Lighting strip LED digest: Disclosing A-Z secrets (Shop now)

Featured Stories, Interior Design, Latest Stories, Lighting

by Mukul Jain
on February 13, 2024

Lighting strips with LEDs are the most pristine and multifaceted form of lighting for both residential and commercial purposes. This is because LED lighting strips are durable, efficient, and consume less energy. At a pocket-friendly price, LED strip lights are also the most versatile form of illumination for your bedroom, living rooms, kitchen, ceilings, and stairs.

A simple LED strip light can modernize the illumination arrangement of your room interiors, add layers to traditional ceiling lighting, and highlight a specific space in your room, displaying some rare art or antique pieces. But it needs to be well-planned to set the vibe of a perfect interior home design.

LED strips have the ability to uplift the aesthetics of your home as well as your mood. At home, you have total control over the lighting, so try to match it with the pattern of your day and mood. For instance, go for soothing and calming lights at night to create a cozy ambiance, and brighter lights to have an energy pick-up.

The correct type of LED strip lights converts simple utilitarian needs into a special display of your personality, style, and home theme at an affordable price. So, to avoid getting wrong with LED strips, always plan and decide according to your requirements.

In this article, we have decoded almost everything you might want to know about LED strips. We have also answered some frequently asked questions about LED strips and included some shopping links to help you decide what works best for you.

Contents

1 Factors to consider before buying LED strips
2 Types of LED strips
3 Lighting ideas to brighten up your home using LED strips
4 FAQs
5 Our top LED strip lights recommendations (Buy here)
6 Conclusion

Factors to consider before buying LED strips

LED strips are a combination of a lot of elements. So, it’s important to give attention to each of those elements before choosing one. So, here we have listed some of the most important factors to keep in mind before installing led strip lights:

Also see: Floor lamps: Choosing the right style for trendy decor (Shop online)

Installation location

The type of LED strips that need to be used depends on the place of installation. So, it is very crucial to decide the location before buying the LED strips. For instance, pick a motion-sensing LED strip light for halls, bathrooms, and stairs, and fixed ones for living rooms.

Length

The length of the LED strips has a powerful effect on the brightness output and the intensity of light the strip emits. The number of LEDs per foot determines the brightness and quality of the light. For instance, LED light strips with low-brightness can be up to 32 feet long with about 300 lights, whereas for high-brightness, they can only be 16 feet long with the same number of lights.

Also see: Home lighting design concept & techniques: A specialist’s guide

Flexibility

LED strips provide flexibility and do not require large spaces to be installed. Some light strips are so flexible that they can be run across curved surfaces and bent up to 90 degrees around corners without rupturing the circuit board. But remember that the flexibility decreases when you opt for shorter and brighter LED strips.

Colour and temperature

There is a wide range of single and multi-coloured LED strip lights available on the market at a giveaway price. You can differentiate various kinds of white colours on the basis of their temperature. Cool colours have higher temperatures, whereas warmer colours have lower temperatures. But, choosing the appropriate colour solely depends on your personal taste and preferences.

Also see: Decorative Lighting- A “how to” digest that interior designers swear by (39+ images)

Energy consumption

The total energy consumption (wattage) of the LED strip lights ensures optimal brightness, determines the total electricity usage and helps you find an appropriate power supply for them. LED strips with low brightness consume less energy and vice versa. But remember to keep the wattage of your power supply at least 10% higher than the wattage of your LED light strips.

Operational features

LED strips can be operated using Bluetooth, Wi-fi, remote controls, mobile phone apps, or even with voice commands from smart home ecosystems like Google Home and Amazon Alexa. Through these sources, you can control the brightness and colour of your LED strips and also sync them with music and your daily schedule.

Types of LED strips

Perfect LED strip lights elevate all the important features of your room. However, selecting the correct type can get difficult if you have less knowledge about electrical products. So, to make your job easier, we have talked about each type of LED strip in great detail:

DC LED Flex Strips

A roll of bright DC LED flex strip lighting. — Glam up your room with DC LED flex strips

Image Source: Ubuy India

DC LED flex strips require a low DC voltage and are very flexible. They have an adhesive backing for easy mounting, can be cut every two inches, are waterproof, and come in a wide range of colours. These types of LED strips are perfect for DIY lighting projects in tight spaces and accent lighting around a room.

AC LED Flex Strips

A roll of AC LED flex strip lighting. — Distant illumination just got easier with AC LED flex strips

Image Source: LED City

AC LED flex strips can be used with just a plugin and are longer and wider than DC LED flex strips. They can be stretched in continuous lengths, cut every 18-inches, but do not come with an adhesive backing. AC LED flex strip lights do not need extra power supplies and are great for lighting ceilings at an affordable price.

LED Rope Light

A roll of LED strip rope lighting. — Light up your pool area with LED rope lights

Image Source: Jainsons Lights

LED rope lights are durable, waterproof, omnidirectional, and encased in a round of rubbery plastic. These LED strips are not flat or ribbon-like but have a rope-like resemblance and can be used with a plugin. With accent lighting, LED strip rope lights enhance the aesthetics of your room, garden, or deck at a low price.

High Output LED Strips

A roll of high output LED strip lighting. — Brighten up dark corners with these high output LED strips

Image Source: Derun Lighting

High-output LED strips are the brightest among all and have mid-to-high power surface-mount LEDs on a more rigid strip. You can also set up the power and dimming control of the strip. This LED light strip works best on high ceilings, concave arches, cabinets, stairs, and rooms that require more brightness.

