Led tape lights, drivers and connectors

[Heaveho]

I'm in the process of refurbishing a bathroom The very last thing to be done tomorrow will be finishing the fitting of an LED strip light along the top of a large mirror that I had cut to size and fitted earlier today. The strip is already temporarily up there and just needs a permanent fix inside the diffuser to sit along the join where the mirror meets the ceiling. I've cut about a third of the strip off, as it was 6m and I only needed 2m.

Is there any way I can use the same driver to connect and use some of the remaining light strip elsewhere. As it stands, all I have left is 4m of lights, with no tails, so I'd need to find a way to attach the tails to the uncut end of the LEDs, and I have no facility for soldering, meaning a crimped joint. I can see from googling that it's possible in theory, and if I can make that connection work, I also can't see why I couldn't use the same driver and just add the extra connections to that rather than buy a whole new kit. However, it's not something I've tried before, Anyone help?

This is what I have now.....





This is the driver supplying the lights.....



Showing the existing tails exiting the driver. If I can connect tails to the left over LEDs, can I just double up from this supply? I can't think of a reason why not.

[JoshSm]

Yes you can add extra from the same driver if it's still within the supply limit. The idea is fine.

Soldering irons are cheap & simple so easiest to just buy one instead of messing with other options. Just don't cook it too much.

[Heaveho]

JoshSm said:

Yes you can add extra from the same driver if it's still within the supply limit. The idea is fine.

Soldering irons are cheap & simple so easiest to just buy one instead of messing with other options. Just don't cook it too much.

Thank you, exactly what I was hoping to hear, cheers.

[Rob.]

You'll need to find the watt/metre draw of the LED strip. Might be tight to run 6m from a 30w supply.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Rob. said:

You'll need to find the watt/metre draw of the LED strip. Might be tight to run 6m from a 30w supply.

Agreed. And it’s always best not to run a power supply at or close to its rated limit, for the sake of its longevity.

There’s a good chance that 6m of LED strip will put a 30W power supply very close to its limit, or exceed it. Power supplies are not expensive; buy a replacement one - preferably double the necessary wattage if you can.

On the subject of crimping versus soldering, there is a third option: Wago connectors. They are by far the quickest and easiest way of connecting things up, can be disconnected and reconnected as many times as you like so they’re ideal for prototyping your design. And when you’re finished prototyping, there’s no need to change anything - Wagos are perfectly okay for permanent installation so you can just leave it as-is. Their only downside is they’re a bit bulky if space is tight. If you can’t hide the Wagos then replace them with crimps once you’re happy with everything, and throw the Wagos back in your toolbox to be reused on a future project.

[Heaveho]

Sorry, I know I said in the op it was a 6m LED strip, but having had a better look it's 5m that came in the kit with that driver. All I'm doing is ( hopefully ) running it as two shorter strips instead of one length, and in total I'll be using less than 3.5m