LED light strips

[DeeDubz]

Anyone use LED light strips in their garage? How do you use them? pictures? I have 100ft of light strips... not sure what im going to do with them.

 

[gearhead1]

My neighbor put some on the bottom of his rafters but the ones he got aren’t very good and don’t put out much light.

If they put out light, I’d use them.

 

[wasfuzz]

I see someone is selling them to be placed on the inside of your garage door so when open you have plenty of light.

 

[rburke65]

I bought a plastic sign...no frame or lighting, and I made a frame and used the LED strip to light the sign from behind.

 

[OldracerJones]

I put them on the ramps of my 4 post lift to light the underside of the chassis will working.

 

[Jinks]

I have cabinets over my bench. I put a strip of LED lights under the cabinets. LED fixtures light the garage/shop, & the strips brighten the bench area. After becoming used to the bench lights anytime I fail to turn them on the entire place seems dingy.

 

[Glemon]

I have some in my living room, they are more for mood lighting than work lighting unless right over the works ng surface such as under cabinet. Most are 12 or 24 volts DC so you need a converter power supply.

 

[couch67]

I have cabinets over my bench. I put a strip of LED lights under the cabinets. LED fixtures light the garage/shop, & the strips brighten the bench area. After becoming used to the bench lights anytime I fail to turn them on the entire place seems dingy.

I did the same, they are great for task lighting and dont have to light up the whole shop for a small bench job. They are usually measured in LED's per meter, I believe the ones I used under the cabs are 120 / m.

 

[My Old Tools]

I use them to light builtin cabinets.

 

[PhantomEB]

I am switching out my crappy ones for Christmas rope lighting. Just got to measure out what lengths will work with my application, under cupboard lighting in pure white.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Stupid question but how much voltage do LED strips use? And how do you cut them/attach them to a power source? Any pictures?

 

[LeonardY]

Stupid question but how much voltage do LED strips use? And how do you cut them/attach them to a power source? Any pictures?

They are low voltage. 12VDC. you operate them with a wall wort. The strips usually have a location where they can be cut. I cut them with a sharp utility scissors. There are crimp connections or you can solder directly to the pads.

Just an example of all the types they carry.
https://www.homedepot.com/b/Lightin...ge info} nr:{led strip}:nr qu:{led strips}:qu

 

[esvee]

They are low voltage. 12VDC. you operate them with a wall wort. The strips usually have a location where they can be cut. I cut them with a sharp utility scissors. There are crimp connections or you can solder directly to the pads.

Just an example of all the types they carry.
https://www.homedepot.com/b/Lightin...ge info} nr:{led strip}:nr qu:{led strips}:qu

Worth noting that depending on the strip and power supply, there is a limit to the length you can use without re-injecting power.

If you plug a long strip into a power supply and just take voltage readings down the strip you'll see the voltage getting lower and low, dimming the LEDs or turning them off entirely. For extra long lengths you can just feed in power along the way - soldering to pads down the strip where voltage drop begins.

If it happens to lose power halfway through your length - you can just provide power on either end.

 

[manwithtools]

Stupid question but how much voltage do LED strips use? And how do you cut them/attach them to a power source? Any pictures?

Dan,
Take a look here for great product selection and different mounting / powering options: https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/led-strips-and-bars/

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks guys!

Would there be any way to make them easily motion activated? Maybe something that you plug it into that then plugs into the wall?

Also to LeonardY, What the hell is a "wall wort"?

 

[Jinks]

Thanks guys!

Would there be any way to make them easily motion activated? Maybe something that you plug it into that then plugs into the wall?

Also to LeonardY, What the hell is a "wall wort"?

"Wall Wort": A plug in transformer that plugs into a wall outlet to provide power to an accessory. Leaves a "wort" on your wall.......

manwithtools has the place to find what you need for LED strips & power supplies, but get the part numbers there, then search the net. You'll find better prices in lots of other places.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks Jinks!!

 

[manwithtools]

I think it should have been "wall wart", as in it eaves a "wart" on your wall.

Wort is the liquid extracted from the mashing process during the brewing of beer or whisky. Wort contains the sugars, the most important being maltose and maltotriose, that will be fermented by the brewing yeast to produce alcohol. Props to Wikipedia

And BTW, Jinks is right, cheaper places than Super Bright LED's, but they have a great selection and make the process easy.

 

[Chevy-SS]

I put them on the ramps of my 4 post lift to light the underside of the chassis will working.

How did this work out? You gotta pic, by any chance? I always need more light when working on my 4-poster.

Thanks

 

[stanleyoutdoors]

I put some in above my bench. They make a lot of light for the money and effort but the color is weird and unpleasant. I replaced them with a LED shoplight from Harbor Freight. Much better.

Bottom line- don't do it

 

[Jinks]

I put some in above my bench. They make a lot of light for the money and effort but the color is weird and unpleasant. I replaced them with a LED shoplight from Harbor Freight. Much better.

Bottom line- don't do it

Again, take a look at SuperBrightLED. A little study & knowledge about light temperatures (kelvin) will let you pick the color you find pleasant, & the intensity from either number of LED's per inch or voltage.

 

[LeonardY]

I think it should have been "wall wart", as in it eaves a "wart" on your wall.

Yup. I looked at the spelling and thought, "That's not right."
But spell check didn't flag it. How could a computer be wrong?

 

[manwithtools]

Yup. I looked at the spelling and thought, "That's not right."
But spell check didn't flag it. How could a computer be wrong?

Too funny, I corrected your spelling of "wart" only to type "eaves" instead of "leaves" which spell check didn't catch either

Damn computer...

 

[Bert_]

I put some in above my bench. They make a lot of light for the money and effort but the color is weird and unpleasant. I replaced them with a LED shoplight from Harbor Freight. Much better.

Bottom line- don't do it

Depends on what you buy I guess. For under cabinet lighting in kitchens I pretty much exclusively use led tape lights.

I get a brand called "diode led" from my electrical supplier. I have been more than happy with them and so have my customers.

 

[Swanny1953]

Here's a pic from another thread where I posted about running LED strip lights along the inner edge of my 4-post lift runners. Puts out lots of light, and very easy to install.

Used 1/2” wide magnetic tape and Armacost LED tape lights to mount lights along the inside of both rails on my 4-post lift. Used sticky side of magnetic tape to the sticky side of the LED tape lights. The magnetic tape is a little wider than the LED tape lights, but shouldn’t be a problem.
Really adds a lot of light under the car.

 

[tros]

Mine are in the 2nd floor of the man cave they run30 feet on the ceiling about 6 feet apart just for mood lite.I can make them brighter or softer and they can change color we like bought them at super lite on line .

 

[kaymccampbell]

I made one 8' fixture, and a few 2' troffers, before they started coming out with reasonably priced LED retrofits n shop lights. I used up a bunch under cabinets and shelves to get the shadows off benches. And a few more to relamp a big broken free Ottlite. I still have a reel or two left.

 

[Citation]

I put some in above my bench. They make a lot of light for the money and effort but the color is weird and unpleasant. I replaced them with a LED shoplight from Harbor Freight. Much better.

Bottom line- don't do it

I've used a number of these light strips. Some have good color some don't.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

A PIR Motion Sensor will do the job.

WARNING: I'm afflicted with "Lame-Old-Dude-itis"

Looked them up on Amazon and I haven't a clue how they work
I have to assume they would plug into the LED strip in some way?

I just installed one of the below gizmos on the 4ft LED above my sink and it works great. I'd use one of these unless I could figure out these PIR things