How do LED Light Strips Work?

LED light strips have been around for a while now; however, it’s only been a few years since they became increasingly popular with the average homeowner. 

Whenever our customers ask for a lighting solution that doesn’t take up too much space and is convenient to install, we often recommend LED light strips, as they’re usually not too expensive and require little to no maintenance. Below, you’ll find all the information you need regarding LED light strips, so you can make the right decision when buying one. 

Keep reading to learn all there is to know about LED light strips!

LED Light Strip Components

LED light strips are aesthetically appealing, bright, and can compliment almost any space, but what exactly are they made of? 

While LED light strips might seem simple in design, there are many components in them that make them work, such as:

• LED Chips: Light-emitting diodes. Depending on the LED light strip’s design, the chip can emit different light temperatures and colours.
• Resistors: These regulate the current passing through the LED chips to prevent too much power from damaging them to a point of failure or early malfunction. 
• Printed Circuit Boards (PCB): The foundation for the LED chips and Resistors. Most are made from copper, so they allow electricity to run efficiently along the LED light strip. 
• Adhesive Backing: A thin layer of adhesive, usually placed at the back of the LED light strip. It allows the LED light strip to be installed almost anywhere, depending on our customers’ needs. 
• Power Connector: The connector or adapter that goes into the wall socket. It feeds electricity to the rest of the LED light strip. Complex LED light strips that can integrate with smart home devices typically have more intricate power connectors. 

LED light strips can either come in different lighting temperatures and various colours, perfect for a wide range of applications. 

Our EcoBrite 24V Single Colour LED light strip, for example, is equipped with 420 LED chips per metre, making it perfect for giving areas like kitchens, living rooms and even bars an elegant look with soft indirect lighting. 

LED Light Strip History

LED technology has existed since the 1960s to be used inside indicator lights on home appliances and other electronics. Throughout the decades, experimentation with LED technology allowed for welcome additions, such as colour, intensity adjustment, and more. 

However, LED light strips only became popular and commercially viable during the early 2000s with the development of flexible Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) and further improvements in LED technology. 

Since then, LED light strips have seen constant improvements in both performance and development costs, making them cheaper every year, and much easier to install and replace. 

LED Light Strip Voltage

LED light strips usually come in either 12V or 24V. The main difference between them is the application they’re intended for. The 12V LED light strips are typically meant for shorter runs where voltage preservation isn’t an issue. Some examples of this could be installing them behind a TV or a couch for indirect lighting. 

On the other hand, 24V LED light strips are designed to maintain proper voltage over longer distances, ensuring constant brightness in every section of the strip. However, they can’t be cut into smaller pieces quite as easily. 

Recent LED Light Strip Developments

In the last few years, we’ve seen the rise of new LED technologies that completely revolutionize the way they can be used and controlled. 

For one, there are RGBW LED light strips, which allow for a wide range of applications, as they can be both set to any colour in the RGB Colour Space, and to different colour temperatures, such as 3000K, 4000K, and 6000K. 

Integration with Smart Devices is also one of the newest innovations of LED light strips, as they can now be paired with Smartphones, Tablets, and other electronics for remote control, brightness adjustment, and more. 

How Light Strips Connect to Power

In most cases, powering an LED light strip is very straightforward. It’s just a matter of plugging the LED light strip into a transformer, which then goes to the wall socket. There’s not much more to it. 

However, for more complex LED light strips that offer the possibility of integrating them with smart home systems for advanced control, more intricate transformers are required. Our 150W 12V LED Transformer/Driver, for example, is ideal for both indoor and outdoor applications, especially for wet locations. 

Best Places to Install an LED Light Strip

LED light strips are so versatile, that it’s safe to say that the only thing that limits where you can install them is your imagination. As long as there’s a power outlet close enough to plug their transformer into, the possibilities are nearly endless. 

That said, many of our customers use our LED light strips behind their TVs and couches, under their kitchen countertops, and even around their boats and sheds to add some indirect lighting. Our LED light strips with colour temperatures of 3000K are ideal to create comfy spaces, as they give off warm lighting. 

Is an LED Light Strip Right for You?

While every customer’s needs are different, when it comes to a product as versatile and easy to install as an LED light strip, it’s hard not to recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a practical lighting solution. 

As with many of our other LED products, our LED light strips require no maintenance, have an estimated lifespan of around 30,000 hours, and come with a 3-year warranty and a 28-day money-back guarantee. That’s how confident we are in our products. 

If you have any questions regarding our products, please do not hesitate to email us at enquiries@ledsave.co.uk, or give us a ring at 01652 638840. We’re open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Please check out our contact page for more information.