I installed customisable individually addressable WLED light strips into my kitchen as part of some recent renovations. This video takes you through the entire process from start to finish!
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If you have more specific questions about WLED, LED strips, and electricity I'd strongly suggest joining Quindor's Discord server. There are so many smart friendly experts in there that will love to help you out - / discord
Links:
My beginners guide to WLED video: • Individually Addressab...
"The Hook Up" Guide to LED strip voltage drop and power injection: • 3 Quick Fixes for LED ...
QuinLED Controllers: quinled.info/pre-assembled-bo...
Equipment used in this video:
LED Strips:www.btf-lighting.com/products...
LED Channels: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...
5v Power Supply: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...
Other Power Supplies: quinled.info/power-supplies-d...
Wire, tools and connectors: quinled.info/2018/10/01/tools...
Treasure that time with your Dad. It's one of the best uses of your time right now.
You don't need to use WLED segments to run multiple LED strips using the DigUno. Despite its name, it has two separate data out lines (iirc, LED1 and LED2), so all you need to do is go into WLED > LED Preferences and click the + button under the LED outputs section and add your second strip. Also, might be worth investing in a relay to control the LEDs due to their idle power draw. Once again, the Dig controllers support this directly, or you can do it via a smart plug or switch as well.
The thing you were saying at the end where you change lights based on to much/to little power is great, I've had this running for years. Also works wonders to get my wife to use power "correctly".
Glad to hear it! That project is still on my "Todo list" 🤣
Thanks for sharing. Looks great! You should be proud!
Great video and loved the message at 15:17. Thank You!
Superb video - have just completed a similar install in my own kitchen
This is one of the most informative videos I have ever seen. This guy is absolutely amazing.
Hi, what a lovely video. Your voice is very soothing. Very clear and professional. Thankyou. 🙏
Setting segments in the WLED UI is done by creating segments under the segment tab and then entering the desired LEDs for each segment. If you had 100 LEDs total and want 50 on segment 1 and 50 on segment 2 - you enter 1-50 for segment 1 and 51-100 for segment 2. Then in HA refresh the particular WLED controller and it should now show entities for segment 1 & 2 that can be controlled separately. Once you set the segments how you like in WLED, it's a good idea to save it as a preset so you can just reload that in the future if anything goes wrong and save having to configure it all again.
Thank you for the video, ibe been planning the same for a while and its good to know what to look out for. 😊
Glad it was helpful! Good luck with your kitchen lights
I found copper adhesive tape to be a real godsend. It glues on easily, and you can solder to it. This was i dod quite a lot of awkward signal routing and power injection without barely anything visible
Great video as usual! Learned a lot, had fun watching it and got excited about starting a wled-project in my kids room. I highly recommend using a motion sensor under your kitchen cabinets. Mine switches on the hue led-strip when motion is detected and restore previous state after 2 minutes with no motion. The motion sensor can also trigger an automation for my dishwasher. If no one has opened the door to the dishwasher when it has finished the automation will prompt you to open the dishwasher. Prompt is spoken from my Google Nest hub.
Great suggestions - thank you so much!
Nice video !!! I love WLED. The completion is booked for tomorrow for my new build. Guess what I am going to do ahahahah. Smart home !!!! I did work with KNX before but the way you have it set up is very cost effective and you don’t need to rewire the house
Congratulations! Enjoy the journey and the learning - it's frustrating at times but so much fun and very rewarding
This looks amazing! I have the same WLED setup and had an amazing idea for it. With some messing around in HA and Nodered I made a cooking timer for things like pasta or something in the oven. It uses the percent effect in WLED to display the remaining time as a status bar on the leds. Have a few presets (6, 8, 10, 15 minutes) linked to a zigbee remote and google assistant and can set a custom time in the HA app.
That's so awesome! I was wondering how I could do something like that - I never knew there was a percent effect in WLED - thanks for sharing!
have to say, that is a really nice kitchen
Thank you, we designed it ourselves! After living in rental houses for ever, I have waited my whole life to get to design my own kitchen with every cupboard having a specific, well thought out use 🤓
Great video
Just some tips/advice. Never tin wires that will be placed in a compression fit situation. The solder will deform over time and you will get loose connections that will be at risk. For compression terminals, use crimps or just compress the bare copper. Wago's are weird as they are a locking but technically compression fit wire connector.
