Whether it is for your kitchen, bedroom, or living room, adding LED strip lighting is a creative way to brighten areas of the room and add both subtle or bright colours. However, not everyone is well-versed in the ins and outs of LED strip lighting installation.
But not to worry - here at Vision Lighting, we have produced a useful guide on installing LED strip lights for your benefit. Providing you with the right tools, products, and knowledge, you will be skilled at LED strip lighting installation in no time.
For a perfect installation, you will need the following equipment:
- Cloth
- Scissors
- Measuring tape
- Ladder (optional - for ceilings or walls)
First, we’ll cover three important things to consider during the prep stage, before jumping into the final five steps for the installation itself.
Step 1: Measure the LED Area
First and foremost, you should measure the area that you wish to place the LED strip lights on, so that you have an idea of how long and how many LED strips you would need to cover the area. Most LED strips are available in a 5 metre long reel, but they can also be cut in the size that you want.
It is recommended that you avoid bumpy or uneven surfaces, instead going for smooth surfaces so that the LED strips can be easily installed, as this will result in a clean and even illumination. You should also consider finding places to hide the light strip such as under nooks and crannies, on top of cabinets, or other areas where light sources are not easily visible.
If you are planning on installing the light strip on top of the walls or ceilings, for your safety, please ensure that there is someone else assisting you with the LED strip lighting installation. The ladder must be sturdy and stable to prevent any accidents.
Don’t forget to write down the measurements so you’re able to refer back to them later on.
Step 2: Clean the LED Area
After measuring the area, wipe the surface with a wet cloth so that it is clean and rid of any dust or debris that can hinder the LED strip lighting installation.
Before moving on to the next step, you should make sure that the area is dry before attempting to install the LED strip lights.
At Vision Lighting, our LED light strips come with a self-adhesive backing. If you find that you have misplaced them, wish to move the LED strip lights, or your strip lights are not self-adhesive, you could simply purchase double-sided adhesive tape for easy application.
Step 3: Find the Right LED Strip Lights
LED strip lighting installation is made easy with Vision Lighting’s range of LED strip lights. Our strip lights come in a variety of colours that are fantastic for both domestic and commercial applications.
All our products have clearly stated Ingress Protection (IP) ratings, which shows that our LED strip lights are reliable and functional both in indoor and outdoor settings, even when it’s raining or a particularly humid environment.
Our prices start from £16.32 including VAT, making it an accessible and versatile lighting option - but which LED light strips might be the most ideal for your LED strip lighting installation?
White Light LEDs
Firstly, if you are looking for simple and subtle lighting, we provide white light and warm light LED strips that are excellent for creating a relaxing ambience. For instance, the TradeLED 24W 6000K Cool White LED strip is a cool white light LED strip that is appropriate for both indoor and outdoor use due to its IP67 rating.
Cool White
Cool white LEDs work extremely well in kitchens and bathrooms, especially against bold and bright colours, so if you plan to place a light strip under a pure white cabinet or even a blue painted wall, this LED strip is the one. This LED strip is also accompanied with a glue kit that allows you to cut, resize, and reinstall the strip light, making it perfect for DIYers and professionals alike.
Purchase Cool White LED Strips RGB LEDs
If you’re aiming for a more colourful aesthetic, skip white and take a pick from the red, green, and blue options available. All striking in their own right, the RGB range can be very effective for adapting the look, feel, and mood of any room.
Red LEDs
To amp up the ambience in a bedroom, we suggest the 24W 12V Red LED Strip that can be placed under the bed frame or behind the bed’s headboard. This red LED strip light is a fabulous addition to a bedroom for halo effects.
Some research has even suggested that red light can aid people’s sleep, as it can help produce or release melatonin, which is a sleep hormone. If you find yourself sometimes struggling to fall asleep, you may want to experiment with red LEDs to help ease your body into slumber.
Green LEDs
Another coloured lighting you may want to think about for better sleep is green lighting. For instance, the 24W 12V Green LED Strip is a 5 metre, green LED light strip that can be utilised in domestic and commercial spaces.
It is a colour that is easy on the eyes and associated with a myriad of things from nature to money to health to luck. In fact, green is a calming colour and has positive effects on thinking, which is why green LED light strips are great for the indoors and outdoors.
With this light strip’s IP67 rating, you can place it outside for dynamic outdoor lighting, or inside as mood lighting.
Blue LEDs
Meanwhile, blue lighting was discovered to also impact the brain, particularly improving focus and concentration. As a result, you may benefit from installing the TradeLED Blue LED Strip Light in rooms like a study room or a home office.
