Which LED strip to choose for the backlight: the brightness of the backlight, the shade of light, for lighting the corridor and stairs, for the living room, for the kitchen, for the bathroom, for the nursery, for the bedroom. Mounting the LED strip light: calculation of the power unit's power, tape connection.

The desire to diversify the design of the facade of the house or the interior of the apartment, give a more interesting look to your car or pool, decorate walking paths in the garden, and make changes yourself, without attracting a designer or interior designer, led to the rapid popularization of a relatively new type of lighting, called LED. If before the light in the interior seemed to be something purely functional, today it has several other responsibilities - it gradually turned into an object of decor.

LED strip, its varieties

LED strip is a flexible structure of light-emitting diodes, assembled on a circuit board, it is usually denoted by the abbreviation LED. The LEDs on the printing tape are located at the same distance from each other.

The thickness of the tape along with the LEDs does not exceed 3 mm, its width can be from 8 to 20 mm. In addition to diodes, resistors are introduced into the electrical circuit, which are limiting resistors. There are two technologies for producing LED ribbons:

• DIP
• SMD.

The figures in the labeling of the tapes indicate the dimensions of the chip, and they are measured in tenths of a millimeter. Depending on the color of the glow, the LEDs are divided into monochrome and color, RGB, suggesting the possibility of creating any shade.

There are light-emitting diode tapes and on such important characteristic, as color temperature. When assembling a colored structure, LEDs of three different colors are used, namely blue, red and green, which makes it possible to imagine it as three monochrome ones. Analyzing the characteristics of LED strips, it can be noted that they differ:

• high reliability,
• small power consumption,
• long service life, about 30,000 hours,
• high coefficient of use of light flux,
• ecological compatibility (do not contain mercury or other harmful substances);
• small dimensions,
• cheap operation,
• simplicity of management and connection,
• small dimensions,
• the constancy of the radiated flux of light,
• resistance to mechanical stress,
• the possibility of operation in different temperature conditions,
• flexibility,
• the presence of an adhesive layer on the tape,
• the possibility of operation without the installation of lenses or lenses,
• the uniformity of the distribution of the light flux along the entire length of the tape, which eliminates the possibility of overheating,
• an opportunity to embody interesting interior design solutions.

Problems can arise when trying to connect to the old fittings - modern tapes with it are not compatible. The drawbacks of the LED tape can also be attributed to its cost, which exceeds the cost of conventional incandescent or fluorescent lamps, capable of creating a similar in power luminous flux.

Read more about what the LED ribbon is like when we look at the video:

How to choose an LED strip

Since different goals are pursued when setting the LED backlight, the choice should also be differentiated. And if for the room the lighting can be decorative, then in the kitchen it will have a practical value.

In residential areas, decorative lighting is installed on floors and ceilings, in niches, luminous tapes are hung over cornices or on curtains. When choosing a tape for different types of premises, first of all you should pay attention to the humidity of the air, if the rooms are suitable for ordinary, then for the bathroom, pool, street or garden lighting necessarily require a waterproof, air-tight LED strip.

The same, resistant to moisture, it is desirable to use for lighting stairs, floors.

determined with the brightness of the backlight

For the decorative lighting of rooms you can use different types of tapes, the choice will depend on the desire to receive lighting of a certain brightness. It should be borne in mind that the brightness of the tape is determined by the type of LEDs used, if the most common SMD3528 tapes include LEDs with a single semiconductor chip, then the SMD5060 ribbons consist of diodes that include three similar crystals, naturally their luminescence is three times brighter than single-crystal analogs.

The brightness of the ribbon is also affected by the density of the LEDs in it, the tapes differ:

• normal density with a standard arrangement of LEDs: 60 per 1 m,
• double density: 120 per meter,
• double-row double density: 240 per m.

For tapes SMD5060, these figures will be respectively: 30, 60, 120 pcs / m. Experience shows that in order for the LED strip to be used as the main light, its power should not be lower than 10 W per meter, the light flux created by it will be equal to 100 Lm. The same tape can be used if desired to illuminate the surface of a dark color with a low reflectivity.

choose the right shade of light

Depending on what should be the interior lighting, you will need to choose a color, it can be white or have any permanent shade. It should be taken into account that even white illumination can have different shades, i.e. different color temperature of luminescence:

• cold white (10000K-6500K),
• white (6500K-5500K),
• day (4500K-4000K),
• white warm (3500K-2700K).

In order to make LED home tapes help create the most attractive backlighting option, monochrome or multi-colored tapes are usually used. Note that RGB-tape is only with large LEDs.

How to choose and connect the LED strip look at the video:

LED strip in the interior of the apartment

illuminate corridors and stairs

LED backlighting is advantageous for lighting rooms that are in constant presence of bright light do not need.

The use of lighting will allow creating more comfortable conditions for moving along unlit corridors or ladders - low power consumption will not lead to a serious increase in electricity bills, but will eliminate the need to move around the house in the dark. To place LED tapes can be on the perimeter of the passage rooms, for even greater savings in the electrical circuit can add a dimmer - it will switch the backlight at night to a minimum.

we arrange decorative illumination of a drawing room

Since this is the main room in the house or apartment, its decoration is given special attention.

