The power of LED strips is evident if you’ve entered a dark movie theatre in the middle of a film. Forbes claims that LED lighting can save you money over ten years compared to incandescent lights. In locations with little light, the LED strips work well. Because they don’t burn hot and can emit a soothing nightlight, they are perfect for kids’ rooms.
For use in your house, place of business, or outdoor space, LED strips are the ideal gentle light source. They are simple to install and have excellent aesthetic value. We’ll demonstrate how to connect your LED strips to a power supply and get them appropriately wired.
Before Putting in Your LED light Strips:
Before installing the LED strips, you must first measure the area where your LED strips are to be placed. Get a ballpark idea of how long the LED strips you’ll need for the project. LED strips are available for purchase online or from any reputable retailer.
- If you’re installing LED strips in various locations around your house, measure each area first so you can calculate how much you’ll need for the entire project and then determine the length you’ll need for each location.
- Once you’ve done that, you should look about for power sources. It is because one option for controlling LED lights is to use a standard plug-in combination with a switch, dimmer, or even a Bluetooth device. For mounting LED strips, this is also the most fantastic choice.
How to Choose the Best Power Source:
Utilizing an electrical source, such as an outlet with a switch, makes installing strip lights simple. Hardwiring it to your home’s panel is an additional choice. Just a matter of preference; none is superior to the other.
Step 1-Check Your LED Strip to See What Voltage It Needs:
LED strips typically come in two voltage ranges: 12-volts and 24-volts. The power source you use must match the voltage needed for the lighting. A quantity that differs from the voltage of your LED strip could harm the lights or be dangerous.
For most sites, 12-volt strips are a great option and consume less energy. The length of 24-volt strips is double that of 12-volt strips, making them ideal for applications that require more significant space, like outdoor lighting. The diode’s quality determines the light’s brightness rather than the voltage.
Step 2-Determine your LED Strip’s Maximum Power:
You must understand some physics and mathematics here! Wattage consumption varies depending on the type of LED light strip.
Check your package to find out how many watts are utilized per foot. The length of the ribbon you’ll use is multiplied by the watts.
For instance, if I have a 25-foot-long LED strip that consumes 5 watts per foot, I can calculate the total wattage by multiplying 25 by 5 to get 125 watts.
Step 3-Calculate The Minimum Power Rating:
Find the minimum power rating of your LED strip after determining its total wattage. It will result in the power supply needing small watts to light our LED strip.
- To do that, we double the 125 watts in our step-2 total by 1.2.
125 x 1.2 = 150 watts.
- To ensure that the LED strip is functioning correctly, the power source needs at least 150 watts. Your LED light could occasionally require more power; therefore, we add 20% to make sure we have enough in this case.
20% of 150 watts results in 180 total watts.
- Find the minimum amps by dividing the power consumption by the voltage.
Electricity flows through a current at a certain speed, measured in required amps. A long strip of LED lights may dim or turn off if there aren’t enough amps available, which is crucial to the operation.
Luckily, it’s not that tough.
- Go back now to understand. Check that our power output was 125 watts. We’ll divide the voltage of our strips (either 12 or 24) by the power 125 to determine the minimum amps needed. Consider a 12-volt system for wiring.
125/12 = 10.41
- It will provide the data we require to power the LED strip. The adapters resemble those that you may use to power a laptop. Let’s move on to the installation now that the math is through.
How to Install an LED Strip Using a Power Source:
You will need the following supplies to attach an LED strip to a power source:
- You may operate an LED strip using a switch, dimmer, or wireless Bluetooth controller.
- power source
You may create an LED strip with all three of these sources connected. It would be great if you try it several times to ensure it is ready to use. Just carry out these actions.
Step 1: Connect the LED Strip to a Switch:
Most LED strips will have a plug, although you might need to use a section of it. In that instance, the wiring will need to be added and cut. Although it seems complicated, It’s not; it’s just different.
- How to cut your LED Strip? Seek the cut symbol denoted by a scissor line to cut your LED strip. These can be located at various locations along the LED strip. To finish that part, measure and cut along the line.
- How to Connect a LED Strip? Next, you can solder the wire to the LED strip or use a strip connector to connect the LED strip to a switch. Although it takes more skill, soldering creates a more reliable connection.
- It is considerably easier to do this with a strip connector. The installation of LED strips is a breeze with these simple accessories. The LED strip needs to be folded into the connector’s short end.
- The switch should then be connected to the other end of the connector using either the attached connector or the strip connector if no cutting was necessary.
Step 2: Connect Your Switch to The Power Source:
It’s time to connect your LED strip to your power supply after you’ve fastened it to a switch, dimmer switch, or Bluetooth wireless switch. A wall-mounted or a simple switch with a barrel connector can wire this.
If you’re using a short switch, plug it in after attaching it to a power supply that resembles a laptop wire. You ought should now have a functional LED strip.
Step 3: Place LED Strips:
The adhesive backing on LED strips makes it simple to affix them to a wall, under a bed, or even under a cabinet.
- Cleanse the area with warm water before installing your LED strip to ensure it is free of dirt.
- Pull back the layer after that, then adhere to the LED strip. Check the light.
You now would know how to install LED strips in your house using a power outlet and an essential power supply. With your upcoming celebrations using LED, we hope this will be helpful.