when it comes to both presentation and getting everything in place and well-protected. The front demonstrates exactly what the ‘kit’ is designed for, along with the version purchased, as there are three separate options available;

• Screen mirror + Light strip Kit for TVs up to 65″
• Screen mirror + Light strip Kit for TVs up to 85″
• Screen mirror kit, with no light strip, only the controller and camera

The back features a lot more detail on what the kit is capable of, and one end of the sleeve shows a closeup of the camera and mount, which helps the kit determine what’s on screen and how to interpret that to the strip and/or lights. This also shows that the kit is not only compatible with Apple Home but also Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings, and IFTTT.

WHAT’S IN THE BOX?

The box contains a ton of stuff, all of which is going to be of use to some degree. Aside from a manual that also includes QR codes for Apple Home and Android, there’s a small envelope containing double-sided stickers. The strip is included if you went for two of the three available options (I have the 65″ option), a power supply, a controller box that does much of the processing for the screen mirroring, a camera to monitor your TV screen, which plugs into the controller, a bracket designed to sit on top of the edge of your TV, and four corner brackets for the strip.

A CLOSER LOOK

The strip itself feels a fair bit chunkier than other strips I’ve had, which I also found to be the case with their Essentials strips. What’s more of note here from other strips is that although it connects to the controller, it does so with a USB-C cable, which is then connected to the strip. Usually, you’d see some sort of proprietary connection or at least a coaxial connector. The strip has plenty of cut marks that allow you to cut the strip to the desired length more finely than most other light strips. This is due in part to the fact that this is designed to go behind TVs, where you need to cover a more accurate area, generally speaking.

Most consumer light strips come with a controller that has, at a minimum, on/off controls and lighting modes. In the case of the 4D, this is replaced with a controller that looks more like a set-top box. The top of this box has one main button for power, along with three buttons grouped in the centre to control the different screen mirroring modes (off, 1D, 2D, 3D, and 4D), Rhythm mode (music sync), and scene modes. You can’t tell from the image above, but the panel with the 3 buttons is rubberised, so when pressing these buttons there’s a little ‘give’. The power button is a standard ‘click’ type button.

The underside has rubberised pads so it won’t slide around, along with two QR codes; one for Android users, and a HomeKit code. The front of the unit has nothing of note, but the back has three ports; a coaxial port for the power supply, a USB-C port for the light strip, and a USB-A port for the camera to plug into, which we’ll look at next.

Along with the controller, the camera is probably the second most important part of the ensemble, given that it’s this that analyses the image on your screen. The camera lens is purely for this function and can’t be accessed as a regular camera, at least by the user. As it’s going to be pointing at the TV, I’m not really concerned about privacy, although I guess it depends on what you’re watching! If you are concerned about protecting your privacy, the camera does come with a magnetic lens cover that just snaps into place. The camera also has a built-in stand that allows the camera to be angled to point up towards your TV screen, although this is not of use if you plan to mount it from the top of your TV.

Mounting it from the top of the TV isn’t as cumbersome as you might think, and in my case, it was very straightforward to set up, although I’d still prefer to use it sat facing up, as it’s a lot more discrete in my opinion. The counterweight at the back ensures it won’t topple without some help, and does a good job of holding it in place. The camera simply sits in the holder, with the USB cable fed through a small gutter in the stand to keep it tucked away.

The final pieces are four corner brackets to aid in getting the strip around the corners of the back of the TV. If you’ve ever tried to get a strip fixed to the back of your TV, you’ll know that getting the strip to pass at a 90º angle isn’t as easy as some would think, and as a strip like this is even more inflexible than standard strips, these corner brackets should help. They work by forcing the strip to angle itself by 45º in the horizontal plane, so it essentially helps the strip navigate the corners in a more natural way.  These brackets are made up of segments that make the brackets flexible at sticking to surfaces with a bit of a curve too.

PHYSICAL INSTALLATION

It might come as a bit of a surprise to many that until a few weeks ago, I was using a 1080p Samsung TV from 2013 – shocking, I know…! Because I wanted to give the strip the best chance of delivering on its promised functionality, as well as preempting the inevitable demise of my old TV, I opted for something well within my budget. Xiaomi in Taiwan is offering their 55″ 4K A2 TV for just NT$12,000 (approx. US$375), down from NT$20,000 (US$625), so at 40% off, it was too good to pass up and perfectly timed. Needless to say, coming from a 42″ screen to 55″ screen is a bigger change than you’d expect, but the size was right in the sweet spot for the Nanoleaf 65″ kit.

Before the strip or the TV arrived, I knew there would be issues with fitting the strip, which in this case was due the bottom section for the back of the TV. This section sticks out from the back, presenting you with what I’ll call a ‘chin’ for want of a better word. This means that if I were to fit the strip as is, with the corner brackets, the position of the strip on the bottom half of the TV would be closer to the wall than the top part of the strip. In hindsight that probably wouldn’t have been as noticeable as I’d imagined, but for now, in order to keep the strip evenly distributed, I opted to use some spare pieces of high-density packing foam I had lying around. This allowed me to balance the position of the top and bottom parts sections of the strip.

The issue I did encounter was one that I’ve found before when it comes to LED strips and the backs of TVs, in that the strip’s adhesive is usually just not strong enough, especially when it comes to the corner brackets, which the strips had a hard time keeping stuck to. It’ll do for now, but I may revisit this setup again at some point.

The only other thing to do once I had the strip in place was to power up the controller, connect the camera and strip, and I was ready to go. I initially set up the camera looking up at the TV from below but changed that to using the stand afterwards.

HARDWARE/SOFTWARE INSTALLATION

I started off the process of adding the device via the Nanoleaf app, as I was sure there’d be a firmware update waiting for me. As I’m using HomeKit, I used the QR code that appears on the manual and the controller. Adding was easy enough, with a connection to my WiFi network using the 2.4GHz band. I’m not entirely sure why Thread isn’t used in this instance, but it could be possible the controller is destined to act as a Thread Border Router, like the company’s Shapes and Lines products. I then placed it in a room within the Home app, and named it, as is standard for a HomeKit device.

Once installed, you’re taken to the setup, which involves a few simple steps. First off, you need to select which position the camera is set to – from the bottom looking up (below), or from the stand looking down (above). The next step involves calibrating the strip by identifying the corners, so the strip knows its overall position around the TV. This is where things initially “went south” with the setup, as this second step didn’t appear during the process, even though I’d seen it in various other videos. I soldiered on anyway, which took me to the camera feed, which isn’t live but merely a snapshot. This section allows you to move six dots around the screen to outline your TV’s own screen. You can also go full-screen if required. The missing calibration option did eventually show up after I’d gone through a reset.

Despite the process not quite being complete, thanks to the missing calibration page, I was then presented with the option to include other Nanoleaf devices to work alongside the 4D strip, although as you can see above, none of the bulbs in the same room are currently compatible. There should be an update to include those too, but I’m doubtful it’ll be necessary. We shall see.

Further issues ensued when I attempted to perform the required update to the 4D. After pressing the ‘update’ button in the app, and waiting for what seemed like an eternity, I gave up and force-quit the app. Upon relaunching, it still showed there was an update, but when looking at the updates page, it showed no ‘update’ button, with the firmware number still listing the older version. A couple more force-quits and it finally showed that it had indeed updated the firmware. I don’t use the Nanoleaf app for anything more than updates usually, and if I didn’t need it for that, I’d be more than happy, as their app is pretty buggy and unstable. I’ve had similar issues with updating bulbs, strips, Shapes etc., and it never seems to get fixed. Unfortunately, the app is required to some extent for the 4D to be controlled unless you leave it on one setting at all times. Luckily, the strip will stay on whatever last setting was deployed when you turn it on via HomeKit.

