7 Things You Need to Know Before Buying LED Strip Lights

21 Oct.,2024

 

7 Things You Need to Know Before Buying LED Strip Lights

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Are you looking to switch up the look of your home? LED strip lights are a great way to make a major but inexpensive change to the look of your home.

Adding this kind of lighting is very versatile. You can place it behind, underneath, or around objects in your home to add a unique and multi-layered look.

If you&#;re considering buying a strip of LED lighting for any room of your house, first read these seven things you should know.

They&#;ll help you know everything you need to know in order to be prepared for adding a beautiful type of lighting to your home or office space.

1. Add Drama and Flair

The most common reason that people add LED lights to their home is to add a form of lighting that is unique and visually appealing.

It&#;s amazing what a difference these little lights will make. They are strong and powerful, so they emit quite a lot of brightness. Yet they are very small and compact, so they can be easily hidden when added to a room.

People use LED lights to add intrigue to any room.

Line your headboard in your bedroom for a nice lighting source that is unique compared to your typical lamp. Line the mirror in your bathroom for a beautiful glow.

Add LED lights to pieces of art, your home office, wall decorations, and more to add depth and dimension.

2. Easy to Install

LED strip lights add a major difference in the look of a room, and they are super simple to add.

Installing LED lights in your home is very simple. Most strip lights come with an adhesive backing. All you have to do is carefully stick them on wherever you want them.

By finding a clean, dry, and level spot to apply your lights, you can make the process as easy as possible. Usually, people choose to place the lights in a more hidden and subtle space.

For example, lining the underside or backside of furniture or appliances will hide the actual strip of lights but still display the lighting in a prominent way. Even if you line the backside of a TV or computer monitor, the lights will reflect off nearby walls.

Strips of LED lights add a nice glow to any room.

3. Dimmable

Before buying LED strip lights, you should be aware of some of their best features.

The fact that LED lights can be dimmed makes them all the more appealing. They can be turned up bright to shine, or take on a mellow brightness to just add a simple glow.

Dimming a room full of lights can create a very intimate atmosphere. Dimmed LED lights are ideal for a bedroom or bathroom, where you may prefer the lighting down low.

4. Energy Efficient

The biggest reason people love using LED lights is how efficient they are. They save quite a bit on energy costs and last extremely long.

Many people consider LED lights to be the lighting of the future since they are so effective.

It&#;s important to keep them out of landfills when they do finally expire, but other than that, they&#;re a great lighting choice if you want your lights to last forever!

Energy efficiency is one of the main reasons that LED strip lights are so popular. They are much more energy efficient than other types of lighting.

5. More Expensive

Though they are more effective, you should be aware that LED lights are more expensive than other lighting options. This is considered by some to be one of the only downfalls of LED strip lights.

However, when you consider how much more efficient LED strip lights are, the cost is more than worth it.

They last much longer than other types of lighting. You won&#;t have to replace them very often.

Because of this, you may pay more up front, but you&#;ll pay much less in the long run.

6. How to Choose

When picking out LED strip lights, you may notice that there are quite a few options.

You can choose lights with different voltage strengths, lengths, and even a varying number of lights per foot. All of these factors will play into how your lights look.

If you purchase a set of lights with low voltage and a few lights per foot, they will be much weaker than other kinds of lights.

There are even different types of LED lights which emit different wavelengths and colors. In addition, some trips are more flexible than others.

You&#;ll need to talk to a lighting expert or try to figure out what kind would be best for your needs. It all depends on where you want to install the lights, how bright you want them, and what you want the final look to be.

7. Color Temperature

The color temperature you choose for your LED strip lights will be one of the biggest factors in determining the look of your lights.

CCT, or Correlated Color Temperature, measures the color temperature of light in Kelvin degrees (K). The light can appear as anything from cool white to warm white depending on the CCT.

For example, a light at the low end ( &#; K) appears warmer. It has an orange or yellow feel to it.

Lights at the other end of the spectrum appear as a pure white light. The highest lights have a cool bluish hue to them.

Where to Buy LED Strip Lights

Wondering where you can buy LED strip lights? Well, you&#;ve come to the right place!

Birddog Lighting is committed to providing the highest quality products. Our customers want the best in lighting for any of their projects or home improvement needs, and that&#;s what we are here to provide.

Our lighting design blog contains all you need when it comes to inspiration and suggestions for your own lighting projects.

Feel free to us and submit your photos for a potential display in our gallery of the best lighting projects. We are happy to showcase your work and provide inspiration to other people looking to add LED lighting to their space.

A Complete Buying Guide To LED Strip Lights

92% of site visitors find this article useful when it comes to purchasing

 

LED strip lights The benefits of LED strips are virtually unlimited when it comes to lighting. The world&#;s best lighting designers use LED strip lights because of the superior illumination, efficiency, color possibilities (white LED strips to RGB color LED strip) and ease of installation.

From placing an LED strip lights under cabinets for lighting to using LED strip lights for ceiling light fixtures, LED strip lights are flexible and highly customizable. LED strip lights are used in:

Because every application is different, there is no direct answer to what is the perfect LED strip light. To help you make the best choice we have created this guide to help you choice find the best LED strip lights.