Wagos are spring-loaded. So while not needed, tinning doesn't hurt.
Nice one, I did under cupboard in white only dumb strip (on a smart switch), but I did do WLED strip on the plinth below the lower cupboards. You get a nice effect on the gloss white tiles. (also really shows up the dirt - don't get white tiles in your kitchen) I have the same automations for doorbell motion, and doorbell button press via HA, as you say, the notification is a great non-intrusive way to let you know what is going on. I have a few other LED strips around the house, they all do the same notification so you can tell what is going on wherever you are. Solar power notifications would be great, I'll wait for your video on that :) One other one I've set up is for putting the recycling bins out. I have a HA calendar with the correct colour recycling bin each week (ours alternate between red and blue each week) HA tells Alexa to announce which colour recycling bin is going out this week on the evening before they are due, and I get HA to flash the LEDs the corresponding colour too. I've also got one that flashes them blue if a leak is detected under the bath, though since I fitted the zigbee water leak sensor there, there have been no leaks :)
Great automations! I like the idea of the bin reminder. Do you have a contact sensor or BLE tag on the bins to detect if they've been put out or not?
Cool video, really love this channel and you have cool reference of the Hookup and Quindor, if you want to make WLED to respond to you power consumption get Shelly EM 120A and hook it to your main cable, it should be easy and set an automation if exceed show this effect and if it's less show that. About segments check Quin or Dr Zzs video, it should be easy for you since you are already an expert. P.S: one quick note, maybe consider using fork style crimps and way thicker cable from the PSU to your boards. Good job!
Fork style crimps have been mentioned a couple of times now, so I've got some en route! Thanks for the other tips too!
Great video! This is on my to do list. I've been sitting on my dog quad for a while now and with prime day around the corner... It's a go for me! I'll show my partner for justification 😂
Thanks for the kind words, good luck with the project!
Brilliant video as I'm just switching all my WiFi stuff to Zigbee with a Pi4 on HA. Amazing what can be done! Also just refitted kitchen and also have bright white splash backs, so just ordered all my LED kit.... then boom this video appears 2 days later!! Great to see what you've done and how to set conditions etc to make better use of them. Can you pop a link to the HA wall controller you show in the video. Looks great that does and ideal for setting up with a basic set of commands for say lighting, power, blinds etc.
I did a video about them on my channel actually, but take a look at some of the comments as they're not as easy to hack into anymore apparently. kzhead.info/sun/eNmPhcWqkF94m2g/bejne.html
Nice setup. Thanks for sharing. Really well explained too. I have a few sets of GOVEE LED strips around the house, but I can't individually select LEDs or even recreate scenes from the GOVEE app in Home Assistant, which is a real pain. I was looking for an alternative solution and this looks like it 👍
Glad it was useful! I've personally never used Govee lights, but I hear they are decent hardware - even if it sounds like the software is lacking
@HomeAutomationGuy functionality in the Govee app is phenomenal, with a multitude of scenes and a sync mode for music. Just a shame it's not fully exposed to Home Assistant in any of the integrations I've found.
I have the same experience. The effects of the govee lights cannot be changed via Home Assistant. Only brightness and color are supported.
Been wanting to do this for a while both inside and outside but there's so much hardware its easy to get lost. My goal outside is to run strips under the eaves and do away with my abnoxiously bright flood lights, converting them to camera motion activated lights instead. It would certainly make my neighbors happier without my house being lit up like a compound at night. I also like what you did inside but I think a higher voltage setup will prove easier for installation. Great vid, your setup looks amazing!
I think for massive outdoor runs I too would look at 12v or higher. The concepts are the same between 5v and 12v, and the QuinLED controllers work with both voltages as well
You could consider using a Blueghozt automotive LED controller for that... It's a fantasticly customizable controller that has triggers that are usually used in cars to activate lights for turn signals or brake lights, but you could potentially have those lights triggered by your cameras turning on instead. Just a thought...
