LED ribbon or strip lighting.

[grizz]

Right team.


LED Strip/Ribbon lighting.


Today’s technical question is around the parts needed, and effective fitting of LED ribbon lights.

Suspect it is an easy job, based on what Google says.

I have an idea, and it needs to be done.

Using LED strip light, to look like Neon lighting from a distance at the top of the carport structure.

Specifically the red board only, I contemplated the upright posts in red or green, but then it may end up being too Christmassy.

I have seen you can buy 5 meters of non waterproof strip for as little as £6.00 from China, up to locally sourced, waterproof strip from Essex for £14.00

This excludes transformer, connectors etc. I do have a nice 12 volt transformer in the garage, waiting for a job. So it may just work.


So this is the red board, either on the lower edge, or even behind or just below the roof sheets, but I think behind makes more sense.





Advice, tips, links, experience, guidance appreciated

I have not been to my local TLC electrical wholesaler yet.

Thanks.

[shin2chin]

The Chinese stuff is the same as locally sourced but lots cheaper. Its just a case of soldering tails to the positive and negative tabs on the ribbon, connecting to a 12v supply and away you go.
I've used it in the back of my old Defender and in my current work van.

[grizz]

Nov 29, 2020 13:36:47 GMT shin2chin said:

The Chinese stuff is the same as locally sourced but lots cheaper. Its just a case of soldering tails to the positive and negative tabs on the ribbon, connecting to a 12v supply and away you go.
I've used it in the back of my old Defender and in my current work van.

OK, that sounds really simple then, thanks.

So tails to,one end,,plug into transformer and away we go.?

[shin2chin]

Yep, that's it

[jimi]

The non-waterproof stuff will only last a year or so (if your lucky) before corrosion does it in (ask me how I know ) so false economy IMO. Transformer on it's own isn't much use, you need a DC supply for them

[jimi]

In support of my previous statement about corrosion, few years ago I modified the rear panel of my MK1 MR2, to remove the number plate lights and smooth the panel, to illuminate the number plate I used a non waterproof LED strip concealed in the boot lid to achieve this



This only lasted a year before corrosion on the flexible pcb and the legs of the led's started causing them to fail, In replaced it with a totally encapsulated waterproof flexible strip and haven't had a problem since (must be 5 or more years)
There's an article on the mod here Clicky

[grizz]

Thanks jimi I have ordered 5 meters of waterproof

I need to check my transformer to see if it is DC, and amperage

I suspect it will be fine, but could be wrong.

Had it fitted in my old garage, driving a car radio.

[jimi]

If it drove a car radio it will be ok, it will be a PSU (Either a transformer + rectifier + some kind of voltage control or some kind of switched mode PSU).
Apologies for being a bit pedantic, put it down to 45 odd years as an electrician a transformer is just that and is AC to AC, anything that takes AC in and puts out DC is a PSU (Power Supply Unit)

[dodgerover]

The glue is always a bit curse word on those led strips in my experience -it seems to get hold then falls off when it gets cold or damp. Use a smear of silicon and improvise a physical fixing until it dries for a good fix that can be removed eventually.

[jimi]

Dec 1, 2020 8:59:28 GMT dodgerover said:

The glue is always a bit curse word on those led strips in my experience -it seems to get hold then falls off when it gets cold or damp. Use a smear of silicon and improvise a physical fixing until it dries for a good fix that can be removed eventually.

^^^^^^ very true
I used a hot glue gun to attach my number plate illumination strip, seems to hold ok and not bad to remove if you need to

[grizz]

I have a massive roll of weird, thin, clear 3M double sided tape, or should one call is double sided glue.

That will probably work

[slater]

You can put pins through the strip as long as you don't sever any of the tracks.

[grizz]

Dec 1, 2020 16:38:30 GMT slater said:

You can put pins through the strip as long as you don't sever any of the tracks.

Thanks mate, I thought that would be the case.

[jimi]

If you put pins through the waterproof stuff ..... Is it still going to be waterproof ?
If your roll of tape is this kind of stuff it should work, I've used similar before at work and it's pretty sticky
Clicky

[slater]

I'd dab a bit of clear silicone on them. The waterproof strip is just normal strip with either a clear heat shrink over it or in a kind of clear plastic square tubing. The latter should keep a good seal when pinned. You will need to seal up the terminations with silicone too to do it properly i think.

[jimi]

The waterproof stuff I used was totally encapsulated in clear flexible plastic (almost like it was potted in silicon) no PCB inside just stranded cable, you could tie a knot in it and top in a bucket of water and it still worked. Can't remember where I got it from, but I can find out, wasn't cheap though.

[wu11ie]

Dec 3, 2020 1:09:41 GMT jimi said:

The waterproof stuff I used was totally encapsulated in clear flexible plastic (almost like it was potted in silicon) no PCB inside just stranded cable, you could tie a knot in it and top in a bucket of water and it still worked. Can't remember where I got it from, but I can find out, wasn't cheap though.

You can used to be able to get them from ebay for 99p, seems to be the flat ones they sell now, I have both kinds in my van.

[grizz]

Post man/woman delivered the waterproof LED light ribbon today.

Will take some time over the weekend to dig out the transformer I have stashed away, hopefully it is a DC converter.

May even get time to mount this up on the carport too.

[awoo]

Dec 5, 2020 7:01:32 GMT grizz said:

Post man/woman delivered the waterproof LED light ribbon today.

Will take some time over the weekend to dig out the transformer I have stashed away, hopefully it is a DC converter.

May even get time to mount this up on the carport too.

thats the stuff that is meant to look like old neon lighting right? if done right they look just like actual neon lights, this could be really cool...

[crossy10]

The stuff won’t last 2 minutes if you just stick it on. Search for LED aluminium profile. Fix this, then put the Led strip inside and put the diffuser on. This helps keep it in place while also diffusing the light.

You will also need an led driver rather than a transformer.

Is your led strip 12v or 24v ? And what is the watts per metre ? You’ll need to check that also before selecting a driver.

Most are 5 watts per meter and if you are using 5m you really want a 30 watt driver as a minimum.