LED controllers – control of your LED lighting

The third part of your series on LED lighting and mostly LED striplights is about LED Controllers.
First part - LED striplights
Second part - LED adapters
Unlike the LED striplights and LED adapters, the LED controllers are not mandatory for your LED lighting system, but the modern LED controllers allow for beautiful lighting effects and it would be a pity if you don't use them.

Here are the three most popular controllers:

Dimmers - used mostly with the striplights which are only one color, and are for increasing and decreasing the light .
Ordinary RGB Controller- Used with the full colored RGB LED striplights, and according to the programs allows for various visual effects – color flow, blinking in different patterns, as well as the dimming function of the Dimmer – to increase and decrease of the light.
RGB Music Controller – It has the functions of the ordinary RGB controller, but it also can change the light color according to the music playing. This controller can produce the effects of professional disco club lighting.
When purchasing a dimmer or controller for more than 5m of LED striplighting it is important to check how many meters can the model of your choice control. Most LED controllers can work with about 10m of LED striplight . If you are planning to control more than 10 m you will need to add an amplifier which will allow you to add another 10 meters. If the striplight is even longer, another amplifier needs to be added.

Choice of LED adapters - LED power supply

LED Power Supply - Price List
This is the second article from the series for practical advice for choice and installation of LED lighting at home.

LED adapters (LED power supply)- After you have chosen the right LED striplight for your needs, it is important to choose the right LED adapter for it. Usually the LED adapter is marked according to its amperage (in Ampers). Most commonly, the adapters are marked according to their amperage, and the striplights in watts, and this is often confusing. In order to quickly calculate what type of adapter is suitable for your striplights , you must multiply the ampers x 12 and the result is the adapter's power in watts (W).

Here are several examples:

LED adapter 2A x 12= 24W
LED adapter 5A x 12= 60W
LED adapter 10A x 12= 120W


Here is a tavle with the typical consumption of the different types of LED striplights

LED striplights with 30 diodes type SMD3528 consume 2.4w per 1 meter
LED striplights with 60 diodes type SMD3528 consume 4.8w per 1 meter
LED striplights with 30 diodes type SMD5050 consume 7.2w per 1 meter
LED striplights with 60 diodes type SMD5050 consume 14.4w per 1 meter


You should always choose a power adapter with minimum 10-20% more power, because this will allow you to add other light products to it, and also this decreases their working temperature and thus increases their life. For example, if the LED striplight, which you have chosen has a power of 95watts, you can use a LED adapter of 8.5amps which equals 100 watts, but it is better to choose a more powerful adapter of 10 amps which equals 120 watts.

Usually, the LED adapters are with a metal or plastic body. The metal ones are usually used for hidden installation in the walls or other such construction, and the plastic ones in places where dampness might occur. They should never be placed in water or be placed under direct water flow. When choosing an adapter be sure to choose the 12v type, because even though other voltages are rarely offered any other adapter may damage your LED lighting.

The next article is about LED Controllers

LED strip lights

Recently, not only technicians but ordinary customers have shown a preference FOR the modern LED lighting, which is why we have been receiving an increasing number of e-mail messages with questions about the practical side of choosing, connecting and installing the new LED lighting product. This is why we have prepared a number of articles with the basics on how to manage to connect and install your own LED lighting.

This first article is about the various types of LED striplights and their characteristics.

Choosing LED striplights
Currently, there are mainly 2 types of striplights on the market. The difference is in the diode type used for their production.

Types of LED strip lights :

- LED Stip SMD3528 These LED strip lights produced with the SDM3528 diode are the cheaper type. These light diodes have a lower power and thus the light is weaker. The LED striplights of the SMD36528 type can't change their colors, like the SMD5050 diode models
The most popular colors of the SMD 3528 strip lights are: white , warm white , red, green, blue and yellow
- LED Stip SMD5050 More expensive and thus better, the LED strip lights with SMD5050 diodes, are more powerful and emit stronger light, and these diodes can be used in strip lights which change their color, like the so-called RGB LED strip lights
Both types of LED strip lights can be produced in damp proof variants, which is under the form of a silicone covering of the diodes, which prevents dampness to destroy them, but still, you should never place them in water.

Also, the two types of LED strip lights can be produced with different numbers of diodes per meter (30, 60 and 120) which also affects the power of the light emitted and also the price of the products.
The other important thing you should keep in mind, is that the LED strip lights are usually sold in original packing of 5m, which shouldn't bother you because you can cut the strip light to serve your personal needs. Cutting the strip light should be done according to the marking on the product itself (a small scissors symbol is marked at every three diodes.
LED Strip lights Price List
The next article is Choosing LED adapters - LED power supply

The emergence of the new LED lighting

In the past year, the new LED lighting has become the leading type in many spheres of the interior and outdoor lighting. The LED lighting products which are most preferred are:
- LED Spotlights for interior lighting, they have almost fully replaced the halogen and energy saving lamps, which has led to a dramatic decrease of their prices. Today, you can buy a LED spotlight for £6-12 as compared to the prices of £12-24 a year ago.
- LED flexible striplights – the modern LED lighting has become the leading type in the interior lighting of bars, disco clubs and in outdoor advertising boards and this naturally has led to a fall of prices of the beautiful flexible striplights. Today, you can buy a fully colored LED striplight for under £6 per meter. Last year the price was £10 per meter.
The new LED lighting cannot fully interchange the energy saving lamps for several spheres though:
- LED street lighting – even though the prices of the low consumption LED street lights have fallen ( from about £500 last year to £250 now), they are still much more expensive than the most preferred energy saving lamps which cost about £40
- LED home lighting - in this niche too, even though the prices have dropped to half of what they cost last year, the LED household lamps are still far from the cheap energy saving CFL ones. Apart from the high price, the main reason for this, is that there aren't LED alternatives to the popular energy saving 60 watt lamps, and also, LED lamps with warm white light are rarely sold, and this is the preferred home light.

If this tendency continues, our expectations are that in a year, the modern LED lighting will be competitive to the now-preferred street lighting and household lighting products, and in maybe a couple of years will become leaders on the market. It is possible that this becomes the tendency even sooner, if the aggressive campaign of LED producers against the energy saving lamps continues.