Awesome video! I’ve just started using WLED and would love to implement an alert system, similar to the one you show so that I know when someone is at my front door. I’ve been playing around with scenes in Home Assistant to try to achieve this but I’m not getting anywhere. Can you share the approach you took to do this? Might even be a great subject for another video. Thanks for all the time and effort you put into this great channel!
Thanks for the kind words! I create a Preset inside the WLED device with the effect, colours etc that I want the alert to show. I then have an automation that is triggered when the doorbell detects a person (This is a state on an entity attached to my doorbell in Home Assistant) I then use these Actions: The Scene.Create service to create a dynamic scene of the lights I am about to change (So that I can change them back to the same settings later) You can then use the select service to change the preset of the WLED light to the one you created earlier. Another action to wait for 5 or 10 seconds for the effect to play out a bit And then the final action to apply the dynamic scene I created earlier. It's a bit complicated, so maybe a video on it is a good idea!
@@HomeAutomationGuy Oh, this is great! Thank you!! So I've been on the right track, as I'm doing much the same as you outlined above. I'm at a point where the alert functions if the lights are already on (i.e., illuminated), but if they are dark, I get nothing. I've tried inserting power-on the event in the automation, but that doesn't seem to make a difference. Do you think setting the brightness to 100% would help? I guess I have some more tinkering to do. Thanks again for all you do here. This is great stuff!
Thanks
Thank you so much for supporting the channel! I so very much appreciate it 🙏💕
I used a neutral light for under cabinet lighting, I thought about coloured but decided I didn't need colour for that, just dimmable. I did use colour around the top of the cabinet pointing toward the ceiling though. That way I can have the flexibility on how to use them . I didn't need digital LED's though, so I used analogue controllers as having the entire strip the same colour was suitable for me. So around the top is 4 channel, RGBW. Under the cabinets is neutral white, about 4000K and around the floor is also 4000K. I got all my LED's from BTF Lighting, which have proven to be very reliable. I got all of them as 24Volt analogue, so that means very little issue with voltage drop. All of them are controleld with Quindor's QuinLED Analogue 4 channel controllers, which I can't remember what they were called now. It is the older model than the current ones he has. All of it running ESPHome and has been really reliable. I use a few scenes as well. My "night light" scene doesn't turn on any of the ceiling downlights (can lights as ome in US call them) and only use the LED Strips for night light, as I find the downlights made it a little bright for that night light.
Sounds like a great setup! I definitely didn't need digital LEDs, but they were fun to play with and the cost of them has come down dramatically so I didn't feel like it was toooo overkill. If I ever did outdoor lights, I would do them in 24v as those runs are likely to be much longer. But that's not a project I have on my radar for the next 12 months. Also, in the UK the ceiling lights are often referred to as "the big lights" which always makes me laugh a little 😉
I LOVE this! You've done whats been in my brain for the last 6 months to a year. I also researched qundor and dr zzzs channels to get info about this stuff but couldn't find anything specific for kitchen lights/home assistant. I am so grateful for you showing how the automations work and will be looking to incorprate similar ones in my own setup. I got a bit diheartened by aliexpress unfortunately, I usually dont have issues with shipping, but recently placed a large order for the wiring/crimping cables etc and it was lost :( I am also based in the UK, do you have any suggestions for where to source the wiring and connectors you used locally/reliably? Thanks!
Glad you found the video useful! I haven't found any good local suppliers for these items either, so I usually end up getting them from Amazon and overpaying. At least I know they will arrive quickly, and I am able to get a refund or exchange from Amazon if anything goes wrong. I don't like feeding the Amazon machine, but it's just so dang convenient
did you check how much current your installation drain if you set power off? I prefer controller with an output relay to fully turn off the led strip.
Ive just created the same thing in my kitchen, The sk6812 is my go to led now. How abaout an automation that sets a sequence that notifys when you or your partner are leaving work/nearing your area so you can plate up.
That's a great idea for an automation! But we both work from home 😬🤣
Hi Alan, another great video. We are in the process of a new kitchen fit out and I am looking at the lighting. Based on your other video we are standardising on the Candeo dimmer switch generally around the house. This will work fine for the GU10 spots in the ceiling, but I am wondering if there is a way to get the under cabinet lights to be controllable via a Candeo dimmer as well. This would allow manual control via a "standard" looking dimmer (which has much greater approval factor than touch screens etc) and also allow scenes etc to be configured in HA. Any help greatly appreciated.
