Other Lighting Deals here, Starts 11th May.
Smart LED 8W Downlight $13.99.
could you explain the red + blue combo? why those colours?
Explanation: I liked the colour combo
Haha
The red half is over the area where I do my deadlifts/ squats/ chest work
The blue half is over my bike, dumbbells, resistance bands
@Jimothy Wongingtons: ah ok haha
thought you had discovered some science explaining the wavelengths that aid in focus or recovery…or something
@andresampras: I mean there is red light therapy if you believe in that kind of thing. But whether or not it’s the right wave length and intensity required is another thing haha
Mood lights.
How would I go about replacing my halogen downlights to these? do I need a GU10 to MR16 adapter?
You need a powerpoint/plugbase (https://www.google.com/search?q=bunnings+plug+base) for this. There is no or shouldn't be any adapter from GU10 (220V) to MR16 (12V).
These LED downlights are fully contained in a single unit, they don't plug into a base like halogen globes do. Unlike retrofit LED downlights that come in GU10 or MR16.
They have clips to grab the ceiling and a wire to connect to power.
Older LED downlights have an external driver, newer LED downlights have the driver built in.
DIY means each light has a household power plug, obviously you will need sockets inside the ceiling to plug into (pretty much the standard these days). Some years ago they used to hard wire the drivers, which is a pain to replace faulty drivers/lights (non-DIY).
Pros:
They can be managed individually using mobile app, Alexa, google etc. I had the whole living area on one switch so with these lights; I was able to make multiple groups which worked independently.
Cons:
They are not very bright (8w compared to 13w non smart down light I have) so you will notice the difference straight away if you have similar non smart lights like me.
They turn on at full if there is a blackout (at least mine done from Aldi - years ago). So try to not put it in kids bedroom unless you want them awake in case of a blackout.
Hi all, noob question, can I control this LED light using multiple mobile device using the app? Not sure you get what I mean. Say I downloaded the app (login and stuff) on my mobile, then my family members wish to control as well can they download on their mobile app sign in using my credential? I know some app dont like simultenous login on multiple devices.
Scenario, a walkway, schedule these to turn on night time dimmest and turn off day time. All good. But on raining days, walkway become very dark, family member wish to turn it on but I have told them not to touch the main wall switch.
I don't think Tuya has issues with multiple logins.
However I believe you can add secondary members with their own account to the home as well, not sure exactly what control you have over them though as I haven't tried it.
I have used tuya goods with two seperate logins no problem
Wow! A lot cheaper than Philips.
Which app is used to control the lights? Can you setup groups? Or controlled individually?
Does it resume the last setting (brightness and colour) or back to default at each power on?
I can't remember if these have a rebranded app but they use Tuya inside so you can use Tuya Smart or Smart Life.
You can group them and/or control individually.
If you turn them off at the mains they will resume at full brightness (and default colour from memory) but if soft power off via app/voice assistant they'll resume last used setting.
Relying on a phone or voice control gets old real fast and is useless if they get switched off at the mains. Ideally you want them on permanently and use a soft switch of some sort to control them. Unlike Philips Hue they don't have any switches of their own you can use directly which is why many end up setting up Home Assistant or similar and using switches via that. It also enables ways to use them without the cloud which you soon find useful if your internet goes out.
Unlike Philips Hue they don't have any switches of their own you can use directly which is why many end up setting up Home Assistant or similar and using switches via that.
If HA is too heavy for basic setups, since they're Tuya, one could just get a Tuya Zigbee bridge and remotes and set it all up in Smart Life, which can also be linked to Google Home for voice control.
Do you know if we can get a third party remote to "soft" turn them on and off? If I google out tuya zigbee smart remote plenty of them like around $15 from aliexpress and Temu. It would be great for someone disabled wheelchair bound and speech impairment (Google voice assistant is not an option).
I haven't used the ZigBee gateway but if works like I think it should I imagine most ZigBee switches would work.
IKEA smart home stuff is ZigBee based and their dimmer switches are cheap and readily available. Maybe a good option
can someone help me here. I am thinking of replacing very old downlights in my place. they are very very old small ones. planning on getting this done in couple of months.
do I need to check any specifications before buying these. want to get them now for work planned in couple of months.
is 8w enough for daily use ?
Are these IP44 rated? Want to use them in under our eaves
i would be surprised if they were not. most if not all of these unibody in built driver types have been for some years now…but verify at time of purchase i guess
If I want to use 5 of these for on a deck, Is there a way to group them in TUYA or otherwise, so that when I change the colour, it changes the colour for all 5, same with dimming etc?
Yes, you can create a group that does this
whats the rating on these? ic-4? ip44? do you guys putt your batts on top of these?
Do these have motion detection so it turns on when there is someone in sight?
No native detection. You'd need a separate IR sensor.
Wow, that's a lot to expect from $13
Took some pics of one I have from a couple of years ago though I am guessing nothing has changed with them.
