My question is only slightly related to Home Assistant (though it is a factor too).
I’m planning a small shelf behind the sofa in the living room, and I thought I’d stick an LED strip to the shelf, mostly for some warm mood light.
But then I thought I could use an RGB strip for occasional light show (Christmas decoration?). I already have a few metres of WS2812 and some Wemos D1 minis too.
First of all - does RGB lighting make sense, when 99% of the time I’d need ‘warm white’? From RGB (not RGBW), will I get nice light too?
If RGB is reasonable, then probably WS2812+Wemos+ESPHome is the best solution for integration with HA, right?
If on the other hand I wanted to get a retail solution for ‘regular’ LED strip (either warm white, or one with adjustable warmth), what are good options? I have a Deconz gateway already and I am using a few TRADFRI switches, do IKEA LED strips integrate well in HA?
RGB strips give off localised pools of RGB, so the mixed white is pretty crappy without a diffuser - which is rather why RGBW strips exist.
Search YouTube for the hook up led strips or look at IntermitTech for LED strip comparisons.
Personally, prefer WLED to ESPhome for WS2812-like LED control asi it offers many more effects. If you do use ESPhome, an ESP32 can operate both as a LED controller and a Bluetooth gateway. Options do exist for analogue LED strip like the Shelly RGBW 2.
IKEA Zigbee kit is variable - the mains switches are OK (apart from the tiny switch hole), but the battery remotes are only now starting to work reliably with ZHA, although Z2M might have less issues. The basic LED strips seem OK, are well packaged, but the PSU are ugly.
Thanks! The crappy white was indeed my main worry. Seems like I’ll be better off just getting a decent manageable white LED strip, the RGB was a flight of fancy that I’d use extremely rarely.
Right now, my setup already includes a mixture of WiFi and Zigbee (Philips Hue switches, Yeelight ceiling lamp, IKEA Tradfri switches and a smart bulb, Hue ceiling lamp), so I’ll just get a 2 metre strip of dimmable LEDS from one of these manufacturers.