Add a little flare to your world.
This past Christmas, my eleven and nine-year-old boys asked for a television in their room. My father and I mounted the device to their wall, and they have enjoyed it over the past nine months. As an added gift, I wanted to enhance their setup by adding some color to their room. One way that I thought that this could be done was with an LED light strip behind their television. I have seen several amazing entertainment setups and have been intimidated by what I thought was a complicated installation process. Once I started looking into the available options, I found many of the kits installed with tape. Surprised, I decided to pick up the TFZBA light strip for their room. Combined with their dual side by side bunk beds with “man caves” underneath, the new upgrade helped create a fun-filled room. Hopefully, one day soon, COVID-19 will subside and their friends can hang out again.
The TFZBA Smart LED Strip Lights arrived in a 6 3/4 inches wide by 6 5/16 inches tall by 2 1/2 inches tall black retail box. The cover had the colorful TFZBA logo along the top left, and the Android and Apple logo just beneath the name. Along the top right, you will find five icons detailing the properties of the Strip Lights: 1. 16 Million Colors. 2. Light Dancing with Music. 3. Microphone Mode. 4. Timer Control. 5. 50 Feet 3 Pack. Along the middle of the panel, you will find three reels of multi-colored LED strands. The cover did a good job of displaying the product, especially with the stark contrast between the black background and colorful strip lights. The top panel showed three colorful home scenes displaying a blue living room, a yellow bedroom, and a red television. The white-colored right-side panel displayed the lighting facts and Product Specifications: 3600 Lumens, $4.8 annual cost (11cent Wh cost), 5-year life, RGB/Warm/Cool light Appearance, 5050 RBG, 150 LEDs x 3, DC12V output voltage, 36W output power, 5.0 AM max current, 5M remote distance, -20C+45C working temperature, 120-degree beam angle, and the model number TFZBA-001. The opposite side panel had a QR code and instructions to link to the Android and Apple Apps: 1. Connect the LED color strip and controller/power. 2. Scan the QR code to download the App. 3. Start the App and control the lights. The black-colored back panel provided a thanking greeting along the top left and provided similar product specifications to the right-side panel as well as warnings to keep the LED dry and the Shenzhen Address.
I lifted the front panel and removed the contents of the packaging. I found a large charging block measuring 4 7/8 inches long by 2 1/8 inches wide by 1 1/4 inches thick. The charger had an 18-inches long Type B wall outlet prong with cable on one end and a 36 1/2 inches long cable with an AC power plug on the other. Attached to the AC plug, you will find an LED controller box. On one end, the controller had a 4 1/4 inches long AC power input port. On the other end, you will find two ports, a 5 1/4 inches long IR signal receiver and a 10 1/4 inches long trio of light interface cables. Attached to each of the light interface cables, you will find a reel of LED string lights. Lastly, within the box, you will find a 12-panel instruction manual, a 4 7/8 inches long by 1 9/16 inches wide remote, and cable ties with wall stickers. Turning to the instruction manual, the first page showed the product/contents, the second panel showed how to connect the lights, and the third panel showed how to mount the lights to the wall. The fourth panel showed the product specifications/control method (Steady color, brightness dimming, white light brightness percentage, simulation of sunrise sunset, timing off mode, music activation mode, multiple color changing mode). The fifth panel showed how to connect the reels to the LED controller by aligning the arrows, and discussed several safety considerations (indoor use of the setup only, a detailed risk for electricity, etc.). As an added consideration, you can link the light strips together for increased distance. Just make sure that you align the arrows and colors properly.
The opposite side of the instruction manual showcased the included music remote. From top to bottom, the remote had the following buttons: Off, Auto, On, Music activation modes 1, 2, 3, Timing Off Modes (1hr, 2hr, 3hr), Speed increase/decrease buttons, Mode activation increase/decrease buttons, Brightness increase/decrease buttons, and 9-key static mode for R/G/B/W colors. The remainder of the manual showed the duoCo strip app and some of the features of the App. To start, I scanned the QR code and downloaded the 2.5* duoCo Strip App. The App asked to access Bluetooth communication and directly connected to the “BLEDOM” device. Along the top of the App, you will find a small color wheel and on/off toggle. Below this, you will find a large color wheel. If you touch the smaller color wheel along the top left, you can change how you interact with the main color wheel. Beneath the color wheel, you will find a brightness slider and twelve color presets. Along the bottom, you will find “Adjust, Style, Music, Mic, Schedule.” Each of these options provided actions similar to those on the remote.
I removed the light strip from the power supply, then aligned and measured where I wanted the strip to go behind the television. The red backing strip was easily separated from the clear LED tape, which then stuck snugly to the wall. When I got to a corner, I folded the tape at a 90-degree angle and then continued to stick it to the wall. I found that I was able to wrap the LED strip roughly 1.5 times around the wall behind the TV. I reattached the power to the LED strip and then plugged the Type A wall plug into the power strip. The lights immediately illuminated, and the strip responded to the remote. My children loved the ability to control the ambient light and specifically liked the motion/sound sensing Mode 1. Sitting in their bean bags, a movie on their television, and background lighting, they were quite pleased with their new setup. What more could you want/need, than a fair price, easy setup, and happy kids?
