Permanent Under Eave House Lights

[Mikes61]

My wife wants to get some permanent house lights installed under our eaves. The kind that you can change the color and configuration on via an app. on your Iphone. Several of our neighbors and friends have them and they look great. The lights are in a metal track and that track is powdercoated to match the house.

Im looking for some advice on how to have them installed because we have exposed ceiling joists under the eaves and no facia boards to mount the lights to.

 

[loganb]

The common brand I see is Govee

Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights Pro, 100ft with 60 Lights | Govee US

Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights Pro showcases RGBIC triangular lighting effects and is cuttable. Ideal for homes, patios, and year-round illumination. Shop now!

us.govee.com

You can mount the metal track (or make a similar piece out of wood) directly to the bottom of the rafter tails(image from the internet):



I've got a similar setup but mine are LED strip lights and I mounted the channel directly under the gutters:



When installed looks like this (pic from testing so not complete yet)



I've probably got more pictures in my build thread in posts from Sept/Oct of '21

 

[Mikes61]

The common brand I see is Govee

Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights Pro, 100ft with 60 Lights | Govee US

Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights Pro showcases RGBIC triangular lighting effects and is cuttable. Ideal for homes, patios, and year-round illumination. Shop now!

us.govee.com

You can mount the metal track (or make a similar piece out of wood) directly to the bottom of the rafter tails(image from the internet):



I've got a similar setup but mine are LED strip lights and I mounted the channel directly under the gutters:



When installed looks like this (pic from testing so not complete yet)



I've probably got more pictures in my build thread in posts from Sept/Oct of '21

Thanks for the pics. Yes, it’s the Govee lights that my wife has her eye on.

I don’t like the look of the metal channel bridging the exposed roof joists. I want this to look good during the daytime too.

 

[nh_yota]

One more thing requiring maintenance - what's the lifespan of those LEDs?

 

[jfleisher]

We went with these guys: https://trimlight.com/

 

[CV428]

We bought the earlier series of Govee "permanent outdoor" lights and most died within a year (this was 2022). Govee did honor the warranty painlessly, but we decided against reinstalling. We had our entire pool area set up with Wifi lights. Everything that wasn't installed well below an eave or covered area had water intrusion and failed. We housed the controllers in an IP67 box, too.

Every set of Govee lights that is installed in a dry area (even outdoors) has been fine. I like their products overall. I did go with Phillips Hue for some items but it was outrageously expensive compared to Govee. The Phillips stuff has been the least finnicky, GE and Govee is decent, and Wiz has been the most unreliable.

 

[zimman]

One more thing requiring maintenance - what's the lifespan of those LEDs?

Everything in your life requires maintenance, including yourself.
Zim

 

[loganb]

Thanks for the pics. Yes, it’s the Govee lights that my wife has her eye on.

I don’t like the look of the metal channel bridging the exposed roof joists. I want this to look good during the daytime too.

I'd take a Hole Hawg/right angle drill and punch a big enough hole thru the rafter to pass the lights thru and then mount them to the bottom side of the sheathing/decking centered between the rafters. Probably need 1-3/4 or 2" hole though and drilling all that doesn't sound like a lot of fun. I think I'd rather drill those holes then cut and splice the lights at ever rafter to allow a 3/8" hole to just pass the wiring thru though.

One more thing requiring maintenance - what's the lifespan of those LEDs?

Mine have been up for 4 years, only maintenance has been some wind pulling the diffuser off and then the tape failing and the strip falling down....ladder and 5 minutes fixed it.

 

[Mikes61]

I'd take a Hole Hawg/right angle drill and punch a big enough hole thru the rafter to pass the lights thru and then mount them to the bottom side of the sheathing/decking centered between the rafters. Probably need 1-3/4 or 2" hole though and drilling all that doesn't sound like a lot of fun. I think I'd rather drill those holes then cut and splice the lights at ever rafter to allow a 3/8" hole to just pass the wiring thru though.



Mine have been up for 4 years, only maintenance has been some wind pulling the diffuser off and then the tape failing and the strip falling down....ladder and 5 minutes fixed it.