Specs are included (but in short, IP44 below ceiling, IP40 above. 0.6m cord, overall dimensions 105mm x 58mm, beam angle 100°)
The colour ones are RGBW, they have the same amount of white LEDs as the white version and an additional 4 RGB leds so there's no reason to buy the white over the colour even if you aren't planning on using colour really.
Got 6. Keen to set up and see how they compare to my Zigbee downlights which are great except the $50 each cost.
Both Mornington, Dromana, Hastings and Somerville stores are out of stock RGB. Sorry all!
Was unable to get to Aldi for the morning stampede, wondering if each store had many stock of these or if it would’ve been easy for one person to wipe out a store’s supply…?
Was there 2 variants (white vs rgb)?
Tons at garden city and no rush at all.
They had both - more white left, after I was done.
Even after grabbing 6 there were probably 25 left. Maybe more.
I went to Knox this morning around 8:45 before swimming and there were probably about 50 out on display. No rush. dead quiet actually.
There were two variants.
Leisureworks?!
Demand seemed to have dropped last year. There was plenty around my locals for a while, though the colours go first and more white left. Guess doesn't mean the same this year.
(Like I mentioned somewhere else, get the colours even if not going to use colour. They both have 28 white LEDs, colour has additional 4 RGB)
That explains why the RGB modes are so dim
No rush at the stores I went to this morning, but had to wipe out the stock of the RGB in 2 stores (first store had 12, second store had 6) to finish the rooms I wanted.
Pretty happy with the quality and responsiveness of the app and google home.
Added to Home Assistant via the Tuya integration very easily.
So far so good. Hope connection is stable.
Does the light fade in and out when you turn it on and off, or does it switch on/off immediately?
Fades in and out. I gotta see if that can be changed. It's a bit slow.
Looks like it can't be changed. oh well.
Oh that's great! My Arlec one turns on/off immediately; I'm after one that fades. Thanks!
@eug: Agreed. We have 4 in our bedroom so even worse. Have to use just one and still wish it was dimmer.
(Actually realised those 4 aren't these Aldi ones, but the Brilliant ones they sold years back. Probably pretty similar though)
So you are using actual Tuya - not Local Tuya integration?
Has anyone been able to flash OpenBK firmware using tuya-cloudcutter?
I have RGB version and tuya-cloudcutter isn't able to detect them while pairing, while Tuya SMart Home app sees it. Wondering if non-RGB version is any different so I can swap them in store. I find that RGB is very dim and would never use it anyway. I know I can flash it by soldering directly onto the board, but I'm keen not to interfere with enclosure to preserve warranty.
Yeah not tried Tuya local
Cheers mate.
I might try Tuya Local (used for Lubluelu SL60D) or Local Tuya (used for Arlec Security Light MAL315HA).
Keen to get it out of cloud, but that might do for the time being.
@theguyrules: Yeh localtuya way to go. Much easier now too that it can pull the keys from the cloud.
Mine are still cloud connected as well to use with voice assistants. Haven't gotten around to that part yet.
@bamzero: Yeah i set up local tuya years ago for Homebridge and it was a pain. This was a bit easier.
@theguyrules: After I saw @stratbargain comment bellow, I did bit more reading and finally figured it out. Now I'm running cloud free using tuya-cloudcutter :)
This is the first time I had to flash device which uses "EZ mode" for pairing - effectively uses Bluetooth rather than Wi-Fi AP for initial connection.
So I found this Tuya article which tells you how to get to Wi-Fi "AP mode" (Section: How to reset device?), and I was able to flash it using tuya-cloudcutter.
Essentially, to put this light into AP pairing mode (slow blinking) versus EZ mode (fast blinking), follow these steps:
(1) Turn off the light. Switch the light with the steps: Switch on-off-on-off-on (time interval cannot exceed 10 seconds)
- Rapid flashing light (4 times per second) represents successful reset into EZ mode
- Slow flashing light (2 times per second) represents successful reset into AP mode
(2) While in EZ Mode (Rapid flashing light):
Turn off the light. Switch the light with the steps: Switch on-off-on-off-on (time interval cannot exceed 10 seconds) until the light is flashing slowly (AP mode)
And off-course, tuya-cloudcutter onscreen instructions also outline this, but I did not understand it initially as I thought fast blinking was enough:
Power cycling off/on - 3 times and wait for the device to fast-blink, then repeat 3 more times.
They really should have had more stock.
My local store only had 16 RGB ones, I needed 15 to do my house and took one as a spare.
I'm a happy customer feel sorry for anyone who went to the store after me looking for one.
Just flashed my white ones using the instructions here - https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/13702180/redir
Can confirm they were the same firmware version 2.9.16 and flashed fine.
