Cheap LED Strips : A Viable Alternative

@Mr.Sparkle could you elaborate on the wiring for your build? im about to put one of these together and want to make sure im not going to electrocute/explode myself
edit: nevermind, just looked closely at your first few posts

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@thenasty1

Are you using 1 foot strips or 2/4 foot strips?

Which driver are you pairing it with?

For the 2 or 4 foot strips, the strips should be chained in series, positive (+) to negative (-) which once done will leave you with one empty positive and one empty negative point which you connect to the driver leads.

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im using the 11" strips, xlg 100 lab driver. same deal as the one in the op. what threw me off was not realizing that there were two positives coming through a hole in the middle in the op pic

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Yeah I’m running a parallel series setup in-order to split the current “700ma” down to “350ma” that the 280mm strips prefer

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Over simplified wiring (read: Shitty MSPaint skills) for 10 280mm strips 2 parallel circuits of 5 series strips.

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Wow you are on point today JP, I have been wanting to do that for a few days but you just get it done haha

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why are you splitting the wires like that on each set of 5 strips?

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Short answer, current control.

Longer Answer: (had to gather pics)
My Driver puts out between 700-1050ma.

My strips like to be at 350ma.

So to run each strip around 350mah, I’ve got to “split the load” rather than just parallel them all together. Running two parallel-series circuits cuts the current in half.

Math to support:
10 strips would need 195v @ 350mah. Well my driver outputs: 53-107v and 350-1050ma.
5 strips need 97.5v @350mah.

So if we make two parallel series circuits based on the needs of 10 strips, we get something my driver can work with. Since two parallel circuits share current evenly, it cuts the current in half.
195v and 700mah /2 circuits = 97.5 and 350mah output.
With my driver turned up, I’m still in the acceptable range for the strips


, as they Can be ran at 700mah, but I like efficiency and the lm/w output at 350mah is still better than most rigid strips when you factor in cost not to mention form factor selections available.

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I should have 17 X 560 mil strips a 240w driver and dimmer thingy, basically what toasty is using, coming this afternoon. Is there any special way of wiring these up ?

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All series. No parallel needed for that particular setup.

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The 11" strips are the only in the Gen 2 series rated at 350ma and that you would need to do this to.

The XLG drivers, the 2 and the 4 foot strips all are rated at 700ma so just link the strips in series and away you go.

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Cheers guys run out of likes, they have just arrived. No plug on the driver, cheap skates lol. I will have to go and buy a 10ft extension cord and chop the female end off and wire it up for outside the tent use. UK wiring colours, does it matter which way round the wires go on the dimmer control also which prongs of the 3 do the 2 wires connect to?

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For the dimmer control it doesnt matter how they are connected as you are just adding resistance between two points. If you position the potentiometer with the knob facing you and the prongs pointed down, then you would use the left prong and the middle prong.

And yeah can use a cut up cord, I used a grounding plug like this on mine because its neater and easier than splicing wires:

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i would use the term “fine abstract ms paint art skills”
thanks for that

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If i would i’d choose all of them.

If you do it backwards, the nob works the opposite way, but it still works. :+1::seedling:

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The key is that at least ONE of the leads MUST be connected to the center post on the pot.

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had a problem sorted now

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No still have a problem I have a circuit on the light confirmed by my volt meter. I have power coming out of my driver confirmed by the volt meter, the lights don’t come on. What am I missing ???

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depends on your connection parts and what you have done so far.

Pics help

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