4D OPTIONS IN THE NANOLEAF APP

The 4D will show in the Nanoleaf app as a single selectable tile, which once pressed anywhere other than the 4D icon will open up to the main opinions page. On this main page, you can turn the strip on or off as well as adjust the overall brightness levels of the strip. Below that you can choose from three different options;- ‘Basic’, ‘4D’, and ‘Scene’.

• Basic – This option allows you to use a single solid colour along the length of the strip, which is also the same as you’ll find in the Apple Home app.
• Scene – This third option allows you to select from a series of preset multicolour animated effects.

• 4D – This is the main option for screen mirroring functionality, which is broken up into further sub-options
  • 1D – This option simply provides simple ambient back lighting in white, which will adjust its brightness in relation to what’s on the screen
  • 2D – This second option is like 1D, except it uses colour instead of white, and will adjust its colour and brightness based on the dominant colour on the screen
  • 3D – This option isn’t as clear as to how it differs from 4D, but in my experience, it seems to replicate the colours around the edges of the screen, like 4D does, but in a more ambient way, so in essence less accurate.
  • 4D – This is the one you’d be using if you want to extend the colours beyond the edge of the TV screen. With this (and the 3D) option, you get a further three options to choose from;
    • Cinematic – This gives you what 4D is designed to do, but with less vibrancy, so whilst it follows the colours, it’s slightly more muted. This is probably of use if you’re in a darkened room, but don’t want the effect to be overbearing, which can be the case with some action-based Sci-Fi movies, for example.
    • Vivid – This is the same as Cinematic but with brighter and more saturated colours. This might be of more use if you want the 4D effect, but the room isn’t as dark, maybe due to you watching a film in the daytime.
    • Custom – This option sort of speaks for itself, allowing you to adjust the dynamic colour range, saturation, and overall white balance of the strip.

You can also activate the ‘Rhythm’ option alongside all the 4D options, which will then adjust the brightness and colour based on both the sound and image from your TV, as well as any external sounds. I’m not sure about having Rhythm activated alongside the 4D effects, as it could end up with a bit of sensory overload, but it’s your call.

NANOLEAF 4D RESULTS

I should preface this section by explaining that where we have our TV placed (in the bedroom), there’s not enough wall behind the TV to perfectly demonstrate the entire strip. As you might be able to make out from the image above, there are shelves built into the wall. That said, the colours are still pretty visible even if they don’t hit a light, blank background in this area. This is less evident in the following photos and video unfortunately, but where the colours do hit the wall, it’s fairly clear that the screen mirroring works – to a greater or lesser degree – depending on various contributing factors.

First of all, here’s a video demonstrating the on-screen colour-tracking. It works better than I expected, although it can vary, especially with darker images;

As previously explained, the camera didn’t quite pick out the colour that emanated on the left side of the TV, although you can see it on the bottom and top left corners. What these images do demonstrate are the relatively accurate colours, bearing in mind the colours are representative of the screen colour along the edges, not the inner parts of the image. They also show that when there’s little to no colour – like can be seen in the images of Earth from space – that light doesn’t show at all, for obvious reasons.

What I did notice on occasion, when either there were dark areas, or when the screen went momentarily dark via a scene cut in a film or TV show, some or all of the LEDs wouldn’t turn off (to match the blackness of the screen), but instead show a random colour in parts (often times red) or freeze on the last selection of colours until the screen was lit up again. It didn’t happen all the time, but it’s clearly a bug of some sort that I hope will be addressed down the line.

Speaking of bugs, I also noticed that quite often in the Nanoleaf app, there was a delay in turning the strip on, before settling into the correct mode in the app. So once the strip was on, the setting for the strip was supposed to be on a particular mode, but after maybe 5-10 seconds, the modes would rapidly change, as though it was catching up with multiple presses you’d initiated, even when you hadn’t touched anything.

There is one issue that I’m sure affects all other light strips that have the screen mirroring functionality, and that is to do with aspect ratios. Many TV shows and some older movies will be filmed in the 16:9 aspect ratio, thereby filling the screen, and thus allowing the screen mirroring to work as intended. However, many films are filmed with an aspect ratio that essentially has black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, which means the LEDs at the top and bottom of won’t be showing any colours, because they’re seeing black. Heck, even some older movies with a 4:3 ratio will produce black bars on the side of the screen, so I’m not sure what can be done in cases where the screen isn’t completely filled with imagery.

IN APPLE HOME

As you can guess, there’s no specific way to control the multicolour or screen mirroring effects in Apple Home, which is the case with all strips. You get the one tile that can turn the strip on or off, along with a slider to control the brightness and a single solid colour of your choice. The good news here is that if you have the 4D set to Screen Mirroring already in the Nanoleaf app, once turned on via HomeKit, that mode should be active by default. When it comes to multicolour animated preset ‘scenes’ in the Nanoleaf app, these can be exported to HomeKit, although I’ve never bothered with it so far, as you could end up running out of space for your own custom scenes in Apple Home.

You’ll also note that there’s no option for Adaptive Lighting, which is something you get with the HomeKit over Thread versions of the company’s Essentials lineup – the A19 bulbs and the light strip. I personally don’t think it’s necessary to have adaptive lighting for a strip that’s essentially going to replicate what’s on a display, as the chances you’re going to be in a ‘productive’ or ‘winding down’ state whilst being entertained by what’s on the TV are probably close to zero. If the option was available, then it would negate the whole purpose of screen mirroring to begin with – n’est-ce pas?

SUMMING UP

For the price, I think with HomeKit compatibility, the Nanoleaf 4D kit is actually at a decent price point. This is made more favourable when you consider that if you don’t want the strip, you can just purchase the camera and controller to use with Nanoleaf Shapes or Lines that you may already have.

I’ve found, after a fair bit of tweaking and taking into account some of the product’s limitations, that it works at least as well as I’d expected. This is especially true when you consider that a seemingly fairly low-resolution/budget camera and controller are doing quite well at translating what’s on screen. I personally don’t like the camera mount idea, in much the same way as I don’t really dig retrofit (Heath Robinson) type options these days (switchbot bot is one such device, sorry), but I imagine if the bottom placement option doesn’t work as well, then I’ll probably get used to the camera mount eventually.

The one area of real frustration is the app itself. I, and many others, find it frustrating to use for only a short amount of time, so I think an overhaul is long overdue, but get the bugs fixed too please Nanoleaf!

The post Nanoleaf 4D Screen Mirror and Lightstrip Kit (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

PACKAGING | CONTENTS

Aqara continues the minimalist theme for their packaging, with the light strip on the front, and not a lot more. It notes that you do need a Zigbee 3.0 Aqara hub, as the strip uses Zigbee 3.0, which is absolutely fine by me right now. The rear makes a suggestion on how you could integrate the strip with other Aqara devices for using in automations too, which is something they’ve pushed for a while now.

The front edge panel features the specifications, which are;

• Model: LEDS-K01/LEDS-K02
• Rated Power: 5W/m (30 x 5050 LEDs (0.2W, RGB), 60 x 2835 LEDs (0. 2W)
• Input [LED Strip): 24VDC ≤0.25A/m
• Color Temperature: RGB+2700K-6500K
• Input (Power Supply): 100-240V-50/60Hz 1.2A Max
• Wireless Protocol: Zigbee
• Dimensions: 2000 x 12 x 2.8 mm
• Operating Temperature: -10°C ~ 40°C (14°F ~ 104°F)
• Operating Humidity: 0 – 95% RH, no condensation
• What is in the Box: Light Strip (2m) x 1, Power Adapter x 1, Controller x 1, User Manual x 1

One side simply states a strapline in various languages, which is probably the most extensive amount of translations they’ve done so far, covering EN, IT, RU, FR, DE, ES, JP, CN, KR. The other side lists the features of the strip, which are;

• Multi-colour or Tuneable White
• Gradient Lighting Effects
• Compatibility and Matter* Support
• Smart Home Automations
• HomeKit Adaptive Lighting
• Music Sync Mode

Of these, the only ones of real interest are Gradient Lighting Effects, Matter support, and Adaptive Lighting; Of the two ‘enticing features’ I mentioned at the start, the first is that the strip can do multiple colours along the length of the strip – ten different colours on a two-metre strip, to be precise. Whilst there are quite a few strips capable of this, the T1 does offer an ability which not all ‘multicolour’ strips offer, which I’ll go into in a bit.

