It’s approaching Christmas and the Christmas decorations are slowly being unpacked. For me this is traditionally a few fairy lights.
As a technology nerd, I was naturally a little curious about the various “smart” fairy lights and lighting options. Now I have decided to buy such a “smart” light chain, namely the “Govee outdoor light chain”.
Behind this name is a chain of lights with 15 small lamps, which is not only beautiful in winter, but can also be used in summer.
Each LED can be controlled individually via the app and given an individual color if you wish.
Let’s take a quick look at the Govee fairy lights.
Govee fairy lights in the test
Govee offers many different fairy lights. In addition to classic fairy lights, they also offer a fairy light with small “lamps”. I also chose exactly these fairy lights.
This is approx. 15 meters long and has a small “bulb” with an integrated LED every meter. At the end or beginning of the light chain there is a power supply with a small controller, which allows you to switch it on/off directly on the light chain.
At the other end of the fairy lights there is also a small port, which theoretically allows the fairy lights to be expanded.
There is no special bracket or anything similar included for installation. So you have to think about how to assemble the fairy lights yourself.
There is a small hack on each of the bulbs, but in my opinion this doesn’t do much.
Die App
The Govee fairy lights are, unsurprisingly, controlled via the Govee app. The fairy lights have both a Bluetooth and WLAN module.
The fairy lights connect directly to your smartphone and set up the WiFi when you start it for the first time. This worked absolutely problem-free for me too.
The Govee app makes a good impression! Here and there the app seems a bit “full”, but generally it is well done and looks “serious”.
Light and functionality
Of course we have an RGB fairy light here. So you can freely adjust the light color. You can not just adjust the light color of the entire chain, but individually for each individual lamp!
Yes, you could assign each of the 15 “bulbs” an individual color. There are also various patterns in the app, with color changes, etc. if you want to particularly annoy your neighbors.
So you have a lot of variety when it comes to lighting.
The light quality is solid to good. Of course, the “frosted glass” bulbs mean that colors don’t appear quite as “brilliant” as with naked LEDs, but the brightness is good and the color reproduction is generally more than okay.
In short, there is nothing to complain about here.
My Timer
Does the Govee fairy lights also support a timer function. You can save a schedule in the app with up to 4 entries at which times the fairy lights should be switched on/off automatically.
Control via 3rd provider services
In addition to the manufacturer’s own app, the Govee fairy lights can also be controlled via Alexa and the Google Assistant.
Integration via the Home Assistant is also possible, but only “via the cloud” and the optional community extension.
Apple HomeKit or Matter is not supported.
Power consumption
In this day and age, power consumption is an absolutely important point! The power consumption of the Govee fairy lights naturally varies depending on the light and brightness set. Here are just a few rough guidelines:
100%
50%
20%
White
10.1
5.9
3.4
Rot
4.6
3.1
2.2
Green
4.5
2.9
2.1
Blau
4.6
3.4
2.2
Orange
5.2
3.3
2.3
(power consumption in watts)
At its maximum, the fairy lights consumed 10.1 W, with white light and full brightness. At 50% brightness, consumption drops to 5.9W.
With colorful light, the maximum power consumption is 4-5W depending on the color, at full brightness.
100%
50%
20%
White
0.73 €
0.42 €
0.24 €
Rot
0.33 €
0.22 €
0.16 €
Green
0.32 €
0.21 €
0.15 €
Blau
0.33 €
0.24 €
0.16 €
Orange
0.37 €
0.24 €
0.17 €
Here are the expected electricity costs per month for 6 hours of operation per day and €0.40 per kWh.
Even with full brightness, we are only talking about +- €0.72 per month.
Conclusion
In my opinion there is nothing wrong with the Govee fairy lights if you are looking for a corresponding product. The fairy lights are well made, both in terms of hardware and software.
The fairy lights are bright enough and the colors are good. Because of the “balls” they are obviously a little more matted than when you look directly at the LEDs, but generally the colors are nice.
The app and control via Bluetooth or WLAN are also well done. There are many different patterns that you can choose from.
It is also possible to control each individual bulb individually and give it its own color, which is a great effect.
From my point of view, the price of the Govee light chain on the outside is okay, especially when we compare it with other products that allow individual control of the LEDs.