I don't think you can control the under cabinet lights with a Candeo dimmer if they're WLED. But there are some standard LED drivers on the market that accept a dimmer as input, and then output 12 or 24v in some sort of dimmed way for standard LED strips. You can also create a HA automation that checks to see if the brightness of the ceiling LEDs changes, and then makes the under cabinets the same level of brightness. So if the GU10s are 50% brightness, it will make the under cabinet 50% brightness too. There are some HA blueprints around that make it easy to set up. I personally prefer to use Scenes as I want different brightness levels for all my lights independently.
@@HomeAutomationGuy Thank you so much. I was so fixated on the WLED solution that I hadnt considered a standard dimmable LED power supply would do the job 🙄 Have a fab Christmas and New Year, and thanks for the excellent videos, they have saved me so much time, and provided lots of inspiring ideas 👍
@@michaelstembridge Glad to hear it mate! Have a wonderful Christmas yourself!
Nice video, for the wall panel which type of device you haved used?
I finally caught up!
Welcome to today! Glad to have you here!
It does not matter what voltage you got. If your screw terminal is loose even 5V 10A can start a fire. But othervise great video
Well let's hope that doesn't happen 🤞 Does the short circuit protection on my power supply not help prevent that?
A short circuit is a voltage to ground, that is what your PSU is protecting against. An arc fault is where a flash jumps across to ground and creates a spark. So your psu won’t protect against an arc fault. Also your wago 221 don’t need stranded wire to be tinned, it’s better practice to not do that. You should also use forked connectors on your psu and not ferrules. Also, the psu should be enclosed sufficiently as well as terminals enclosed as above, but also your wago connectors should be in boxes to be pedantic. Single insulated wire needs mechanical protection too. Two simple paranoid scenarios you want to protect against: 1) someone chucks something metal on top of the kitchen cupboard to get it out of the way (knife, fork, skewer, kids toy etc) and you arc across the terminals 2) you induce a high voltage into your system and the wagos are exposed. Sounds unlikely, but you’ve run cable across a mains voltage appliance (extractor) so it is a possibility. Personally, wiring shouldn’t look messy when completed, even if that isn’t a safety factor. 4:38 in the video is shocking
Nice work. I've done a fair amount of projects with WLED, but only for ambient lighting, never "work light", using ESP32 and WS2812 strips. I've looked at exactly SK6812 before, but never pulled the trigger, because I found it to expensive. But it seems to have fallen in price since i last checked. But just to be sure, did you go for 30 or 60 LED's per meter?
I went with the 60 LEDs per meter, they seem to diffuse quite well in the aluminium channel for a nice even light - as long as you're not looking directly at them!
@@HomeAutomationGuy Awesome. Thanks for your answer :)
Great video. Ive done the same with my shelves either side of my tv. My only confusion is the wled setting for maximum power. If i have a 5 amp ppwer supply, and i push the maximum amps in WLed to above this, is it in danger of catchijg fire?
I really am not sure on the answer to that. Hopefully someone in the community can help answer that!
Why did it take till today to know about Call a service 'Scene: Create' on, Thank you!
I only learned about it a few months ago myself 🫣
I have set up some buttons on my overview to turn different WLED presets on/off. When I click the button, the icon does not light up for that particular button. Do you know how I can add this? Would you be able to show a snippet of the yaml used for the buttons on your setup?
Great video ! I think you made a small mistake in the 5v power supply link, it shows a power supply with 24V ?
You're absolutely right, thanks for the heads up! I've fixed it now.
This is what people have been doing for time!!
