LED lighting strip - what do I need?!

So I've been looking to try the garage / proximity sensor thing combined with an LED strip to indicate how far away from the left / right of the garage I am.

I need a Fibaro RGBW Controller - but what else do I need to get this all working?
An LED Strip that's RGBW (not RGB?) but do I also need power convertors. How do I connect the LED strips into mains power exactly?

I'm looking to have 2 strips, one on the left and one directly in front. So I assume I need 2 of everything above?

Thanks

[jay (support)]

+1 - anyone??

The very least you will need is a LED Driver PSU 12 or 24v depending on your LEDS, commonly 12V. This supply needs to be man enough to drive whatever length of led strip you have. This supply goes before the Fibaro RGB controller. If you wanted different colours on each strip at the same time then I think you would need two RGB controllers. Also I don't think that the state of the inputs to the Fibaro are available at the moment to Indigo. I imagine you would be looking at some ultrasonic proximity sensors to get your input, similar to the units that are used in cars etc.

Colin

Thanks Colin.

So if I bought:
* Fibaro RGBW Controller
* Driver - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00C ... EBUJSDP4OW
* LED Strip - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00K ... 06LLLGLJWM

That would all work? Or am I missing another component?

The basics are as you have listed, however the linked driver is not man enough to drive the led strip you linked to, the strip draws 57 watts and the driver is rated at 50 watts. The Fibaro is good for 144 watts at 12 v so the strip should work fine with the Fibaro but you just need a bigger driver. I would suggest looking at one of the specialist suppliers such as https://www.led-lighthouse.co.uk who can supply all the bits you need and give you advice if you need it. I have an Fibaro RGBW controller running 4 circuits of white leds in my bathroom.

Colin

Awesome thanks for the advice - last step is now trying to find 2x proximity sensors to strap to the front and left of the garage, struggling to find one as it keeps coming up with iPhone / iPad sensors in all my searches !!!

That driver should be OK still - as that's to run the whole strip. I'm going to be chopping the strip in half into 2x 2'ishm strips.

Cool, If you are only using short strips then that should be fine. Had a quick look in one of my favourite hobby haunts and came up with this..http://www.adafruit.com/products/164 , (or here https://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/ir-ran ... -80cm.html) seems to produce an analog voltage proportional to distance .4v to 3v from 10cm to 80cm. might not be quite right but might point you in right direction. You could use just one Fibaro and just control two colours on each side. Your overiding problem at the moment is that Indigo does not support/recognise the inputs, seeing the device as 4 dimmers and master dimmer, so your options are limiited to what you can do within the Fibaro.

Colin

Oh! I didn't realise that about the RGBW Controller from Fibaro.

What exactly is the issue with the Fibaro controller? Surely if it see's 4 dimmers and a master then it should all work OK?

As far as I am aware ( unless someone else knows better) there isn't a way for example for indigo to know what the voltage is on any of the inputs. See this thread for Matt's comment viewtopic.php?f=58&t=12643&p=85227&hilit=fibaro+rgbw#p85227 . You can set the rgb levels of the Fibaro from indigo as part of a trigger, but you still need to provide a trigger input dependant on the input distance. Its not an area that I have any experience in but maybe it sounds like something an Arduino would be good at doing.

Colin