I'm hitting a wall on this. I followed the same steps posted by @theSav and got right through to the end successfully. I can see the new device on the LAN, with an IP address that I can ping - but - the web server doesn't seem to be working, page cannot be displayed.
Things tried so far - running the cloudcutter script again and trying to access the downlight from another PC on the network.
I didn't check the original firmware version and just ran with 2.9.16.
Did anyone come across this issue? Or any thoughts on what I could try next please?
After installing the openbek firmware or whatever it's called it should have a wireless AP. so use your phone and look at local WIFI and you'll see an open SSID. Connect via your phone and i think the default IP was 192.168.0.4
From there you can tell it your WIFI SSID and IP etc.
thanks for this, so you have done it similar to a normal Tasmota setup - by manually configuring WiFi & MQTT via the device AP (IP is usually 192.168.4.1 for Tasmota).
I ran
sudo ./tuya-cloudcutter.sh -s <SSID> <SSID password>
which skipped over the manual WiFi config step. Maybe it's broken the webserver in the process.
I'll leave off the WiFi settings and try again tonight, see if it works this way
sudo ./tuya-cloudcutter.sh
@poida97: Just run ./tuya-cloudcutter.sh without any arguments.
Select option 2 (upload third party firmware)
point to the firmware you download
follow the bouncing ball (put into slow blink twice)
then when it says it's done your light should be broadcasting via device AP. Connect your phone and then in the web interface put in the home wireless SSID/Password and give it an IP (or dhcp)
cheers
@keepkool: Cuts it out completely from Tuya cloud and faster response time.
I’m sure there are other benefits that I’m not aware of.
One thing I like about my LIFX is the ability to set parameters while the lights are off, colour/temp, brightness etc as well as some special modes like flash.
Unfortunately it's something missing from all my Tuya lights. Just wondering if they happen to gain any of these with OpenBeken firmware?
(I'm pretty sure I have one of the Aldi lights sitting in the box flashed with ESPHome now that I think about it, don't recall getting any extra features with that so guessing OpenBeken will be similar but one can hope…)
Did anyone get faulty units?
I got 16 of these and 2 are faulty.
They both forget they are connected to Wi-Fi after a few hours and go back to bright white light unlike the other 14.
Now I have one downlight in my house that is not smart/doesn't match. Wondering if any stores still have stock?
I should have got more then 1 spare.
Any stock left in Melbourne for color lights ?
I missed out on these. What are the alternatives?
Know anyone in SA?
https://www.stockcheck.aldi.com.au/product/706391/
Guessing they got their stock late as plenty all over the state.
These are just rebadged generic Chinese lights, you can probably pick up the same thing from the usual sources but I guess wouldn't have the approval marks on them. I haven't come across any others the same this cheap in AU though.
FWIW these said my local had stock, and they did!
Yeh just having a look at VIC seems there's a fair few stores with stock too, just that they bundle colour and white under the same code so you don't know which ones are actually there.
I think because I had a WA postcode set when I sorted by Availability it showed me SA being the closest but will only list 4 pages worth. (WA is sold out everywhere)
@bamzero: Ahh that explains it. There was a sealed box sitting on the shelf which I cracked into, the boxes of them seem to have like 4 RGB and 8 white.
I would have been fine with white as the RGB is a bit dim anyway, but once I found RGB I grabbed them
I had 18 of the Brilliant smart (bunnings) equivalent. Every week or so they "forgot" the wifi setting and had to re-connect them - alternatively you need to keep them on all the time and turn off via the smarts (which means you can not turn them off via the switch). Smart light switch seem to be a much better option, but generally I now avoid wifi based smart home stuff.
I've been using the Brilliant ones that Aldi sold years back and haven't had any issue with them losing settings (apart from one time during a power outage and it momentarily came back on and off enough times to reset all my damn lights)
I do leave them on and switch using Hue switches though.
I bought these lights and add two in the bedroom and group them together in TUYA and ALEXA APP.
Every now and then, one of the two doesn't follow the command or prompt to turn on/off. Sometime, both does this and there is no obvious pattern.
I have tired it directly from the TUYA app, ALEXA voice prompt, ALEXA app.
Has anyone experience the same?
I have a group of 4 in the bedroom (similar but not this same model) and very very rarely one won't respond (like maybe 3 or 4 times in as many years)
How's your WiFi? The connection to router would be my suspicion if it's happening regularly.
Hi there, Dont think there is any issues with the router as my two splits ACs, Merross smart plugs and other smart devices are connected to the WIFI and works everytime you prompt it through the app or alexe echo.
Which router, how many devices and how far are lights to router can all make a difference.
Anybody SOR Perth chasing some, I saw about a dozen white only at Beeliar today (despite stockchecker saying none).
https://imgur.com/a/PR3OdVF
Wish these were low glare….
I have a half room in blue and half room in red for my indoor gym. It’s enough to light the room and not mess with my projector (only a small gym area about 3 x 3m work space)