Electronic – Cuttable 12V LED strip

12vledled strip

I'm building a computer, and I want to add LED lighting to the case.

However, here in Finland, LED strips are too expensive, and I found this: http://www.tinydeal.com/15w-360lm-6000k-60cm-12v-flexible-led-strip-lamp—green-light-p-107477.html

It's cheap, and it would be excellent for me, but I'm not sure if it's possible to cut it into smaller pieces. It's waterproof, so it has a silicone coating, but that can be peeled off.

Does it have soldering points? I'd rather not order a 5M strip, if I didn't have to. Or if I have to, can I cut this into smaller pieces? http://www.tinydeal.com/dc-12v-24w-300-x-3528-smd-blue-led-flexible-strip-lamp-p-93945.html

Best Answer

What you want is a strip that has clearly-delineated connections between segments such as those that the LED strips that Sparkfun sells has. This way you can be sure that the segments are individually usable.

Solid strip (Sparkfun product 12021): enter image description here

Strip with individually-addressable LEDs (Sparkfun product 12027): enter image description here

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Electronic – Large difference between specced values and real values for LED strips

The 'specs' (pasted below) indicate 12V, not 12.0V. I'd guess that this product is made to be compatible with automotive 12V, which is usually in the 13.8 to 14.2V range. Your measurements somewhat confirm this.

Specs from the reseller's page:

Item Type: Strip
Place of Origin: Guangdong China (Mainland)
is_customized: Yes
Brand Name: G-Lighting
Average Life (hrs): 50000
LED Chip Brand: Edison
Warranty: 2
Wattage: 75 
Certification: CCC,CE,UL
Waterproof: Yes
Voltage: 12V 
Power Source: DC
LEDs Number/M: 60 pcs/m
Model Number: GL60-5630C
Power: 75W Per Pcs
waterproof: yes
Length: 5 m
Beam Angle(°): 120

enter image description here

Electronic – How to plug 2 5m RGB LED light strips together

These strips are usually arranged in numerous parallel segments of a few series LEDs. The RGB strips can be a little different, but they work basically the same way. It looks like your strip is analog control and not digital (which would have little ICs in the strip to control individual LED color), so the specific color ground lines are all in parallel. You should be able to connect numerous strips in parallel - 12V to 12V, red to red, green to green, and blue to blue to blue. That is the same reason you can cut the strips into smaller segments if you want.

There is a limit to how much current can flow through the strip itself, which varies between manufacturers. Your other limit to how many strips can be connected together is how much power your supply / remote controller can handle. It should specify a limit in watts / current or total number of LEDs or parallel segments. That information should be on a sticker on the power supply or be listed in the manual.

From your product page:

Power 72 W

Which is 6A at 12V DC. That means your power supply/controller has to be able to handle at least 144 W (12A @ 12V DC) to connect two strips in parallel. Although, it is never a good idea to run something long term near its maximum ratings, so the supply should really be rated for something closer to 200 W.

If you are able to power multiple strips from your supply, it would be best to power them with a star topology so the current for each strip is separated. For example, connecting Christmas lights together end to end is daisy chaining, and the current for every light strand has to flow through the strands before it. Powering multiple light strands from one power strip is more of a star topology, with the current to each strip only flowing through itself (think of the power strip as your power supply).

Best Answer

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