LED Strip Light installation help

[Goldberg]

All,

I am replacing under cabinet lights in the kitchen. They are the old school florescent ones and I have opted to go for SMD 5050 LED strip.
I will be fitting it in 3 places so I am aware that I need 3 'drivers' (or transformers).

My question is, what do I use to connect the strip to the driver/transformer?

It is unclear on the website I am getting them from if it does or not, so to be on the safe side I would like to grab some just in case.

Any help would be great.

Thanks.

 

[miggy]

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I hope this helps you a bit. Good luck

 

[Goldberg]

Thanks,

I think I need to order the strip first as some of the strips have 2 contact points, others 4!

 

[miggy]

Thanks,

I think I need to order the strip first as some of the strips have 2 contact points, others 4!

It looks fairly straight forward mate just make sure you have everything you need before you start including your plastic electrical block connector just in case. You will be fine.

 

[Goldberg]

So many choices in terms of sellers on eBay/Amazon, I just want to buy decent stuff

 

[miggy]

So many choices in terms of sellers on eBay/Amazon, I just want to buy decent stuff

I mainly deal with Amazon. I have never had a problem buying from them.

 

[trevortron]

I did exactly the same last year in my kitchen. I just soldered wire links to the pads on the strip & connected up to an old 12V SMPS I had lying around. They work fine, though are only on for an hour or two each day.
I also put some onto my wooded aquarium lid. Not quite so good. These were on for anything up to 16 hours a day and the LED's got dimmer & dimmer over about 6 months. I also noticed they ran quite hot, so when I replaced them, I stuck aluminium tape to the wood first to act as a heatsink. 1 year on & they're still as good as new!
So, if you're sticking them onto wood.... make sure there's something to dissipate the heat- they do get warm. Those watts have to go somewhere!!

 

[Him Her]

Any half-decent supplier should be able to do LED strips with push-fit connectors and matching drivers. Why not give your local electrical wholesaler or lighting bods a visit?

 

[professorcrey]

Two quick recommendations. First double check the voltage requirements on the strip you are using as they are typically either 5v or 12v leds and using the wrong power supply won't work. Also look at the wattage requirements for each LED and multiply it by the number you are using to ensure that you don't burnout your supply or underpower your strip.