ArticlesHow to choose an LED strip for your home

How to choose an LED strip for your home

LED lighting for interiors of apartments and houses is gaining more and more popularity. There are several ways to approach backlighting issues. Some people prefer to contact specialists for the selection of suitable equipment and its installation. Others decide to show their creativity and do it on their own. Due to the relative ease of installation of LED backlighting, this is quite possible, but to achieve the desired result, several features must be taken into account. The first question that arises is how, among a large number of varieties of LED strips, to choose a LED strip lights with remote that suits your desires? We will talk about this in this article.

LED strip

Installation location of the LED strip.

First, you need to decide on the room where the LED strip will be installed. For LED lighting of the ceilings of rooms, kitchens, hallways, and corridors, an open LED strip is suitable. Due to the high humidity, only a sealed LED strip is used to illuminate the bathrooms. To illuminate the working surface of the tables in the kitchen, as well as when installing the LED strip at a low height from the floor, for example, lighting stair steps, lighting the floor – it is also recommended to use a sealed LED strip because during wet cleaning, water can get on it or it can be mechanically damaged. We will talk about the selection of LED strips for specific premises later.

Type, brightness, and power of the LED strip.

The next step is to select the LED strip according to the required brightness. One of the factors affecting the brightness of the tape is the type of LEDs. The most common types with SMD3528 and  SMD5060 LEDs(sometimes also called SMD5050). LEDs of the first type have a package size of 3.5×2.8 mm and contain one semiconductor crystal. LEDs of the second type are larger – 5.0×5.5 mm – and contain three crystals in one package. Accordingly, SMD5060 LEDs are almost three times brighter than SMD3528 diodes. Also, the brightness of the LED strip depends on the density of the LEDs on it. There is standard density LED strips, double (2x) and double-row dual density (2×2) strips. For tapes with SMD3528 LEDs, these are respectively 60, 120, and 240 LEDs per meter. For tapes with SMD5060 LEDs – 30, 60, and 120 LEDs per meter. The table below shows the most common types in order of increasing power and, accordingly, the brightness of the glow.

The color of the LED strip, the type of its connection.

Decide on the backlight color – whether we want the backlight to be white or someone constant glow color. Or do we want to change the backlight color depending on the current desires and preferences?

If we need white backlighting, then we also need to decide which one. The fact is that white light can be of different shades (with a different, so-called, color temperature of the glow) cold white (10000K-6500K), white (6500K-5500K), day white (4500K-4000K), and warm white (3500K- 2700K).

For decorative backlighting, a colored LED strip is more suitable, it can be monochrome (one-color) or multi-color (RGB). Note that the RGB LED strip can only be used with large SMD 5060 LEDs.

To connect a one-color LED strip, you only need a power supply and the strip itself. If you want to adjust the brightness of the glow, you will need one more additional device – a dimmer for the LED strip. To connect a multi-color RGB LED strip, you will need not only a power supply and a strip, but also an  RGB controller that controls the color and brightness of the RGB strip.

The power supply should be selected in accordance with the supply voltage of the LED strip (12V, 24V, 36V), its power, and length.

To calculate the required power of the power supply, you need to multiply the length of the tape connected to the unit by its power consumption per meter and add a power reserve (10-25%). The reserve is necessary for the reliable operation of the system. For example, (10m x 7.2W) x 1.25 = 90W. Since there is no power supply unit for an LED strip with a power of exactly 90 W, a unit with a higher (but in no case less) power of -100 W is suitable.

How to choose an LED strip for a room.

Usually, LED lighting of different rooms in an apartment or in a house has different purposes, for example, lighting a room is mainly decorative, and lighting a kitchen is practical. And you can check more LED lights here: https://www.lepro.com/

The most common use of LED strip in a room is eaves or stained-glass ceiling illumination, illumination of walls, floors, niches or curtains. Such rooms have normal humidity, therefore, an LED strip without moisture protection is used here. The purpose of such backlighting is most often decorative, therefore, almost any type of LED strip can be used and the choice depends only on the required brightness and color. Backlighting using RGB LED strip and RGB controller will look spectacular.

Heather Jones
Heather Jones
Hello! I'm Heather Jones, a dedicated writer and expert in the fields of DIY projects, home improvement, and emergency preparedness. With over 15 years of hands-on experience, I'm committed to sharing practical tips and tricks to help you make the most out of your home and life.

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