Help with Walk-in Robe Lighting, Thinking of Timed LED Strip Lights

Hi all, and thanks in advance for your advise advice. I have a very dark WIR and I'd like to setup something to mimic a bit of natural light in there. I was thinking some warm-white LED strip lighting tucked under the shelves. There is a single shelf that runs in a U shape around the entire space and I'm thinking about 3 metres of strip lighting would suffice.

I don't have any Smart devices in my home, but I guess that's an avenue I'd consider exploring if it's necessary.

Requirements
* Plugged in to mains power, don't want to stuff around with batteries. There is a power point in the space.
* Would like a timer so that the lights come on dimly at sunrise and go off at sunset (or close enough). There is no door between the WIR and the rest of the bedroom so I would really like them to come on gradually to mimic daylight arriving, don't want to be woken by them coming on suddenly
* A big bonus would be a sensor so that if you walk in there, they come on bright, no matter the time of day

Not sure if one single light would meet those requirements? Otherwise I was thinking possibly one dull strip light on the timer cycle, and another brighter one permanently connected to a motion sensor.

Or else I just get a skylight installed… that would be a last resort though.

Comments

  • You'd need something Smart to change brightness by time of day.
    It's really hard to get White LED Strip Lighting, most are RGB and the "white" colour they produce is very Blue.

    Philips Hue might do it, as might LIFX, but I've never seen them in real life to comment.

    I can highly recommend this
    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000109013940.html
    It's Smart and true white, not RGB. The White colour is tuneable from Warm to cold or anywhere in between.
    It doesn't do a slow brightness/colour change over time though, best you could do is set up scheduled times for brightness/colour changes over a period of time.
    (do note that the controller requires wiring for a plug or hardwired connection and the LED strip itself needs to be carefully connected to the controller, but it's all very high quality gear)
    (Also note that the Strip is sleeved in a thick silicone rubber rectangular tubing and does not have self adhesive, but does come with little plastic clips that you could affix under-shelf if desired.)

    Grab a dimming switch
    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003093372855.html
    affix it to the entrance and you can turn it on and off (dim and tune the colour) at will.

    • +2

      Just FYI. Neither of these are approved for Australia. Some don't care but some do and stick with certified electrical appliances. I've heard plenty of times about Insurance refusing to approve a claim if a house fire was stated by something not approved for the use in Australia but I'm yet to hear about any evidence to substantiate this claim.Each to their own I suppose.

      • Valid, but the risk is low with a device of this quality versus some of the cheapo gear that is routinely sold in major retail (and therefore presumably certified for sale) here.

  • You can get these LED strips: - $15

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/644964

    3m of channel: ~$33. This is optional, but it gives it a cleaner, diffused look.

    https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p204767…

    Motion sensor ~ $22.

    All up that'll cost you $70. Its a fairly budget solution, the LED won't be completely diffused with the channel, so you'll see the individual dots - you'll need a more dense LED to fix that problem, but the cost goes up. Probably looking at another $20 if you wanted to get two discrete LEDs

    The LED and Sensor work off WIFI and via the TUYA app, so you can program it all within there. It does the sunset timing without any issues - don't think you can get a nice gradual increase, but you could probably add another 10% brightness every 1mins or so.

    I use the motion sensor and its been a bit flaky, but I think thats due to my internet conection.

    • And it's RGB "white" which is not actually white at all.
      Nobody wants to wake up to that!
      Or choose clothes to wear for the day only to find that the colours are not what you thought cause you were viewing them in awful lighting.

    • bloody hell that channel is cheap, 1m = < $14 shipped..the freight alone would be like $10 minimum?

  • Do you actually care if it's smart or the fancy adjustable brightness stuff? Cos you can get one done pretty cheap if you have some basic electronics/soldering gear.

    Mine is like this:
    - 9V or 12V DC power brick (mine's on 9V, deliberately a bit dimmer and less power use, plus it was a spare power brick :P)
    - LED strips (obviously)
    - Basic PIR motion sensor; I use the pretty cheap common SR501
    - MOSFET for power that PIR controls

    • Sounds cool, I'd have to dust off the old soldering iron which I haven't used in probably 10 years!

      To be honest, no I don't really want smart control at all, I work in IT all day and I'm perfectly happy to not have to dabble in IT in my personal time. Totally happy with a "dumb" house right now.

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