Although blue light can be troublesome when attempting to sleep, which is why it’s not recommended to use your phone before bed, blue light can actually have positive effects during the day – you may find yourself more alert and less fatigued in blue light settings.
This 5-metre reel is also cuttable every 50 millimetres, with an IP67 rating and adhesive backing, making LED light strip installation easy.
Introducing Our RGBW LED Range
At Vision Lighting, we’re now proud to offer our new RGBW LED strip (Red, Green, Blue, and Cool White). For choosing the right IP rating, you’ll have two choices:
- IP20 - for indoor use
- IP65 - for outdoor use
With the RGBW strip, you get great colour versatility. Even if you want just a single colour, you can connect the red, green, or blue cable to the driver - together with the power cable for the strip - and only that colour will light up.
Or, you can have full colour-changing controls to get pinks, oranges, or turquoise - basically, what ever you like, the choice is yours. The addition of white also allows for even more 'pastel'-like, muted colours to be created. When the white is turned off, the strip returns to a more vivid version of the selected colour.
Power Supply
The ideal power supply for your LED strip lighting installation depends on the total length of LED strips you use, as well as the voltage and wattage of your LED light strips. You can identify the voltage as the (number)V figure and the wattage as the (number)W figure that are commonly stated on the LED strip packaging or product details.
For example, the TradeLED Blue LED strip light requires 12V and uses 24W - meaning 12 voltage and 24 wattage. The power supply must have enough power for your LED strips to work, so it’s always a good idea to check for compatibility and that the voltage of the power supply matches the voltage of the LED strip.
To avoid voltage drop, you may want to consider investing in higher voltage items.
LED Light Strip Profiles
An optional purchase is our LED light strip profiles for a seamless LED lighting effect. They can be mounted to house LED strip lights to protect them from any damage or abrasion, effectively hiding them from view as well.
For those planning LED strip lighting installation on walls or ceilings, LED light strip profiles are one of the finest ways you can enclose the LED strips as a shield and also to create a crisp and even lighting result.
Steps 4-8: LED Strip Lighting Installation
As mentioned previously, every Vision Lighting LED strip light product has an adhesive backing which results in a quick and easy LED strip lighting installation. Thus, for a simple and quick LED strip lighting installation process, follow these steps:
- Align the LED strip on the surface.
- Once you have confirmed that you’re happy with the placement, you can peel the backing.
- Next, place the strip against the surface in the position you want and secure it by pressing and holding it to the surface for at least 10 or more seconds to ensure that it has properly adhered to the area.
- Repeat this process across the whole length of the LED strip that you are planning to use.
- Connect the end into the driver if the strip lights didn’t come with a jack and simply plug the driver into your power source.
There you have it - LED strip lighting installation made easy.
Connecting LED Strips
If the area you want to cover is a particularly large one that requires more than one reel of LED strips, you may be wondering how these can be connected. It’s actually quite simple - using connector clips and LED strip connectors. These are also great for fitting the strips around corners using two connector clips and a corner connector.
The connector pins must match the width of the light strip - either 8mm, 10mm, or 12mm - as well as the pins on the LED strip - either 2 pin, 3 pin, 4 pin or 5 pin. Please make sure that these match, otherwise the connectors would be futile.
Soldering
A more laborious but effective way of connecting LED strips during LED strip lighting installation is to solder the strips together. This is not a task for a beginner DIY hobbyist as you definitely need the right experience, equipment, and skill for a soldering project. If you do possess these and want to improve the efficiency of your LED strips, then soldering may be a better alternative for you.
After soldering the strips together, we do recommend putting a heat shrink over any exposed wires to act as protection and minimise risks of electric shock. Make sure to heat the shrink on low heat so that it is secured and not overheated or accidentally burned.
LED Strip Lights at Vision Lighting
Vision Lighting is a leading supplier of high-quality LED strip lights, incorporating superior LED technology and thorough research, so you can rest assured that you will get the best LED products on the market. We are a UKAS-accredited ISO 9001 company, proving that our products are of outstanding quality, safe for use, and incredibly reliable.
We are dedicated to continuously improving our products and processes and are committed to offering first-rate and cutting-edge lighting solutions including LED lights and sign lights. We provide an array of collection and delivery options, including next-day and weekend delivery services. And, if you accidentally bought the wrong product, don’t worry - Vision Lighting has a 14-day returns policy from receipt of product dispatch.
If you would like any further information on our products or have enquiries about LED strip light installation, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us at +44 (0) 1132 799745 or by email at info@vision-lighting.co.uk. We endeavour to reply to your message or questions as soon as possible, and will do our best to support and accommodate any requests.