Many Aqara Zigbee products don't follow the Zigbee protocol exactly. For example, all wired devices are also supposed to be Zigbee repeaters but that isn't the case with many USB-powered Aqara devices. Does this light actually work as a repeater? If so, it would be a great range extender for all rooms of my house where I currently have a boob light. Also, missed opportunity to have mmWave sensors also built in?
@@TheSlowestZombie yeah unfortunately that's nothing new. But yes these do work as repeaters properly which I was glad to see. mmWave doesn't lend itself so much to pointing down the way because of limited angle when orientated like that
@@EverythingSmartHome Really pleased to hear the repeater functionality is not limited to just Aqara devices. Hopefully the ZHA integration will be improved over time to support deeper (FX) control of the RGB ring.
@EverythingSmartHome Lewis, The first thing is size. Second is price I'm hoping that they go with a smaller version for homes with smaller rooms. If they did that and reduced the price to just under $100 (or equivalent), I would buy one. My apartment currently has a cheap LED fixture from a US box store and I'd love to have a smart light.
@NyHoK Just because someone else is also over priced doesn’t mean a bit of plastic and a led strip is worth $250 aud. I’ll wait for a knock off for $60 myself.
A decent fitting will set you back about 80 quid and then smart bulbs around 30 to 40 if you go mainstream. It's a little more expensive but about right
If you go into a specialist "light fixture" boutique, you will get a heart attack. Near my area there is nothing under 250 even for a basic light diffuser.
As I mentioned on another video review I would probably look at bypassing the RGB control and adding a D1 Mini inside the unit and control it via WLED instead. I have a pair of the Yeelight Arwen 550C lights that are similar to this except for a single colour RGB ring with no effects, and have them both set to 1% power for general use as they are so damn bright. I think I prefer the look of the Yeelight units as they don't have the wide ring so blend into the ceiling better. I also prefer the mounting system for the Yeelight, no twisting just a quick release clip.
Another use for the RGB strip on the light would be to use as a night light together with a presence sensor. I am already doing this with a short RGB strip on a table in the upstairs hallway. If it is after sunset and the presence sensor detects someone in the hall, HA turns on the RGB strip. Then after doing you business in the bathroom 😊 and head back to bed, the RGB STRIP will turn off when the presence sensor detects no one in the hall. This Aqara light would address this automation and provide normal lighting in the hallway. I need 3 but at a total cost of $450 USD, my cheaper option works just fine. I want this Aqara light though! Thank you for your reviews and how-to’s. I’ve learned a lot from your videos and jumped into the HA universe with Blue based on your recommendations.
£150 Seems aufy expensive for that kind of light and features. Thank you for showing how much light actually come off it - other reviews seem to have missed that.
Not my thing. I don't want any of these "disposable" light fixtures. I'd much rather buy a standard fixture and control the replaceable lights with a smart switch, or use individual smart bulbs.
@EverythingSmartHome it seems you have answered the question from others about how it functions with a light switch. I was wondering if there is a way to get it to function with a (smart) light switch for my wife's ease of use but not actually cut the power to the RGB light strip. It would be an even smarter home to me if it had all the great properties of a regular light fixture without disabling the notifications ring. Obviously if I hook it up to a switch the normal way my notifications will go away if the light switch is used. Maybe there is already a video about this and someone could point me in the right direction ?
How does this function with a normal switch? I assume the intended function would be to leave the switch 'always on' and only control through the app(s)? This almost seems a little counterintuitive unless I'm missing something. If using it with a normal switch, what happens when I turn the switch off, I have to manually turn the switch back on to restore functionality. I guess you could pair it with a 'faux' smart switch to replace the actual switch but if your Home Assistant (or lesser) server goes down your light would be stuck and unusable. Generally curious because I see this being more of an annoyance than anything.
You have to use the Aqara specific hub to use Matter? Wasn't the whole point of Matter to make things interoperable andnjust work? We shouldn't need extra hardware for it. Matter is really shaping up to be a disaster.
How that would work with regular on/off light switch on the wall? It seems that you would need to either put relay in the switch or you can’t use physical switch anymore to turn off the light, right? If you do, you want turn it on via the app anymore
You didn't even mention the light quality! For 160€ per light fixture we can expect a CRI of 95 and absolutely flicker free light at any brightness. But since you didn't mention either we can safely assume it's CRI is around 82 and we better not try to take a photo when the light is dimmed.