  1. Outline your goals

Start by outlining how you are looking to use LED strip lights and what you are looking to accomplish. Examples of what to cover include:

  • What do you want to light?
  • Where do you want to use the led strip lights?
  • Do you want to dim the light or control it with a remote?
  • What color LED strip do you want?
  • Does the area have other lights?

 

  1. Compare CCT, Brightness, and CRI (Color Rendering Index)

Brightness (Lumens and Millicandellas)

For traditional incandescent lighting we call brightness watts but in the LED strip lights world brightness is called two things. For colored LED strip lights it is called millicandelas, and for white LED strips the brightness is called lumens. When choosing a LED strip, lumen&#;s is one of the most critical variables to consider.

When looking a, the lumen of LED strip lights make sure to look at how it&#;s being measured. &#;Lumens per foot,&#; &#;lumens per meter,&#; and &#;lumens per reel&#; are examples of how companies measure and list their lumens. Now, remember, not every project requires the brightest LED strip. Always take in consideration how bright you want the area. We suggest going with the brightest LED light strip and getting dimmer. This allows you full control over the LED strip lights and overall total brightness output.

 

For more information, please visit Joineonlux.

CCT (Color Temperature)

 

CCT LED Strip Lights, or Correlated Color Temperature is the actual color of the light AKA the color temperature. The color temperature is rated in degrees Kelvin (K). LED strip lights color temperature rating is based on how the white light will visually look.

K &#; K is called a &#;warm white light.&#; Warm white light is a yellowish orange, white color. As the color temperature increases, the color will change to yellowish white to white and then to blue-white.

 

RGB LED Strip Lights

 

RGB LED to strips incorporate red, green, and blue LEDs to create a wide diversity of colors plus white. However, with RGB LED Strips, the white comes across with a purple hue.

To create the color&#;s an RGB controller is needed. Using an RGB controller you can control the brightness, speed, color, and more!

 

RGB+W LED Strips

 

RGB+W LED Strips to have the red, green, and blue led chips plus a separate white LED chips. The separate white LED chips to remove the hue that is commonly found with white RGB colors. RGB+W controllers are also required to control the lights settings and colors.

CRI (Color Rendering Index)

 

CRI is how colors look under a direct light source when being compared to sunlight.  The color rendering index ranges from 0-100, with 100 representing that colors under a direct light source appear 100% the same as if they were in direct sunlight.

The average LED strip lights has a rating of 80 CRI, but if your looking for vivid fully accurate lighting consider going with a led light stip of 90+ CRI. At LUXX all of our LED light strips are 90+ CRI.

 

  1. Look at LED strip light size and the total number of LEDs on the light strips

 

Many times LED strip lights are sold in reels of 16&#; 5&#;. Machines select and place LEDs and controllers onto a bendable circuit board that is commonly 3&#; 2&#; in length, so individual sections are joined together to make a complete Led light strip reel.

Now when shopping, start with knowing exactly of much feet you need the LED strips to be. This will allow you to properly company pricing. On the LED strip light packaging it will say how many LED chips are on the reel and what the LED chip type is.

 

  1. Energy used per LED strip light

 

Wattage will tell us how many power the LED strip lights are using when turned on, and much we&#;ll have to pay each month. When looking, make sure you check how it&#;s being displayed, per foot, per meter, or reel.

Many times it reads&#;24 watts per reel&#; but when you get home you discovery its 24 watts per foot. Also, the power supply you purchase all depends on the wattage required. So always remember to check out the energy used.

Moreover, lastly, if you purchase LED strip lights that require 24 volts and use a 12-volt power supply the LED strips won&#;t work and could start a fire.  See here for Power Supplies.

 

  1. LED Strip Lights Quality

 

Heat Management

 

Heat kills LED strip lights. Always make sure to ask and see what forms of thermal management was implemented. If no heat management was used LED strip lights life cycle could sink from the average of 50,000 hours all the way down to 10,000 &#; 20,000 hours. Heat management for LED strip lights can be done on the LED chip and PCB level. Do not on rely on an aluminum heat sink for thermal management of LED strip lights.

Color and Accuracy 

 

Always ask for test results that prove your LED strips are the correct color.

Safety

 

Make sure to check for UL Listing and the RoHS Registry. UL is the International benchmark for testing of safety, compliance, and performance. RoHS Registry is a worldwide organization that test products for hazardous materials.

Components 

The LED strips performance and life-cycle depend on the materials used; quality of LEDs, depth and materials used in PCB, resistors, wires, and lead-free soldering.

Quality Reports 

Ask for reports such as LM-79 testing and IES reports. These will help you verify claims of brilliance and durability.

 

About LUXX Light Technology

 

LUXX Light Technology is a manufacturer of LED Strip Lights. From indoor to outdoor we have the industry&#;s best variety of UL Listed LED Strip Lights. All of our LED strip lights ship out of St. Francis WI and foresee in-depth quality control testing. We stock only Tier 1 ANSI Binned LED strip lights.

We offer premium LED strips in a wide variety of temperatures that range from K-K. All of our LED strip lights come with 3M adhesive tape backing that makes the installation easy and efficient.

All LED strip lights are rated for a min of 75,000 hours and comes with a 12-month warranty.

For more information or pricing send us an  anytime!

 

 

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