It is safe to say that LED strip lights are among the most popular products of the LED technology. The flexibility of the strips means that you can install light in places you previously couldn’t, such as under kitchen cabinets and steps of stairways. The only limit is your imagination. But what exactly do you have to look out for when buying LED strip lights? Here is a little buyers guide.
First of all, you must consider what purpose your LED strip lights are going to serve. Are you looking for high luminosity working lights to your shed or workstation? Or are you looking for decorative lighting behind your bathroom mirror? LED strip lights as working light require a cold and bright light, meaning that the colour temperature should be around or above 7000 Kelvin. Cold and bright lights above 7000 Kelvin will effectively illuminate the desired area and the objects within, increasing your ability to see specific details of the objects, which is why it is preferred as working light. Decorative lighting is the exact opposite. Serving a purpose of making areas and objects appear more visible, while creating a sleek ‘designer’s look’ wherever it is installed. If your LED strip lights should serve a decorative purpose, make sure to keep the colour temperature under 5000 Kelvin. With some LED strip lights, you will have the possibility of dimming the brightness – with these, you should be aware of the maximum voltage load, as these vary from product to product.
How long or wide is the area you wish to illuminate? Get some measuring tape and find out to begin with. When purchasing your LED strip lights, be aware that it might not be possible to have your specific length delivered – you may have to round down. Every LED strip light has cutting points, where you can cut and adjust the length. The most common intervals of these cutting points are 2.5cm, 5cm and 10cm. Some products have cutting points per diode, meaning there is a cutting point after every second, third or fourth diode. If you purchase LED strip lights with cutting point intervals of 5cm, but your kitchen cabinet measures 58cm, you would have to round down to 55cm.
Price and quality goes hand in hand, and when you are buying LED strip lights, the cheapest product will be of the poorest quality on several parameters. High-quality LED strip lights can be up to 20 % more energy efficient than strips of poor quality. High quality strips will also have an up to 25 % longer lifespan than strips of poor quality. This means that spending a more money on LED strip lights of high quality will actually save you money in the long run – both in terms of wattage consumption and lifespan. LED strip lights of poor quality will also be more vulnerable in rough environments, where shocks, dust and moisture can easily ruin the entire strip.
