Is There A Group Control For Smart Strip Lights? Nifty Tips

Smart strip lights can be extended to create long strips. But there is a limit to the length of your extension due to power limitations. If you require more than 10m of the light strip, you will need to use more than one power source and controller. To control all your light strips at the same time, you will need to group them. 

Smart strip lights can be grouped in the app you are using to control your lights. This lets you control your smart strip lights together. For example, you can turn all your smart strip lights on or off at the same time. In some cases, you can only group smart strip lights of the same type. 

How to group smart light strips can depend on the brand of the light strips. It can also depend on which app you are using to group your lights. In this article, I describe how you can group some of the best smart strip lights on the market. 

Why Should I Group My Smart Strip Lights? 

When your smart strip lights are grouped, you can control them simultaneously. This has the benefit of convenience. You can turn all the lights in the group on or off with one tap. It also lets you create a mood easily, by making all your strip lights the same color. 

By grouping your smart strip lights, you can also create a schedule for all of them to turn off at a set time in the evening. This has the benefit of saving electricity, especially if you often forget your lights on. 

Smart light strips can be extended, but only to a certain length. This length is limited by the power output of the lights. If you have a very large area that you want to cover with light strips, you will need several extended strips. 

Each strip (the limit is usually about 10m) will need its own controller and power source. So even if you stick the strips next to each other, each extended strip is controlled by its controller. 

If the controllers are not grouped, you will have to send a signal to each controller. So if you have 5 x 10m strips running across your ceiling, you’ll have to turn each strip off individually. Grouping the five strips lets you control them with one tap. 

Note: having 50m of smart light strips running across your ceiling is a cool display idea. It might get a little bright though! You might also require such lengths if you are lighting a feature wall in one room. You may also use many smart strip lights when setting up Christmas or Halloween lighting. 

You can also group smart light strips in different rooms. This lets you control all the lights on one floor, for example. 

We wrote a helpful post about the Intricacies of Grouping Smart Lights. Feel free to click on the link to learn a few new things.

How Can I Control My Strip Lights As A Group? 

Individual smart light strips usually just need to be connected to the same app. Then you can group them. Some group controls may only be possible for light strips of the same type. For example, you may not be able to control Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices in a group. Here are specific examples.  

How to group Govee strip lights

There are some limitations to grouping different Govee strip lights. 

• Only Wi-Fi Govee strip lights can be scheduled. 
• You can only group Bluetooth Govee strip lights with a music mode, a scene mode, and a DIY mode with the same models. 
• You can group Bluetooth Govee strip lights with smart bulbs if they fall into the same category. This category would include lights with an on/off function, color variation, and a dimming option. 
• Wi-fi Govee strip lights with four functions can only be grouped with strip lights with the same functions. These four functions are: a timer, on/off function, color variation, and a dimming option 

If you want to group several Govee lights, it’s easiest to buy the same models.

To group your strip lights, follow these steps:

1. Open the Govee app. 
2. On the My Device page, tap the Smarts option.
3. Tap the + button in the top right corner. 
4. Select Bluetooth or Wifi control
5. Name your group. 
6. Tap the drop-down arrow to add your strip lights. 

US President Benjamin Harrison was the first to use electricity in the White House. Power was installed by Edison General Electric Company in 1891. However, Harrison and his wife were scared of being electrocuted that they vowed not to touch the light switches. They spent many a night with the lights on. If only they had had access to smart lighting!

bobvila.com

How to group Philips Hue Lighstrips 

The Philips Hue Lightstrips are Bluetooth-enabled. (The Philips Play gradient lightstrips are not). With the Bluetooth connection, you can change the brightness, color, and color temperature of the light strip. 

For other features, such as scheduling light strips, you’ll need a Hue Bridge. You also need a bridge to sync the lights with music and control your lights from out of your home. Adding motion sensors or smart switches also requires a bridge. 

If the Hue app is struggling to find your light strip, the strip may be too far away from the Bridge. You can move the Lighstrip closer to the bridge. 

You can also move another Philips Hue smart light, like a Hue bulb, into the space between the strip and the bridge. The bulb extends the wireless signal of the Bridge. 

Once you have linked your light strips to your Hue app, follow these steps to group them:

1. Start at the home screen. 
2. Tap the 3 dots in the top right corner. 
3. Select “Rooms & Zones.”
4. Select “Create.”
5. Select “Create zone.”
6. On the “Create New Zone Screen,” enter the name of the zone. 
7. Select an icon for the zone. 
8. Add lights to the zone. 
9. Tap the checkmark in the top right corner. 

Note that the Ikea Myrvarv light strip can also be connected to the Philips Hue app. Grouping these lights would be done in the same way as above.

How to group LIFX Lightstrips

You will have to add your light strips to the LIFX app first. To create a group, you have to start by selecting a light because you can’t have an empty group.

1. Tap the name of the light you want to use. You will be taken to the control screen for that light. 
2. Tap the 3 dots in the top right corner.
3. Tap the Group name and choose New Group. Type a name for the group. 
4. Tap Save. 

You can then add other lights to the group you have created by repeating the first two steps above. You will then select an existing group to place the light into.

How to group Nanoleaf Essentials Light Strips 

You can group the Nanoleaf light strips in the Nanoleaf app. You can also link these light strips to the iOS Home app or the Google Home App. You can also group your light strips in these apps. 

Once you have paired your light strips with the Nanoleaf App, you will be taken to the dashboard. This acts as the home screen of the app. 

The dashboard displays all your rooms and devices. To move a light strip into a different room, tap the pencil icon in the top right corner. Then drag your light strip to the room into which you want it grouped. 

You can toggle the lights in the room on or off. You can also change the brightness by tapping the sun icon next to each room. 

At the top of the screen is a tab with a square and a triangle. This is the Group Scenes tab. You can create new scenes by tapping the + icon in the top right corner. Group scenes can have different color combinations applied to multiple lights. 

How to group Sylvania Smart+ light strips  

1. Tap ADD A GROUP.
2. Select the room you want to group your light strip into or create your own group name. 
3. Tap ADD A DEVICE.
4. Find and tap the light strip. Note: if you get a prompt that says ‘Upgrading,’ wait until the firmware update is completed and refresh the page. You will have to select your light strip again. 
5. When the device is paired successfully, it will appear in your group. 
6. Repeat these steps for the light strips you want to group. 

How to group light strips in the Smart Life app 

The Smart Life app allows you to connect smart devices from different brands. 

To group smart light strips in the Smart Life app, do the following: 

1. In the Smart Life app, tap the Devices option. 
2. Tap the + icon.
3. Tap Add Group. 
4. Create a new group. 
5. Tap the light strips you want to add to the group. 

Can I Group Smart Light Strips With Smart Bulbs?

If your smart light strips and smart bulbs are compatible with the same app, you can group them. You would do this by adding each light (strip or bulb) to the app. You will then create a group and add all the lights you want to group to it. 

Home Streamliner’s Take:

Finding instructions for grouping different smart light strips proved to be quite difficult. There is a lot more information on the internet about smart bulbs than smart light strips. 

The good news is that adding bulbs and smart light strips to an app is usually the same process. So is grouping smart bulbs and smart light strips. 

If there is a brand of light strips that you want to group which I didn’t cover in this post? Simply search how to group light bulbs from the same brand in the same app. The instructions may well be the same. 

Grouping your smart light strips with your smart light bulbs makes controlling your lights more convenient. And I love a convenient smart light setup! 

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