Everything You Need To Know About LED Strip Lights

LED Strip lights are becoming more and more popular for home lighting. More than likely you have heard the argument for LEDs over incandescent and even halogen bulbs: they are more efficient, brighter, longer-lasting, they don’t produce much heat, they are easily controlled and programmed…the list goes on and on. LEDs come in extremely compact packages that are durable and resistant to shock, making them so they can be used in a variety of ways.

Types of LED Strips

The LED Strips category is a broad category that includes all different types of LED strip lights. Depending on how you plan to use the LED strips, you may need one type over the other. For example, IP65 LED flex strips are better suited for outdoor and wet areas as they have a protective covering that makes them waterproof. Below is just a brief description of each kind of LED Strip Light, this guide will go into more detail on them later as there are multiple types of strips in some of these categories.

l DC LED Flex Strips – Powered from 12VDC, these flexible strip lights have an adhesive backing for easy mounting and can be cut ever two inches. They are offered in waterproof options and come in 30 LEDs/M or 60 LEDs/M.

l AC LED Flex Strips – Flexible strip lights that run straight from your outlet. Just plug in and they are ready to go.

l LED Rope Light – Encased, omni-directional LEDs in the standard rope light packaging.

l High Output LED Strips – High Power LEDs from Cree, Luxeon and Nichia mounted to rigid strips with on board drivers and circuitry.

What are the benefits of LED strip lights?

First of all, they look great and are an easy way to enhance your space without breaking the bank. A few lights hanging off your porch as the Christmas carolers come your way will be enough to make the holidays even brighter. But why else would people opt to use these lights?

l Energy efficiency: It’s not possible to talk about LED lights without bringing up their energy efficiency. It may seem like this point has been drummed in enough, but it’s a hard fact. When you invest in 12v smart LED strip lights, you spend as little as 10% on utility bills on them. That means that if you were earlier spending about $100 to keep the lights on, you’ll now spend about $10! Imagine that.

l Long life span: Buying traditional lights at low prices may seem like a great deal right now. After all, they come cheap. However, they do not last long. A few days or weeks into using them and you end up at the store again. With the best LED light bulb, this is not the case. These bulbs can burn for up to 25,000 hours. Some can even serve you for 50,000 hours! That means the bulbs can work for more than a decade. By this time, traditional bulb users will have used and replaced their bulbs a couple of times.

How do LED strip lights work?

Let’s start with what these lights are. They are LED emitters mounted on circuit boards that operate on low DC power. They come in a reel which is often about five meters. You can cut them to the length you want, and mounting them should be a breeze.

A strip light, in itself, is pretty narrow. It measures about half an inch along its width but can be as long as five meters. Their structure makes it easy to cut them. All you need is to find the cutline, which should be present every one or two inches. On the strip, you will see individual lights. Manufacturers decide how many lights should be on the strips as there is no standard. Often, you will find most manufacturers ranging from 60 to 120 lights per meter. The number of lights is not the only thing you should look for when choosing an LED strip light, though. You should also look at the quality of each LED and the light color.

To mount the strip, you rely on the adhesive on its back. It’s pretty easy to do this. Once you have peeled off the liner, you can stick the strip on any surface. The good thing is the strip can work on both even and uneven surfaces. It’s this flexibility that adds to its versatility.

Purchase premium LED strip light from us

Huaxia Lighting Co., Ltd  is one of the leading professional manufacturer for LED Underwater Light industry for over 13 years. Huaxia Lighting Co., Ltd specializes in developing, manufacturing and selling LED SWIMMING POOL LIGHTS SERIES products with international standard since 2007. If you are looking for waterproof LED strip light, we will be your best choice.