How to make a "dumb" LED strip smart with full support Apple HomeKitu - LSA Magazine

Mar 24, 2025

It's been quite a few years since I fell under the spell of Smart Home solutions and that's why I try to buy more or less everything we buy for our home in a "smart" version, so that I, as a technology geek, can use it in the most comprehensive way possible. The catch, however, is that some Smart Home Products are expensive, others are unreliable, and some simply do not meet your requirements for some reason. In the case of LED strip, this may be necessary maximal luminous flux, the possibility of shortening by a few centimeters and so on. Sometimes there is no other way and one has to start creating one's own solution, which is tailored exactly to your needs. That is exactly what I recently started doing in cooperation with the T-LED store.

My vision was clear – to add backlighting to the shelf above our sofa, so that we could use the LED strip to illuminate it when needed, for example while reading, eating or just for fun. However, the shelf is quite visible and sticking an uncovered LED strip on its underside seemed rather tasteless to me. I also wanted the strip to be of sufficient quality in terms of brightness, I could shorten it to 190 cm and ideally control it via HomeKitThe word was spoken and with the experts from T-LED we set about devising the right set-up that would meet my requirements.

As the most ideal,onec showed the report from LED strip 12DIGI14 RGB WS2811, smart receivers dimLED Tuya SPI, 12V50W LED sources a of course flexo cords along with CCT cable, which allowed me to connect the receiver placed on the shelf to the source hidden under the sofa, where there is access to the socket. To complete the assembly, it was still necessary to WAGO terminal 2×2,5 with the LED strip being hidden in white aluminum profile N8W cut to 190 cm in combination with opal diffuser a profile ends.

Putting the set together is not that difficult, but if you don't know how, the experts at T-LED will be happy to advise you in this regard. However, it can be said that it is actually "just" a matter of connecting the wires correctly, which you can check, for example, through instructions and videos on the Internet. The diffuser is also easy to stick to the shelf - in my case, double-sided foam tape was enough, which holds the matte shelves from the bottom as if they were nails.

Here I would just like to give you a little tip that may help you with the installation. At first I glued the profile with thin double-sided tape, more like some kind of rubber/plastic/glue. You can get it at any hobby store and I thought that thanks to its thinness it could be great, since there would be no visible gap between the shelf and the profile and everything would blend together so nicely. However, this tape is not nearly as strong as the foam white one that I'm sure everyone knows. After a few days I changed the tape and from that moment on the profile absolutely does not move. There is a small gap between it and the shelf, however, the strength of the connection is a clear benefit for me in this regard.

In my case, the shelf is a good 2 meters above the ground, and the electrical outlet is behind the sofa, so the power supply for the LED strip had to be solved. The most suitable one wasonec showed the use of the aforementioned narrow CCT cable, which runs from the terminal block hidden on the shelf down under the sofa to the receiver, which is connected to a power source powered by the mains. The CCT cable in this case therefore serves de facto only as an extension of the cable leading from the LED strip and, since it is very thin, it can be hidden, for example, in narrow cable rails available in hobby shops. Especially if you run the rail through the corner of the room, as I did, it almost disappears.

Once I had everything installed, all I had to do was connect the LED strip to the HomeKitu. This can be done via software Homebridge, which can be installed on, for example, Rapsberry, Mac or PC and which de facto simulates the functions of a classic HomeKit bridge. I will not describe the entire procedure here, because I have only partially covered it. in a recent article about connecting Tuya products to HomeKitIn short, you just need to create a Tuya developer account, set it up and connect it correctly to the Homebridge and you're done. If everything goes well (which it will if you follow the instructions or ask around occasionally) ChatGPT to proceed), a seemingly stupid LED strip will appear in the Home application - that is, of course, after you scan the QR code of your virtual bridge into it.

The fantastic thing about this is that although it is an LED strip, which is inherently stupid, once you manage to connect it in this style to HomeKitu, all the functions you are currently using are unlocked HomeKitused to LED strips. So not only is there a change of color and brightness, but of course there are also various automations, and you can also group it with other accessories and so on. The LED strip will simply start to behave like all the others HomeKit accessories and you can use it for practically anything you can think of. For example, I set a scene, after which the LED strip on the shelf and behind the TV cabinet will turn on at the same time in the preset brightness and color. There are simply no limits to your imagination in this regard.

So, as you can see for yourself, if you have the desire, time and at the same time a passion for technology and especially Smart Home, you can create really interesting things "on your own" that are tailored to your needs. So don't be afraid of similar projects, because the result is usually really worth it.

Nice, but when I clicked on the links and added up the price, it seemed easier to just buy a 2-meter LED strip with support. homekitu. Just stick it, plug it in and that's it.

Sure, it's certainly easier, but it's usually either more expensive or you'll run into a problem with shortening, which in my experience doesn't happen in such short sections. But the main goal of the article is to demonstrate that these options exist and that there's no need to be afraid of them :)

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