Matter support is asterisked due to it not being directly compatible with Matter, only through an Aqara hub that has been updated to use Matter and added to your smart home using Matter. Some have said this is misleading, although I do have to disagree to some extent. The exact same thing could be levelled at any Aqara Zigbee product in terms of their compatibility with Apple Home, for example, but I don’t see people making that very argument, as it’s a given that they need a hub. The same applies to Philips Hue light bulbs – they need a hub, but require the Hue Bridge for HomeKit support, so I don’t really buy this complaint regarding Matter, sorry.

Lastly, we get to Adaptive Lighting, which is only offered by a few other light strips that I’m aware of – Nanoleaf (HomeKit over Thread), Eve (WiFi), and the T1. So if Adaptive Lighting has beenuseful for you, this is a tangible bonus in my opinion. If you’re not aware of Adaptive Lighting, It basically tunes the type of white light throughout the course of the day, with warm white in the morning, gradually changing to cool white to aid productivity, then gradually back to warm white in the evening to help you unwind and relax before sleep.

The packaging contains the 2m strip, a power supply with a coaxial connection on the end of the cable, an LED Strip controller, a manual in multiple languages, and two plug adaptors. These adaptors clip into the power supply. Depending on where you buy the strip from, you should get a pair of these adaptors, so in North America, you’ll most likely get a Type A adaptor (US) and a Type H Adaptor (AU). If you’re in Europe, you’ll get a Type B adaptor (EU) and a Type G adaptor (UK). The power supply connects to the controller at one end, with the other end of the controller connecting to the strip itself.

The strip can be cut as long as its trimmed along the lines indicated. As you can see above, the strip contains separate LEDs for colour and whites, with CW representing the cool white LED, and WW for warm white, flanking the RGB LED.

I should briefly mention the controller which connects the power supply to the strip. It comes with three large buttons, the first of which is for power. If you press and hold it for more than fie seconds, it will factory reset the strip and remove it from any hub it’s connected to, as well as Apple Home.

The middle button cycles through the three white modes (cool, warm, mid) and onto colour or multicolour mode, whichever it was last set to.

The final button is solely for activating or deactivating the music sync mode.

IN APPLE HOME

Unsurprisingly, the T1 strip is a pretty standard affair in Apple Home, at least on the surface, with a single tile and controls to adjust the brightness and colour. There’s the Adaptive Lighting option too of course. Even though this strip is capable of multiple colours at once, you can’t access them directly from the tile, although as I’ll show you in a bit, the T1 does have a way around this.

IN AQARA HOME

Equally unsurprisingly, control in Aqara Home is a lot more extensive. The main page offers control for the power, brightness, dynamic scenes presets, music sync, and light grouping. From here you can also access RGB and white light controls with three separate options – RGB Palette which offers preset colours in boxes, RGB Spectrum which offers fine control of RGB, and Tuneable White which allows control over the colour temperature of the white LEDs.

The plus icon located after these options will allow you to create either a Static or Dynamic effect. The difference between the two is simple; Static effects basically don’t have any kind of animation, so no light changes. Dynamic effects offer different types of light animations.

Note: the basic 2m strip will come with ten individually colour addressable ‘zones’, with five additional zones available with the 1m extensions the company sell. In my case as seen above, I connected three additional extensions, but trimmed the last one, bringing the strip to 4.4m, which in turn gave me a total of 22 zones to play with.

So, you can colour each of these zones individually using RGB palette or spectrum options. Each zone consists of six LEDs. The app also offers combinations, which in my opinion feel like a bit of an afterthought. These offer four, five, and six section combinations.

When it comes to static effects, this is where the Aqara goes a little further than some other multicolour strips that offer animations, but don’t allow you to simply colour parts of the strip yourself statically. There are other companies that offer this kind of feature, notably one of my favourites, the Onvis Kameleon K1 strip, which offers a very in-depth way of controlling your strip. You can read the review HERE or watch the video HERE.

Dynamic effects offer animations presets as seen on the main page, and custom animations, although this is limited to colour selection and speed. The app currently offers eight different types of animations – Breathing, Rainbow, Chasing, Flash, Jumping, Rainbow 2, Flapping (?), and Running. You can copy and edit the existing presets, or you can start from scratch with your own.

There are a few settings you can tweak for the T1, like power memory in case of power failure, dimming range, and a separate section for setting the length of the strip, which would only need to be set if you add extension and/or cut them.

Music Sync isn’t personally something I’d ever use, but you might like it. It picks up sound via a microphone inside a small hole on the side of the controller, that reacts to sound and animates the lights accordingly. You need to activate it, either via the app, an automation/scene, or via the controller, and once active you can choose between a limited set of options. This includes the mic’s sensitivity, and four different effects.

AQARA HOME | APPLE HOME (PART 2) | SCENES

I mentioned two possible options to sway potential customers into buying the T1 over other strips, with the first being able to colour the strip to your liking, without necessarily having to have it be animated. The second selling point here is that the Aqara app now offers the option to export Aqara Scenes directly to Apple HomeKit. This isn’t the first time this has been available, as LiFX, Nanoleaf, and Onvis all offer this. The difference here is mostly down to Aqara’s much larger ecosystem compared to the others. So even if this option is available via other manufacturers, the sheer amount of additional functionality you can get with virtually all of Aqara’s product lines, many of which just aren’t possible to achieve directly within HomeKit, makes it a very compelling feature.

so what is it again? Well, as you know, in the case of this light strip, HomeKit control is limited to solid colours not multiple colours – the option is simply not there in the HomeKit framework. With the Scene export feature – as I like to refer to it – you can create scenes that make use of the multicolour presets, and simply export them to Apple Home, where those scenes can be used and triggered in regular HomeKit automations.

In The Aqara app, you tap on the Scenes tab, tap +, and add an action. You then select the device you want to perform an action, in this case, the LED Strip T1.

Once the T1 is selected, you get a series of actions to choose from, and as you can see above, there are a lot! From simple on/off, to setting a particular brightness level, turning music sync on/off and more. In this case I’m going to select ‘Set dynamic RGB Effect’ and from there, I can choose the specific effect – ‘Rainbow’.

with that done, I now have a basic scene that can be triggered or used in automations in the Aqara home app. I name it, give it an icon, and it’s now listed with my other Aqara Scenes. To continue this process I then tap on ‘Edit’ at the bottom of the screen.

I can then select my scenes, at which point three options appear – ‘Move to a Group’, ‘Add to Apple Home’, and ‘Delete’. Selecting the second option takes you to a second page where you choose a hub. I’m not sure why this part is necessary, but I’m sure it is. Incidentally, the Aqara G4 doorbell also appears as an option, even though it’s not technically a hub, so it would seem that most devices that either act as hubs or are directly connected to your network using WiFi are options. The only one I can think of that may not appear but use WiFi is the FP2 presence sensor, but that has a lot of work to do all by itself.

Selecting your hub then quickly shoots that scene over to HomeKit, where it becomes a standard HomeKit scene, effectively. You can test it out on this page, or just press ‘Done’. As you can see in the Home app, my ‘Rainbow Strip’ Scene now appears alongside other scenes.

One thing to note is that regardless of where your Aqara device is located, the exported scene will appear in the same room as the hub you selected during the scene export process. Luckily for me, the strip and the hub I chose are both in the living room, but it’s worth pointing out if you can’t find a scene connected to a device that might not necessarily in the same room.

LIGHT STRIP IN PLACE

There are many locations one could place a light strip, and I’ve done that to death, but in our living room, in front of the kitchen area, we have a set of cupboards running the length of the Kitchen island. Luckily for me, there’s a sort of gutter that runs the length of these cupboards uninterrupted, so the strip can cover the length pretty easily. Even though I had the 2m strip and three 1m extensions, I only needed 4.4m in total to cover everything, but I think it’s fair to say it works well.

