How to choose LED strip for home? What are the types, power and color of the glow?

The technique does not stand still. In place of conventional lamps came LED strips. They are used for many objects both inside and outside the premises. For this, there are a huge number of varieties of similar products. They allow you to create decorative lighting, can replace the usual, full-color lighting facilities. In order not to get lost in the variety of today's proposals, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the recommendations of experts. They will tell you how to choose LED strips for the house of the desired variety. Create unique beauty effects will be quite simple. Tapes are very easy to attach and connect. For each room suits its own type of lighting fixture.

general characteristics

The LED strip has the second name LED (light emitting diode). This translates to "light emitting diode". This design is quite simple. On a special tape there are certain types of diodes.

Quality products have a service life of about 100 thousand hours. Therefore, the first thing that should be paid attention when buying, this is the quality that LED home tapes have . How to choose (the photo of the lighting device is shown below) the optimal type of the device, and also how to properly operate it, should be considered in more detail.

Diodes need to remove heat at the time of their operation. If this does not happen, they will overheat and fail. Thus, the process of connecting such products is given special attention.

Very impressive look LED strips in the design of street advertising, shop windows, facades of the house. Inside, they are often used in the bathroom, in the kitchen, as well as in living quarters. The range of LED applications is very diverse.

Varieties of tape

When deciding on how to choose LED home tapes (photo devices are presented below), it is necessary to study their existing varieties. By the type of luminescence, two types of products are divided. These are SMD and RGB tapes.

To the first variant of illuminators are monochrome varieties. And there are white, blue, green, yellow and red types. White color can be of three types: warm, cold and medium. Other single-color tapes do not have shades or semitones.

LEDs of variety RGB can create a variety of shades of luminescence. Each element of the tape includes three colors. When combined in a different proportion, all existing colors are obtained. They are blue, red and green diodes. Hence the name of the product - Red, Green, Blue (RGB).

To be able to control the glow of such a tape, you need a special controller. It will allow you to set the hue, the intensity of the glow, and the color change mode. The tape can at the same time produce flickering, a running track, etc. However, one should remember that the colored varieties cost three times as expensive as ordinary monotonous items.

Power Supply

Without a properly selected power supply, the LED strip will not be able to work fully. There are two main factors that influence the choice. This is the power and voltage of the product. These characteristics should be paid attention, wanting to purchase LED tape for the house. How to choose the required type of power supply by power will prompt a simple calculation.

This indicator is measured in W / m. To select an adapter, you need to multiply the energy consumption of each meter by the length of the tape. In this case, you should provide a small margin, for which the resulting value is rounded up.

The voltage of the product is 12 and 24 V. The power supply unit is purchased in the corresponding category. Otherwise, the device will not work correctly.

Brightness of light

The intensity of lighting is very important when choosing an LED strip. If you want to create a decorative effect, fogier varieties will do. But to replace conventional lighting, bright varieties are needed. Today it is quite an affordable option.

There are two factors that will answer the question of how to choose LED strips for the home. Bright lighting can be achieved by increasing the concentration of diodes on one meter of LED, as well as increasing the size of each pixel.

These parameters are indicated in the marking. For example, the figure 3528 indicates that the height of the element is 3.5 mm and the width is 2.8 mm. The concentration of diodes depends on their size. For some species, it can be rare, but for others it can be frequent.

White glow

When deciding how to choose LED strips for a house, it is necessary to consider possible variants of colors. White varieties are characterized by such an indicator as the temperature of the spectrum.

Depending on the preferences of users, they choose warm or cool white tones. There are many variations of the spectrum of this type of tape. Some already have their names.

Warm shades start at 2800K, and cold temperatures end at 9000K. Today's popular colors are Cool White, Warm White, White, Yellow, -white street light). The choice depends on the type of premises and the tastes of the buyer.

Colored Ribbons

Color varieties of LEDs are also indicated by their spectrum range. Each pixel can have certain individual characteristics. This should be taken into account when purchasing LED tapes for the home. How to choose the right color, the interior design will tell.

Red shade creates pixels with the characteristics of 625 nm. The yellow color has an index of 590 nm. Green diodes have a luminescence in the range of 525 nm. Blue refers to a portion of the spectrum of 470 nm.

Today there are such varieties of colored monotonous ribbons, like ultraviolet and pink. In the first case, light refers to the visible part of the spectrum of 400 nm. It is dangerous for eyesight. Pink light is created on the basis of ultraviolet, but it is safe for the eyes.

Protection class

There are several types of protection that LED home tapes have. How to choose the right variety will help the generally accepted norms. This takes into account the humidity, pollution of the premises.

For dry, clean rooms, a product with IP 20 protection class is suitable. It is an open tape. If the room is not heated or the installation is supposed to be carried out to illuminate the floor, it is necessary to choose the class IP 23, 43, 44.

If the product is selected for a specific microclimate of the bathroom or kitchen, where it is possible to contaminate the tape, LEDs with IP 54, 65, 68 should be preferred. Such diodes are hermetically sealed with a silicone tube.

Manufacturers and reviews

Studying how to choose LED tapes for the house, you need to listen to the experts' feedback. They recommend to evaluate the appearance of the product before making a purchase. If the diodes are soldered inaccurately, do not buy products - this is a poor-quality device. Also, when the ribbon on which the diodes are attached is too thin, flexible, this indicates the fragility of the contacts. With such a device you need to handle very carefully.

In addition, you should pay attention to the resistor. In good, durable products, it has a resistance in the range of 150 ohms (marking 151, 301). A bad assembly produces an index of 100 ohms (101).

Qualitative, but costly producers of tapes include Electrostandard, Gauss. Cheaper Chinese Maxus, Feron. In their category, they are characterized by good quality.

Selecting tapes for each room

Considering the question of how to choose LED strips for a house, it is worth considering the type of room. There are general principles of installation.

For work area in the garage, in the kitchen or in the office, you need to choose products of bright white glow. To illuminate the ceilings should be selected monophonic varieties. The tape can be mounted in a special profile. This will make the backlight dimmer.

For a bedroom or a hall, you can use a variety of RGB. This will create an original design. In the children's room it is better to use muffled types of tape.

The backlighting of the table area is best done with a lamp. In the bathroom use moisture-proof products.

Knowing how to choose LED strips for the house, you can create a unique beauty design. Adhering to the recommendations of experts, it will be easy to choose the best option. Properly mounted the appropriate type of LED, you can not doubt the durability of such a product.