LED Strip and Architectural Lighting

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LED Strip and Architectural Lighting

Drivers and voltage, colour temperature and CRI, installation and dimming

LED strip lighting transforms a room and is bought on appearance when the specifications determine whether it will look good or fail early.

Drivers and voltage

LED strip runs at low voltage, usually 12 or 24 volts, and needs a driver rated for the total wattage plus a margin of around twenty percent. An undersized driver runs hot and fails.

24 volt strip suffers less voltage drop over a long run, which is why a long run in 12 volt fades noticeably towards the far end. Feed long runs from both ends.

Density and output

Compare LEDs per metre and lumens per metre rather than watts. A higher density strip gives a continuous line of light rather than visible dots, which matters enormously in a diffuser.

Colour temperature and rendering

Around 2700K for living spaces, 3000K for kitchens and bathrooms. Keep it consistent within a room, since mixing warm and cool is why lighting frequently looks wrong.

A colour rendering index above 90 makes food, skin and materials look natural. Cheap strip with low CRI makes everything look slightly grey.

Aluminium profile and diffusers

A profile acts as a heatsink, which extends the life of the strip considerably, and a diffuser hides the individual LEDs. Both are what separate a professional result from a visible strip stuck under a shelf.

Installation

Clean the surface with isopropyl alcohol before using adhesive backing, which fails on dusty or textured surfaces. Cut only at the marked points, and plan where the driver will live with ventilation and access.

Any mains-side work should be done by a registered electrician, and in bathrooms the zone rules and IP ratings apply.

Where strip lighting works

Under kitchen cupboards onto the worktop, behind a television to reduce eye strain, under a handrail, and in a recessed ceiling detail. Aim it at a surface rather than at eyes.

Under-cupboard lighting is probably the single most useful task light in a house.

Smart control

Check the system works from a physical switch as well as an app, since anyone in the house needs to be able to turn a light on without an account.

Bathrooms and outdoors

Bathroom zones dictate the IP rating required at each position, and outdoor strip needs a properly rated product and enclosure. Neither is the place for indoor strip and a bit of tape.

Drivers must be positioned somewhere they can be reached for replacement and can ventilate.

Buy a little more strip than you measure, since corners and joins consume length.

Dimming

The driver must be dimmable and matched to the dimmer type, or you get visible flicker and audible buzzing.

WHERE TO BUY

Ready to shop Simple Lighting? Use the link below to visit the official store.

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