It seems logical to test the basic solid colours, and as you can see above, I’ve gone for red, green, blue, yellow, and pink. All work well enough, although due to the placement in this case, it’s really for accent lighting only. That’s fine as we have more than enough main lighting in this area. The colours are pretty accurate.

As it’s accent lighting for the most part, the Adaptive Lighting option is probably not going to get a lot of use, but here is cool, warm, and mid white at 100%.

Given that this is a written review, it’s not really easy to show you animated effects, although you can check them out in our accompanying video review. For here, and this last set of images, we’ll focus on the option to ‘paint’ the strip yourself. The first of the three images shows the french tricolour – red, white, and blue, demonstrating the ability to colour sections of the strip to your liking. The second image show the strip made up of colours of the rainbow, with each zone a different colour to the last. The last of these images demonstrate every other zone either set to 100% blue or turned completely off.

THE T1 IN USE

In general I’m loathe to review light strips these days, and have turned down the chance to review strips from a couple of other well known companies. The reason is simple, what more can say of them that hasn’t already been said a dozen times before. If that’s the case, why am I bothering with the T1 you might ask. Well, I like Aqara products, and whilst I’ve been very happy with the Onvis Kameleon, it was yet another strip I was keen to replace due to it using WiFi. All other strips have since been replaced with Nanoleaf versions that use Thread, and as the Aqara uses Zigbee, that Kameleon is one less WiFi device in the home. I know that sounds a bit draconian, but I’m really on a mission to cut out WiFi devices wherever I can.

Aside from that, the strip itself works really well, as you would expect of a Zigbee device. The new option to export Aqara scenes to HomeKit is a plus, and I’m always happy to see Adaptive Lighting included. I don’t really take the brightness into account for light strips, generally speaking, as I often consider them only as accent lighting. The strip seems around as bright as other strips though, although clearly not as bright as either the Eve or Nanoleaf when it comes to whites, both of which also offer Adaptive Lighting*.

What is slightly disappointing is the amount of zones; The T1 has 10 zones on a 2m strip, with 6 LEDs per zone. When you compare that the Onvis Kameleon’s 20 zones and 3 LEDs per zone, it’s a little bit of a let down. It’s not the end of the world, but when it comes to animated effects, there is a slightly visible difference between the T1 and the Kameleon due to the amount of zones. Still, the T1 is compatible with all platforms, whilst the Kameleon is only compatible with Apple Home, so if you use other platforms in addition to HomeKit, the Aqara is the one to go for. As for Matter, as previously stated, this is compatible via a suitable hub, which once again is not the case with the Onvis.

In conclusion, what could have been a bit of an ‘also ran’ for a light strip, has turned out better than expected, mainly due to the features available in the Aqara app, and the fact you can paint the strip without the need for animating them too.

* Only the HomeKit over Thread version of the Nanoleaf Essentials strip offers Adaptive lighting

The post Aqara LED Strip T1 (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

PACKAGE | CONTENTS

Ikea’s stuff comes in the most basic of packaging, but we’re so used to this minimalist approach now, that it’s not something we tend to think about. As long as the goods are protected and survive the journey, that’s ok. The price justifies the lack of colour print in the case of Ikea.

What you do get on the package are the basics. The strip is only capable of warm white set to 2700K, but it is capable of dimming and gives me 530lm in total for 7.7 watts of power. As the product will need a driver to work, this is shown as excluded on the box, so you know you need a Trådfri driver for smart home use and the required power cable for the driver. You’ll also need the gateway, although as it can actually work without smart functionality, this isn’t explicitly mentioned on the box as a requirement.

Note: The light is ‘dumb’ essentially, with the driver being the smart part of the setup, but it’s also important to note that the driver communicates with the gateway using the Zigbee protocol.

Here I have the longest size they make, at 80cm/32″ in length, and as the Skydrag comes in three sizes (in most places) or four in North America, the basic specs will differ slightly.

Skydrag comes with a built-in proximity/motion sensor that can be turned off, which is just as well, as I couldn’t get it to perform adequately! When it’s set to ‘auto’, it should turn the light strip on, whilst ‘on’ is actually the sensor turned off, which seems a bit counterintuitive. As the sensor didn’t work for me, I’ll not dwell on it anymore, as I already had a different automation solution in mind anyway, which I’ll mention later.

OTHER PARTS

Ikea does a good job of making Skydrag as adaptable as possible by providing three different types of ‘brackets’ (my term) that allow the strip to be mounted in various ways. The Clamp brackets are designed for places where you might not have enough depth to use screws, so there are adhesive strips to go with these two clamp brackets, as I refer to them. You then have ‘extension brackets’ that allow the strips to overhang slightly. The final ‘angle brackets’ can be used to angle the light so that they’re not facing straight down, although this can only be achieved in certain locations. I actually used these in my wardrobe instead of the clamp brackets, as I had enough depth to fit screws.

You get the obligatory manual, which does explain how and where to use the different types of brackets, and you also get a pair of tracking strips to house the wire coming from Skydrag in order to keep everything tidy.

Finally, you get some double-sided adhesive strips to mount the clamp brackets and the cable tracking, as well as two pairs of screws and a Torx screw bit, which you should keep hold of, as the screws use this particular type of drill bit.

INSTALLATION

As previously mentioned, Skydrag requires a Trådfri driver if you specifically want smart control of your strip. Luckily, I already had one installed and set up, and because the driver is actually the smart device, not the light as such, there was no need for me to do much other than changing the location and the name/description of the lights to better represent what they’re being used for. No new installation was needed.

The Ikea app is ok, just not great, but you’re going to need it in order to set things up. Here are a few screenshots just so you get a feel for the app, and how it works in terms of its structure. As you can see, I currently have lighting in three rooms – some Mittled spotlights in the Kitchen, the Myrvarv light strip in the Wash Room, and the Skydrag in the Bedroom wardrobe.

IN HOMEKIT | APPLE HOME

Regardless of how many lights are attached to a Trådfri driver, you only get one tile per driver in the Home app. In my case, I only have the one Skydrag strip anyway, so that’s ok, but it’s important to note that if you have two strips, they’ll be treated as one – either in the Home app or Ikea’s own Home Smart app. This does have the benefit that all lights connected to a driver act as one, so there are no issues with getting them to turn on or off in sync, or ensuring the same brightness levels. This being the case, you get the one simple slider control to control these levels, and as it’s only capable of warm white, you get no colour temperature options.

As you can see in the third screenshot, I have a series of automations set up. Essentially these are used in conjunction with a couple of contact sensors – which I’ll go into in a bit – but I’ve created separate automations to set the strip to different brightness levels depending on the time of day;

• between 0800~2330 – set brightness to 100% when the sensors are triggered
• between 2330~0630 – set brightness to 30% when the sensors are triggered
• between 0630~0800 – set brightness to 60% when the sensors are triggered

I set these levels so that the light isn’t too blinding if someone happens to need to access the wardrobe in the middle of the night. Even though the strip has a maximum of 570lm, at night that can be too bright for many.

As the wardrobe has two door that open opposite each other, one sensor isn’t going to work for both doors, so I’ve added a Mijia contact sensor to one door, and an Aqara contact sensor to the other door (they’re basically the same, just different branding) both connected to the nearest Aqara hub.

As you can see, here, both contact sensors are set up in HomeKit, and both have the basic ‘on’ automations previously mentioned, but in addition, each has an automation for when the wardrobe closes, that is converted to a Shortcut automation (not to be confused with a Siri Shortcut). The reason for this is that at some point, you may open one of the wardrobe doors, then open the other, but close the first one. With a standard automation, you would end up having the strip turn off, once it detects the closed automation from one of the sensors, which isn’t what you want if you still have the other door open. You can create a ‘condition’ in an automation in apps like ‘Eve for HomeKit’, but in this case I decided to keep it all within the Home app using the ‘convert to shortcut’ option.

