Jamtastic3 Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Ello.Quick question. What type of cable am I looking for when it comes to joining sections of 12v LED tape? Does it have a name or generic gauge size? Preferably looking for the 4 core, RGBB stuff but with a sheath (white). Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam2 Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Depends on the current and how long a cable is used.For moderate cable runs and no more than about 1 amp I usually use speaker flex for 2 core or alarm cable for multi core. For longer runs or several amps I would use heavy duty 1.5mm speaker flex for 2 core, and 1.5mm 4 core speaker flex for RGB. For very long runs, the voltage drop should be calculated but that is probably OTT for small jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lampygirl Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 if its just joining sections together locally, I use thishttp://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/CA0dot75F4slash50.html?source=adwords&kw=&gclid=CIfdgNmr87kCFTGWtAodhBgAiw or similar from other suppliers. heavier duty cables for longer runs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 If this is flexible led strip, be wary of daisy chaining lengths. Unless one actually knows the current carrying capability of the flexible pcb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamtastic3 Posted October 1, 2013 Author Share Posted October 1, 2013 The strip I'm doing is only a 5 metre piece cut up for a distance of 8 metres. SMD 5050 LED's. I think the whole strip is only around 35w at full. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 5m is fine, as that is the length they come in. Last time I did this I used 0.75mm single core for the power and 0.5mm for the data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigclive Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Anyone using large quantities of LED tape from a single power supply should really consider using sub fused circuits or smaller power supplies and RGB amplifiers (isolated buffers). Not an issue with just a 5m strip, but I do see a lot of lesser "LED experts" installing huge runs of LED tape either cascaded end to end or fanned out with thin cable from a power supply that is rated in tens of Amps and totally capable of causing a fire in the event of a short on the low voltage side or a smouldering inline mini connector. There's probably quite a lot of LED colour changing tape that includes physical crunchy black in its repertoire due to the amount of current it's passing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 This was the basis of my eyebrow raising. In addition to voltage drop and overheating, one needs to consider ground bounce due to excessive impedance in the negative power wiring, and that dropped voltage compromising the data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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