What transformer do I need for the installation of my LED strips?

1 What transformer do I need for the installation of my LED strips?

Perhaps this is the million -person question for anyone, whether professional or particular, who wants to perform a LED strips installation. Due to the large number of models that exist, for most customers it is very difficult to choose the strip model that fits their needs as the transformer they need for them.

2 What types of LED strips exist?

The first of all is to be clear what type of LED strip you want to install. For this we will categorize them based on the type of light that is capable of supplying the LED strip:

• Monochor: As its name indicates they are strips that are only able to supply only one color temperature (warm, natural or cold) or a color (red, green, blue, yellow, etc). These types of strips are the most used since the facilities are simpler by not necessarily needing a controller such as other strips modalities.
• RGB: This type of RGB strips are those that within each chip have the possibility of offering eye, green and blue color. Hence RGB are called in honor of the acronym in English of the colors they offer (Red, Green and Blue). Through a controller, the user will be able to obtain secondary colors (yellow, pink, orange, etc.) that will be the result of the mixture of the three primary.
• CCT (Color temperature change): This type of strips offer us the possibility of obtaining all color temperature ranges, from warm white (3000 k) to cold target (6000 k). This is achieved because in the strip itself they include a chip destined for warm target and another to cold target. Due to the proportion in which these two chips are mixed, a color temperature or another always encompassed between 3000 and 6000 K will be obtained. For this, as in the RGB strips, a controller capable of managing all the changes is necessary.
• RGBW: This type of strips is very similar to the RGB strips, except that in between each RGB chip one is included corresponding to the target, whether warm, natural or cold. In this way inside the strip itself. As for RGB or CCT strips, a controller is necessary to manage what we want.

3 What parameters do we have to take into account to dimension our installation of LED strips?

When moving on to the dimensioning of a LED strips installation, three main facotres must be taken into account. These are.

• LED strip tension: Within the LED strips market we can distinguish two tensions of work, 12 or 24 V. The choice of a working voltage or another will allow us to carry out facilities for a greater amount of meters or less. The recommendations of the strip suppliers are maximum 10 meters in a row in 12 V facilities and 15 meters in 24 V facilities. It must be commented that they are recommendations of the supplier and that it will depend on the type of installation and the requirements of this that They can be installed more or less meters.
• Installation meters: Another factor and perhaps the most important of all, is the amount of meters we want to install. Depending on these, we will opt for a working tension or another.
• LED strip power: Perhaps of the three, it is the most important since in the end it is the one that will help us dimension the necessary transformer for the installation of LED strip. Whenever we acquire a LED strip the most important parameter that we have to take into account is consumption per meter (w/m).

4 What transformer do we choose for our LED strip installation?

Once we have chosen all the parameters of our LED strip, it is perhaps the step that is more afraid of everyone but that in turn is the simplest of all and is the one that will help us to make our installation work and that there is no no problem. How do we choose the transformer?

Case 1: Monocolor strip installation

To do this, we will put a practical example in which we will install 10 meters of a 12 V monocolor strip with a consumption of 14.4 w/m. Of all these data we have to stay with the consumption of the strip (14.4 w/m) and the meters of the installation (10 m). Therefore, to know the power of the necessary transformer we have to multiply these factors. Power = 14.4 w/m * 10 m = 144 W The installation of LED strip we have has a total power of 144 W, to which we have to add a security margin of 20-25%. So we will have to multiply this power by 1.2. Total power = power * 1.2 = 144 * 1.2 = 172.8 W Therefore, a transformer that can use us for this type of installation is a 200 W transformer with 12 V. Next, we have a diagram of What would be the connection of the installation that we have supposed in case 1.

 

As the case that we have sized is of a monochoring strip, in which a controller is mandatory, we have not supposed this case, so we are going to suppose an installation in which instead of a monocolor strip it is RGB (in which is mandatory a controller). This dimensioning is also applicable to CCT or RGBW strips.

Case 2: RGB strip installation

In this case, being also a 10 meter installation with a consumption of 14.4 w/m, the total power will be the same as in the previous case (172.8 W). In this type of facilities, a controller is mandatory that allows us to manage the different colors, it is an extra parameter that we have to dimension. In this case, the controller does not have to apply a safety margin since the weight of the entire installation will always be supported by the transformer. As we have a 144 W installation (without 144 W, the RGB controller that we must choose must be capable, at 12 V, to support this installed power. As in the previous case, we attach a scheme of what the LED strip installation of case 2 would be like.