So, essentially, the automation works like this;

• When the initial contact sensor closes
• If the other contact sensor is ‘open’…
• Set wardrobe light to ‘on’
• Otherwise, set wardrobe light to ‘off’

That’s the logic for the shortcut, but for the sensor in the automation above it detects that the sensor has entered the ‘closed’ state, then checks to see if the other sensor is in the ‘open’ state. If it is, then set the light to ‘on’ as it means that the door is open and someone still needs the light on. If the other sensor is in the ‘closed’ state, it means that the other door is already closed, and therefore when the initial sensor has been set to closed, the light can turn off, as both sensors are now in the closed state. This shortcut automation is set for both sensors, basically looking at the state of the opposite sensor to itself, so it knows what to do based on the state of the opposite sensor.

IN USE

Having already used a couple of Ikea lights, I knew what to expect, and what I wouldn’t get, so in many ways, there was no excitement other than getting the strip fitted. Fitting was very easy and despite having to drill a hole or two to get the strip and cable near enough to my Trådfri driver, the installation itself was really easy. It did make a big difference that you’re offered different ways in which to mount these, which I think is a big plus.

I did hope the built-in sensor would be a great backup in the event my automations with external sensors didn’t fire off, but for whatever reason, I found the response to be hit and miss, so I decided not to waste any time, and just forego using this feature at all. Besides that, this wouldn’t allow me the opportunity to set my brightness level automations based on the time of day, so it was a foregone conclusion in some ways.

If you already have a Trådfri gateway  – or even a spare Trådfri driver for that matter – then I’d suggest these are definitely a better option to standard light strips, not only for the fact they have a built-in diffuser but also because they’re focused on white light only, as who really needs 16 million colour options for their wardrobe?

However, if you don’t have an Ikea gateway yet, it may be a good idea to hold off, as the company will be releasing a brand new gateway soon, that will not only have Zigbee (which is what the drivers use), but it’ll act as a Thread border router, and be ready for Matter when that arrives soon.

The post Ikea Skydrag Cabinet Strip lights (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

So with that in mind, today I’m reviewing a product purchased from Ikea UK, controlled by a remote and LED driver bought in Taiwan, and exposed to HomeKit via a Zigbee gateway purchased in the USA…Phew! The review product in question is, of course, the Myrvarv LED Light Strip.

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

If you’re at all familiar with Ikea, you’ll know the prices are usually quite low, but with generally high-quality design. This doesn’t go for the packaging, which is plain, and non-descript, whilst also following a theme or pattern. This aesthetic is exemplified perfectly, in the packaging for the Myrvarv. Everything you need to know is on the front, with the strip length, lumen count, power requirement and basic functions, all laid out very simply, much like their manuals;

• Strip Length: 2m / 6ft 7in
• Lumens: 12oolm (600lm per metre)
• Colour temperature: 2700K (warm white)
• Control: Dimmable

Inside the box, there’s a manual, the strip itself, with a connected power cord*, and an envelope that contains a set of clips that can either be affixed using the included screws or the double-sided adhesive stickers.

NOT INCLUDED BUT NECESSARY

If you’re not familiar with Trådfri, then there are some devices you’ll definitely require to get them to become smart, as well as get them exposed to HomeKit. For example, all their smart devices require the Trådfri gateway for making them functionally ‘smart’, which not only allows the devices to interact with each other in the Ikea Home Smart app but is also essential for getting devices into HomeKit. In the case of the Myrvarv, you not only need the gateway, but you’ll need what is described by Ikea as a ‘Steering Device’, which in this case is the Trådfri Remote Control. This steering device is used as a middle man to initially get the devices to talk to the Gateway. It’s a bit of an odd setup, but it is what it is. This remote also becomes paired to the device you’re eventually using if it’s capable of using the remote for functionality.

For the Myrvarv, you also need the Trådfri 30W driver, which is capable of powering up to 9 separate lights, via the bus connector. Finally, you’re going to need a power supply for the aforementioned driver! This is the Fornima power cable, available separately. So, the chain of connections is thus;

• Trådfri Driver connected to mains power with the Fornima power cable
• Myrvarv Light Strip connected to the Trådfri Driver
• A Steering device to pair the Driver to the Trådfri Gateway
• And the Gateway itself, to connect to HomeKit

As you can see, this is a lot more involved than a standard HomeKit compatible light strip, which comes with a built-in transformer, power supply, and control, as well as the ability to connect directly to your WiFi network (like the Vocolinc L2), or directly to a hub (like the Hue Light Strip), but there are some advantages, especially if you have a few light strips, all in one area, that you want to control as one. The Trådfri Driver only requires one outlet for up to nine separate light sources, and all of the lights can be controlled simultaneously, as it’s the driver that’s exposed to HomeKit, not the individual lights.

THE STRIP

Unlike standard light strips, the Myrvarv comes complete with a diffuser, to ‘diffuse’ the light from the individual LEDs, so the strip has a more uniform, solid line of light. The Philips Hue Outdoor light strips also use a diffuser that also helps to protect the strip and the internal electronics from the elements. As the strip has to reach the Driver, which may well be located a fair distance, the cable that comes with the Myrvarv is quite long (sorry, I haven’t measured it…), so it should be long enough for most situations. At the end of the strip is a cap, and the extras inside the box, also include a spare cap, if you decide to cut the strip at some point, and want to close up the diffuser again. The end of the power cable that fits into the Driver is a two pin socket that plugs into the external bus that comes with the 30W driver.

The diffuser housing the LEDs uses silicone rubber, so it’s pliable, but also a bit tactile, and as such it does attract dust and hair quite easily, although assuming the strip is either hidden or far enough from close up inspection, it’s not really an issue. The rear of the strip comes with cut marks, as the strip can be cut. As far as we’re aware, the strip can’t be extended, but then if you want more than a two-metre strip, you can just buy another strip and plug it into the existing Driver. As you can see in the third image, the strip actually appears to utilise two lots of diffusion, with an inner and outer layer. It makes you wonder what the lumen output would be like with these diffusers removed.

DIMMING CAPABILITIES

I went about testing the strip at various levels, and at its brightest, as I used a blue background, it does appear to be cool white in the images above, although this is only for the purposes of brightness levels, it’s not really so important. If you want to note the difference in brightness, it’s probably better to focus on how much of the background layer is illuminated in the images above, which represent brightness levels of 100%, 75%, and 50%.

Below 50% and you start to see the warm white of the strip, which in the cases above is set to the following levels; 25%, 10%, 5%, and 1%. There’s really hardly any discernable difference in brightness once you go lower than 10%, which seems to be common with many LED lighting products. At around 10%, you also begin to see hints of the individual LEDs themselves. Whether that matters or not is a personal choice, but it still looks respectably ‘solid’ in terms of a length of light. The only company I’ve seen so far to address the issue of having very low brightness levels is Yeelight, which include a ‘Night’ or ‘Moon’ mode in many of their ceiling, bedside and desk lamps, which can go to super-low brightness levels. It could be, at least in the case of the Ikea Myrvarv, it was never envisioned to go very low, so who knows.

DIFFUSER VS. BARE LEDS

If you haven’t explored the world of LED strips, you may ask what makes the Myrvarv any different. Well, it’s really just down to the included ‘diffuser’ (not the essential oil diffusers, like the Vocolinc Flowerbud…), which simply diffuses the light, so that the LEDs are less obvious points of light. The result, as can be seen above, is a largely continuous strip of light, whereas, in the example above, you can see that a standard LED strip, when viewed directly, shows distinct points of light.

