How to connect led strip to the power supply?

After receiving our led light strip and the power supply, many customers are puzzled about how to make these two parts work as one. To light up the led strip, you must supply power to it. All equipment that provides electrical energy to the light strip is collectively referred to as an LED power supply, some people also call it an LED driver because it drives the led strip to work. The power supply that can convert the voltage is called an LED transformer, such as converting a high-voltage 220V to a low-voltage 12V or 24V.

In order for you to better use the led strip light, we will take you to fully understand the knowledge between the light strip and the power supply and answer the questions that you get when you connect to the power supply. The following aspects need to be paid attention to if you want your led strip to run in the best condition.

What you need to know about led strip installation:

How to cut led strip lights?

How to connect two light strips together?

How to wire single color led strip lights?

How to wire tunable white/CCT led strip lights?

How to wire RGB color changing led strip lights?

How to wire RGBW led strips?

How to wire RGBCCT led strip lights?

How to wire addressable led strips?

Ensuring the working voltage and power first

Before you connect your led strip light to the power supply, you have to ensure the electrical compatibility between the light strip and the led driver power supply.

The output voltage of the led driver is generally 12VDC or 24VDC. The 12V led strip light needs to match the 12V led power supply, and so the 24V led strips. Note whether the input voltage of the led light power supply matches the AC power available in your country or region.

And the wattage of the led driver should be greater than the light strip’s, it is better to leave 20% power space to prevent the power supply from overheating and reducing the service life. For example, a 12V led strip light requires 60W, you should purchase a 72W power supply. This is called the rule 80%. You can use the led power supply calculator to calculate the power or choose the power calculation formula.

Plug-in power supply

Led strip with a female plug corresponds to the led driver with a male plug. 

1. Led strip with bare wires

If the strip light does not have a plug, purchase a matching plug separately to establish the connection.

2. Led strip no wires after the cut

How to connect the plug-in power supply after the led strip is cut? Connect the led strip to the power supply with a solderless cable connector or by welding a light strip female plug. 

The AC power plug can be directly inserted into the socket to supply power to the led light strip. It is convenient and suitable for small projects.

Related reading:

Can you cut led light strips? 

How to solder wires to led strips?

Lithium battery

The use of lithium batteries to power the led light strip does not require complicated wiring, and it is easy to carry around, very suitable for activities such as picnics and camping. 

Our 12V lithium battery can carry 36W to 720W of power. The greater the power, the stronger the endurance and the longer the working time of the light strip. 

Hardwired power supply

The hard-wired led power supply has certain requirements for operation. Once the wrong wire is connected, the led driver will not work normally.

How to hardwire led strip lights?

1.  Both the led light strip and the led power supply have bare wires.

Operation method:

Twist the two red wires together, then cover and tighten the wire nut. The same goes for the black line. 

Note that the red wire needs to be connected to the red wire, and the black wire is connected to the black wire. It is wrong to connect the red wire and the black wire together. Did you make this error?

2.  The led strip has bare wires, but the led light power supply has no wires and no plugs.

A screwdriver is required to operate the switching power supply. The screws of a new unused switching power supply are tightened. When connecting the led strip, it must be loosened before the connection can be started.

►Step 1. At this time you need a screwdriver to unscrew the screws on the led power supply.

►Step 2. Put the wires of the led strip into the corresponding screw holes.

The led strip power supply has marked the location of the wires you need to connect, and allows you to distinguish their functions.

Insert the positive wire of the light strip into the power output V+ screw hole, and the negative wire into the V- screw hole.

►Step 3. After inserting the wire into the screw hole, tighten the screw with a screwdriver, and then pull the wire by hand to see if the connection is firm.

►Step 4. Connect the AC power plug in the same way.

Can I connect multiple LED strips to the same LED power supply?

Yes, an led strip power supply can be connected with several led strips.

1.  Series connection

When you connect several led light strips in series, there will be a voltage drop, the brightness of the light strip at the end will decrease due to the long distance. As the voltage decreases, the color gradually changes from white at the beginning to yellow, then turns to red at the back, and then disappears.

If you find that this phenomenon occurs during the installation of your led strip, don't worry. The way to solve the voltage drop is to supply power at both ends of the light strip at the same time to ensure the consistency of brightness and color.

2.  Parallel connection

The uneven brightness of the led lights in the project is really annoying. Therefore, It is best to supply power to each light strip separately. These light strips can use the same led power supply or each light strip use a separate power supply.

The length of the bare wire of the led strip itself is relatively short. If you need to jump over obstacles or the led light power supply is far away from the strip light, the light strip extension cord is a good choice.