Plus these: https://www.jaycar.com.au/6-12mm-dia-ip68-waterproof-cable-glands-pack-of-2/p/HP0732
The sealed box is available in a lot of sizes in ABS or polycarbonate. ABS is slightly cheaper than polycarbonate but does not resist UV as well and is not as strong.
Iād recommend waterproof junction boxes, with gland nuts for cable entry. Oh, see I was beaten to it.
I was reading somewhere that its all a bit complicated and that ventilation and/or a one way moisture valve of sorts is actually important due to āpumping effectsā of temperature differences and condensation.
I went with a good coat of nail polish on electronics and ventilation holes on the bottom - Iāve been using these for my solar projects.
Dunno whether itās really good solution though. Seems ok.
Iāve had four of the project boxes I linked to out in my yard for years. No moisture has ever entered them. They come with a gasket you have to put into the lid. I always make sure the join is at the bottom, no gaps and I run a small bead of silicone grease on it. I also only use outdoor rated cable so no moisture can wick in that way either.
Yeah I may have wound up in a rabbit hole with that one and probably practically itās fine.
I think part of the point of some of the things I was reading was that unless it is quite air tight then air comes in and out from suction effects from heat differences and drives condensation. Hence why headlights have special breathers.
Well thatās my fuzzy recollection of it. Iāll see if I can dig up some links.
Edit: Like this. My recollection / understanding was a bit off.
Same experience here with similar Jaycar boxes. No water ingress issues at all.
They do yellow with the UV over time (one of my boxes has been in the sun for the better part of 10 years and is still holding up OK).
What is the pick of the bunch nowadays in terms of dimmable, colour-spectrum-adjustable (mainly interested in the warmer end of the spectrum) E27 bulbs that work locally with HA?
RGB not required, just colour temp adjustment. The brighter the better (as long as the light output at min brightness is actually very low). Protocol agnostic as long as the bulb supports local control.
I currently have four 2200-4000K IKEA Tradfri bulbs - all about four years old - which have been reliable. But, thereās a few things about them which I wish was different - their minimum brightness is still quite bright, the light takes on a yellow-ish rather than red-ish hue at warmer colour temp settings (and ideally Iād like something that can go a bit warmer than 2200K), and the light quality generally leaves a bit to be desired (to my eyes at least). I now need two more bulbs - and would consider replacing the existing four if a better option exists - hence the question.
Thanks. I have had a search around tooā¦ but first-hand experiences are appreciated, and thereās so many posts in this thread itās pretty unwieldy nowadays!
Canāt change the socket?
Lifx white to warm is 1500 to 9000K, 1000Lm but now only available in B22 socket in Aus. Not cheap but they have other handy features like being able to set the colour temp and brightness before you turn them on (no longer get blinded late at night).
I have the older no longer produced day/night globe. Its colour rendition was good and could be dimmed quite low. In fact I have a bunch of those globes I no longer need (moved to dumb bulbs and smart dimmers), some in E27 if I remember rightly. Hit me up in private if you are interested. EDIT: I do not remember correctly. They are all B22.
Thanks for the response / info.
I could use a E27 to B22 adapter - one of the lamps this would look weird (bulb protruding below shade), but the others it should be OK.
Is this the LIFX product you mean - LIFX White to Warm B22 Wi-Fi LED Smart Light ?
1500K on the lower end is appealing, as is low min brightness (assuming this is the same as the older ones you had). Only 80 CRI not so much. Do you know if your older ones were only specāed at 80 CRI too? (Given your comment about colour rendition being good, and spec sheet data not being the be all and end all).
Also - even though not listed on LIFXās website, this appears to be the same product in E27? https://amzn.asia/d/0fOienon
Yeah thatās the one.
They were called Day & Dusk but I canāt find the CRI spec. anywhere.
OK - thanks again for the info. Given easy returns I might buy one of the E27s from Amazon and trial.
I have a couple of the Arlec Grid Connect E27 (CCT) lights. Theyāre about $10 from Bunnings. Mine are the older 9W variant whilst the newer are 12W, but under the covers theyāre all Tuya devices with BK* chipsets. Basically anything branded āGrid Connectā is Tuya.
If youāre prone to some tinkering you can get ESPHome running on them.
Or you could setup Tuya-local (this was my approach before Libretuya was merged into ESPHome).
Be aware at 100% duty cycle they drive the leds quite hard (typical for any cheap LED bulb really), so you might want to dial them back a tad.
If you use a lower PWM frequency you can dim them down incredibly low - I have one in use as a night light for my youngest.
Adding neutral behind the switch
I have a 90s brick veneer house with Architrave mounted switches. I donāt think I have neutral wires behind the switches. What is the approximate cost to add a neutral wire from the lighting circuit? Iād be moving the switches onto the wall at the same time and replacing them with a momentary Clipsal button + Shelly 1 Plus/Dimmer. Going straight to Shelly Dimmer without adding neutral is also an option, but adds up quickly and there isnāt enough space in the door frames.
Itās going to the the hourly rate of your electrician multiplied by how long it takes them. Which depends on a lot of things. Materials will cost next to nothing compared to that. Get a quote or three.
Would you say it is approxmiately 10 mins, 30 mins or 1 hour job per switch? Assuming relatively straightforward access to the roof space? Iāve been quoted 80-120 per switch for the wall relocation bit, but not sure about the added neutral
Really difficult to say. For one of my architrave switches it took 15 minutes. For another they had to give up.
Thanks Peter. Iām a bit hesitant about Arlec Grid Connect devices based on some prior poor experiences (re, reliability) - but given how cheap they are, I guess itās probably worth at least trying one.
When you say āIf you use a lower PWM frequency you can dim them down incredibly lowā - I assume that requires getting ESPHome onto the light, not something that can be done with the standard Tuya firmware?
For the benefit of anyone else who stumbles across this in the future: The bulb I linked in a previous post, LIFX LED Bulb, White : Amazon.com.au: Lighting, is in fact the E27 version of the LIFX White to Warm, just poorly named. Unclear why itās still available on Amazon when itās no longer on LIFXās website - perhaps selling off remaining stock.
Anyway - I bought one to trial, and for $30 am pretty happy with it. The minimum brightness is very dim, the colour reproduction looks pretty decent to my eyes despite spec sheet saying only 80 CRI, and it tends towards red at lower Kelvin values (as opposed to my Tradfri bulbs, which trend more towards yellow).
I funded the very first LIFX bulb on Kickstarter and had about 20 of their bulbs running on HA for years. They were great bulbs - for all the reasons set out above. But in the last year or so I found that they kept becoming unavailable in HA, though still working in the LIFX app. Had to reset my router to fix the problem and that got annoying. Might have been something about my setup.
Hoping you have better luck.
I still have eight Lifx bulbs in lamps around the house. None of them have connection issues.