Thanks for the video Alan, I like the idea of doing such projects together with a friend or family. Quick suggestion: You already mentioned to use the light strips as a notification when you're done cooking/baking, but you can also use them as an actual timer or even timers, so you can actually see the progress. Timers for anything really, cooking/baking ofc, but also exercise, lunch/tea break, next meeting, battery levels (ie 1 pixel per home automation device) and the colors can show you the power left, etc, etc. Have fun! :)
I only recently learned about the Percent effect in WLED thanks to some other comments on this video and I'm looking forward to giving it a go! Thanks so much for sharing
What are the sensors that you use to determine if it's dark or not? I tried WLED with an esp32, 1m of a WS2812B 5V, to create a sunrise effect for my kids room. On the WLED device page I can use and set de effect to be running for 10min and it works fine. I do the Preset and make it available on HA, but when I run an automation the effect doesn't work and turns on the WLED strip as if the Sunrise effect is over. Can you make a video on how to do presets on WLED and use them on Homeassistant?
get a project box for that power supply btw also at 6:20 there is no need to put solder on the wires really tbh, if anything it can auctully make a worse conenction over time in terminals
I originally thought about a box, bit won't it just make the power supply overheat? Thanks for the tips though, I didn't know about the rest!
@@HomeAutomationGuy I'd drill a hole in the top of it and mount a small fan personally The exposed mains terminals up there unnerve me up there in case someone reaches up there or decides to dust
Planning to do something similar for my room at some point as I had to remove my zigbee left strips when I got a new desk and now they don't fit sadly
You have some exposed 240v copper and single insulated cable on your PSU connections there. They should be inside an insulated enclosure. If you had an EICR, these would require rectification as they are a shock hazard and fire risk.
Thanks for the heads up, I am going to look at enclosures for these.
Instead of running the data cable the length of the strip. You should have just inverted the direction on the strip so it plays the effect backwards.
Hi what kind of recessed lights do you have? Love those small ones
They're GU10 downlights in some sort of recessed fitting (I don't know the exact ones, sorry)
Thank you for your very helpful video Led setup. I’d really appreciate it if you could figure out a way to have the colours change when I’m having a hypo or hyper to medically keep me alive. It would be a miracle to help not only myself but many more people who get sick of hearing alarms and buzzards to be alerted you need to do something important. I have a Dexcom on me to monitor my Blood levels and would like to change colours when I’m low and need to eat too high I need to exercise. Like yourself, I’m a Nerd if that is what you want to class it as but I class it as trying to keep alive more safely and more discretely when people are at my property. I have HA setup with normal Leds at the moment but would love to have your setup in my Kitchen and living room Bedroom and stairs. But My kitchen is very small and I have no units that have plinths at the top to hide the wiring so all your wires would be very hard for me to hide. And I prob have to do it at the back of an oven or the back of a washer to bring the wires up. But as we all know water and electricity don’t mix. But until I know it's possible, I do not want to attempt this big setup. But It would be a miracle if possible and less noise keeps ringing in my ears 24hrs 365 days a year and no rest from it day and night! 😊 thanks hope you can help and work with me on this project!
Watch out for any connections in a high temp or high moisture area.
How do you connect your WLED to your Home Assistant?
Apologies if I missed it in the video, but what’s the power consumption, both in use and everything “off”? I’d like to do something similar but am anxious about this aspect.
That depends entirely on the size of the power supply, the controller you're using, and the length and number of LEDs on your strip. I know that's not a great answer, but there's good news because you can use a smaller, lower drawing power supply to turn on the fat power supply when the lights are due to turn on - which reduces the power consumption dramatically. It's on my to do list for a video, but in the meantime you can find more out here: quinled.info/quinled-dig-boards-and-using-a-relay-and-the-vext-function/
Athom sells WLED controllers with a relay in them so when you set lights to OFF, it disconnects the relay meaning that only the ESP is drawing the tiniest bit of current (like any other ESP motion sensor etc).
@@HomeAutomationGuy thanks. I was curious if you’d measured it on your kitchen setup, that’s all. I think maybe 5W when no light is generated at the AC is just about acceptable for the functionality your getting, but anymore and it’s difficult to justify IMO. I love my home gadgets but always make a point to test the idle draw on everything so would be interested in your numbers. I’m sure others would as well. Thanks for taking the time to document your exploits and I hope you’re keeping well. 😀
2:24 - Not quite, higher voltage is safer with regard to fires because the current (amps) is lower when transferring the same power (watts). High current + thin cables = overheating. Voltage below 50V is usually considered safe for humans. And I think you'd also have less issues with voltage drop. 6:21 - those Wagos are rated for stranded wires, you don't need to tin the ends because they have spring contacts. And for screw terminals you'd better use crimped ends because solder tends to be malleable and that causes bad connections which would be another fire hazard
Thanks for the tips. I've upgraded my crimps to the spade connectors, and will use the stranded wires with my wagos in future. As for the 5v vs 12v - unfortunately I've not been able to find SK6812 style LEDs in 12 or 24v - the only ones I can find don't have the separate white and RGB channel LEDs which I love. Do you know of any that exist, I'd love to know!
