Review of Offdarks LXD-XG36 Smart Ceiling Lamp With Remote Control & RGB lighting 2022.
It looks like a shelf of robust smart lighting manufacturers will be arriving soon. Many have heard, they know, they use Xiaomi, Yeelight, Mijia lamps. Today in the review there is a serious claim for success – a very interesting ceiling lamp from the manufacturer Offdarks. The LXD-XG36 is an honest 36W WiFi controlled model with a remote control and eye-catching RGB lighting effects. The claim to success is serious, but a little more practice is needed.
Specifications:
Brand / Model: OFFDARKS LXD-XG36
Type: Ceiling Smart Light (WiFi + 2.4G)
Lighting area: 10-15 square meters
Application: kitchen, dining room, bedroom, foyer, study
Supply voltage: AC 200-240V
Power: 36W
Brightness control: Yes
Glow color temperature: 3000-6500 K
Features: RGB backlight
Control: Smartphone, Remote Control, Wall Switch
Overall dimensions: 300 * 70 mm
Application: Magic Home Pro
Supports: Alexa and Google Home, Voice Control
Buy Offdarks Smart LED Ceiling Light on Aliexpress Find out the current price of Banggood
OFFDARKS smart LED ceiling light WIFI voice control RGB dimming APP control living room bedroom kitchen ceiling lamp
Unfortunately (or fortunately) I cannot show the branded box in the way that the postal services played some intricate game with it and it looked completely obscene. It is originally a box made of recycled cardboard with an outline of the luminaire. Inside, the lamp was protected from the mail games by a foam cocoon, unworthy of a demonstration, but fulfilling its role.
Therefore, let’s see the package bundle right away. This is the lamp itself, instructions, a bag of fasteners and a control panel in a separate box.
The control panel is very compact, fits comfortably in the hand and has a rounded shape. Such a remnant of itself in a non-abusive manner.
On the back of the box, the characteristics of the remote control are indicated, the manufacturer and there is a QR code for watching the video with the remote control being linked to the luminaire. The remote control itself is powered by two AAA batteries.
Those who do not want to watch the video can understand the binding procedure from the brief instructions on the side of the box.
The remote has fourteen silicone buttons that glow in the dark. The option is clearly convenient, since, firstly, it is easier to understand in the dark, and secondly, the composition of the material of the buttons is fluorescent, i.e. the backlight works by itself.
From the remote control, you can turn on / off the lamp, turn on the night light mode, from any mode immediately turn on the full power of the main lighting, start the mode of automatic change of color effects, change the backlight color manually, adjust the brightness and temperature of the main lighting. The bottom four buttons are used to control four Offdarks luminaires from one remote control or to bind a specific scenario to a button. Indeed, there are many functions for a small remote control and sometimes it is more convenient than using a phone.
The lamp shade with a diameter of 30 cm is made of matte plastic, without streaks and foreign smell. Bead on the dome for focusing the camera).
The height of the luminaire is 7 cm. The body itself is visible only in the middle of the structure, and at the very top (in the photo below), along the edge of the body, there is a matte RGB backlight filter.
We turn the lamp over and find brief characteristics, mounting locations and wire entry through the silicone seal.
The plafond is made of thick enough plastic, it is difficult to push through it, perhaps even if dropped, it probably will not burst. From the inside, the surface resembles an orange peel to further diffuse light.
Under the shade, on a solid aluminum plate, there are 72 LEDs under the personal diffuser lenses.
The plafond sits very tightly on the luminaire body thanks to three locks. And immediately you can see that the warm and cold LEDs alternate with each other.
We unscrew the three self-tapping screws and get inside, to the control board.
The ESP8285MOD module is responsible for the connection of the luminaire with the “outside world”. The board is adapted for installing the lamp in the kitchen, where the air humidity is often high – a thin layer of varnish is visible on the board and components to prevent oxidation and damage. I think that for the same purpose a screw connector is installed to connect the lamp power instead of a quick-clamping one.
Under the backlight filter, we find an RGB tape with control and power connected on both sides for uniform illumination.
We collect and see how much the luminaire consumes electricity and how the declared power of 36 watts corresponds to the actual one. Indeed, often the power is indicated by the nominal power of the LEDs, i.e., for example, in the design of 24 LEDs with a nominal power of 1 W – they write 24 W, and the wattmeter shows that the luminaire consumes 10 and shines accordingly. How are things going here?
To begin with, turn on the lamp to the network and hold down the power button on the remote control for five seconds. The remote control is bound to the luminaire and you can control it. The procedure is very simple, and the set modes are saved in the memory of the luminaire even after switching off by the wall switch. If you ever need to replace the batteries in the remote control, then the binding will need to be repeated.
So, in standby mode (disconnected from the remote control), the lamp consumes less than 2 W or less than 1.44 kW per month, which is unlikely to ruin anyone.
Use the button on the remote control to turn on the night light mode – the consumption is 2.9 W.
Now the button for maximum brightness – consumption of 33.1 watts. The lamp glows very brightly, but for now let’s look only at the power consumption, and we’ll see how everything looks on the ceiling a little later.
