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Aug 20, 2023

Nanoleaf Lines LED Decor Wall Lights with Wi

There is nothing like a custom RGB decor solution that works with almost anything you want to control it with. This is exactly what Nanoleaf is achieving with its products and it has only gotten

There is nothing like a custom RGB decor solution that works with almost anything you want to control it with. This is exactly what Nanoleaf is achieving with its products and it has only gotten better with the inclusion of Matter in the mix of everything. At least, with the products that have Matter support included.

The company has made it possible to interact with its lights via nearly any digital assistant, as well as various hubs, software, apps, and internet solutions. Allowing you to create the perfect ecosystem of devices all interacting with each other. Including its Nanoleaf Lines product that lights your walls or ceiling up with a nice ambient effect to help bring your gaming, movie, music, party, or any other experience to the next level.

Obviously, custom LED decor lighting for your walls isn’t anything new. This company is simply one of the first to really get its name out there as it was taking off in popularity. Now it is a giant with many products to choose from. All of which come with a certain level of enjoyable quality.

At first, unpacking it from its box reveals that it isn’t any different from most of its products or products like it from other companies.

It comes with multiple interconnecting parts that allow you to form whatever pattern you want. You are only limited to the number of parts in the kit. You can, of course, order expansion kits to break it out even further for more extravagant designs.

All of the connectors are user-friendly and self-explainable to the point that if you have any knowledge of working with smart devices, you might not even find yourself bothering with the instructions. Hooking everything together happens quickly and without any guesswork.

Like any of these products, everything begins with the main point of connectivity that acts as the starting point of power. Sharing that power with other sections using the other joints/adapters. After that initial joint, everything can start and end in any pattern you want (until you run out of parts).

That starting point of power (joint/adapter) has a thin power cable that should run into the direction of power. So you want to make sure you add it to your design where it can accomplish this neatly. It doesn’t matter where you place it in the mix.

Before you know it, you have a fully connected design, powered up and ready to go. You can manually control it via that initial joint that starts the power thanks to a series of buttons on its face that blend right into everything so they aren’t distracting.

You can power it on/off, adjust the level of brightness, switch between scenes, enable music mode, and more. There is actually a number of other options you can accomplish with these buttons. For that, you may want to read the instructions. However, you will likely spend most of your time controlling it with other methods.

Powering it on, it will automatically learn what design/shape it is. So there is no drawing it out in an app or anything. It knows exactly how you put it together. The only thing you have to do is tell it which orientation it is installed on the wall as (you’ll see this in the below images). At this point, it is ready to be paired with the app.

Install the app, register for an account, and login. Once you do, add it as a new device and it will walk you through adding it to your Wi-Fi network. It will draw the design onto the screen for you and then ask you to spin it around into whatever orientation you want to mount it in. This tells it how it will pattern the colors out to match things like your computer screen (if you use that feature) or what direction the effects should move in. Name it, tell it what room it is in, and finish the pairing.

From inside the app, you can control all sorts of things, including changing it to whatever colors your scenes (effects) you want. Northern Lights are fun, but you may find your fancy in something else. You can switch into music mode so it dances with whatever you listen to (which is always fun), or you can even enable Circadian Lighting (which will cause the lights to change color and temperature to the position of the sun).

Of course, when paying for something fancy like this (which is expensive), you will likely want it to do more than just respond to its app. For this, you start connecting it to whatever you want.

From assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, all you have to do is add the skills via their respective apps. You’ll find a Nanoleaf skill located in there waiting for you. Once you do that, your lights will begin to work with these assistants.

But that only scratches the surface. You also have access to programs/apps like Corsair or Razer Chroma that allow you to sync the colors to other lights and devices as you play your favorite games. These apps come with all sorts of control to help bring the most out of your setup. Including mimicking the colors on your screen as you play.

You can also link them up to online services like IFTTT to bring in other interactions with oddball devices, APIs, websites, and more. Of course, that will require a subscription since IFTTT has really locked down its services as of recent.

Then there is the list of hubs Nanoleaf supports through integrations made directly or by third-party plugins/addons. Hubs like SmartThings or Home Assistant. Making it easy to bring these lights into these hubs so they can be controlled within a centralized location along with all of your other smart home devices.

We were able to quickly bring the Nanoleaf Lines light into Home Assistant as it detected it on the network in no time. SmartThings should be just as easy to do the same.

Then there is the matter of Matter. The new smart home standard that seeks to bring all products and ecosystems together. Kind of the next generation of Zigbee but now all of the major (and not so major) companies are involved to help make it possible.

