LED Strips

Discover the Best Smart LED Strips for your Smart Home.

With their customizable colors, adjustable brightness levels, smart scheduling, and energy efficiency, LED strips play a significant role in any modern lighting setup.

They offer users the ability to create ambient lighting in places where traditional bulbs might not be suitable, such as behind your TV, under your bed, lining bookshelves, or illuminating kitchen cabinets. Even when used as a primary light source, LED strips remain suitable due to their flexibility and versatility.

In this article, we explore the best LED strips compatible with Homey, enabling you to create the ultimate personalized lighting experience in your home.

Choosing a LED strip

When selecting a light strip for your space, several elements come into play to ensure it fits your needs and integrates seamlessly with your Homey setup. The following list serves to simply highlight distinctions among LED strips, offering guidelines instead of strict deal breakers:

• Color and Brightness: Consider the RGB capability and adjustable brightness levels of the LED strip. Even though color is nice, you may find it’s not always needed.
• Quality and Durability: Choose LED strips made from high-quality materials to ensure longevity and reliability. Opt for reputable brands highlighted in our Best Buy Guide.
• Length and Flexibility: Consider the length and flexibility of the LED strip to ensure it fits the intended installation area. Some LED strips can be cut or extended to the desired length, while others come in fixed sizes.
• Extra Features: Examine the added value of any extra features the light strip might have. Some models come with different lighting effects like fade, strobe or color cycling. Others can pulsate or change color in sync with the rhythm of your music.
• Price: Determine your budget and consider the price-to-features ratio outlined in our Best Buy Guide. While higher-priced options may offer advanced features or superior build quality, there are also budget-friendly alternatives that provide good value for money.

Brand	Model	Protocol	Type	LEDs per Meter	Price
Aqara	T1 LED Strip	Zigbee	RGB+C+W	30+30+30	€42.00
Govee	M1 LED Strip	Matter	RGBIC	60	€59.99
Ikea	Ormanäs LED Strip	Zigbee	RGB+W	20+20	€29.99
Innr	Smart Light Strip	Zigbee	RGB+W	30+30	€44.99
TP-Link	Kasa KL430 Light Strip	Wi-Fi	RGB+W	50+50	€28.00
Nanoleaf	Essentials Light Strip	Thread	RGB+C+W	21+42+42	€49.99
Philips Hue	Gradient Light Strip	Bluetooth	RGB+C+W	60+60+60	€159.99
Sengled	Smart Light Strip	Zigbee	RGB+W	37+37	€28.00
Twinkly	Line LED Strip	Wi-Fi	RGB	66	€49.99
Yeelight	LED Light Strip Pro	Wi-Fi	RGB	60	€53.95

The Aqara T1 LED strip is the company's latest addition to their lighting product line-up. It uses Zigbee to communicate and pair to your Homey Bridge or Homey Pro, while also expanding your network coverage as a router.

Once added in Homey, you can change color, adjust brightness levels, activate light presets or toggle audio sync mode. The T1 is equipped with a microphone, so turning on this mode will make the light strip dance along to your favorite songs.

Aqara’s T1 LED strip comes at a length of 2 meters but can be extended up to 10 meters with their extension kit. If you need more flexibility and exact lengths for specific installation locations, the T1 can be cut in segments of 20 centimeters.

Being IP44 rated, the T1 is also suitable for installation outdoors, resistant to water sprays from all directions. While the base 2 meters model is not really expensive, each added extension kit can make costs stack up quickly.

Unlike previous Govee models that relied on Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity, the M1 Light Strip marks the company’s Matter debut, allowing seamless pairing with Matter controllers like Homey Pro.

The M1 is a big improvement over previous models too, relying on upgraded RGBIC technology to produce light. This innovative tech allows for multiple colors to light up at the same time, delivering more vivid colors with higher brightness levels.

The Govee M1 LED Strip is capable of syncing to the rhythm of your music thanks to the built-in microphone, lighting up in 50 separate segments and producing very smooth lighting effects.

It’s also worth noting that while previous Govee light strips were not extendable, the M1 is! If you need to, you can extend the strip to a maximum of 10 meters with Govee’s extension kit.

The only downside is that the M1’s dynamic lighting features are not available through Matter at the moment.

Priced at €29.99, the IKEA Ormanas is a very budget-friendly option for a smart light strip. The Ormanas is non-extendable and comes exclusively in 4 meters, although it can be trimmed to a shorter length if required.