For me, one important metric is whether there is any flicker. Most people aren't sensitive to flickering LEDs but that's something I'm quite sensitive to and would be a deal-breaker for me. For instance, I assembled QuinLed Quad's to replace Shelly RGBW2s because they flickered too much and ESP32s support 40000Hz PWM which is sufficient. I feel that any premium light needs to be flicker-free and, until the electronics become more ubiqutis and this becomes a non-problem, this should be a prominent benchmark of quality.
I've been waiting for this for EVER.. Thanks for the look at the internals. First thing I might do with that is hijack the power out to the RGB strip and wire my own WLED controller in between.
@@emilsecker7881 It will be identical to physical control with the unit as it ships. I will control the WLED RGB remotely via Home Assistant / Native WLED app, and LedFX None of which will be possible with the built in LEDs
@@john.sturgeon hats my point though. You lose physical control from the wall, given if you kill power at the wall, you lose smart functions of that light. There is no physical control with that unit possible without smart buttons
@@emilsecker7881 Hi! It sounds like you're new to smart bulbs! No problem! The way they work is yes, if you leave them powered by a physical 'old style' switch then turning that off will cut power to the light fixture (same as a regular bulb) and you cannot control the light. This has been the case with smart bulbs since their invention! Fortunately there are indeed workarounds. 1. You can install a smart relay (like a 'shelly') and install it behind your old 'dumb' switch, that will continue to supply power to light fixture *even if you turn off the switch manually*. the switch tells the smart relay what to do! 2. You can just install a smart 'switch'. Most of those are capable of working with smart bulbs (or smart fixtures such as this one). If you're curious about how that works, please ask!
@@john.sturgeon I heard you couldn’t use smart bulbs with a smart switch. I didn’t know smart relays have that capability though. Thanks. I have a couple smart bulbs where I don’t have neutral wires
I put these in all my hallways and staircases. I quite enjoy the ring light as a dim night light that triggers with motion detected. Also have setup with doorbell.
If you are on a ultra low budget: I bought 5 Tuya ceiling lights with both WW/CW main and RGB ambient light for 16€ 2 months ago on Ali. Now still only around 22€! Sadly only Wifi, and with the previous Tuya integration in HA one light had connection issues every few weeks, BUT: Now the new official smart Life integration is here, everything is fine and instant! Again, only Wifi, but you can get 7 lights for the price of a single Aqara. PS: The ambient light is most definitely NOT a gimmick, that is why i bought 4 more after the first one to replace all other ceiling lights. Game changer! So much i bit the bullet and accepted Wifi even though every other device in my home (over 50) are Zigbee.
@@EverythingSmartHome True, as i said everything else i have is locally controlled. But with the economic crisis here in Germany and in turn my personal situation... I just cant afford it otherwise. Not recommending anyone with the money to choose this over Aqara, but i figured i am not alone in such a messy financial situation, and someone else here might find the tradeoff worth to make.
@@EverythingSmartHome Seems my reply got censored by Google god knows why; Again in short: I would ofc not recommend anyone who has the money to buy this over any local product. But with my financial situation going down the drain thanks to the economic crisis here in Germany, i simply can not afford to buy a light that expensive. The reason i posted, was that i surely am not alone in this situation, and i guess someone here may find the same tradeoff worth while. I have been an early adopter of Aqara 6-7 years ago, and liked their product. But in this economic crisis, its only thanks to Tuya that i can grow my Smart Home (5€ Zigbee window sensors, 6€ temp sensors..!!).
Regarding the outer rgb ring, considering the amount of space inside this unit (if you are willing to do it), It should be a very simple task to disconnect the ring from the main light and add a ESP32/D1 Mini with WLED as the controller instead and open it up to many more effects.
I have a Philips Hue Muscari Ceiling light (discontinued) in the kitchen that I'm really happy with, similar price point, Zigbee (on ZHA for me) and has a Philips Mk1 remote. combined with a Philips Hue motion sensor on the fridge, Adaptive Lighting and it's fantastic. These types of lights are better than recessed spotlights in situations like this.