LED strips in the main, are meant to be hidden, be that behind your TV, or a sofa for example, or maybe underneath kitchen cabinets or hidden behind coves. The result of this type of treatment largely does away with the aforementioned issue of ‘points of light’, as you tend to only see the reflected light, diffused by the surfaces the LEDs shine onto. The only difference with the Myrvarv is that you simply don’t need to hide the strip to achieve a similar effect. However, there is the argument that not seeing the light directly, even with a diffuser, and just seeing the ambient reflected light, is preferable. so it’s down to whether you’re looking for something that mimics strip lighting I guess.

IN HOMEKIT / THE HOME APP

As the Myrvarv is pretty basic when it comes to the kind of light that it produces – warm white / 2700k – you don’t get any options to alter the colour temperature, so whilst the tile in the Home app allows you to turn the strip on or off, with a long press giving you access to the slider control for brightness adjustment, you simply get the one colour shown. This is standard for any light that is set to one colour temperature, like the basic Hue Warm White bulbs I’ve been using for around four years now.

Just a reminder that all lights connected to the driver will be controlled via this one tile, as the tile actually represents the driver, even though the slider controls the light or lights. Unlike grouped lights, there’s no way to separate different lights connected to one driver.

INSTALLATION / IN USE

Fitting was pretty easy, although in my case I had a couple of washing machines that hindered easy access a tad. Still, with the clips fitted to the window frame, it didn’t take long at all. As the frame here is metal, I didn’t use the screws to fit the clips, instead, relying on the double-sided adhesive patches. For some reason, only a single sconce light was fitted in the laundry room, and at one end, so it didn’t really cover the other side, especially when laundry was hanging to dry. The strip, not only being placed on the opposite side to the sconce light, but also covering the area the sconce light didn’t cover, greatly solved the issue of providing sufficient light for the laundry room, although in the daytime, with two large windows, it’s not necessary in most cases, and as you can see in the fourth image, the strip doesn’t appear to be that bright in daylight.

I’m happy to say that in the evening, it’s a totally different story, with the strip providing more than enough light coverage, where previously there was none. It may still seem odd to some that there’s a bare strip placed here, but it’s no different to a fluorescent tube in essence, but with less power consumption, and adjustable brightness, not to mention smart control.

WRAPPING UP

As mentioned at the start of the review, due to the lack of Ikea smart home products in Taiwan, I’m a recent user. With that in mind, I was quite trepidatious about adding not only another Zigbee hub to my setup but also another ecosystem, essentially, as I’d heard of all manner of problems relating to Trådfri products and their reliability. My concerns were somewhat misplaced, as the setup was actually a lot easier and problem-free than I’d feared. I guess Ikea managed to iron out a lot of the issues by the time I got around to trying it all out.

My first foray into Ikea smart devices started, deliberately, with lighting, just to keep costs down in case it all went ‘pear-shaped’, so buying the Fyrtur blinds wasn’t going to happen at first, even though they’re available here now. The Myrvarv isn’t an exciting device by any measure, but it does fit the job on two levels; first of all, it solves the issue with lighting in my laundry room quite easily. Secondly, it does so without the need to hide the strip, due to the double diffusers built into the strip itself.

Are there any downsides? Well, yes and no. I could have just used a spare smart strip (I have a few…) and saved myself some money, or I could’ve even used a dumb strip and plugged it into a smart plug (I have a few…). Either of these solutions would have required some form of light diffuser, which in all fairness would still be cheaper than buying the required components – the strip, the gateway, 30W driver, power cable for the driver, and the ‘steering device’ to make it all work together. All in all, I spent more money than I could have, so if you want to save money just do what I’ve suggested. However, one thing I am trying to avoid nowadays is adding more WiFi-based devices to my WiFi network, so adding a WiFi smart plug or light strip is not cutting it for me anymore. Further, Ikea does offer some interesting lighting solutions, and designs that many aren’t, and so the initial outlay for the hub is mitigated over time, as you add more stuff. The need to buy a separate power cable for the driver does seem odd at first, but as you can daisy chain these drivers, it makes sense to offer you the option to buy the type of cable you need, and not supply one that isn’t required when you already have one, and just need a cable that runs between two drivers. The need for a steering device seems strange though, although the device I bought doubles up as a switch, so it’s not a total waste by any means.

How does it perform? Really well, basically. I was worried that my gateway being separated from the driver and strip by a thick wall would cause instant issues, but it has been 100% responsive, and so far (2 months as of writing), there have been no disconnections from either. Like I said before, any misgivings I had with Ikea’s smart stuff have so far pretty much evaporated. It would be good to have the option to extend the strip, but in my particular case, the 2-metre strip was actually too long, and given the driver should be able to handle three of these strips at once, makes extending the strip a little moot. One thing I would have loved would be a colour temperature option; it’s not needed in the laundry room, but had it been used in a home office, cool white would be a lot more useful. As it stands, you only have warm white.

If you’re in need of a solution like this and have already started with Ikea’s smart solutions, then it’s definitely worth the cost, even if that includes the price of the driver and power cable, both of which are very reasonably priced. All in all, for me getting into Ikea was a lot less painful than I’d feared, and by association, adding the strip was as easy as it could get, even if the need for a steering device is still a bit odd. All in all, it was a great start to more purchases…

The post Ikea Myrvarv Light Strip (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

PACKAGING

Much of the time you see the packaging for light strips showing a multitude of colours on one strip, which is far from the reality of most of what they’re able to achieve. Not so with what you see on the packaging here, which is WYSIWYG* for once. There’s nothing else to talk about in terms of the front other than the fact it reveals its compatibility options (Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa), although the slogan ‘Paint your light’ gives you further clues as to the strip’s multicolour capabilities. Both the 2m and 5m version of the strip is basically the same, save for a couple of details relating to the relevant strip lengths and the power they consume.

*What You See is What You Get 

Specifications (2m/5m):

• Model: K1
• LED: 5050 RGB, total 60 pcs/150 pcs (individual LEDs)
• Lighting unit: 20/50 units
• Beam angle: 120º
• Length of light strip: 2m/5m
• Life cycle: 20,000 hrs
• Adaptor input: 110~240v AC, Max 1.2A, 50-60Hz
• Adaptor output: 12v 1A/2A
• Water resistance: IP65 (light strip ONLY)
• WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n, 2.4GHz

If you were in any doubt about its aforementioned capabilities, then the sides of the box spell it out, with phrases like ‘Polychrome effect’, ‘paint freely’, and ‘independent unit control’  listed alongside the usual suspects. We’ll get into these details later.

CONTENTS

We’re focussing on the 2m version in this review, but aside from the length of the two options, there’s nothing to distinguish the two in terms of usage.

In the box, you get the all-important power supply, with a ‘clip-in’ adaptor for your region, a spare double-sided adhesive patch for the controller, which already comes with an adhesive patch anyway, five clips and screws to affix the strip, although it already comes with standard adhesive backing, and finally the manual in a few different languages, as well as an instance of the HomeKit code.

The connector on the strip is a 3 pin affair, that connects to the corresponding connector on the power supply, which once connected to each other a securely held in place by screwing them together via a ‘gasket’.

The controller, which comes in a weird sort of lozenge or ‘coffin’ type shape, has, as already mentioned, an adhesive backing, and nothing more. The side of the controller also features an instance of the HomeKit code. The front of the remote features three buttons, as well as a small home that houses a tiny microphone used for the ‘Music’ mode, which we’ll talk about later.

Ostensibly, the buttons on the remote simply act as power supply (middle) with the plus and minus buttons used to control the brightness of the strip, however, there’s a lot more to these buttons than you’d think. More on that later too.

The strip seems fairly standard at first glance, although for every three LEDs you also get a separate chip that performs all the multicolour magic that the K1 is capable of.

THE STRIP’S CAPABILITIES – BASIC MODE

At its heart, this can be a standard strip capable of single solid colours for the whole strip, but even then, Onvis has managed to make even this staple a bit more interesting.

