I have done this with Gledopto and similar clone drivers. They work fine if you are looking for a simple device without effects, chasing, individual addressing, and so on. They are Zigbee, which I would recommend over Z-wave.
Joineonlux supply professional and honest service.
If going this way, I would recommend (and did use) diffuser channel to make these look better. I did not use any IP rated lights, but they aren't really exposed in these channels the way I have them positioned. Any liquid would be very minimal if any at all.
If I were to start again, I would consider Govee. I have a couple of their items (outdoor lights), and the effects and the ability to create many colorful scenes are nice. This gives the ability to create chasing, rainbow, color blend/fades, and other cool effects. That said, their app is a complex, cluttered disaster to use, and it makes me a tiny bit nervous that someday they may cut off access or the company goes bankrupt, and you lose the ability to control the lights. They are also a LOT more expensive than generic strips and drivers, and most rely on Wifi, which is OK, but some are Bluetooth only, which I would completely eliminate from consideration.
Matter devices may be a consideration as well, but I have not looked recently to see what is available, or the pricing of such items. I wouldn't pay more to purchase Matter over Zigbee, but if the price was equal, I would consider it. That said, some have mixed experiences with Matter, but my couple RGB bulbs have been fine so far.
Here is a picture I have posted in the past with my setup.
So any setup will require 3 things.
I would start with the strip itself like you have, mainly because the strip's will likely determine what the other stuff is you need. When looking at the strips there are two things that really determine what you need.
The length of the run and then the kind of light you want. The length of the run is important because it can affect the density of the pixels and the power requirements for the strip. Considering you said this is to go under a vanity pretty much any strip will work. I wouldn't expect that to be more than a couple of meters so even strips as dense as COB lights as mentioned by @vitaliy_kh are a option. Then you need to consider placement and Diffuser requirements.
The Led strip technology comes in two main flavors now which are strips without IC's to control segments and addressable strips with IC's that can control individual segments. Generally addressable strips will call out IC's in the type of strip like RGBICWW or just RGBIC while nonaddressable strips would just be RGB or RGBWW. You only need something like pixelblase, or wled, ect if the strip is addressable. Nonaddressable switches can use more basic zigbee/Zwave controllers.
The other aspect is do you want dedicated pixels to provide Warm and cool white light. Simply put if you don't have dedicated warm and cool white pixels some strips really struggle to produce white light. They end up trying to produce the Color temp by mixing the RGB in ways to make it which often isn't great. Your best bet for white lights is to get a strip that has the white color built in. This means to look for a strip that has either a W or WW at the end of the strip type identifier. Contrary to what some say WW does not mean Warm white it is actually a Cool white pixel. The first W generally represents a Warm white pixel is included as that is harder to reproduce without. The second W is for Cool white and isn't as important but can be good if you use that color temp a lot. Sometimes these white pixels are not called out though so research is good to do.
The power supply is simply a result of the strip you choose. Simply put once you pick your strip you need to do some math for the power requirements. The strip should tell you want voltage it runs at and then how much amps it will use at max. Then take that number and do the math to figure the size in amps of the power supply to use at most 80% of it's rated capacity and get that. So as an example, if the strip says it will use 12v at 1.5 amp max for the strip then i would get a 12v 2amp power supply. It doesn't really hurt to go larger if you want, it will just cost more money.
The controller is a interesting thing. Prebuilt controllers can be pricey unfortunately. When i was looking at this a while ago and got my Gledopto kit i use in my pantry, most of the cost was the controller and not the strip itself. LED strips don't actually cost that much. For that reason, I don't even think I would consider a nonaddressable setup now. I do think they have gotten a little bit better in price though. There aren't many options either for Zigbee, Zwave. I only know of a few. Things look very interesting with WLED and pixelblaze now, i just haven't tried them yet. It looks like it should be very simple though to simply load them on a ESP32 and control any strip. If you don't use color and just a single-Color temp strip you can probably even get away with just a smart outlet controller.
Prebuilt systems like lifix, hue, Govee, ect are great options because you are guaranteed it will work . Govee has in the past tended to be less costly when the focus was primarily being a alternatives to the big names, but now they also have some very unique options. They sell a prebuilt strip in a diffuser that can fit in corners for walls and ceilings. They have prebuilt diffuser options to help with that for placement in certain areas like baseboards. and allot more. Govee has really come into their own. Many of their products support a LAN API so that is a way to avoid their cloud, and allot of the new devices are also supporting Matter so that is another way to keep it local.
I actually think this is less of problem then you might initially think. Especially when Hubitat is involved. Simply put all of their devices support Bluetooth so even if the cloud goes out they will likely work fine with that, and if the devices support LAN API or Matter then Hubitat can control it without the cloud.