Minimum brightness at minimum glow temperature, i.e. 3000K or warm white – 4.7W. At maximum brightness at the same glow temperature, we get the declared 35.6 W, which, taking into account the unverified wattmeter, is just an excellent result – the power is declared honestly.
Now 6500K or cool white. At minimum brightness – 4.8 W, at maximum – 35.3 W.
From the last photos it can be seen that even at 6500 K the glow does not go into blue and does not create discomfort for the eyes.
And the second fact: LEDs with a nominal power of 1 W are installed. There are 72 of them in total, and at 3000 K and 6500 K, they glow through one, operating at rated current and consuming almost 36 watts.
With an approximately average luminescence temperature set at the minimum brightness, the power is 4.7 W, at the maximum brightness is 32.8 W. Now all the LEDs are on, their power is limited to half, but there is still a lot of light, and the LEDs will live much longer.
And power consumption in backlight mode.
All modes of operation that the lamp is capable of when working from the remote control have been tested and did not cause any complaints. The luminaire quickly changes modes of operation, clearly and correctly responds to commands.
More options should be given by the lamp operation when controlled via WiFi via the Magic Home Pro application.
But this is where the difficulties arose.
The application is installed from the playmarket and, unfortunately, the interface is not translated into English – only English, Chinese, German.
After installation, you need to create an account, choose one of three servers – Chinese, European or global.
Then turn off four times, turn on the lamp and after it is reset to factory settings, add a new device with the + button. After resetting, the light will blink backlight several times and is detected by an application called LEDnet00354A53A4. We tap on the name and the application offers to choose a WiFi network. And at this stage dances with a tambourine begin. The lamp, app and WiFi don’t want to be friends with each other in any way. After several attempts at linking, resetting the luminaire to factory settings and repeating the linking procedure, the application links the luminaire to the network and prompts you to give it a user-friendly name.
Changing the server, phones, attempts to launch from a tablet did not give any tangible improvements. The binding is still slow and malfunctioning.
After binding, the main screen of the application opens with the added device and by tapping on it we go to the control tabs. On the first one, you can set the brightness and temperature of the glow, the color of the backlight, or create five of your own bookmarks, and then activate them. On the second tab, for some reason, we set the shade only to the warm glow temperature, brightness and our own bookmarks. On the third tab, select or create scenarios for the backlighting.
All this works, but sometimes quickly and clearly, sometimes with long delays, or the application completely freezes.
There are four more tabs, but it was not possible to make the lamp work from them in any way. The bookmarks and features are potentially interesting though.
The first activates the phone’s microphone. and the backlight of the lamp blinks in time with the sounds in the room. The second tab allows you to select a melody in the phone, and the backlight starts working in the color music mode. From the third tab, the main light is turned on in a mode close to the lighting in a cinema, i.e. muted light of a cold glow. And on the fourth tab, the phone’s camera is turned on. By aiming it at some objects, you can adjust the lamp to glow approximately the same shade and brightness, i.e. roughly copy and remember for quick activation.
However, all this is only in theory, but in practice, these tabs display the messages shown above.
In general, either the application is crude (I am more inclined towards this version, as hangs and flights often occur), or there is some flaw in the electronics of the lamp and all that remains is to install the lamp and use the remote control or a regular wall switch. Fortunately, the lamp remembers the settings from the remote control and does not forget them when turned off by the switch.
The lamp was installed in a room with an area of 12 sq. and it illuminates it very brightly. Below there will be photos in extreme brightness levels, in ordinary life it is used at about half the power.
Full brightness at warm, medium and cold glow temperatures.
The approximate color rendition can be estimated in the following photos. For my taste, the glow temperature levels are most acceptable – 4000 -6500 K.
For the sake of sports interest, I looked at the illumination level in the night light mode, at the minimum and maximum brightness of three glow temperatures. The light meter was located on the floor, i.e. at a height of 2.55 mm from the luminaire, which is not correct, but enough to understand the light levels.
In night light mode.
Minimum and maximum brightness at 3000 K.
Minimum and maximum at approximately 4000-4500 K
Minimum and maximum brightness at 6500 K
Plus, the luminaire is NOT prone to blue at a temperature of 6500 K. Reading is quite comfortable both at about 4000K and at 6500.
And in the final photo of the RGB backlight modes.
The photo does not always convey the real picture correctly, it strongly depends on the camera, lens, skill of a particular photographer, and in addition to photographs.
Even in spite of the crooked application, which will probably be finalized, I cannot say that I did not like the lamp at all. The application is a minus of this lamp.
From the wishes: well, another mode begs here – the ability to operate RGB backlighting simultaneously with the main lighting. At maximum brightness, of course, it will be ineffective, but at low power of the main lighting, it would probably be great.
From the strengths of the lamp: the potential inherent in it – working with a microphone, color music mode, cinema mode. A must-have for the remote control, honest power, high brightness, neat workmanship and moisture protection for use in the kitchen. Night light mode, RGB lighting effects, will surely please children, i.e. the lamp will be in place in the nursery.
