Over the past 5-10 years, LED strips have firmly taken their place among lighting fixtures. They are used in the advertising industry, to create custom lighting and just for decoration.
A flexible tape with LEDs placed on it was taken as a basis. This allows you to create fancy combinations of light fluxes. The article will tell you how to properly connect LED strips to each other.
Why can't ribbons be connected in any way?
LED strips are sold in bays of 5 meters, the LEDs on them are connected in series. This means that their number is selected in such a way that the tape can work in a network with a voltage of 12.24 volts. This circumstance imposes a limitation on the length. If it exceeds 5 meters, then the conductive paths will overheat, and the product will quickly fail. For example, make connection 7LED strips will not work sequentially with each other.
There are two types of connections: serial and parallel. Consistent - this is when each new consumer of electrical energy receives current through the previous one. Whereas in a parallel connection, electricity is supplied to each consumer independently.
If the lighting configuration requires several connections of LED strips to each other, then this can only be done in parallel. To do this, you need to use an additional cable, which from the power source will supply electricity to each consumer individually. The wire is taken the same length as the tape. Its cross section must be at least 1.5 mm. If the LEDs are colored, then for connection it is also better to take the wires corresponding to the colors. This will facilitate installation and prevent them from being confused with each other.
Parallel connection
This kind of connecting LED strips to each other is that the beginning of all the strips that participate in the circuit take power at one point, which means a common power source. Sometimes, for reasons of compactness, the power supply has to be reduced in size, then each tape can have a separate source, which significantly increases the cost of lighting equipment.
To power the LED strip, a stranded wire with a cross section of 0.75 mm is enough. If earlier it was said that additional tapes need to be connected with a wiresection of 1.5 mm, this is only necessary for mechanical strength. Even in order to provide power supplies with electricity, a cross section of 0.75 mm is enough, despite the fact that the voltage in the wires will be 220 volts. After all, the current strength will be much less than on the side of the LED strip.
There will be a slight difference in the way the LED strips are connected to each other if they are colored. Then an RGB controller is built into the circuit between the power supply and the LED strip. This is applicable when the backlight length is less than 5 meters. If several coils of colored ribbons are used for lighting, then additional wires must be used to connect each.
Connection rules
There are cut sections on each LED strip. They are marked with a line with scissors logo. Here you can cut the product without damaging the electrical circuit. The need for this arises when you need to replace areas with burned out LEDs or change the lighting configuration: add or shorten the tape. You also have to cut when you need to assemble the connection of the LED strip from the segments to each other.
The cutting line is applied every 3 LEDs. In exceptional cases, you can ignore this line, but then some LEDs will not light, plus you will have to prepare a pad for the connector.
Using connectors
To create connections between LED strips without soldering, connectors are used. They can be classified as followsfeatured:
- For connecting wires to the contact areas of LED strips. Such connectors are used when you need to connect a cable coming from a power supply or from an RGB controller.
- To connect segments to each other. These connectors have different configurations. They are straight, angular, cruciform and at a certain angle.
- For colored and conventional LED strips. They differ from each other in the number of tracks: simple ones have 2 conductive tracks, and colored ones have 4.
- Fit to size.
To connect the tape, it must be prepared. To do this, you first need to accurately calculate the length and cut along the factory line, then you should clean the contact areas with fine-grained sandpaper so that there is no oxidation that prevents good contact. After that, the connector cover is opened, and the tape is inserted with the pad inside.
If you need to assemble tapes into one chain at a non-standard angle, then it is better to use wired connectors.
Alternative connection
The next way to connect LED strips to each other is soldering. This method is more durable, but requires painstaking work and takes time.
To work, you will need the following materials and tools:
- Soldering iron. Maximum power 40 watts. If you use a more powerful one, then the conductive tracks will overheat, as a result of which they will move away from the substrate.
- Tin lead solder.
- Rosin or soldering acid.
- Heat shrink tubing.
The stranded wire that will be connected to the contacts must be soft enough so that in case of bending it does not damage the soldering point. Therefore, for connection it is necessary to use a wire with a cross section of 0.35-0.5 mm. And since the supply cable has a cross section of 0.75 mm, you need to make the transition from one to the other also by soldering.
Preparatory work
Before starting, you need to cut off the desired size of the tape, prepare pieces of heat shrink tubing 3 cm long. Clean the contact points. If the LED strip is in a silicone shell, then it must be removed at the soldering points with a clerical knife.
Features of LED strip soldering
First, the cable should be divided into separate wires, cut off the insulation and leave the ends bare. After that, they need to be tinned. To do this, they are treated with a rosin solution and a thin layer of solder is applied.
This is necessary so that dissimilar metals do not combine with each other. The same is done with pads.
Then you need to put heat shrink tubing on the wires. This is done before soldering. Otherwise, they will be difficult to put on.
After that, the tinned ends are applied to the conductive tracks and heated with a soldering iron. Then, as the tin solder melts, the heating stops. The tin hardens and the connection becomes strong.
The heat shrink tube is moved to the sidecontacts and heated with a hair dryer or lighter flame. After cooling, it tightly fits the wire and its bare parts.
Sometimes you need to make a connection by soldering the LED strips together. Then the current-carrying contacts are cleaned on both. A heat shrink tube is put on one LED strip. The contacts on one tape are separated from the substrate, and a second tape is introduced into the gap formed so that their tracks touch. Then everything happens, as in the case of wires, only the heat shrink tube is put on not on each wire individually, but on the tape as a whole, closing the junction.
Advantages and disadvantages of soldering
Mating obtained in this way has greater mechanical strength than with a connector. In addition, it does not oxidize or corrode. If, when using connectors, the contact point heats up, then soldering is free from these disadvantages.
The disadvantages include the complexity of the process. You can't use it anywhere. Soldering is easier on a horizontal plane, and if you need to connect somewhere under the ceiling, it is easier to use connectors. Photos of the connections of the LED strip to each other clearly show that connectors are used more often. Soldering takes much longer. You need to have experience and be able to determine how good the connection turned out to be.
