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.
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.