@@HomeAutomationGuy there is in theory ucs2904 which is capable of 12v and RGBW but it's rarely used. Most common addressable 12V led strips can't handle 4 color channels
How do get the washing and door bell lined to your lighting for notifications????
Using Home Assistant automations
A minor piece of advice. A hot air gun does a much better job at shrinking heatshrink tubing than a lighter. It will shrink more evenly and there's less rick of burn marks. Not that important when it's going to be hidden anyway, but for anything that will be clearly visible I'll use a hot air gun.
I use mine to give an indication wich bin is being picked up
It is actually better for light to place leds closer to door than wall. Just try and see it by yourself
Stupid question time. I have 3 buttons on my light switch in kitchen. One of them is for the under cabinet lights. Does this solution also usable via this button so I can turn on and off?
AURORA BOREALIS? At this time of year at this time of day in this part of the country, localised ENTIRELY within your kitchen?
😍🤩😍 "No mother..... It's just the northern lights!"
You don’t need to run the data tothe first strip if you use separate pin for data, I have separate pins per section and configure the order in LED preferences
Oooh, I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing!
Hey Alan, Love your videos, but haven't seen anything from you for a couple of months. Are you taking a break from KZhead?
Which wall panel is that you use for HA?
T6E Android panel
You mentioned that the lights change to blue if it's raining outside.... Do you have a weather station?
Yep. I have an Ecowitt weather station
Hey, noticed you haven't posted in a while and hope all is well!
Hi! Thanks for noticing! There's just been a few too many things going on in life recently so I haven't had time for Home Automation and Videos! But I will be back soon with new projects, don't worry :)
I have been pulling my hair out over the last month or so - decided to jump into the WLED world, so I can integrate it into HA. What a journey (massive learning curve), starting with ESP controllers (fried one - to much voltage, not flashing successfully / soldering issues etc etc). So I purchased a QuinLedUno and a Dig2Go (awesome little device this for audio reactive). Both awesome products. The Uno Ive hooked up to 10m (600 leds) in my office, due to get another 5m to cover my facing wall (behind my monitor). Its so awesome to finally get to this stage and play around with them. Defo would like to see more automations with them Alan - atm, Ive only got them set to a presence detection sensor when I walk into my office.
AURORA BOREALIS
if you have a garage door, you might illuminate a light to let you know the door is still open after a certain time at night. Thanks for sharing all this, I'm at a similar point with my home automation and I think I'd like to replicate your setup....
I don't have a garage, but I do that with my front door. If it's open the light is red!
You could change the color if your garbage collection will arrive tomorrow
Good idea!
Contact Chris maker for information on setting up leds. Colin
Ok
Last video for a while, I take it that the smart home project is over?
It's not over, there's just been a few too many things going on in life recently so I haven't had time for Home Automation and Videos! I will return!
No tin in Wagos! This is not even allowed.
Why not? It's 5v.
@@HomeAutomationGuy I know it's 5V. Some people may use 12V. And others use Wagos for 120V or 240V. Always have this in mind when showing people how to handle components. But it is not only about the voltage. Current is more critical. Wires and Connectors are rated for a max current and/or wattage. However Wagos are certified for usage with blank wires only. Tinned strands and ferrules are not allowed. Tinned strands are prohibited because they tend to break and ferrules are not allowed because the closing mechanism of the Wagos can potentially make a weak connection.
I would probably enclose the pcb-s somehow. The top of your kitchen will be dusty, and greasy overtime. That is no good for a bare electronics.
It's on my to-do list
Kirchoff's Law for current distribution in a network.
Well, TIL!
Wago works better without tinnig
"I really love cooking"... shot of using plastic chopping board If you love your knives, get some wood to chop on 👍
But then I can't put it in the dishwasher!