LED lighting strip is a popular for cabinet item display lighting, ceiling edge, lighting on furniture edges. The strip is thin and flexible making it easily to fit onto tight space/corner.
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LED strip is very safe compared to many other types of lighting which use 230Vac. It uses low DC voltage 12V or 24V. You can touch the expose copper contact without getting any electrical shock. Many aquarium enthusiasts install the LED strips for their water tank’s lighting too. These strips do not cause an electrical shock circuit is they are accidentally in contact with the water. Water can conduct electricity, but because of the low voltage and current, if the strip is submerged in the water, the only reaction will be corrosion on the copper metal surface over a period of time.
Unlike the ceiling lighting and bulbs, which comes in those range of typical lighting colour warm-white and cool-white, it is common to find a wide range of colour for LED strips. Colours like red, green, blue, white, purple, yellow, magenta, etc… are easily available. Many people use these LED strips for decoration light as well. There is even LED strips with RGB LED which can generate a wide range of colours. Some are also known as the rainbow lighting. To generate the rainbow colours, you will need to drive the special LED strips with a controller.
Contact PIC-CONTROL for customised of control system for LED strip lighting, color sequential control system. www.pic-control.com
LED Dimension
The width of a typical LED strip is 12mm. A roll of LED (one reel) is normally 5m. They are soldered to 5x 1m flexible LED base and can be cut into a smaller section of 50mm. Both end of the strip usually ends with a wire pair for connection to the power supply.
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With LED strip, you can cut out the length you need. Cut along the black line between the brown copper pad. |
LED Type
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50505050 LED is bigger in size, provides more light output and uses more energy as compared to 3825 LED. |
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3825Smaller in size, and does not provide as much light as 5050 LED. |
LED Density
A typical LED strips can contain about 30-120pcs of 5050 LED per meter. Typical specification for 5050 LED single color model can be,
| 30pcs LED per meter (12V 0.5A) | |
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60pcs LED per meter (12V 1A, 14.4W per meter) |
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| 120pcs LED per meter (12V 2A, 28.8W per meter) |
LED Strip Protection
LED strips come with a variety of protective cover. LED strip is safe to use and touch even without any protective cover because it is driven by a very low DC voltage (12Vdc, 24Vdc), unlike other LED lightings. Even if the strip is exposed or drop into the water, it will not cause a short circuit or any fire. LED strip itself is very safe, even without any protective cover.
LED strip without protective cover may have oxidation found on the surface of the metal copper. This is especially if the LED strip is exposed to a moist environment.
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IP20 (no protective covering)IP20 LED strip consist of only a flexible PCB board soldered with LED and resistor. The is no protective cover. You can touch the LED and resistor on its front surface. The back is usually affixed with a 3M adhesive tape. |
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IP44 (dustproof, splash resistant)IP40 provides a resin encapsulation on the front side of the LED strip. It is like a layer of transparent rubber protection on the front side. This makes it easier to do cleaning maintenance, as the surface is smooth. You can wipe the dust off easily. The back is usually affixed with a 3M adhesive tape. |
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IP65 (water proof)IP65 is basically a silicon jacket wrapping around the bare LED strip. This silicon jacket protects the whole length, making it possible to dip the whole strip into the water with worrying that the strip will be wet. The disadvantage of this type of LED protective strip makes it difficult to customise the LED strip length. Once the strip is cut, the silicon jacket needs silicon glue to merge it back. There will be more work needed to cut and merge. Usually, there will not be any adhesive behind the strip. |
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IP68 (water tight)IP68 LED strip is similar to the above-mentioned IP65 version. The whole strip is completely encapsulated with a solid layer of transparent resin. Same to IP65, you can submerge the LED strip completely into the water. Usually, there will not be any adhesive behind the strip.
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Available online at,
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LED Strip Connectors & Brackets
The LED strip is very flexible and allow the user to deploy lighting in many places where space is very tight. With the help of these strip connector, a user will just need to clip to join up the strips instead of soldering the strips.
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Straight Connector |
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Angle Connector |
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T-Connector |
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Cross Connector |
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Available online at |
Power Supply
LED strip uses low DC for the power supply. It is safer to handle LED strip compare the rest of the lighting. Touching the strip will not cause harm to our body. It will not short circuit or explode when the strip is accidentally soaked in water.