If you have played with Matter before, you likely know this can sometimes be a scary experience. It is still a new technology that needs still needs a lot of love before it can be considered as user-friendly as it is supposed to be . It’s getting there, though, and we have already paired a number (few) of Nanoleaf devices via this method.

In order to work with Matter connectivity, you need two things. A hub that supports it and a “Thread border router” (that broadcasts a Thread network for these devices). The latter of the two could be as easy as a USB adapter you plug into your hub (depending on the hub and if it supports new antenna adapters via this method). Else you have to find a hub that already has it integrated. The reason for this (and not just needing Matter support) is that it requires a proprietary connection to your normal Wi-Fi.

The number of devices that do support a built-in Thread border router and Matter support is growing, but in our case, we have been using the Amazon Echo Gen 4 successfully with Nanoleaf’s products. Other options include the Google Nest Hub Gen 2 and Apple HomePod Mini.

Home Assistant also has an adapter called Skyconnect you can plug into your Home Assistant’s box (Raspberry Pi, Mini PC, etc) that is supposed to act as a Thread border router bringing Matter support to the hub system. However, we haven’t had any luck with using it yet with Nanoleaf’s products and we (and others) have also observed a lot of odd issues with it. So we couldn’t recommend it with a clean conscience (for the moment).

In most cases, you would scan a Matter product using a barcode and your hub’s “add device” screen. This is with most Matter devices built on Thread. Including Nanoleaf’s Essential (Matter Edition) lights. However, this one adds a little differently. Instead, the Nanoleaf app will pop a message at the top of its home screen to let you know that it detected a Matter-ready device that can be “upgraded” to Matter connectivity. It then walks you through connecting it to your Thread network.

Bringing Matter into the mix allows you to control these lights from any Matter/Thread ecosystem. Eventually, if everything works out as it is supposed to, most of the newer smart home devices (and older ones that can be updated via firmware) will support Matter. Allowing you to bring everything together regardless of brand.

As mentioned, we were up and running in no time and only had to read the instructions to discover what else the buttons on the built-in remote were capable of. Beyond that, the app makes everything self-explanatory. Connectivity to digital assistants was assumed thus we didn’t need to read the instructions. However, if you’ve never done that before, you’d likely find yourself diving further into the instructions for things like this.

Connectivity to Home Assistant via the integration in Home Assistant brough the light right in. No need for Matter in this scenario. However, Matter is there if it is needed and helps bring the lights into every other hub or ecosystem that supports it. So eventually it becomes a literal free-for-all when it comes to sharing connectivity and command with everything.

Music mode (as mentioned) is a lot of fun and quite on the nose with how the effects react to the music. This is thanks to a built-in microphone in its controller that listens for music in the room, trigger effects that interact with the beat. Any good smart light has this feature. Especially extravagant ones like this.

Bringing it into software/app solutions like Razer Chroma is a whole new experience that every gamer or teen should jump on. Or anyone (all ages) looking to build a fun den, social space, or home theater. These lights like any other that support the software respond wonderfully to your computer. So as long as you don’t find yourself distracted with being surrounded by LED lighting, this is a fantastic effect to take advantage of.

If not, you can always group the Nanoleaf Lines with other lights via the Nanoleaf app or other integrations that offer grouping. So that you can control them all at once. Maybe have them all come on or off with the lights in the room (ie, smart light switch on the wall that can be used as a trigger).

The Nanoleaf Lines make for a very friendly product that doesn’t take much time to get used to. The level of integration capabilities and features is definitely on par with what you’d expect with a top-tier custom lighting solution provider like Nanoleaf.

Everything comes together nicely and in so many ways. The ambient light looks great to the eyes and the effects move smoothly through your design, allowing you to get the most pleasure from your investment. In addition to it all, offering support for Matter is a huge plus as we move into the new standard everywhere (assuming all goes right with it).

Lights like these are expensive. Think of it as buying into a fancy designer lamp. Only these do more than just light up. They are customizable, work with almost anything, and come with a long list of effects and capabilities. Sure, they are still a little expensive despite that (we’d love to see products like this within the $100 mark or less), but they are one of those brands you pay for. Some of it is in the name, but a lot of it is in the quality and R&D that goes into everything. Also, its one of those markets where if people are willing to pay for it, the prices will remain where they are. It’s just how that game works. You can at least make sure you pick the brands that warrant it the most.

*Average price is based on the time this article was published

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Are you a manufacturer or distributor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.