Ultimate guide on buying best LED strip lights in 2023

author: Ivan Huang

2023-02-27

LED strip lights are a must-have product for home decor. When you do research on what LED strips to buy, you may find it complicated. This article introduces how to buy the best LED strips for your project. Hope it helps you in some way.

What’s led strip light?

Led strip light are also called led tape or led ribbon, which are mainly ribbon luminous products made by welding LED lamp beads to the flexible PCB board. There are single-color, double-color, RGB, RGBW and RGBWW, etc., can be used for decorative lighting or even commercial lighting.

9 Key Points on Buying LED Strip Lights

Types of LED Strips

The LED Strips category is a broad category that includes all different types of LED strip lights. Depending on how you plan to use the LED strips, you may need one type over the other.

For example, IP65 LED flex strips are better suited for outdoor and wet areas as they have a protective covering that makes them waterproof.

Here are some popular led strip light for your reference:

Addressable led strip light / RGB CCT led strip light

RGBW led strip light / RGB led strip light

High Brightness led strip light / COB led strip light

DMX512 LED Strip Light / LED Neon Light

Brightness of led strip

Lumen is the measurement of brightness as perceived to the human eye. Because of incandescent lighting, we are all accustomed to using watts to measure the brightness of light. Today, we use lumen. Lumen is the most important variable when choosing which LED strip light you need to look at. When comparing lumen output from strip to strip, note that there are different ways of saying the same thing.

The questions you should be asking is “Lumens per what? Per foot, meter, or reel? How long is the reel?”

Different projects require a certain amount of brightness to achieve a desired look. Our advice is to always go brighter than required and add a dimmer. Running your LEDs below their full power and brightness can also increase lifespan.

Use	Lumens Required Per Foot
Accent Lighting and Mood Lighting	150 to 350
Under-cabinet lighting	175 to 525
Task lighting near source	280 to 450
Task lighting far from source	500 to 1000
Indirect lighting	375 to 575
Signs	500 to 950

CCT of led strip

Color temperature is something very different from the color of an LED light. Temperature indicates how ‘warm’ or ‘cold’ the light appears. Temperature is rated in Kelvin with higher Kelvin representing cool colors and lower Kelvin representing warmer colors.

Quick guide of suitable CCT for your application:

Temperature Kelvin	Light Color	Applications
5000K-6000K	Daylight	bathrooms, basements, study room, security lighting, hospitals, factories, and workshops
3500K-4100K	Cool White	Bathrooms, Garages, offices, lobbies, schools, garages, and the kitchen
2700K-3000K	Soft White	Bedrooms, Living Rooms, lounges, cafes, bars, and restaurants

For more information on CCT, you can refer to

2700K vs 3000K vs 4000K vs 5000K vs 6500K, which one is better?

CRI of the led strip

Color Rendering Index (CRI) is a way to measure a light source's distinctive attributes. It is an assessment of how the light source shows object colors "naturally" when compared to a familiar basis of reference, either incandescent light or daylight.

Here is the reference for you:

CRI	CRI level	More explanation
95 - 100	Phenomenal color rendering	Colors appear as they should, subtle tones pop out and are accented, skin tones look beautiful, art comes alive, backsplashes and paint shows it's true beautiful full saturation. You have to see it to believe it!
90 - 95	Great color rendering!	Almost all colors 'pop' and are easily distinguishable. Noticeably great lighting starts at a CRI of 90.
80 - 90	Good color rendering	You may not see items as fully saturated as you would like, but most people will not notice.
<80	Poor color rendering.	Items and colors may look desaturated, drab, and at times unidentifiable.

LED count of led strip

LED count refers to the total number of LEDs that are mounted on an LED strip light product, typically per 5 meter reel. LED density, on the other hand, is typically defined as an LED quantity per meter or foot. Both are simple numbers that will eventually tell you how many LEDs you are actually going to get per unit length.

Common LED densities are 30/60/120 LEDs per meter (9/18/36 LEDs per foot). For a 5-meter reel, this corresponds to 150/300/600 LED count.

Waterproof function of the led strip

For different application, we need different IP rating led strip light. For example, if for indoor application, then we need IP20, if for outdoor application, then IP67 waterproof is better for your application.

Article: What’s the IP Ratings of the waterproof led strip lights?

Installation of the LED Strip Lights

Never buy LED strip lights without first considering how you will install them. If you are buying a flexible strip of LED lights with adhesive backing, then this may be as simple as sticking the lights where you want them to go and plugging them in. In other cases though, such as for complex installations where strips must be cut and programmed, the installation can get complicated. In regard to installation, always be sure to consider the following factors:

1) Required length of the strip/number of strips needed

2) Power and voltage requirements

3) Direction of the LEDs on the strip

4) Flexibility of the LED strip lights

5) Whether components such as connectors are needed

6) Whether the strip needs to be programmed

Dimmable function of the led strip

If you have an interest in experiencing variable light levels, you should keep your eye on the dimmable feature. The LED strip lights are dimmable, and the brightness of those ceiling LED strip lights can be adjusted. The dimmable feature is adjusted to the appropriate DC electrical signals.

Article: how to dim led strip with controller and power supply?

Certificate of the led strip

Brand certificates not only make sure the high quality of the light strip, but also guarantee that you will not get no troubles during your Custom Clearance process. So, please always choose a led strip light that has a certificate for your market.

For us Hanron lighting, we’ve got many certificates for our led strip light, such as ISO9001:2015, CB, ETL, CE, RoHS, Reach, etc. You can down original certificate here: Hanron Certificates

People also ask

1. Which is better, 12V or 24v LED strip?

The 24v strip suffers less voltage drop than the 12v type. While the usual length-limit for a 12v strip would be 5m (powered from one end), a 24v can be run further, maybe 7m powered from one end. So if you need longer runs, you would pick the 24v type.

2. Which LED strip light is brightest?

At present, the brightest LED strips on the market can achieve 5000lm/m. It adopts the design of 8LEDs/group, the light effect can reach 160-180lm/W, and the power can reach 30W/m. Of course, such a high power requires aluminum to cooperate with heat dissipation, otherwise, its light decay will be very high.

For more, please check What is the brightest LED Strip on the market?

3. How do I select a LED strip power supply?

Make sure the total wattage of your LED strip lighting is at least 20 percent less than the power supply's rated wattage. For example, if you have an LED strip light that requires 80 watts of power to run, you'll need a power supply that's rated for at least 96 watts.

4. Do LED strip use a lot of electricity?

Installed as your light source, LED strip lights guzzle less electricity to produce the same light output. The potential savings are very significant – LEDs draw up to 85% less electricity than conventional incandescent lighting, and around 18% less electricity than CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps).

Conclusion

Shopping for LED strip lights doesn’t have to be difficult, so long as you know what to look for. Most importantly, buyers will want to make sure they understand their options for installation, power demands, and colors. There are also many LED strip lights for specialized use, such as LEDs that are programmable.

For more information about LED Strip Lights and to inquire about your specific needs for any type of project, please call us Hanron Lighting.

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