Buying a Power Source on your LED Strip Lights

If you are buying LED Strip Lights don’t forget your power supply. LED Strip Lights count on a peripheral unit called a power supply, also referred to as a transformer or driver, which is required to make them work.

Power supplies come in many shapes and sizes, ranging from very basic ‘plug and play’ units to commercial style transformers which can be hardwired into your mains supply ecopac led driver. You will even hear these power supplies referred to as ‘transformers.’ This is because along with powering the LED Strip Lights these units are made to ‘transform’ the mains 230V AC to a low voltage 12V DC therefore making the supply applicable to the strip lights.

There are always a few considerations you will need to produce when it comes to selecting the type of power you need.

Firstly, do you wish to manage to plug right into a wall socket, or have you been about to hardwire your LED Strip Lights right into a light switch?

If the answer to the former question is ‘yes’ then you will demand a standard ‘plug and play’ driver. This is the most elementary supply available and allows quick and easy setup for standard domestic applications with a wall plug power source. The whole unit includes a black transformer, a kettle-lead with a standard UK mains 3-prong plug and a 12V male connector which attaches to the LED Strip with a corresponding female connector. The whole unit closely resembles a lap top charger and is all about 2 metres in length.

For more technical applications or where there is no wall plug available an alternative mains power is available. Instead of a kettle lead these supplies feature a length of mains wire which can be wired directly as much as the mains supply.

Along with choosing the type of power, you will even need to ascertain the size of it. These supplies come in varying sizes, ranging anywhere from a low 20watts to many times this figure. These figures described the maximum ‘load’ that the supply can manage. The ‘load’ of your LED Strip Lights is calculated by taking the wattage per metre and multiplying it by how many metres you are using. For example, if the wattage per metre is 7.2W and you are using 10 metres, then the whole load is 72watts. It is very important to ensure that this load does not exceed the maximum load in your supply, otherwise you’ll experience performance issues together with your strip lights, such as for example voltage drop, and reduce the life span of your lights.