LED strip and connecting to lighting circuit
Discussion
Hi
Can someone help with what I need as a solution for lighting above a cabinet.
As part of an extension I asked the electrician to leave me a cable, connected back to a switch on the wall, above a section small kitchen area as at the time I didn't know what I was going to be having in the area.
I have the cabinet now and want to run a small led strip at the back of it, on top of the cabinet, to just provide a little aesthetic glow.
My issue / question though is around how I connect it and if I need a transformer? As mentioned above, the cable you can see is part of a new lighting circuit which goes back to a switch on the wall so I want to use this.
If I want to use a led strip, so I can stick it to the back of the round cabinet and run it around the top half of the cabinet, do I need a transformer and if so is there such a thing as a tiny tiny one so that I could put on top of the cabinet and you wouldn't be able to see it (cabinet top is 2.3m high).
If I need a transformer does that just connect into the wires you can see?
Hopefully this makes sense.
Any help appreciated!
Can someone help with what I need as a solution for lighting above a cabinet.
As part of an extension I asked the electrician to leave me a cable, connected back to a switch on the wall, above a section small kitchen area as at the time I didn't know what I was going to be having in the area.
I have the cabinet now and want to run a small led strip at the back of it, on top of the cabinet, to just provide a little aesthetic glow.
My issue / question though is around how I connect it and if I need a transformer? As mentioned above, the cable you can see is part of a new lighting circuit which goes back to a switch on the wall so I want to use this.
If I want to use a led strip, so I can stick it to the back of the round cabinet and run it around the top half of the cabinet, do I need a transformer and if so is there such a thing as a tiny tiny one so that I could put on top of the cabinet and you wouldn't be able to see it (cabinet top is 2.3m high).
If I need a transformer does that just connect into the wires you can see?
Hopefully this makes sense.
Any help appreciated!
Whatever LED strip you buy, will need a voltage dropper, more commonly known as a "driver". Thsi might be a small box, or it might be one you plug in the wall.
Here is a random LED driver - small - what you want, (not necessarily THE one you want mind you)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lowenergie-50W-LED-Driver...
Mains wires go in one end. LED wires in the other.
You just need to know the voltage of your LED strip, and the maxx current. The wattage of the driver will dictate how bright they will go. Usually you buy a driver that can handle a bit more wattage than your strip can demand.
Here is a random LED driver - small - what you want, (not necessarily THE one you want mind you)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lowenergie-50W-LED-Driver...
Mains wires go in one end. LED wires in the other.
You just need to know the voltage of your LED strip, and the maxx current. The wattage of the driver will dictate how bright they will go. Usually you buy a driver that can handle a bit more wattage than your strip can demand.
As mentioned, need a LED driver. I had to use 3 in my installation, and also added RF dimmers to each set. The dimmer supplier took my video and published it at the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdV-_23tYYE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdV-_23tYYE
Rough101 said:
Given the way you are asking this question, get the electrician back, you don t have the skills, this is meant as advice, not as a dig.
This isn’t rocket science. How is anyone to learn new skills without trying? He is at least asking how it’s done.Once you’ve wired the ends of the mains cable into the mains side of the driver (the terminals will be clearly labelled so you can’t really do that wrong, it’s just like wiring a plug), then connect the plus and minus outputs (usually red and black) to the LED strip, the very worst that’ll happen is that you kill the LEDs with the wrong voltage. Nobody’s going to die.
If you buy the driver and the LED strip together from the same supplier, the web site you’re buying from will offer plenty of hints to match the two together. There are web sites that make the choice nice and easy.
It’ll probably be a case of matching the voltage, then working out the wattage of your strip - it should tell you how many Watts per metre - then pick the driver that’s a bit bigger than the wattage required. Maybe double if you think you might add more strip in future. But don’t go crazy - if you connect a very short LED strip to a high powered driver, the driver might be unhappy with the small load and the LEDs might flash.
The only other thing to keep in mind is that some LED strip must be mounted onto a heatsink strip, which can also be bought at the same time if necessary. But some strips don’t need the heatsink. Again, the web site you’re buying from should make this clear.
I did this a couple of years ago to run LED strip along the underside edges of the kitchen wall units, replacing old halogen downlighters. If I remember correctly mine was 24V, and didn’t need heatsink. The hardest part was scratching off the plastic coating over the tiny electrical contacts at the cut points on the strip, and all the connectors and 90° corners were really fiddly to attach. It just needed careful work with a sharp blade, and I did use my full vocabulary of swear words. Fiddly, but not technically difficult and not really requiring any electrical knowledge other than ensuring each section of strip is the right way round so you’re connecting plus to plus, minus to minus. The polarity matters with LEDs, unless the strip has the ability to flip the polarity.
If, as I did, you have more than one cable feeding different parts of the room from a single switch, you’ll need a driver for each cable and separate sections of LED strip. I recommend buying the exact same driver for each section, because the drivers I bought come on with a slight delay - fortunately they’re all exactly the same, but it would have been irritating if they all came on out of step with each other.
I then bought some wood strip, cut and glued it to the edges of the wall units so you don’t directly see the LEDs (even from Mrs Oxgreen’s eyeline!) - a lick of paint, and it doesn’t look too shoddy. Still working after a couple of years.
If a numpty like me can do it…

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