How do I power these LED strip lights?

Aubrey_Thicket
Aubrey_Thicket Posts: 299 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
So I’m on the car boot this morning and like a kid my eyes are drawn to a stall with loads of flashing LED strip lights around it and it says they are £1 per strip. This has to be the bargain of the century. Surely? So I buy a strip and ask the bloke selling them how I power them. To be fair to him he says “If you don’t know mate I wouldn’t bother. You need a conversion kit”. So, not to be put off I thinks... well I’ll get a kit. I know some people who’ll tell me where to get one from. So I pays my quid. When I gets home I opens the packet and these strip lights are brand new. The label says this:
Manufacturer: GLOBOLED
High Lumen RGB LED strip light
Voltage: 24v
Size: 5000mm*10mm
Colour temp: RGB
LED chip: SMD5050
IP Rating: IP20
Beam Angle: 120
Fixture: 3m tape
Ra: >75
Cut every 100mm
14.4w

The 4 pin power plug at the start of the strip has four wires (from left to right)
Blue
Red (seems thicker)
Green
Black

So guys... any advice is appreciated please. How do I power these things? Can I join loads of these together?

Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • forgotmyname
    forgotmyname Posts: 32,551 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Use a proper LED transformer.

    LED strips are super cheap. 25 metres for about £3 with free delivery from China. So he probably bought that and making a few pennies in the side by selling them in 5M lengths..

    You need to limit the current they LEDs draw unless you want to risk a fire.
    Censorship Reigns Supreme in Troll City...

  • Cornucopia
    Cornucopia Posts: 16,154 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post Photogenic
    edited 18 November 2018 at 7:22PM
    Some info about driving these strips here:-

    https://www.downlightsdirect.co.uk/led-tape-smd5050.html

    These strips usually have surface-mount resistors built in. You can see the resistors between the LED chips.

    What's required is either a decent 24VDC fixed supply built for LEDs (it has to be very well regulated/constant current) OR an RGB supply that can send the necessary signals to the LED chips to illuminate the strip in various colour combinations.

    There are also various projects and tutorials on Youtube.
  • Owain_Moneysaver
    Owain_Moneysaver Posts: 11,357 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Aubrey_Thicket wrote: »
    Manufacturer: GLOBOLED
    High Lumen RGB LED strip light
    Voltage: 24v

    Probably something like this:

    https://www.bltdirect.com/globoled-strip-driver-30-watt-ip20-24-volt
    A kind word lasts a minute, a skelped erse is sair for a day.
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