Most strips use 12V as a standard. For 12V LED strip, the intensity between the first and last LED can be noticeably after about 10m in length. There are also strips that are designed to use 24V, which allow strips to be connected longer without the intensity lost.
The power required by the LED strip is different. It depends on the type of LED (3825, 5050, single colour or RGB), the density of the LED (LED spacing), the length of the LED strip. For example, a 60pcs 5050 LED per meter will need a power of 12V 1A. If you intend to install 2 meters of the LED strip, ensure that you power supply is at least of about 12V 2A. For RGB LED version, you will need more especially when the white light is operating (all RGB lights are activated).
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Power Adapter (Wall Plug)AC-DC power supply for LED strip. Typical specification range from 12V, 0.5A to 3A. A simple guide for single color LED Strip,
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Power Adapter (Desktop)AC-DC power supply for LED strip. Typical specification range from 12V, 2A to 10A. A simple guide for single color LED Strip,
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DC Barrel JackTypical DC barrel jack size use is 5.5mm (outer diameter), 2.1mm (inner diameter) |
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Power ConnectorThis connector helps to connect the power wire to the LED strip.
Available online at,
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Color
These are single colour LED strips. They can easily be identified by the 2 wire (red, black) found at the end of the strip.
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Warm White |
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Cool White |
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Red |
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Green |
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Blue |
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Purple |
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Orange |
Interior Decoration using LED Strip
The following provide some ideas where the colour LED strip can be deployed in your office or home to create the ambient that you want.
Bedside Light
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Wardrobe
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Cabinet
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Funiture
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Cove Lighting
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TV Console
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Platform
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Toilet
LED strip is very suitable for toilet, water feature or aquarium lighting because it is using very low voltage which remains safe even when it is in contact with water. |
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Water Feature
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Aquarium Lights
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Plant
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Wine Bar
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Rainbow RGB LED Strip
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RGB LED StripRGB LED allows the user to have any colour they want. The RGB LED strip is able to generate a range of colours close to 16 million. This strip can easily be identified by its 4 wire. Green, Red, Blue and Black. Black is the ground, while the rest are the power input for the respective colour RGB. A controller is required to help generate the colours. |
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RGB LED Strip ControllerRGB LED strip controller helps to generate a variety of colours for the RGB LED strip. This controller can change the colour of the RGB LED strip. It can also run many modes of changing colour pattern on the lighting strip which you can use it to decorate Christmas tree or furniture. To achieve the different range of colour and intensity, the controller pumps in a switch PWM signal to switch on/off the respective light. Because the switching frequency is high, it can create an intensity change effect. When the 3 colour intensity is mix and match, it can generate a variety of colours. |
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Rainbow LED stripRainbow LED Strip allows multiple colours to light up on the same strip. This is different of an RGB LED strip above, where it can have multiple colours but only one colour can be displayed on the strip at any one time. |
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Rainbow lighting is possible because of the colour control chip (WS2812) inside the rainbow LED strip. You can easily identify from the black IC chip soldered on the strip. The strip has an RGB LED which provides the colour light, and also the WS2812 chip which has the intelligent to hold onto the light colour for each LED. |
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Newer rainbow lighting LED has the WS2812 control circuit integrated into the 5050 LED chip. Each individual 5050 LED chip is capable of display a unique colour. The WS2812 5050 LED is unlike a normal RGB 5050 LED. As you can see in the picture, the die (wafer circuit that is black in colour) is larger. Available online at,
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With the controller integrated into the 5050 LED chip, the lighting strip density can be higher. This means a higher resolution for the rainbow strip. You can see from the picture that the LED is closely spaced. Available online at, |
Installation
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Adhesive BackingAdhesive backing is often available at the back of the LED strip. The adhesive helps the user to stick the strip to most of the surface. Installation becomes simpler. Just peel and stick the LED strips.
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Silicon BracketFor cases where you do not want to use the adhesive method, there is silicon bracket available for mounting and securing the LED strips. |
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Custom LED Light Design in Singapore
Contact PIC-CONTROL for customised of control system for LED strip lighting, color sequential control system. www.pic-control.com