In the basic colour mode, you can set the way the strip transitions from one colour to the next, with five different options, plus a Random option that uses a mixture of the five aforementioned transitions. The transitions start off with…

• Transit – which simple smoothly blending from one colour to the other.
• Converge – which brings the change of colour from both edges of the light strip to the centre
• Diverge – does the same as Converge but goes in the opposite direction, from the centre to the ends of the strip
• Foward – starts from one end of the strip, transitioning to the other end of the strip in one linear direction
• Backward – does the same as forward, but in the opposite direction

Also in this main section, you have a few options to further control transitions.

• Brightness Cycle Time allows for the strip to go from zero to 100% brightness in a loop at speeds from 1 to 12, with 12 being the slowest transition.

• Colour Cycle Time allows for transitioning between the eight set colours (which you can change), and allow the adjustment of speed of the transition between colours.

• Timed Gradual Allow you to set a time for the strip to come on, at a specific colour, and transition to another colour or colour temperature, based on a target time. So, you can have the strip turn on a 7.30am set to orange at 10% brightness, and have it transition to natural white at 100% by the time it gets to 8.30am.

• Timer allows the user to set an on and off time for the strip, either in a static colour state, or any one of the special modes that are available.

• Transit is in some ways like Timed Gradual, although in the case of Transit, you set a period of time for a given transition, as opposed to the time of day. In this way, it acts as a countdown timer, in effect.

PAINT MODE

Paint mode is the star of the show for me, with the ability to ‘paint’ various colours onto the strip. As you can see in the first screenshot, the strip is represented in two ways at the top of the screen, with an overview of the strip first, and then a longer doubled up version that allows for easier selection of ‘units’. You can also see in the third screenshot that the second representation of the strip is longer, as it’s the 5m version.

• On the subject of Units, it should be noted that in the case of the 2m strip, it contains 60 individual LEDs, and each unit contains three LEDs. each ‘unit’ is capable of being a different colour, so doing the math, with a 2m strip, you get 20 units, hence 20 separate colours to use on one strip. for the 5m strip, that increases to 50 units, and 50 separate sections of colour.

To colour the strip, you select one of the colour boxes below the strip, and begin painting the sections with your finger, by simply tapping or sliding your finger along the strip overview. if you tap on one of the seven boxes when it’s already selected, you go into edit mode, so you can change the colour to something you prefer. The app allows for a total of six presets which you can overwrite with your own ‘creations’, although if you want to revert to the six presets that come with the app, that’s easy enough to do.

• Play Gallery allows you to cycle through all six of the presets, although I’m told whilst at present it only allows you to cycle through all six, a later update will allow you to choose which of these six you can cycle through as well.

• Spectrum gives you the option to create a colour spectrum preset, but customised to your brightness levels, as well as restrict the colour spectrum. So if you want to just have a spectrum that covers green through to dark blue, you can select the markers to restrict the spectrum this way. You can also either have the colour spectrum run from one end of the strip to the other, or, have the spectrum mirrored going from the centre outwards, or even from the edges inward. You even have the option to set your own brightness and saturation levels, which is pretty fantastic in terms of granular control.
• Saturation is in many ways the same as Spectrum, but it deals specifically with one selected colour and makes the strip into a gradient, that goes from anywhere between zero to 100% brightness and saturation. Like the Spectrum option, you can have the gradient linear or mirrored, with the saturation gradient going from the edges inward from the centre outward.

When it comes to colour, the strip does a decent representation of the different shades, although, whilst we don’t have official numbers for the maximum amount of lumens, in my own opinion, strips are for accent lighting in the main, and so brightness is of secondary concern generally. What is impressive is that while the strip is only RGB, it still does a decent job of both cool and warm white. The warm white is impressive as it’s doesn’t go overboard with orange, like a lot of colour temperature lighting can do.

MUSIC MODE

I’ll be honest and say that aside from Paint mode, the other modes are of less interest to me, and that especially goes for Music mode, as I’m not really interested in turning my living room into a dancefloor… That’s not to say it isn’t impressive, and if you were to use this for a house party, it would be an excellent addition to the range of functions the strip can do, which ‘outstrips’ its competitors with ease (pun intended).

So, with that said, I’ll skate over the many options in this mode, of which there are many. You have four basic modes – Beat, Move, Dash, and Bounce, which determine the style in which the lights react to sound, be that something as mundane as the slamming of a door, or a full-on EDM track. On top of that are six ‘Fashion’ sub-options, with a seventh being random, which chooses from the six options…randomly. On top of that, you have a sensitivity option, which simply gives you low or high as choices for how much it reacts to sound. The only mode that slightly deviates is the Bounce mode, which has a separate ‘single’ or ‘double’ option.

TWINKLE MODE

As with Music mode, Twinkle is something I’ve not really delved into so much and compared to the Music option, the number of choices is legion! Twinkle, as the name would imply, is designed to replicate the kind of Christmas lighting you might haul out of the loft once a year, with lights that blink on and off, and give off the appearance of moving along the line of lights. Twinkle mode does this with a swathe of preset options. These options also include the ability to choose both the range of the colour spectrum used but also set a minimum and maximum for both brightness and saturation. Hopefully, you can see why I’ve not had time to explore all the variables! There are separate tabs labelled ‘Rand’ (random), and Routine. Go explore nearer to Christmas, or Eid, Diwali etc. and tell me how you get on.

SECURITY MODE

As the name would imply, this is designed to work as a sort of an add-on for any security automations you might already have. It’s very basic and doesn’t even have its own screen to make any adjustments as such, so it only does one thing. This ‘thing’ is basically a series of animated light sequences using blue, red, and white lights, that are meant to replicate the kinds of flashing lights you might see on a police car. In tandem with an alarm automation and siren, this could be quite effective, although it is sort of a gimmick. Still, flashing lights and a siren can do wonders at deterring most opportunist burglars – or so I’m told!

PRESET MODE

Preset mode is exactly that, it has a series of preset lighting effects – five to be exact, with hopefully more coming as time goes on. Like the Security mode, these are not customisable, so you either love them or loathe them.

Personally, the ones I like are those with more subtle animations, which are Cherry Blossom, Romance and Rainbow, the latter of which looks great as an animated sequence, especially so on the 5m strip. I also like Meteor, which shows a sliver of coloured LEDs dash across the length of the strip at random times. I guess that means the only one I really don’t like is Fairground, with its rapidly blinking lights. The kind of lighting that could quite possibly irritate or even make one nauseous after a while.

MODES IN HOMEKIT

You’re probably thinking, this is all well and good, but how can I get these modes – especially the multicolour ones – into the Home app?? Well, the good news is, quite easily. It simply involves taking either one of the presets you’ve created in the Onvis app and saving it as a Scene. That Scene will then appear in the Home app! You can do this with any of the modes, with each sub-mode having the ability to be added to a scene as well.

 CAN I CUT IT – YES YOU CAN!

Despite what was previously reported (including by ourselves), the light strip can be cut, although the process for making this work correctly is still being worked on. The update for the app and a firmware update for the strips will be available next month. These updates will allow you to deactivate individual units, although only in sequence starting from the end of the strip. Once zones are deactivated in the app, you can then go ahead and cut these units from the strip. The good news is that you can still deactivate these zones without having to actually cut the strip, in case you find a use for the full length of the strip at a later point.

It should be noted, that if you do decide to deactivate one or more units (up to 50% of the available units can be deactivated), then the six presets in the Paint mode won’t completely match; for the first of the three rainbow-coloured presets on a 2m strip, the first three colours are dark pink, purple, and blue, so if you deactivate the first three units on the strip, the rainbow coloured preset won’t readjust, meaning those first three colours will simply be missing. This just means that you’d have to readjust the preset or create a new one that fits in all the relevant colours. Likewise, if you have an effect that relies on a specific colour being in the centre of the strip, after deactivating a few units, it’ll no longer ‘appear’ to be centred. It’s not a massive deal if you’re creating your own colour presets that don’t rely on some form of symmetry, but it’s something to be aware of with some presets.