I use Yeelight arwen ceiling light 550c in my home and it works perfectly. It does pretty much the same thing although the RGB light is not addressable. All effects that the light has are available in Home assistant :) I use the Red LED to indicate that I'm in a Webex/Teams meeting or I have a call on my phone and can't be disturbed right now.
Was about to comment the same as koehlej - I'd use the red on the strip to give some lighting to find my way in the dark without waking others or destroying night vision, but I suppose you could light the white light at a low intensity for that too. And I definitely think you nailed it with the notification use (was thinking exactly that before you said it in the video) - I can imagine linking it to smoke alarms / house alarm triggering and also an easy alert that the kids are out of bed when they are supposed to be sleeping (stole that idea from Rob over at The Hook Up)... plenty of uses! I do think the price is a littel high. You compared it to designer light fittings, but they normally have replaceable bulbs - when this thing dies, you have to buy a new one. Overall I like the idea though
Yeah... This thing isn't for me, but the lack of certified products is frustrating. And the lack of products means almost no competition, which means high prices. Which in turn means low sales figures, which means companies think it's not worth bothering here.
SO: This is NOT an easy connector that would prevent it from becoming E-Waste the moment a strip goes bad. So, don't buy this kind of irreparable crap. it would cost PENNIES for them to make a standard connection to easy replacements. They don't even sell replacement strips for ANY light like this. I get we want smart homes, but we HAVE to be better about E-waste like this.
$150 USD is about $230 Aussie, yet we get stung with additional Australia Tax and it's going for $300 here. That makes it a hard NO for me. Shame, I like the look of this.
Don't forget to add sales tax in the US which narrows the gap. Unfortunately our higher wages here will unsurprisingly result in higher prices. BTW if you have eBay Plus you can get it for $279.
How did you add in automation that notification with red or blue color what line can i add like 7:36 in homeassistant to like when open door red light goes on and when somthing else in other color
Can anyone tell me what happens when you turn off the physical light switch? Is there a way to wire this so that the light still has power, so that its still "available" in home assistant even when off? i.e. the light needs active and neutral, plus a switch wire. The switch wire is really a "switch input" like on a shelly one and just tells the controller to turn on the light. Or do we lose the light's zigbee connectivity and the ability to use the RGB ring when the physical switch is off? Next question is when you turn it on with the physical switch, how long does it take to turn on? A lot of these smart lights take a second or two to turn on and that's a big backward step compared to a regular light bulb which is instant.
The lack of effect support under zigbee or Alexa is pretty off-putting. Who wants to pull out a phone and load an app and log in just to run their effects and animations?
Seems rather expensive for what it is. Also bugs me that manufacturer's use the same figures in GBP, EUR and USD as that's not at all representative of the actual exchange rate.
Hmm I think it's of you get what you pay for in this instance. It's much cheaper than the Philips hue ceiling light also. Yeah I think the pricing could have been a little better for different regions, but having said that there is a little more that goes into it than just the exchange rate, for examples import fees for getting it into different countries, shipping fees for different countries etc. But for sure there should have been more appropriate pricing for each country IMO
Shelly Dimmer 30 Euro, 10 Philips 2700K Dim2warm CRI>90 50 Euro, 10 Lamp holder with bracket 25 Euro. Some solid core wires and Wagos 20 Euro. Some nice lamp with metal base plate and crap ultra blue flickering leds but a nice form XX Euro. Drill, rivet gun.... If you find a really nice lamp and just don't like the light quality then go for it. if not pay the 150 Euro for the Aqara. I recently did the DIY and love it.
Lewis I would be quite keen to know how much power it draws at full brightness. But really cool nevertheless. What sold me is the ring light for automations. We have GU10s in our house so no chance of getting this though.
I find it that pulls just shy of the 40 Watts specified with both lights on full brightness. For my room size, 60% is a sweet spot between brightness and efficiency.
These do look good, I DIY'ed some smart large panel lights using standard large office LED light panels, while they're great for light output there is an issue with light distribution to edges of the room - from your review it looks these spread light a bit better. The DIY route probably wasn't as cheaper as you'd hope too really and it required a lot more work to make a custom ESP32 controller for the LED drivers for dimming etc, the only benefit with DIY is that the LED panel could be replaced on it's own if it ever fails which are ~£35 for 60x60cm.
