LED Strip Lights are some of the most versatile effects lighting available. Their flexible and discrete design allows you to be very creative with the way you light your business and home. They also allow you to be very creative with your energy use by letting you run your lighting at a fraction of the cost.
A typical LED will use about a tenth of the power of a traditional incandescent. This is because they convert a lot less energy into heat and more into useful light. They also last a lot longer. Incandescent bulbs rely on fragile filaments that degrade very quickly overtime. LEDs don't have filaments, but rather use a semiconductor diode to produce light. These last up to 10 times longer than an incandescent filament; that's about 30,000 to 50,000 hours!
LED Strip Lights come in a variety of colours, but if you really want to get the party started then its well worth considering RGB LED. RGB LED opens up the options for lighting a business or home even further by giving you access to a full spectrum of colourful effects. They enable you to be very imaginative with your use of light and effortlessly create mood and ambience that will bring a room to life. You will most often find them used in commercial settings like bars, clubs, restaurants and other entertainment venues, but their flexible and compact design also makes them suitable for domestic use as well. Try using them in kitchens, living rooms and study spaces and you will be able to completely reinvent the appearance of a room. They are also great for special occasions such as Christmas and birthdays.
How to use RGB LED
RGB simply stands for Red, Green and Blue. The LEDs on the strip light blend these three colours at their source to recreate the entire colour spectrum. This gives you access to a massive range of colourful effects, including static colours and interchangeable colour sequences. You will find that most RGB LED strip lights come equipped with a remote controller and red-eye sensor which you can install between the transformer and strip light. The remote can be used to determine the colour of the strip light by varying the amount of Red, Green and Blue light that are mixed at the LEDs source. The remote will also allow you to manipulate variables such as the pattern, frequency and brightness of the LEDs or to programme the lights with preset patterns.
If you really want to create a spectacular display you might consider upgrading to a DMX controller. DMX is an industry standard for controlling stage effects and lighting, including smoke machines and spotlights. They can be programmed to control the frequency, brightness, colour and almost any other facet of an LED Strip Light.
Things to know
LED Strip Lights operate at a very low voltage. This means that instead of running straight off the mains they have to run through a 12 V transformer. This steps the voltage down from 240V to 12V and makes the lighting very safe to handle. Also pay attention to the specifications of the controller, which will let you know how many watts you can run. The wattage of a LED strip light is dictated by a number of variables including the size of the LEDs, number of LEDs per metre, the length of the strip light and the type of light they are producing. For example if you have a 100W controller and the performance of the RGB LED strip light is 5W per metre, then you will be able to connect 20m of strip light. If you want to connect more you will need an amplifier that will boost the signal of the controller. Amplifiers need to be powered by a separate transformer as the power capabilities of the controller are invariable.
Calculating the performance of an RGB LED is a little more complex than standard LED Strip Lights. There wattage usage is not constant and in fact varies depending on how they are programmed and how much of the Red, Green and Blue LED is being used. For example, if the LEDs are programmed to flicker on and off, while they are off they will not be using any power. As such, it is always worth calculating how much power the strip uses at maximum performance, which is usually when it is producing white light, and work from there. If the performance of the RGB LED strip light does exceed the performance of the controller the only thing that will happen is that the LEDs will become slightly dimmer as they are not receiving enough power.
Choosing the Correct Number of LED Downlights
While a single downlight can be used to create a focal point within a room, several or more downlights are needed to provide enough illumination to light an entire room. The question is, how many are needed?
The Pros and Cons of LED Lighting
The lighting industry landscape has been undergoing somewhat of a renaissance of late. The energy guzzling incandescent bulb, which has been around since the late nineteenth century,
Some Advantages of LED Strip Lights
LED Strip Lights offer a number of advantages over more traditional luminaires, such as incandescent, halogen and fluorescent.
