this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2023
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Smart Homes

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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.

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[–] GlitzyArmrest@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

[–] Emperor 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Which ~~home~~ ones do you have?

I've also eyed up their air purity sensors.

edit: bloody autocorrect

[–] GlitzyArmrest@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year 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).

[–] Emperor 2 points 1 year 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.

[–] GreatAlbatross 2 points 1 year 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).

[–] Emperor 2 points 1 year ago

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

[–] GlitzyArmrest@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year 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.

[–] GreatAlbatross 1 points 1 year 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.

[–] GlitzyArmrest@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year 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.

[–] GreatAlbatross 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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.

[–] Emperor 1 points 1 year 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.

[–] GlitzyArmrest@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

[–] Emperor 2 points 1 year ago

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

[–] Player2@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 year 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!

[–] Emperor 1 points 1 year ago

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

[–] PixTupy@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year 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?

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.

[–] Emperor 3 points 1 year 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.

[–] LilB0kChoy@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year 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.

[–] smeg 2 points 1 year 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.

[–] Mex 3 points 1 year ago

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

[–] Emperor 2 points 1 year 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.

[–] smeg 2 points 1 year 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.

[–] Emperor 3 points 1 year 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.

[–] smeg 2 points 1 year ago

Good to know, cheers!

[–] Emperor 1 points 1 year 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.