This LED strip produces RGB and tunable white color, although it lacks any dynamic lighting effects. While Its brightness levels are adjustable, its LEDs are non-addressable and can only illuminate in a single color.

This LED strip is ideal for settings where intense brightness and vibrant colors aren't necessary and  you just want a simple LED strip that works. With its affordable price, you can easily cover long distances without exceeding your budget.

The Ikea Ormanas can be paired and controlled with your Homey Bridge or Homey Pro, allowing you to change color, set brightness and temperature or even create more elaborate Flows. The Ikea Ormanas is also a Zigbee router, expanding your network coverage.

Innr has built a reputation for introducing elegant, functional, and budget-friendly smart lighting solutions to the market, spanning from light bulbs and LED strips to ceiling lamps and recessed puck lights.

Innr's Smart Light Strips produce very vibrant colors and shine brightly at 2000 lumens, thanks to its high-quality LEDs. With this specification, they are more than capable of illuminating large rooms, even serving as the primary light source.

It pairs over Zigbee to Homey Bridge or Homey Pro, allowing you to set the mood by changing color, adjusting brightness or setting temperature. You can also slowly transition the brightness level at a preset rate with Homey, which works wonderfully as an ambient night light.

The Innr Smart Light Strip stands out from the rest for its incredibly long lifespan, which is claimed at 50.000 hours by the company. However, it’s worth noting that this LED strip cannot be extended and is available only in 2 and 4 meter variants.

The KL430 Light Strip from TP-Link’s Kasa product line up is a very popular choice among lighting enthusiasts. It's affordable, easy to set up, and connects directly to Homey without needing a company hub.

The base model is 2 meters long but can stretch up to 10 meters with their extension kit. If you need flexibility and precise lengths, you’ll be happy to learn that the KL430 is cuttable in very small sections of 12cm. 

In the base model of 2 meters, you get 16 color zones you can control individually and mix and match as you like. The LEDs themselves output about 1400 lumens at peak brightness and can produce over 16 million colors, which is on par with more expensive light strips. 

The Kasa KL430 is also IP44 rated, meaning it's resistant to dust and water splashes from all directions. This makes it perfect for outdoor installation, such as on your front entrance or patio. While the base model is relatively affordable, it’s important to note that getting several extension kits makes the total price very unattractive.

If you are looking for a premium Matter-enabled smart LED strip, you need to take a look at the Nanoleaf Essentials Lighstrip. This model from Nanoleaf uses Thread for connectivity, which is Matter’s mesh networking protocol. You need a Thread Border Router like Homey Pro to add this strip to your smart home.

The Nanoleaf Essentials Lightstrip is available in 2 and 5-meter variants, both of which can be extended to a maximum of 10 meters. You can buy the extension kit in either 1 or 2-meter lengths, saving money if you need more than one by opting for the longer version.

Thanks to its total of 100 LEDs per meter, this LED strip produces very lively colors and strong whites while dishing out 2200 lumens or brightness. This makes the strip ideal for creating ambient lighting in large rooms or illuminating spacious areas. A common application for the Nanoleaf Essentials Lightstrip is installing it in gaming rooms, around PC monitors or gaming desks.

With the current state of Matter, the Nanoleaf Essentials Lightstrip can sometimes be difficult to pair, prompting the need to install and use the Nanoleaf app for the initial onboarding process.

As one of the most recognized names in smart lighting, Philips Hue is known for producing premium-quality bulbs, LED strips, and other intelligent lighting solutions. Their LED strips portfolio offers outdoor LED ropes, indoor strips and the popular Hue Sync Box, for creating your very own ambient TV light. 

Hue’s Gradient Lightstrip is a top-tier model, specifically designed for creating fun and colorful ambient lighting in movie and gaming rooms. With the Philips Hue Sync box, this strip can dynamically change colors and brightness based on the media content you are viewing. 

The Hue Gradient Lighstrip is equipped with a special double diffuser coating, making the individual LEDs in the strip unnoticeable when emitting color. Because of this diffuser and the strip's high density layout, this light strip produces exceptional color gradients.

The Hue Gradient Lightstrip is compatible with Homey and Homey Pro through the Hue Bridge, and you can change color, adjust brightness or activate lighting effects. The Hue Sync box is also supported in Homey, giving you the ability to automatically toggle the device, set dim levels or change its input.

