FabianLight strips are a great thing and basically always work in the same way: you unroll them, stick them to a smooth surface and then enjoy the colourful light. And you can even extend the light strips, up to 10 metres in the case of Philips Hue, for example.
However, both the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus and the Philips Hue Ambiance Gradient Lightstrip have a problem: the power supply unit delivers a maximum of 20 watts and the maximum brightness remains identical. A 2 metre long and a 10 metre long Lightstrip Plus both light up with a maximum of 1,700 lumens. The longer the light strip becomes, the less brightly the individual LEDs shine.
If this maximum length is important to you, then the new ZigBee light strip from Müller-Licht Tint could be something for you. For around 100 euros, you can get a 10-metre-long light strip with coloured and white LEDs that can shine up to 5,800 lumens. Measured, of course, as usual with a white tone of 4,000 lumens.
Will this value actually be achieved? Unfortunately, I can't measure that with my technical equipment. And unfortunately I don't have a 10 metre long light strip from Philips Hue for a direct comparison (why not?). Compared to a 2 metre short Lightstrip Plus, the light strip from Müller-Licht Tint actually shines just a little less brightly when focussed on a single LED section. This certainly matches the technical specifications: 850 lumens per metre for Philips Hue (at 2 metres in length) and 580 lumens per metre for Müller-Licht Tint (at 10 metres in length).
Good features and strange power consumption
The features of the light strip are also impressive. The individual LEDs are 3.5 centimetres apart and therefore much closer than with the Lightstrip Plus, where the distance is 6 centimetres. Müller-Licht Tint also supplies four small connectors to reconnect the cut-off light strip and guide it around corners, for example. Incidentally, the light strip can only be separated every 40 centimetres.
The power consumption has raised a few questions. The manufacturer states the maximum power consumption as 36 watts. However, at maximum brightness with a white tone of 4,000 lumens, the light strip “only” consumed 30 watts. When I set the colour to pink or yellow, both significantly less bright, the consumption was a surprising 34 watts. With other colours, such as blue or green, significantly less power was consumed, as expected. Why and why? To be honest, I have no idea.
Perhaps we will find an answer to this phenomenon with the help of the community. Apart from that, the new light strip from Müller-Licht Tint is a recommendation for anyone looking for a 10 metre long light strip that can be easily connected to the Hue Bridge via ZigBee.
Note: This article contains affiliate links. We receive a commission for purchases via these links, which we use to finance this blog. The purchase price remains unchanged for you.
What about changing the power supply to a bigger one for the hue stripes to maintain their brightness? Or is there a limitation on the current coming out of the controller?