End to end not allowed with 5m (16.4ft) strips

I am not exactly sure I understand what you are doing with the pliers but see if this sheds light on your problem [wink]

You cannot daisy chain 5m strips together. Each must be directly connected to the power supply. Shorter strips can be wired end to end as long as the total length does not 5m.

There is a voltage drop across the 5m strip. Running power supply lines to both ends of a single strip will resolve the issue however on my strips there is barely a noticeable difference in light output when power is supplied on both ends. My eyes say it isn't enough difference to warrant all the extra wire.

Pliers

I was using the pliers to temporarily make the connection between BRG (instead of solder) to check out my connections. Then I take the new section of LED's and hold the black wire seen in photo and hold that under the pliers as well, then hold the red wire to the + side of the LED's. 

So I can use the same power supply, however each 5m strip needs its own feed from that single power source, is that correct?

Now, one other question, why does the strip get brighter when RGB are all connected at the end away from the power supply? And can I solder  those 3 terminals together for a permanent connection? 

LED Strip Lights

Information quoted without permission from this document:

Ledstrips.pdf

Led strips

Looking at the picture of your solder connections, I suspect the black wire solder joint is not a good solder joint.  The red looks fine but the black has a bubble appearance, like the solder is laying on top of, not actually flowed to the strip.  Try tinning the LED strip before making the final solder joint. 

It may be the pliers squeezed the wire against the strip and made better contact.

Ed

Solder joint

Ed,

Actually that solder joint is the factory end.( I haven't done any work to the strip lights yet) I was using the pliers on the other end and using that to connect the other LED strip light, to see if it was workable. When I touched RGB leads on the end away form the soldered connection, the whole strip got noticeably brighter. I am curious why that happens, and should I solder this connection for a more permanent appearance.

My guess...

Rob,

I have been spending quite a bit of time reading and learning about these LED strips. I'm no expert, but here's my thought. If you purchased SMD5050's, there are actually three leds per "dot". Since you bought white, they are all white. If you purchased the RGB (color adjustable) ones, you would wire the R,G,B individually to control the colors. But you purchased white, so all three are the same color, so no need to wire them individually. That's why the factory wired the three together(black wire). My guess is they use the same background strip for both white and RGB strips.

I ordered a set from a supplier in Hong Kong that are SMD5050 Hi-Brightness, 300 LEDS per strip, 4500-5000K. They're here, just haven't tested them yet. I'm currently using T-8's tubes at 4100K. I like the color, so hopefully these LED's match and have equal brightness. 

In addition to Alan's postings on his tests, I found a website that seems promising using the LED strips. He's using SMD3528's 150 led's at 5500K, which are not as bright as the SMD5050's. Take a look at his photos at his site:

mysite.verizon.net/nyandlb/construction_prgress3.htm

What are the specs for the strips you purchased?

You should follow up on

You should follow up on Kevin's comments.  You bought a variable colored strip and probably paid too much for it in consideration of what you're trying to do.

You need a simple two wire set up, warm white light strip.  Try contacting LED whole salers in the San Francisco Bay area.  They have the product you need and they're great at responding to questions.

The idea of running a parallel strip of bright whites for "working on the layout" is a pretty good one.  See Railroad Model Craftsman for photos on how I mounted mine.

Big George

LED Suppliers

Hey Big George thanks for the reply, as well as others.

I have it figures out now on the wiring aspect of it, I was trying to wire the strips in series.

The LED strips I bought were 300LEDs/5M SMD 5050 12V Warm White Flexible Strip Light for $34.29

and the other strip was Cool White 5M 16FT Waterproof 5050 SMD LED Strip 300 LEDS RGB With Power Supply and that was $42.99.

Both of these were bought on EBay from two different sellers.

Unless I am looking at the wrong thing with LED Wholesalers that you mentioned, they want $85 for the same thing.Basically twice as much, which is crazy, no matter how good the customer service is.

LED Wholesalers info below.

LED Felxible Strip with 300 X 5050 LED in 16 Feet 5 Meter Nonwaterproof 12 Volt Dc,

http://ledwholesalers.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=723

The only difference I see is the Lumens, other than that everything is the same

I also have purchased some Leviton porcelain lamp holders, and I am going to try them and see what that looks like with CFL's, and then decide between the two using appearance vs price per foot. I have roughly 150' of double deck benchwork to illuminate.