If you have other Philips Hue devices in your home, then you are already aware how costly their ecosystem is. Just getting one Gradient Lightstrip is very expensive, let alone extending it with one of their extension kits. But ultimately, if you are looking for the best smart LED Strip out there, this is the one to get.

If Zigbee is your preferred protocol, Sengled’s Light Strips are an excellent choice for creating ambient lighting in your home. These strips can be directly added to your Homey Bridge or Homey Pro without the need for a hub. 

Available in 2, 5, or full 10-meter versions, extension kits are unnecessary for longer lengths, and the strip can be cut into smaller sections for precise adjustments. 

With a high color rendering index, these LED strips produce true-to-life colors at 1400 lumens. Their dimming range spans from 5% to 100%, perfect for creating the ideal night light. 

In Homey, you can set scenes, change colors, adjust brightness and temperature, or even activate random colors, leading to engaging and fun Flows. All features of Sengled Light Strips are controllable through Homey, providing an ultimate smart lighting experience. 

While Sengled Smart Light Strips are relatively affordable, it's important to note that they do not act as Zigbee routers. If your goal is to extend your network range, Sengled light strips are not suitable devices.

Twinkly is a specialized lighting brand offering the most fun and interesting shapes of string lights. Their portfolio includes line strips, line dots, strings, outdoor flex lights, dropdown curtain lights and a very interesting collection of decorative lights called Candies. 

The Twinkly Line is an adhesive and magnetic-backed smart multicolor LED strip, suitable for indoor installation. You can create discreet kitchen lighting or decorative backlighting on shelves and furniture, bringing your creativity in the mix.

This model has a length of 1.5 meters, but can be expanded with their extension kit up to a total of 3 meters. The Twinkly Line is not suitable for covering long stretches of LED strips, as only one extension kit can be added to the base model. 

It’s capable of producing 16 million colors and sync to your music and game audio, blinking along the rhythm of your media. Twinkly boasts an impressive 100 RGB LEDs in the full 1.5 meters strip, making it one of the highest density RGB layouts on our list.

It's important to note that Twinkly Line does not include a dedicated white LED, and the rendered white color is simply a result of the blend between the 3 RGB color sources.

The Yeelight LED Light Strip Pro offers another excellent option for a smart LED strip, utilizing Wi-Fi to connect to your router and interface with Homey or Homey Pro. The LED Light Strip Pro is the top tier model offered by the company, with a base length of 2 meters. 

This strip is both trimmable and extendable, reaching a maximum length of 10 meters with each extension kit being 1 meter long. While the base model and extension kits are reasonably priced, it’s worth noting the cost can add up quickly if you need multiple extensions. 

Equipped with built-in IC chips, this model allows different color LEDs to illuminate simultaneously, creating bright and vivid hues as a result. The 16 million colors it produces are complimented with various lighting effects, for the ultimate ambient light experience.

The LED Light Strip Pro is compatible with gaming platforms like Razer Chroma and Overwolf, enabling real-time reactions to game content. It can also sync to your music and dance along the beat. 

All Yeelight LED Strips, including the Pro model, are fully supported in Homey and Homey Pro, providing flexibility to adjust colors, set temperature, adjust brightness or incorporate the strips in Advanced Flows.

Just like the Twinkly Line, the Yeelight LED Strip Pro doesn't have a dedicated white LED, which means the color is a hybrid from the other color RGB diodes.

For DIY Enthusiasts

LED Strips are one of those things that offer versatility in implementation and a large canvas for unleashing your creativity. If you are a true DIY enthusiast who likes to experiment and make things themselves, you will be happy to learn about Luxio – an open-source platform for making your own gradient LED strips and integrating them in Homey.

Developed by Emile Nijssen, one of the founders of Homey, Luxio is an open-source platform for creating gradient LED strips and seamlessly integrating them with Homey. With just a few components from Amazon or AliExpress, users can assemble affordable Luxio LED Strips, with everything needed for a single strip costing less than €20 on AliExpress.

You can learn more about Luxio and its requirements on the website and official Luxio Homey App.

Final Thoughts

Whether you're brightening up the underside of your kitchen cabinets or enhancing your game room ambiance, LED strips offer the perfect solution. With their adjustable brightness, customizable colors, and ability to sync with your media content, they bring significant value to any smart home setup. 

In our Best Buy Guide, we've hand-picked a selection of models suited for various deployment scenarios. From the simple and budget-friendly IKEA Ormanas to the top-tier Philips Hue Gradient Lightstrip, this article presents a range of options to help you find the perfect fit for your needs.