OnourmostrecentIoTPodcast,Michaelcalledintoourvoicemailhotlinewithaquestionabouthisundercabinetlightstrips.He’slookingforaswitchorotheroptiontoaddsomesmartstothem,althoughhe’susingasetofsmartLIFXlightstrips.IfMichaelisgoingtouseaswitch,itcan’thaveaneutralwireandhedoesuseSmartThings.
Wehaveacoupleofoptionstosuggesthere,whichapplybothtoMichael’ssituationaswellasanyoneelsewhouseslightstripsundertheircabinets.Inarecentkitchenremodel,weactuallyaddedregularlightstrips,soIhadasimilarsimilarsituationtodealwith.
Inmycase,myundercabinetlightsarepluggedintoaregularoutletthat’salreadycontrolledbyaswitch.Forme,itwaseasytoswaptheoldswitchforanewLutronCasetaswitch.AndMichaelcantakeasimilarapproachalthoughhe’dneedadifferentbrandfortheswitch.
WefoundaGEsmartdimmingswitchthatdoesn’trequireaneutralwireforaround$50onAmazon,forexample.ThatwouldworkwithhisSmartThingssetupandlethimmanuallycontrolthelightswhenrequired.Hecouldalsosaveafewbucksandoptforanon-dimmingversionofthesameGEswitchfor$33.
Thinkingoutsidetheboxalittle,thissolutionactuallydoesn’trequireaswitch.Asmartoutletfortheundercabinetlightsmaydothetrickasmanyofthemhavebuttonstoturnthepoweronandoff.Ofcourse,iftheoutletfortheselightsishiddeninacabinetlikemine,thatmaynotbeideal.Still,it’sanoptionthat’sworthmentioning.
AprogrammablebuttonmightdothetrickheresinceLIFXdoesintegratewithSmartThings.Althoughexpensiveat$80,theFlicSmartButtonthree-packfitsthebillhere.Soonebuttoncouldbeusedtocontrolundercabinetlightsandtwoothersarereadyforfutureuseinthiscase.Onecaveatthough:Thatintegrationiscloud-basedsoifyourhomeinternetisdown,thebuttonwon’twork.
Soregardlessofwhetheryouhaveasmartornon-connectedlightstripunderyourcabinets,thereareseveraloptionstoaddsomesmartstothem.
TohearMichael’squestioninfull,aswellasourdiscussiononthetopic,tuneintotheIoTPodcastbelow:
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