Whether you’re wanting to add a little extra light to your kitchen, put some lighting in your wardrobes or add some decorative colour changing lighting to a room or area; you’re probably going to use LED strip lights.
Now of course you can go online and buy a 5m strip with a power supply and make it somehow fit your project.
Or you can come to us and buy exactly what you need; made to measure for a perfect fit using our professional quality products which are fully guaranteed.
So what is LED strip?
To help you order your strips you need to know a little about what LED strips are and how they work.
The strips are essentially a thin flexible circuit boards (yeah that’s right; circuit boards) with LEDs (light emitting diodes) fixed on them. Usually there are 60 diodes per meter and the strips can be cut at either 5cm or 10cm intervals.
When you add power to the strips the diodes light up, the power can come from a mains powered transformer or a simple battery pack.
A self adhesive backing makes installation very easy, you can stick them just about anywhere. As with all adhesives the surface must be clean and dry and free from dust.
Be aware that not all surfaces will take an adhesive so you may need to find an alternative way to fix your strips, we’re happy to give you a small sample to test.
The standard strips are flexible up and down, like a tape measure, but they can’t be bent in the horizontal plane, however we do have a solution for you if you need to do that, for instance around a curved mirror or a rounded kitchen unit.
There is very little heat generated by the LEDs so this wouldn’t normally be of any concern and all of our strips are 12 or 24v DC so are not dangerous if you touch them while they’re switched on.
How long do they last?
LEDs are extremely reliable – our LED strips should give you around 50,000 hours of light – which means if you have them on for 12 hours a day they should last you 11 years. In fact LEDs tend to start to go dim (attenuate) towards the end of their life so you get fair warning that they are failing.
Your strips are at their most “vulnerable” to damage while they’re being handled and installed so great care should be taken during this process.
The component that is most likely to fail is the transformer. This is what reduces your 230v AC mains voltage to 12 or 24v DC to run the strips so we always recommend that this is accessible for servicing and has sufficient ventilation.
How do you order?
Ordering is easy – first of all plan your project, make a sketch if it helps.
You’ll need to know:
- Where are you going to power the lights from?
- How are you going to switch the lights on and off?
- Where will the transformer be sited?
- Where are you going to hide the wires?
Once you have the answers to these questions you should be able to give us what we need to know to get your made to measure kit ready for you.
We’ll get it…
Just a few things to take in to account:
In general it’s better to limit lighting runs to less than 5m – if you need longer runs it’s better to start with a new feed from the transformer.
If you are going around the perimeter of a room you should do it in two halves to balance the light, especially important if you want to use RGB colour changing strip.
Colour changing strips (RGB red, green, blue or RGBW red, green, blue, white) will need a colour controller.
You can dim the strips but you would need to talk to us first about the options.
We can give you guidance and advice contact us if you need any help.
What we need to know:
We will make an order for you based on your exact requirements – if you call us or come in to order we will ask you:
- The colour of the light (warm white, white, daylight, RGB colour changing)?
- The length of the each strip and how many of that particular length you need?
- How much wire you need on the strip (to reach the transformer)?
- If all of your strip is on one transformer or if you need several – if so we’ll need to know which strips are on each transformer.
- Do you need cable from the transformer to the power source?
- If you’re plugging in to a socket do you want us to fit a plug?
Larger projects
If you have a larger project, need some more technical information, help or advice then please feel free to contact us , we have more than 15 years of experience for you to call on.
10 Reasons why to use our service
- All cables are soldered on to the strips and the joints reinforced.
- All strips are thoroughly checked and tested before you get them.
- Our products meet all CE specifications and all test data is available.
- The thickness of our strip is double that of cheaper alternatives
- We only supply professional grade strips.
- We batch all of our strips to ensure you get a consistent light colour.
- You will get the exact amount of strip required with the correct transformers to suit.
- We’re experienced with the design, supply and installation of all types of LED lighting.
- We’ll be able to offer you the best solution for your project.
- Our products have a 2 year manufacturer backed guarantee!
So get creative.
If you’ve already finished a project using our products then send us some details in the comments box below and we’ll get in touch contact you for some images.
