Designers teach you how to choose light strips

In modern home life, many people are not satisfied with the decoration style of a single main light. They also install some light strips to increase the comfort and warmth of the room. The light strips are easy to install and can be flexibly used in various spaces to create different styles. home environment.

So how should you choose a light strip? From the perspective of a lighting designer, this article sorts out several important reference factors for selecting light strips to help you choose a suitable and satisfactory light strip.

Light color of light strip

What color of light the light strip emits is naturally the first thing to consider.

The light color of the lamp strip is mainly determined according to the decoration style and tone of the home. The commonly used ones in the home are 3000K warm light and 4000K neutral light. The light color is comfortable and the light output effect is warm.

The brightness of the light strip

The brightness of the light strip depends on two points:

Number of LED beads in one unit (same type of lamp beads)

The more LED beads in the same unit, the higher the brightness. In order to avoid uneven light emission due to uneven surface of the lamp strip, which is what we often call "particle light" and "wavy light", the denser the lamp bead particles are, the more uniform the relative light emission will be.

Wattage of lamp beads

If the number of LED beads in a unit is the same, it can also be judged based on the wattage. The one with a higher wattage will be brighter.

The light should be even

The brightness between lamp beads must be consistent, which is related to the quality of the LED lamp beads. Usually we make a quick judgment: observe with our eyes. At night, turn on the power and observe the brightness of the light strip, and observe whether the brightness of adjacent lamp beads is consistent.

The brightness at the beginning and end of the light strip must be consistent, which is related to the voltage drop of the LED light strip. LED light strips need to be driven by a power supply to emit light. This situation will occur if the light strip wires do not carry enough current. In actual use, it is recommended that the entire light strip does not exceed 50m.

Length of light strip

Light strips have a unit number, and they need to be purchased according to an integral multiple of the number of units. Most light strips have a unit number of 0.5m or 1m. What if the required number of meters is not a multiple of the number of units? Buy a light strip that is highly cuttable, such as one that can be cut every 5.5cm, so you can better control the length of the light strip.

Light strip chip

LED is a device that operates with a stable current. Therefore, the main culprit of conventional high-voltage lamp strips causing lamp bead burnout is the lack of a constant current control module, which allows the LED to operate under valley-type fluctuating voltage. The instability of the mains power will further increase the burden on the LED. , which in turn causes conventional high-voltage light strips to be prone to malfunctions such as dead lights. Therefore, a good light strip must have good chip stable current.

Installation of light strips

Installation location

Different positions of the light strips will greatly affect the light output.

Take the most common ceiling hidden lights (partial suspended ceiling/light trough hidden lights) as an example. There are two most common methods: one is to install it on the inner wall of the light trough, and the other is to install it in the center of the light trough.

The two lighting effects are completely different. The former's light output is even and gradual, and the light looks more natural, soft, and textured, with an obvious "no light" feeling; and the light-emitting surface is large, and the visual effect is brighter. The latter is a more traditional approach, which will have an obvious light cutoff and the light will not look so natural.

Install card slot

Because the light strip is relatively soft, it may not be straight when installed directly. If the installation is not straight, the edges of the light output will be bumpy, which will be very ugly. Therefore, it is best to buy PVC or aluminum slots to fix and straighten the light strips, which will produce much better light effects.