Lighting ideas to brighten up your home using LED strips

LED strip lights enhance the mood lighting of your home interiors while giving them an aesthetic upgrade at the same time. But, to create emotion-altering effects with LED lights, you need to keep them in perfect sync with all the elements of your home interiors. So, here we have presented some ideas to use LED strip lights around your home:

Bedroom

Bedrooms are a place of relaxation. So, you should use soothing and calming coloured LED strip lights around your bedroom to create an inviting and cozy effect. LED strip lights can be installed on the ceiling, vanity table, below some bedroom furniture, and around the headboard of your bed.

Image source: SIRS-E
Image Source: The Family Handyman
Image Source: BCulinary Lab
Image Source: Nanoleaf
Image Source: SPY

Kitchen

The kitchen area sees a lot of activity throughout the day and requires ambient lighting to improve safety. So, to maximize efficiency and safety, you can use LED strip lights under the cabinets, inside drawers, shelves, and around the kitchen island. The LED strip lights also give an aesthetically pleasing look and visual coherence to the kitchen.

Image Source: Lumens
Image Source: Ultra LEDs
Image Source: Superlight
Image Source: Flexfire LEDs
Image Source: HomeLane

Bathroom

The perfect place for rejuvenation is our bathrooms. Intelligent installation of LED strips can convert the bathroom into a 5-star spa. Apart from using LED strip lights as accent lighting, you can also light up your sink, bathtub rim, mirror, edge of the tiles, and corners for a more relaxing and low-light ambiance.

Image Source: Greenice
Image Source: LEDSpace
Image Source: ENACO
Image Source: Accord Electrical
Image Source: More Bathrooms

Living room

Living rooms should always be lively and cheerful. So, you can use LED strip lights for your living room’s false ceilings and under furniture like sofas, coffee tables, couches, etc., to give it a well-accented illumination. When in dark, LED strip lights attract attention to your living room decor and transform it into a cinema hall.

Image Source: Lepro
Image Source: The Lightbulb Company
Image Source: Rojgar Aur Nirman
Image Source: Parker Lighting
Image Source: HomeLane

Staircase

Stairs provide smooth connectivity in every home. Adding LED light strips below the stairs and underneath the railing provides safe navigation at night as well as a sleek look. You can also experiment with different colours of LED light strips to make your stairs look truly custom-made.

Image Source: Pinterest
Image Source: Hamsphire Light
Image Source: Luxury Renovations
Image Source: Cantalupi Lighting
Image Source: Canal Architectural

FAQs

What are the pros and cons of LED strips?

The pros of LED strips:

Electricity usage: LED strips consume less electricity than 90% of other types of light. This makes them really budget-friendly to use.
Colour variety: LED strips come in a wide variety of colours for your home interiors and help you to create the right mood.
Installation: LED strips are easy to install and do not require external help if you follow the user manual.
Durability: LED strips are very durable and run for hours without turning off. Most LED strips last up to 50,000 hours of use, that is, approximately 10-20 years of runtime.
Flexible: LED strips are extremely versatile and safe to use on any surface or corner of your home.

The cons of LED strips:

Replacement: Sometimes a single LED stops working in a strip. In that case, you need to replace the entire strip to maintain the look.
Sticky-backing: Most strip LEDs use an adhesive backing to stick to a surface. And on removal, it leaves a scar on the surface, which becomes hard to remove.
Dim-light: Some LED strips provide a dim light as compared to other light bulbs.

How to install LED light strips?

The best way to install LED strips is discussed in the following points:

Keep your strip lights, power outlets, alcohol prep pads, and small mounting brackets ready.
Measure and clean the space where you want to install the LED strips.
Connect it to the power supply to make sure it is working, and then disconnect it for the next step.
And then stick it up to enjoy your LED strip lights.

How to dispose of old LED strip lights?

You can treat your LED strips as household waste and throw them in the trash can, but some of their components are recyclable. So, it is better to hand your old LED strips to retail stores or recycling centers just like other old electronic devices.

Can you cut LED light strips and still make them work?

Each LED strip contains several individual circuits and a line that separates one circuit from the other. So, yes, LED strips will continue to work as long as you follow the designated line to cut them.

How to select the right wire size?

Thick wires have a lower voltage drop than thin wires. So, to select the right wire size, check the strip voltage, the current required, the length of wire, and the acceptable amount of voltage drop.

Is 12V or 24V better?

In analog LED strips, 12V and 24V are commonly preferred. Actually, it all depends on your requirements. For instance, 24V is better for large installations and 12V for small installations.

Our top LED strip lights recommendations (Buy here)

Conclusion

LED strip lights are revolutionizing the way we illuminate our rooms, ceiling, and stairs. It plays a major role in illuminating your home interiors and maintaining their aesthetic balance by blending well with the overall theme of your house.

LED strip lights come in a variety of types and colours at a pocket-friendly price. They are also long-lasting and can be installed on any surface. All these characteristics make them easy to use and very popular among other variants of lights.

Proper house lighting is essential for your physiological and psychological well-being. And, LED strips are great for mood-lighting arrangements. But different areas of your home require different mood-lighting settings. For example, bright colour settings would be perfect for living rooms, whereas bedrooms need more soothing and calming LED colours.

Strip LEDs are great room decor elements if you select the right colour, brightness level, and place of installation for every room. All of these determine the function you wish them to provide and express your personal taste and requirements.

Now that you have understood the various factors you need to consider before buying the right type of LED lights for your home, you are ready to ornate your interiors with the perfect LED strips. So, buy the best LED strips from the above-mentioned options and beautify your home.

*The featured image used in this article is from Super lighting LED