Drilling a small hole in each roof joist and passing the wire thru, is the only option that I’ve come up with too. Apparently the metal channel is two pieces that snap together to hide the wire, so using numerous 18” sections wouldn’t be that difficult.

 

[nh_yota]

You can mount the metal track (or make a similar piece out of wood) directly to the bottom of the rafter tails(image from the internet):

I don't like that method because it leaves a nice spot for birds or other pests to make a nest on top of the channel.

 

[dcg9381]

Everything in your life requires maintenance, including yourself.
Zim

True, by my experience with those strip lights ain't great. Too much **** to go wrong.

Get stuff that is easily replaced. We've got probably 40+ LED cans inside, I lose 1 or so every year... Better than incandescent, but nothing lasts forever.

Strip stuff that I use for interior, I bought from https://www.birddogdistributing.com/ - so far on year 4 or 5....

 

[niget2002]

Get stuff that is easily replaced.

There's a lot of truth in this.

I went the DIY route. The first set of LEDs I installed where the stick-on strip light. I mounted them in aluminum C channel on the front of the facia. They looked great and had an interesting effect. The problem is, when one of the LEDs dies, everything after it goes out. This started happening after about year 3. It required climbing on a ladder once or twice a year with a soldering iron to cut out the bad LED and solder/glue in a new one.

This last year I pulled down all the existing lights and replaced them with wired LEDs every few inches in custom J-channel mounts that got screwed to the backside of the facia. If a LED goes out, I can pull down that entire section and replace the one LED in the comfort of my shop before putting it back up.

The Govee lights are nice. The app isn't horrible. The spotlights in the front of my house are Govee, but I replaced their controller with a DIY one that is the same as the one I'm using on my eaves.

We recently had a conversation in our neighborhood. Half the people went the DIY/Govee route, the other half had Jellyfish lighting installed. Driving around, you can't tell the difference.

I'm not sure what I'd do if I had open soffits like the OP. Clipping and reconnecting every single LED on each side of the soffit would be horrible and I agree that the metal track running across the bottom of the soffits looks weird.

 

[Mikes61]

I don't like that method because it leaves a nice spot for birds or other pests to make a nest on top of the channel.

This looks like ****. Not doing that on my house.

 

[545_days]

There are a few homes in my neighborhood with those. Personally I find them garish.

 

[Mikes61]

I

There are a few homes in my neighborhood with those. Personally I find them garish.

I kinda do too, but my wife likes them. I think it’s a fad and I’m hoping she forgets.

 

[iadr]

Safe to say you can adjust to white? That's the way I'd be interested. My neighbor is a professional commercial electrician and has a wife with a pretty good job and no kids. He just put up ones that look from a distance like a small white hockey puck. Fully programable (move infinite color)
They can add to the look of the house year round.
I hate to call out Loganb's because they look awesome, for the season, but then outside that time, they are well outside of what dramatic home lighting outside the Xmas period has been since, well... shortly after ww2. That is to say a coarse spacing/larger size has come to look right.

 

[Dig Doug]

If your home has facia board you can install on the back side below the rafters

 

[loganb]

Safe to say you can adjust to white? That's the way I'd be interested. My neighbor is a professional commercial electrician and has a wife with a pretty good job and no kids. He just put up ones that look from a distance like a small white hockey puck. Fully programable (move infinite color)
They can add to the look of the house year round.
I hate to call out Loganb's because they look awesome, for the season, but then outside that time, they are well outside of what dramatic home lighting outside the Xmas period has been since, well... shortly after ww2. That is to say a coarse spacing/larger size has come to look right.

Yes, all colors under the rainbow are basically available via the app, just takes some playing to figure it out.

No worries, my setup is a bit different then the larger more common puck style lights. I didn't like how those were going to look on the soffit and liked the greater flexibility for light patterns with the higher pixel density of the strip lights I choose. When they're off they blend in and disappear, when they're on the kids love it which makes my wife happy so works for us

 

[Dig Doug]

Or add a block in between each rafter and so there isn’t a void above the strip