Hi all, just wondering if any of you have come across zigbee candles… as in fake candles that are zigbee controlled. The only ones I can find are controlled by our remote, which I guess you could use a blaster to control, but I would love a set of Zigbee controlled fake candles that are especially powered AC.
Would you use these if you could buy them?
Thanks
I’d give it a look. Depends on cost and function.
Bit of a different route, however pretty low cost and seems functional for multi room and both indoor and out door based on your zigbee network coverage.
I’ve been experimenting with this zigbee IR blaster (link below), zigbee2mqtt and some inexpensive LED IR candles. So far so good, been testing toggling on and off and they continue to function. Only way to get the IR signals from the candle remotes so far is to use the ‘record’ feature of the zigbee IR blaster, then create an automation to send MQTT command from HA to Zigbee2MQTT with recorded base 64 hex string captured. You can find these Zigbee IR boxes, both USB powered and 2 x AAA powered on AliExpress right now for USD 11 or so with shipping. The USB powered version is supposed to be a zigbee router, however I cannot speak to this. Good hunting!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BG9DYN8N
update, looks like amazon product page is gone. here is link to zigbee2mqtt page describing the device I am using, you should be able to use model and manufacturre info to find on Amazon or AliExpress :
Yeah they would definitely work with an IR blaster. I’m wondering if there’s a market for proper ZigBee candles.
I have looked into making some fake candles with ESPHome.
My idea was to use an ESP with a lithium battery and a Qi-charger.
The Qi-charger would then be where the candles normally is and the candles can then be easily moved around when needed.
I have the stuff bought, but I have not put it together yet.
Nice one. I just love the idea of being able to like candles with a zigbee network.
But the normal population wouldn’t be interested in them. They’d probably want Wi-Fi ones so I’d have to write an app for them, which I’m not really interested in.
From my review, adding wireless control would add at minimum USD 0.50 per candle, this for Bluetooth low energy. Wifi and Zigbee would add probably USD 2.00 per candle. And we are not even talking battery life reduction and associated cost increase for batteries. Wireless charging and rechargeable batteries will add maybe another 1 to 2 USD per candle. And we have not even added your sweat equity and time if you are going to do DIY devices. Market is just not there unless you are a church 
The variety and low cost of these IR controlled LED products is pretty amazing. Windows, the glass kind not the Redmond kind, are the only challenge IMHO. And the zigbee IR blaster I cited, when placed in a high corner of a room with good line of sight to as many parts of the room does a very good job of bathing the room in IR for control.
With most of these IR controlled candles, they have a ‘time on mode’ with one or more periods of 4, 6 , 8 hours. Sending this command via the zigbee ir bridge and then in the morning also sending a power off command once or twice will give a pretty solid assurance the candles are off during the day, to maximize battery life.
Good hunting!
One point to note. In my several day long ‘stress tests’, while there was no problems with either the candles or the ir hub as they were continuously toggled between on and off. I did find that there can be overlaps between the ir signals of various devices. In the room I was testing in, there was a TV with a low cost Amazon sound bar, I found that the ‘candle on’ IR code caused the sound bar to change it’s audio input.
There might be a way to ‘refine’ these IR signals to reduce or eliminate these clashes. For now, it is just something to note and work around, however if I have time (oh sure…) I will do some deeper learning on IR signaling.
I actually have a couple of candles that are RF and can be controlled through my Sonoff RF Bridge 433.
Why???
(I know, because you can).
We buy our seasonal candles at the Dollar Store along with a box of Dollar Store batteries. They come on at dark and go off six hours later.
I am too busy getting our WLED tree decorations in the front yard set up to worry about candles.
Short answer, no.
Yes, there are buttons on the remote that must be pressed by ‘voice’
However, for practical purpose, having control over these IR controlled LED light systems (of so many varieties) is good to have in your quiver of holiday (and year around) lighting tools.
WLED, Tasmota, espHome driven DIY lights are a good part as well, but more expensive often in terms of bucks, your time and power requirements. However, as I said, the price point, battery operation and functions of these inexpensive Infrared off the shelf lights is very good to incorporate.
Good hunting! Happy Holidays! (and don’t plug every thing in at once Mr. Griswold )
I’m using 2 already existing Logitech harmony hubs as IR blasters for my IR controlled LED lights and it works as perfect as it can with IR. With some simple scripts, automations and templates I managed to create light entities for them with brightness control.
As the harmony hubs are no longer sold and when they were, they were expensive, the Zigbee IR blasters mentioned in the thread seems like a the way to go if any of my old hubs dies on me:-)
