Well, my SolStrips came in, thanks @Baudelaire. Now all is left is to wire it and put it all together.
My build:
12 x SolStrips 3500k
1 x MeanWell 480H-24A driver
16 gauge red wire
16 gauge black wire
16 gauge 3 wire cord
16 gauge 2 wire cord
plug connector
So far I’ve stripped the 3 wire cord and will be connecting it to the plug connector and to the driver.
I’ve also stripped the black and red wire to connect to the Solstrip boards and run a parallel connection.
The m3 nylon screws don’t seem to want to go into the Solsinks. Am I supposed to use metal screws instead?
I cut 12 red cords and 12 black cords to connect to a longer cord. Should I try and strip 12 areas on the one long string? Or cut appropriate 12 longer cords to connect to the other 12?
Also the meanwell driver has two pairs of cords on the output side. Am I just taping off one side, or using the other side for the other row?
Also, I don’t have any Wago connectors, but I do have a grey cone shaped thing, in the second picture, and also a blue thing pictured called a quick splice connector, which I may have an idea on how to connect but am not sure.
Please let me know if I’m doing things correctly, I haven’t messed around with electrical stuff in a long time.
This is prefered, the nylon SHOULD screw in, but I like metal screws with nylon washers lol.
You will need to use both of these outputs. 6 strips on one cord, 6 strips on another.
I like using “automatic strippers” for the section I have bolded in the quote. I would attempt to do this
The grey cone shaped thing is a wire nut. It will work, but soldering or wago’s is MUCH prefered. I like the true lever lock wagos. DO NOT USE THE BLUE SPLICE THINGYS, they suck, give you bad connections, and IF somehow you manage to get them to install on the solid wire (looks like solid wire in your red and blue stripped pile) they will weaken the wire.
You can check out kind of the same build as what you’re describing Here it’s pretty close to what you’re doing. Remember, there’s a ton of different ways to get to the same destination, just be safe and use your noggin. We’re here to help if you need it!
Yeah, I looked for appropriately sized nylon washers at my local hardware store and couldn’t find them.
Got it.
OK, I will order and auto stripper. No I’m using stranded wire, not solid wire.
Speaking of safety, the Leviton plug cord from I am using says 15A, 125 volts on it. The salesman at the hardware store recommended it (not knowing the full specifications of what I am building). But the Meanwell Driver I’m using is 480H-24A, is this OK?
Thanks for your help.
Thanks man. I’ve seen many of your builds and they are awesome. I’ll post where I’m at below, the Wago connectors and screws should be here in a few days I guess, just want to make sure I have the wiring concept and method down.
So I’ve laid out the LEDs, aluminum side bars, and wiring how I think they should come together.
I will connect the plug to the input side of the MeanWell driver, using a Wago connector.
Next, I will connect each side of the LED connectors to the Output side of the driver.
I have two long strips (about 3-4 feet) of red and black wire on both sides, which will be then be connected to the shorter strips I’ve layed out on the left side (will do the same for the right side).
How to connect shorter strips to the long ones?
Should I just cut the long ones into 12 sections and then tie into the short ones using the coming Wago connectors?
Also, dumb question: the LED strips come attached in twos. Am i supposed to score them with a razor blade in the middle and gently bend them to separate them? Obviously want to avoid breaking them.
I have more than i’ll ever need after my foray into 3d printers lol.