I think these would be great as a doorbell notification for the hearing impaired. But I'd much rather see a cheaper version with non-addressable LEDs as you don't need the effects. I think they actually make the thing look a little naff.
Wow 3500 lumens and CRI >90 and 2700 Kelvin and ambient RGB for 145 Euro. Does it flicker at all? Also there are no leds in the middle on the power supply does it look dark in the midle - donut effect? I love lumens and CRI >90 and very warm white . I have 7500 Lumens in a 16 square meter kids play room on a Shelly Dimmer 2 of course. Lumens are good in winter and also for your kids development.
Did I miss an update or something? Do you have a baby now? Definitely looked like a baby seat there. Also, can you update us, on when the zigbee2mqtt can properly support this light. Doesn't have to be a full video, just an update at the start of end of an update one would be fine (unless it needs it). Thank you 👍
Thank you for your review. How does the minimal brightness level and transitions compare to Philips Hue? One of the reasons i usually go for Hue, is because of the incredible low minimal brightness level and the super smooth transitions that it makes possible (on/off, off/on and scene transitions).
Yet another informative video, keep them coming. I would like to see you cover maintaining HA, specifically how to swap out a device when it fails without breaking automations.
Have you had any experience connecting it to the Aqara hub and controlling it via HA? I'd like the light effects but I feel the notifications is a better day-to-day use of the strip.
I have some of my lights set to 6000k and very low brightness during night. It’s enough to see your way, but it especially tells the yangsters that it’s late and to be quiet. I could see that the ring could be used similarly.
Is it better to connect Aqara devices to Home Assistant via the Hub or through something like ZHA? ZHA uses a dongle via my virtual machine and sometimes it drops the connection. I’m thinking the hub may be more consistent.
On another channel, someone suggested in the comments that you should disconnect the accent light and plug it into an ESP32 board and run it directly with WLED.
@@EverythingSmartHome this looks like it is a replacement for overhead lights. How does the light switch that is connected to the circuit function? Does it still operate the light? Does switching it off kill power to the light fixture?
Could you have half of it one colour and the other a different one? It would be like a "gradient", but the idea is to "point" to the area that needs attention
I mean...I have a house in the UK and works perfectly fine for me? Many houses in the UK do have neutral wires. There are also technical reasons why it's not always possible to make it work without neutral
@@EverythingSmartHome Newer houses may do, but certainly any older house, (pre 2000?), that I’ve owned over the course of the last 30 years doesn’t… 🤷🏼♂️
Does it store last setting if power cut? Am considering one of these for thr bathroom, paired with a motion sensor and brightness sensor condition and just leaving the power on to let it do its thing, but i cant control what the rest of the household do with the pull cord...
First... Matter not WiFi, but OK.. Second, If it's like almost every other smart light, it has a 'default' on, so if you turn your light switch off / on, the light comes on. So that's not really a concern here.
Wifi, matter, zigbee, doesn't really matter (pun not intended). A smart home that loses a feature (dumb switch) is really "smart"? Usually we want to add a feature, not remove it. As if I turn the switch off as you said, it is impossible to turn it on through other means.
They *do* support dumb switches. As I said, you can STILL control smart bulbs with a dumb switch if your WiFi goes out. Here's how it works: If you can't control the light through the 'smart' way (zigbee, matter, wifi, etc...) then simply use the dumb switch. Smart lights have a default 'on' state when you turn them on with a dumb switch, so if your wifi goes out, you can still control on/off with the dumb switch.
@@john.sturgeon got it, but I want both worlds. A dumb switch to turn it on and off. But I'd still like to turn it on if the switch is off, and I believe it is not possible in your suggestion, right? You are proposing adding a dumb switch in series with the lamp, right?
@@cartolla If you have a dumb switch that controls *power* to the light, and you have a smart light, then when the power is cut to the light, it can not 'turn on' by itself... without power. No amount of 'smart' can get around the lack of actual electricity flowing to the fixture. There are (however) two ways around that: 1. A smart relay behind your dumb switch (such as a Shelly) that can turn the power on to the bulb even when the 'dumb' switch is off. 2. A smart 'switch' to replace your dumb switch. Smart switches still act like dumb switches and can control power to the bulb, or (if you pair with a smart bulb) can actually turn the bulb on / off from the switch.