This is certainly true for some devices, but not all. I have had one Govee Device fail on me completely It was a Lyra Lamp. They just sent me a replacement so i got to take it apart and look at the inner workings. The wires going into the strip are interesting. and not your typical 3 wires for RGBIC. I haven't dug into more, but quickly moved on to something else. That said i did see a youtube video where their desk strip LED was converted to wled. Looked pretty easy actually as it does use the typical 3 wire + - Data setup
Based on the increase in efficiency, color options, brightness, and ease of installation, LED strip light is rapidly rising in modern lighting around the world. Architects and lighting designers are implementing more and more LED strip lights into residential, commercial, and industrial projects.
There are many options on the market for LED strip lights (also called LED tape lights). So We make this advice for how to choose LED strip lights for newcomers alike.
Imagine the overall effect after LED lighting completes
Different Scene required:
This will help us to find:
What kind of emotion and aesthetics express do you want to achieve?
To find the right led strip you exact need!
Color is the first thing for selecting a light. LED strip light can achieve your colorful design.
Is there any width limitation for your installation? There are many widths of LED strip for choose.
Lumen is the measurement of brightness as perceived to the human eye.
LED strip can make IP62, IP65, IP68 etc to satisfy different nvironment
Different LED SMD will effect the Lumen, wattage and Heat dissipation effect.
If UL, CE, REACH or other certificates required for your market?
After your clear preview of whole project, the first thing comes out is to confirm what color required. Single white color or dual white? RGB, RGBW or Addressable?
You can find the right LED tapes in our large production range. In addition, special color for your projects can be realized by our professional R&D team.
CCT - Correlated Color Temperature, It is for regular white color and to measure how warm or cool a light’s color is.
Myledy can provide color temperatures ranging from K to K, and low to K for some special article. Here are some color temperature ranges we provide:
Contact us to discuss your requirements of LED strip lights supplier. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.
CRI - Color Rendering Index, measures the accuracy of light’s color under the light source. The CRI of sunlight defined 100, the higher the value, the closer the light is to the real daylight.
An LED strip light with low CRI(＜90) produces distorted colors. Whereas the high CRI(>90) LED produces high-quality illumination, you can view natural daylight things.
It is very important especially for Commercial Lighting. A high CRI is necessary for perfect display of your products.
Lumen refers to the amount of light emitted by a lamp, which is what we usually call brightness. The reason why LED lamp is so popular is that its high lumen can play a role in environmental protection and energy saving. If you replace a standard 150-watt bulb that emits about lumens, a 25-watt LED is roughly the same.LED strips’ lumen output level varies depending upon the usage of your strips. Here is Myledy’s wide range of Lumen output per meter:
LED SMD has many types, which come in different sizes with different wattages and lumens.
You can select the LED tapes according to Myledy LED SMD types:
LED strip lights can make different width to satisfy designers’ special requirements, such as super slim lighting, wide addressable design etc. Are there any width limits for your projects？
Myledy has a wide range of PCB widths for LED tape. You can easily find the target LED strips in the following categories :
IP is an acronym “Ingress Protection”, a measurement standard ratings used to indicate the level of protection for electrical equipment against solids and liquids.
IP rating has two numbers, both of which give you information about the protection level. A higher number means greater protection against solids and liquids.
Below IP Rating chart can help you to better understand the protection offered with each IP Number.
Protected against a solid object greater than 50mm, such as a hand.
Protected against a solid object greater than 12.5mm, such as a finger.
Protected against a solid object greater than 2.5mm, such as a screwdriver.
Protected against a solid object greater than 1.0mm, such as a wire.
Dust protected. Limited ingress of dust permitted.
Dust tight. Zero ingress of dust permitted.
IP Rating Chart
Protected against vertically falling drops of water. Limited ingress permitted.
Protected against vertically falling drops of water enclosure tilted 15° from vertical.
Protected against sprays to 60° from the vertical. Limited ingress permitted.
Protected against water splashed from all directions. Limited ingress permitted.
Protected against jets of water. Limited ingress permitted.
Protected against strong jets of water. Limited ingress permitted.
Protected against the effects of immersion in 15cm to 1m.
Protected against long periods of immersion under pressure.
To make sure that your LEDs last their intended lifespan, and don’t require extra maintenance costs to replace, you need to verify the quality claims.
1. Thermal Management — Heat is the most important factor of LED death. This is not solely rely on an aluminum heat sink to dissipate heat away. The LED strip should be designed thermal management and heat dissipation at chip level and on PCB to ensure a longer lifespan.
2. Color Consistency — There is a range on each CCT which can make several bin number and make you LED strip color looks a little different. Only one Bin in the LED would selected to you and be keep in project.
3. Material Quality — Product performance and longevity is determined not just by the quality of the LEDs, but the thickness and materials used in the PCB, resistors, wires, and lead-free soldering.
4. Certificates & Test Reports — Ask for CE, RoHS, UL or other required certificates for safety claims. And test reports to verify claims of brightness and longevity. These may include LM-79 testing, IES reports, etc.
5. After Service & Warranty — You may need some special components for the projects, Myledy is easy to find the right products for you. We also boast 5 years warranty for our LED strip lights represent the highest quality found on the market today!
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit LED strip light manufacturer.