The space of the living room, as a rule, allows to realize the original design intentions into reality, including creating a unique version of lighting.

The advantages of using LED strip are quite obvious - with its help you can create bright, natural white light, a whimsical ceiling lighting or bright, created by multi-colored ribbons, which will be used for home celebrations and family celebrations.

To get control over the brightness of lighting, you need to use dimmers.

lED lighting options for the kitchen

The lighting of the kitchen should be designed taking into account that its character will be not only decorative but also practical. Decorative value in this case can be illuminated by the window and ceiling, in addition, the kitchen version of the lighting can be diversified by installing light-emitting ribbons on the upper and lower part of the lockers.

In this case, the floor cabinets are installed on the legs, after the lighting is installed, they are closed with panels or left in the open. In the kitchen it is desirable to use a sealed LED tape for the lower cabinets - this will prevent the possibility of damage to the lighting device in case of accidental water ingress. For outdoor cabinets, you can use an open tape. Very useful is the illumination of the internal space of the lockers, the inclusion of lighting can occur when the doors are opened. If desired, the lighting of the lockers can be adjusted in such a way that its activation occurs simultaneously with the inclusion of the main lighting, or autonomously, from the sensors:

• capable of responding to physical actions,
• triggered by a touch of the hand,
• contactless, especially comfortable in the kitchen.

Since there is a need for bright illumination of the desktop, the light-emitting ribbon located above it will be very useful.

Its installation is carried out under the hanging cabinets, while ensuring that the light was directed downward, you should not allow installation at an angle that directs the rays into the eyes of the working person. To illuminate the working surface of the table can be used:

• sealed tape, glued to the bottom of the lockers,
• bAR luminaires, mounted on clips or double-sided tape, easily connected in a single chain,
• lamps, assembled with their own hands of LED tape and aluminum profile.

It is best to use LED stripes of white luminescence, preferably warm - for the illumination of the desktop - the products under such light look natural and attractive, cold light will make their appearance less appetizing.

How to make the lighting yourself in the kitchen look at the video:

what lighting to choose for the bathroom

Since the room is associated with high humidity, it can be used in LED lighting, the characteristics of which make it possible to be sure that it is not endangered by water, i.e. the tape will need to be sealed.

Highlights in the bathroom can niches and mirrors, ceilings and walls. It looks interesting lighting:

• installed behind the mirrors, of which the reflecting layer is partially removed,
• background, creating a contrast effect,
• illuminating the space in front of the mirror.

lED strip for the children's room is selected in accordance with the recommendations of psychologists

Experts recommend that when decorating the lighting in the children's room, try to create a cozy, warm and cheerful atmosphere. Light should be chosen white, necessarily warm, it should be soft and moderately bright, exactly enough so as not to cause eye irritation.

The installation of a dimmer, mechanical or electronic, equipped with a remote control is desirable, it will allow to regulate the power of lighting. Aesthetic pleasure to the child will bring installation of color LEDs.

For example, using led strip arlicht, featuring a variety of eye-pleasing shades, will create a fabulous atmosphere in the children's room.

Using monochrome glow strips, you can effectively emphasize furniture items and decor elements of the room.

bedroom lighting

A pleasant, relaxing atmosphere in the bedroom can also be created by installing an LED backlight, used as the main or additional lighting.

To make the interior attractive, you can: carry out lighting with colored photodiodes of walls and ceiling, create a backlight for wall decorations and mirrors, decorate furniture externally from the outside or provide for interior lighting of cabinets. In the bedroom, you can use the lighting of a variety of shades, the benefit that modern technology has allowed to establish the production of light sources working in any spectrum.

The original solution will be lighting the bedroom chandelier, as the lighting elements which will serve as LED strip. The ability to flexibly customize the LEDs will make full use of all the decorative qualities of both white tapes and multi-color RGB tapes. Using RGB-controllers and dimmers will control the lighting of the bedroom at your discretion.

Mounting of LED strip

To connect a single-color LED tape, you will need to install the tape and the power supply. If it is necessary to adjust the brightness of the lighting, a dimmer must be included in the circuit.

A set of multi-color LED strip should include:

• a power supply unit matched to the working voltage of the tape (12, 24 or 36 volts) and its power,
• the tape itself,
• RGB-controller, through which the brightness of the light and its color are controlled.

how to calculate the power of the power unit

To calculate the power of the power unit, multiply the length of the tape in meters by the power consumed by 1 m of its length, to add to the received value - from 10% to 25%. This will ensure the reliability of the system during operation.

More information about the power supply we learn from the following video:

how to connect a tape from light-emitting diodes

We have already mentioned the need to install a power supply unit in the electric circuit that converts alternating current into a constant one, with a voltage of 12 V (sometimes in 24 or 36). To enable you to change the brightness and color of the glow in the electrical circuit, you must turn on the controllers.

For more comfortable use, an LED strip with a remote control is installed. Since the length of the tape is usually limited to five meters, several tapes have to be used to illuminate objects with a large perimeter. They are connected in parallel. The cross-section of the wire should thus increase in proportion to the increase in the distance between the tape itself and the power supply - as the distance increases, the losses will increase.