LED suppliers

I've purchased and installed about twenty strips so far.  I would like to suggest to check Amazon.  I've purchased them for as low as $10.50 per 5 meter strip.  Also, we've checked and they draw about 1.4 amps @ 12 volts, so use a 12 amp power supply for about 7 - 8 strips.  Found 12v 12 A power supplies for $25.00 from All Electronics.  We wire each strip individually to the power supply.  Works great.

Bill

$10.50 a ROLL?

Bill,

 Are you using 3528's or 5050 SMD LED's Because I dont see any of them for $10.50 ($did find $12.50) but that was for 3528's.

$10.50 a roll?

I never really noticed there was a difference until now.  Some of mine are 3528.  Don't know all, as I discarded the rest of the bags.

Bill

Dual-white LED strips available

A bit over the top and definitely not cheap...  http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&category=BARS&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2Fnfls-wcw600-24v_specs.htm

Must be SMD3528's for $10.50....

No way he's buying 5050's for $10.50 a roll. And then you need to compare 150 or 300 LEDs per strip.

The 5050's are at 2-2.5 times the brightness based on lumens

Comparing 3528's and 5050's:

http://www.ledlightsworld.com/page.html?id=32

In this link they note that the SMD5050's are good for  

"a replacement for fluorescent tube in general task lighting"

http://ezinearticles.com/?All-About-LED-Strips-4---The-Eternal-Debate---SMD3528-Vs-SMD5050&id=4670120

And another layout using LED strips (he's using SMD3528's as well, and it looks good.)

http://brwm.blogspot.com/

Must be 3528's

Yes.  I checked and they are all 3528's.  Also 300 LED's per 5 meters.  I didn't know until reading this post there were different brightness strips available.  I have had similar results as the pics show,in similar situation and I'm satisfied.  In a couple of corners, I had to double up, but not a big deal.  

Bill

3528 vs 5050

I had bought 2 rolls of 5050's for about $40 a roll (one was $34 the other $42 which included a power supply) off of Ebay from a US supplier. But I found some 3528's for $11.50 a roll. I am going to get one and see if that works for me. Even if I have to double up it is still cheaper with 2 rows of 3528's then 1 row of 5050's and I can use 1 roll of warm white and 1 roll of cool white for a good color balance, I hope.

Update?

Variance in LED strips

Bryan, it sounds like you got the same results as I. I bought from two vendors that used exactly the same specifications in their listing. The strips from each were very different in light output. LEDs and Sockets

My solution that I like very much was a combination of LED and CFL. My solution.

Bump -- Latest on LED Strips?

I am very interested in possibly using LED strips.  What is the latest?  Have any of  you found an acceptable solution?  Cost?

New item at Micro Mark (an

New item at Micro Mark (an MRH advertiser) LED light strips!!

http://www.micromark.com/bright-white-led-flexible-light-strip-5-meters,10717.html?ns_md=Email&ns_sc=Marketing&ns_cn=12WS049&ns_pc=12WS049&utm_source=Marketing&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=12WS049

Power source?

I bought a couple of these LED strips to test out for my layout. I bought a 5050 all-white LED strip and a 5050 RGB LED strip with an IR remote. They came in the mail and looked promising, but lo and behold I see no way to plug them in.

How do you power these things? Do I need to buy a power adapter/plug? If so I haven't seen one online and I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for. Any help would be appreciated!

Need DC Power Supply

You need a 12v DC power supply of sufficient amperage to drive the LEDs. Your power supply should be rated so that you run it at 80% or less of its capacity.

A 5050 300 LED 5 meter strip needs about 3-1/2 amp. Meanwell makes a wide variety of power supplies and is available at any number of online electronics suppliers. Here is an example. There are also knock-offs available on eBay although they can be a crap shoot for quality.

Power supplies as installed on my layout. All total there are 13 strips, each a 5050 300 LED strip.

Thanks!

Thanks for the reply Alan. As I'm sure you're aware, buying these off eBay can be a little tricky as the venders are not always clear as to what is involved. I'll take a look at the Meanwell... Don't want to shirk on a power supply.

You need a power supply....

Micro Mark also sells the