How to Connect LED Lights Together?

One of the best developments in the lighting industry has been LED strip lighting. They can be used as decorations for your artwork, house, to illuminate the kitchen countertop, or to provide holiday illumination to a staircase or roof. They come in long strips, so you may cut them to the length you need and link the strips together to make them longer. Can You Cut LED Strip Lights? was already addressed in a previous tutorial. We will learn how to connect LED lights in this guide.

Introduction

The fact that you can easily alter the length of the strip you desire is one of the key factors contributing to LED strip lights' popularity. The LED strip is simple to cut so that it fits the kitchen countertop exactly. Alternatively, you can attach another strip to this one to cover your entire roof with lights during the holiday season.

There are single-color LED strip options (White, Red, Blue, etc.) where every LED in the strip is the same color. These are also available in fancy RGB versions, which allow you to change the desired color, brightness, and other modes like fading, flashing, or running LEDs with a small remote control.

Some LED strips have a weather-resistant coating (some sort of silicon layer on top of the actual LED strip to make it waterproof). These strips can be used outside without worrying about the weather. There are LED Strips designed specifically for indoor applications.

5 meters is the standard length for LED strips (slightly over 16feet). However, smaller LED Strips (such as those used in cars) and longer LED spools that are longer than 50 feet are also available.

Can Multiple LED Strip Lights Be Connected Together?

Yes, that is the answer. However, there are some matters that you must attend to. As we go, we'll check in on them.

You don't need to worry about anything else if you've already cut the LED strip and want to reconnect the LEDs to the same strip. All you have to do to keep using the extended LED strip lights is to adhere to one of the methods we've listed below.

It goes without saying that you cannot connect two LED strips that are not the same, i.e., if one is an RGB LED strip and the other is a single color LED strip. Since the LED Strips in this situation are completely incompatible with one another, you cannot connect them.

Another situation is what to do if you have strips from two different brands. You can connect two LED Strips from different brands if they are compatible with one another, meaning they both have the same layout and are rated for the same voltage.

Another crucial factor to take into account before connecting LED lights together is voltage. due to the fact that some strips run at 5V DC while others run at the more common 12V DC. Although there are strips that run at higher voltages, like 24V, 12V strips are very common.

How Are LED Lights Connected to Each Other?

You are now prepared to connect the LED Strips after confirming that they are compatible with one another and run on the same voltage. How Do I Connect LED Lights Together, though?

There are a few methods you can use to join LED strip lights together. The first is traditional soldering, and the second is the use of elaborate LED strip connectors.

Let's go over each of these techniques for connecting LED lights one at a time.

2 Strips of Solder

Depending on your level of skill, soldering two LED strips together can be either very simple or very challenging. We advise using this method if you are comfortable soldering, have the required tools/equipment, and practical experience.

Verify the polarity of the copper pads on the LED Strips before soldering. There are only two pads in the case of a straightforward single LED strip: one for positive supply and the other for negative supply. Don't forget to connect the positive of one strip to the positive of the next, and vice versa.

Little amounts of solder should be applied to each copper pad. One strip should just barely touch the other before being soldered together. It is incredibly easy.

You must exercise a little more caution when connecting an RGB LED strip to another RGB LED strip that is compatible. This is because, any typical RGB LED Strip will have four copper pads, in the same area as the two copper pads, which was the case with single-color strip.

As a result, copper pads get a little bit smaller, which makes soldering a little bit more challenging (but not impossible). You must, as usual, line up the pads on both LED Strips. Using the proper soldering tip makes soldering simple.

Nevertheless, the process is the same for both single-color and RGB LED strips: verify the strips' compatibility, properly align the copper pads, and solder the strips together.

Employ connectors

We'll see how simple it is to use connectors to connect LED strips now. That's accurate. LED Strip Connectors are available to buy. Browse for the proper LED Strip Connector based on the type of LED Strip, such as single-color LED Strip (with two copper pads) or RGB LED Strip (with four copper pads).

We are aware of three different connector variations. The first one is a connector clip in the clamp style. The LED Strips are simply clamped together, and a flip cover is placed over them. With this design, the joining of two LED strips will appear seamless, as if they were one continuous strip.

We have connection clips for the second type, which feature pins on both sides and a little cable in the center. If you want to make angles with the LED Strips or avoid any impediments, this variation is really helpful.

In the third kind, just one end of the cable has a connecting clip, leaving the other end with only exposed wire. This connector is helpful at either the beginning or the end of the strip when you wish to attach the power supply.

Monitor the power source.

Voltage was previously discussed in the previous section. You also need to take into account the power supply's wattage, which is another crucial factor.

Consider, for illustration, a full 5-meter LED strip that consumes 24W of power. The total power draw would be 48W if you were to add a second full-length strip to the first one.

So, you must confirm that your power source can deliver this power. You require a power source that can offer at least 58W of power, assuming 20% headroom. Thus a 60W power supply would be a good bet.

On their packaging or websites, the majority of LED strip manufacturers list their products' power consumption figures. To prevent any accidents, keep those numbers in mind and select a reliable power source.

Conclusion

LED strips make it simple to improve an object's aesthetic qualities. They can be used in a variety of settings, including cars, computers, residences, businesses, art installations, kitchen lighting, and many more. LED strips have the advantage of being simple to cut to the desired length and to add extra/additional strips to extend the length. However how to connect LED Lights together is a crucial question you can have while joining LED Strips. We looked at a few quick ways to connect LED strips in this post.

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