THE ONVIS APP

As the Kameleon light strips are so special, in that they have the ability to be customised in so many ways, inevitably, you’re going to have to use the company’s own app, which is not uncommon for many products when they have specific functions or options not exposed to the Home app framework.

I’ve never been a massive fan of the Onvis app, or any other app for that matter when it comes to day-to-day use, but for the purposes of the light strip, it does the job well enough. I don’t plan to spend too much time changing the strip presets, so I can live with some of the design choices used in the app, even though the graphic designer in me would love to overhaul the look of it.

That said, the Onvis app has on occasion been known in the past, to crash or freeze. The company seemed to have fixed these issues, but freezes when using the light strip seem to have returned, and so during the course of testing out the light strips, I’ve come across a few occasions where I’ve had to force quit the app and relaunch it. This is less than ideal, regardless of whether you’re trying to do a review and test all the aspects, or are just a regular consumer, so I do hope the freezes is addressed asap.

Aside from that, I find it for the most part, easy enough to follow, which is also in no small part thanks to one of their beta testers I know, who has been pushing for all sorts of changes, that have led to a lot of improvements, not only in the way the app UI is presented but the additional functions that were simply not there when the product was first in beta testing.

DAY-TO-DAY USE/FINAL THOUGHTS

I’ve been using this long enough now to get a measure of what it’s capable of and how stable it is in terms of functionality and connectivity. Regarding the former, there have been no issues, other than the aforementioned app freezes, so the light strip has performed excellently in every mode and does exactly what I’d hoped it could do.

As for connectivity, obviously, your experience is almost certainly largely dependent on your own network, but both the 2m and 5m strips I’ve had for the last few weeks have shown no sign of issues when it comes to dropping off the network, which is something we all dread. I’d say ‘rock solid’ would be the appropriate term in this situation.

Am I happy with the Kameleon? Hell yes! Ever since I heard about its existence, I’ve been anxiously awaiting its arrival in order to try out the multicolour options it is capable of. Of course, I’m well aware of the LiFX Z-Strip, and how it can do much the same in terms of multiple colours, but at the price point the Kameleon is set at, along with the plethora of options available, it’s hard to deny that Onvis have done a great job of pushing as much customisation as possible into this product, and in that respect, they get my vote. As hardware, it has been flawless and is only occasionally let down by issues with the app. The fact that my multicolour scenes can also be exposed to HomeKit is the big bonus many I’ve spoken to have been waiting for, as for some it would have been a dealbreaker.

Some may compare this to the capabilities of the Hue Play Gradient Strip, which would be massively unfair on many counts – not least due to the enormous cost outlay to get this strip to work with your TV. If a strip matching what’s on your TV is important to you, then the Hue Play, along with the Hue Sync box, and Hue Bridge, is what you need. The Kameleon can’t do that, and never will, but what it does do, is great in my opinion, especially for the price. Highly recommended.

Full disclosure: Onvis provided HomeKit News with the Kameleon K1 Light Strip (2m & 5m) for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was made, requested or has not in any way influenced our opinion of this product.

The post Onvis Kameleon Colour Strip K1 (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

The Nanoleaf Essentials Light Strip uses Thread for low latency, with improved connection reliability and range, with a compatible border router. With Thread’s improved reliability, you’ll never be left in the dark. Stepping up from Bluetooth to this upgraded technology means no more dropped connections. With one compatible border router (for example, Apple HomePod mini) for all your Thread-enabled products, you’ll no longer be burdened with multiple hubs. Want to use Bluetooth? The Essentials Light Strip supports it too.

Custom schedules help you to wake up naturally to sunrise colours or set other automations in the Nanoleaf App, HomeKit or Google Home. with up to 2200lm, the A19 is able to produce the brightest white lighting, with extended temperature range from the coolest to warmest whites. Don’t want to pull out the app? Turn On/Off, change the brightness or cycle through colours with the easy-access Controller.

• Lightstrip Length – 80 in | 2 m (Starter Kit) / 40 in | 1 m (Expansion)
• Lightstrip Width – 0.6 in | 1.5 cm
• Controller Cable Length – 5.7 in | 14.48 cm
• Controller Dimensions – 3.74 in x 1.42 in x 0.7 in | 9.5 cm x 3.6 cm x 1.78 cm
• Power Cable Length – 71 in | 180 cm
• Cut Ability – Yes, follow cut marks every 13 inches
• Extendability – 10m (max. brightness decreases beyond 10m)
• Average Brightness – 2000 lumens
• Max Brightness – 2200 lumens

The post Nanoleaf Essentials Light Strip appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

Using a motion sensor, I was able to create a motion-activated night light that would turn on my light strip between the hours of 1 AM and 7:15 AM when a motion detector detected motion. Lighting up the room just enough for me to see but not so bright that I was blinded.

The best part of this Automation is that it can be created solely in the Apple Home app with a time condition. Of course, if you wanted to take it a step further you could use the Home+ or Eve app, but that is for another day.

To see how I achieved this simple automation, check out my video below:

The post Creating a Motion Activated Night Light appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

• Millions of Colors – Your cololight strip features millions of colours for combinations built to suit every mood, making your home the ultimate entertainment destination.
• Two Way Control – LifeSmart cololight strip can change colours, brightness, multiple scene modes via “Cololight” app from anywhere. Use simple voice commands to choose from 16 million colours and DIY them to get your customized colourful lighting with Apple Homekit, Alexa and Google Assistant.
• Music Light Strip – Built-in sound responsive microphone makes it a “live” light. Led lights flash along with music beats, handclaps and other sounds. The first choice to fire up a party and decorate events like Halloween, Christmas.
• Extendable and Flexible – Lengthen your Cololight Strip up to 16.4ft with the Extensions to light up tighter spaces you previously couldn’t.
• Installation Instruction – Connect the controller unit and light strip together. The default power adapter support 3 meter light strip for 60 LEDs/m or 5 meter light strip for 30 LEDs/m. If there are more light strips, please connect them together and provide the auxiliary power supply.

specifications

• 16 Million Color
• Low Power Consumption LED Technology
• Scheduling On/Off Setting
• Free Length Customization
• Multiple Combination of Triggers
• Working Temperature：-5~45℃
• Power：Max 12W/meter
• Operating Voltage：24V
• Wireless Range：200M(Open Field)

The post LifeSmart Cololight Strip appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

• Flexible Set-Up: Pair the light strip directly to a compatible hub, like Sengled Smart Hub and Alexa devices with built-in hubs
• Smart Lighting: Turn the light strip on and off, dim and brighten, and more. Use the Sengled Home app (iOS/Android) when connected to a Sengled Smart Hub
• Voice Control: Works with Alexa and Google Assistant devices for complete voice control. Connection to a compatible hub required
• Set the Mood: Choose from over 16 million colours or whites (candlelight to daylight / 2000K to 6500K). Lights will automatically turn to the last setting used when turned back on
• Create Scenes and Routines: Set scenes, change colours or put your lights on a schedule, whether at home or away

The post Sengled Multicolour LED Light Strip appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

• Works with Apple HomeKit technology.
• Includes power kit and 2m (6.6ft) self-adhesive LED light strip.
• Can be trimmed down to 1.1ft or extended up to 33ft. Extensions (SMART LED LIGHT STRIP EXTENSION WHITE AND COLOR) sold separately.
• Dimmable and fully white/colour tunable for over 16 million colour possibilities
• No wiring required. Simple to install in a few seconds.
• Cut strips at pre-designated locations to customize the length.
• Use Siri, Alexa, or the Google Assistant to control your lights with just your voice.
• Automated control, updates while away from home, and setting triggers requires an Apple TV with tvOS 11 or later, an iPad with iOS 11 or later, or a HomePod set up as a home hub.
• Use Legrand Home app for scenes, notifications, triggers, room grouping, automation and more.
• Ideal for accent lighting, under-cabinet lighting, behind TV’s, and more.

The post Legrand HKT1 Smart Light Strip appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.