LED Strip Lighting Project–Part1

I’ve been thinking about buying some LED Strip lights for some time now and I finally decided to order some kits from eBay. You might want to consider Aliexpress as well. Most sellers are located in Hong Kong / China which is where I ordered mine from. The extremely helpful seller I used was called kaistore168 and she was able to do me a customised order and I bought additional items not listed on her auctions at pretty cheap prices. I ordered my LED Driver PSU’s from this seller delhanway2009.

I plan to use the waterproof 5050 2x 5M reels outside in the back garden / deck (with a RF Touch Remote on the wall near the back door). I also bought a cheaper 5M 3528 non-waterproof kit for use in doors, where I am going to put some LED lighting under the kick boards in the kitchen (using the second RF Touch Remote) and also behind my wall mounted HDTV in the living room (with the IR 44 Key Remote). I bought the IR remote control version for the living room so I could use my Logitech Harmony 895 to control the LED back-lighting behind the TV and even add it in to activities etc.

Below are the items I purchased:

5050 5M SMD 300 Leds Waterproof RGB LED Strip+ RF Wireless Touch Remote Controller System + Additional 5M Reel

Additional RF Wireless Touching Remote Controller For LED RGB Strip 12V/24V RGB Controller

5M 3528 300 LEDs Non-Waterproof LED Strip Light+44 Keys IR Remote Controller

DC 12V 15A 180W Switch Power Supply Driver Transformer For LED Strip Light 220V

To drive the 10M LED’s in the back garden / deck. 15Amps is enough to drive 15M of 5050 Led strips so I have a bit of overhead.

DC 12V 2A 24W Switching Power Supply Driver For LED Strip Light 220V Transformer

To drive the 2.5M 3528 LED’s in the kitchen under the kick boards.

UK DC 12V 2A Switching Power Supply adapter 100-240V AC

For use behind my HDTV in the living room, to drive 2.5M of 3528 LED’s.

I also found a UK LED specialist that supplies the silicone end caps needed for joining strips (creating right angles) outside. This video here shows how to fit them. You can buy right angled pieces off eBay but I didn’t see the point if you can solder your own wires. This same supplier also has the RGB 4 Core cable here.

I saw a really good article that explained the difference between 5050 and 3528 LED’s but I can’t find it now, so will just link to a Google search. Basically the LED’s are different sizes, brightness and power consumption etc. One thing to watch out for is make sure you are getting 300 LED’s per 5M and not 150 LED’s, if something looks too cheap then its probably 150 Led’s only.

Well I have to wait 10 days or so for delivery, lets hope everything arrives or this is going to be a real short series of posts.