this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2023
34 points (97.2% liked)

Smart Homes

624 readers
1 users here now

For the discussion of smart homes, home automation and the like. Because of the instance it will tend to have a more UK flavour but everyone is welcome.

Elsewhere in the Fediverse:

Rules:

NB: looking for moderators.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Ikea launched the Ormanäs, its first smart RGB LED light strip, in the Netherlands. The news comes by way of Dutch tech site Tweakers, which notes that the Ormanäs is a four-meter, or roughly 13-foot, dimmable Zigbee affair for €29.99 (about $32) that works with the company’s Dirigera smart hub. The light strip is only available in the Netherlands for now, but Ikea typically starts its rollouts there before bringing products to the US and beyond.

The strip is simple and, judging from the images on Ikea’s site, won’t have individually addressable LEDs like some of the fancier strips on the market — which means the whole strip will show only a single color at a time. Still, it supports multiple control methods like the Ikea Home app and the Ikea Styrbar remote as well as Apple HomeKit, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa smart home platforms (through the Dirigera hub). It also supports Google Home and Amazon Alexa. And being a fairly standard LED strip, you can cut it to length in designated places.

The Ormanäs has a nice balance of features — it’s affordable, long, dimmable, and with Zigbee control, is likely to be very responsive. It’s rare to see a smart LED strip that ticks all of those boxes and also supports HomeKit and out-of-home control via the maker’s app — something the Dirigera hub improves on over Ikea’s now-defunct Trådfri Gateway.

top 26 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Always happy to see more Zigbee-controlled fixtures, love my Ikea air purifiers.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Which ~~home~~ ones do you have?

I've also eyed up their air purity sensors.

edit: bloody autocorrect

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (3 children)

My solution is a bit DIY'd; I use my Zigbee devices with Home Assistant & a Silicon Labs Zigbee/Z-Wave combo stick.

I have a few of their air quality sensors, too! They seem to work pretty well, it does take them a minute to calibrate once they're plugged in though. I also don't really have anything to compare them to (other than the onboard air quality sensors in the air purifiers).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

My solution is a bit DIY’d; I use my Zigbee devices with Home Assistant & a Silicon Labs Zigbee/Z-Wave combo stick.

That's pretty much how I'd be doing it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Which air quality sensors are you using?
I've been meaning to get some internal ones for a while (currently, I pull data from a WAQI site across town).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

I have a Tuya Zigbee one sitting in my shopping basket.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I use the VINDSTYRKA from Ikea inside. Notably it doesn't follow AQI so if you're looking for that it won't be able to do it, at least not directly. You'd need to write your own AQI function based loosely on the PM of the sensor.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Were you able to directly access the VINDSTYRKA vias zigbee?
Or do you have to talk to it through IKEA's hub? I've fancied one of these for a while, but don't fancy another hub.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It connects directly to my Silicon Labs Zigbee/Zwave combo stick. That's the great thing about Zigbee, you aren't stuck on someone's hub.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

That is indeed good news! I'd held off buying IKEA's stuff previously, as I thought it had to go through their gateway. Thanks!

I finally migrated my Hue bulbs over recently (previously, I had bad information), and direct control is so much nicer. Plus, they work as repeaters.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Sorry my autocorrect changed "ones" to "home" which made it a weird question - I was curious about which air purifier you used.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Oh sorry! I have three of the STARKVIND model with charcoal filters.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Cheers. And no need to apologise - that was completely my mistake.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

If it allows for a clean white with adjustable color temperature that matches my IKEA bulbs, this could be exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks for posting this!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

That's a good point - all my bulbs are IKEA so this should give fit well with them.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I like these but I struggle to find a use for it in our house. What would you guys use it for?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Lots of use cases.

Kitchen cabinet lights.

Lights for walkways.

Rave room.

Nothing a lamp can't solve or the sticky portable lights. But it's reaching a point where a $10-15 strip of lights is also a affordable option.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I am thinking of using LED strips to light IKEA cabinets.

If you had a picture rail you could run some lights around it for a kind of ambient uplight effect without needing to use the big light.

You could hook it up to motion detectors and do all sorts. Wardrobes, corridor night lights for anyone getting up to use the toilet at night, etc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

We have one behind the headboard for soft or mood lighting. One that runs along the countertops in the kitchen and one around the sliding door frame.

I, personally, wouldn’t buy smart devices that force you to use a hub with them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

It mentions needing the Dirigera smart hub, does that mean it won't work with the old one, or is the new one required just to connect it to apple's homekit? Wondering if I'd still be able to control it with home assistant out of the box.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

it looks to be standard zigbee so I would expect it to work on the old one... but maybe not feature complete?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

They do say the old hub is now obsolete, so you'd be rolling the dice on it. It's Zigbee like the rest of their stuff, so just go hubless.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I set up the old hub before I set up home assistant, so i think my HA is talking to everything via the hub. I guess it's straightforward to have HA talk directly to the devices but I've never actually looked into it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

On advice from here, I got a ZigBee dongle and, once ZHA is up and running, you just go into pairing mode and HA picks them up. Bulbs, plugs, and control devices are all running smoothly now. The hub is packed away in a box.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Good to know, cheers!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I was pondering the Xiaomi LED strip but this gives me options. I'll need to figure out which is best for my requirements.