Often, buying the ‘right’ lighting for your domestic or commercial needs depends on you already having a clear idea of what those needs are. However, the same doesn’t apply quite as strongly with LED strip lights, such is their versatility. So, what exactly are LED strip lights?
They are essentially LED emitters affixed in a row on a narrow and flexible circuit board, making it easy for you to hang and attach these lights almost anywhere you see fit. Perhaps you could line kitchen worktops with them, use them to backlight your TV or even shape them around objects?
These lights are easy to attach on account of their self-adhesive backing – but do you need to attach them all in the one piece in which you originally got them? Can you actually divide them into separate pieces beforehand, conveniently leaving at least one LED light on each one?
That’s a question this article will answer in detail in an attempt to help readers make an informed choice of electrical lighting to buy. Fortunately, for various purposes, from adding a pop of colour in a room to bathing large parts of it in warm white, the LED strips in our stock can indeed fit the bill.
Can I Cut LED Strip Lights?
The simple answer is yes – as long as you are sufficiently careful where exactly you cut them. Once you have sourced a reel of LED strip lights, you could quickly notice that, at regular intervals along the reel, there are straight or dotted black lines. The user can cut along the copper conductor which appears at cuttable intervals in between the strips' individual sections. This could appear every 50, 60 or 100mm or potentially at even more or less frequent intervals.
These are basically the lines you are supposed to cut along if you want to physically separate individual LED lights from the overall string of what you’ve been given. As there’s no circuitry under any of these lines, they make it easier for you to cut out the lights without damaging their circuitry.
As each LED strip is made up of multiple individual circuits, the manufacturer of the product is able to print lines between these circuits to indicate where exactly you are able to cut without compromising the electrical functionality of a circuit or, for that matter, the entire light strip. The reason for this is to ensure that any strip that is cut can be connected to power through soldering new wires to the end of the strip. It is also crucial to use the correct 12V or 24V power supply in the correct wattage for the length of strip being powered. You can work this out by multiplying the strips watts per metre by the length of the strip being powered.
However, while trimming an LED strip light reel correctly should be straightforward in theory, it can be surprisingly difficult in practice for many people to indeed get right. Therefore, you might want to take a few specific precautions before you do proceed with cutting any of these strips.
Things To Be Aware Of If You Do Decide To Cut LED Strip Lights
You should keep in mind that different LED strips aren’t uniform in exactly where the cutting lines are placed. Usually, those lines appear every three LEDs; so, on a strip comprising 30 LEDs per metre, for example, there is likely to be a 10cm gap between one cutting line and another.
Before you start trimming along a line, you should look to each side of it for copper solder pads forming a symmetrical-looking pattern. In identifying these copper pads, you can be even more certain that you have found the location of the cutting line.
You don’t strictly have to cut along every single cutting line on the strip, however. Key to the attractive functionality of these flex strips is being able to cut them to custom lengths so that you can get strips of the right length for whatever specific purposes you intend for these lights.
To discern what the ‘right length’ is in each case, just measure – as accurately as practically possible – where you want to place the lights. Then, choose the right cutting line to suit.
How To Cut The Lights
Before you do cut along any of the cutting lines, you should test the lights to check that they work. That way, if any of them stop working once you have started cutting, you will know that you have likely blundered somewhere rather than been sent a faulty strip.
Whereas the former is likely to void your warranty, the latter would leave the warranty intact and entitle you to return the product to get a replacement batch of LED strip lights. If any lighting product you have bought from us arrives defective, please consult our returns policy.
We advise that you cut precisely using a pair of scissors – ideally the sharpest you own – or a craft knife. The sharper the implement you use for cutting, the more easily you should be able to avoid inadvertently severing any part of an electrical circuit built into the reel.
LED Strip Lights From Vision Lighting
The option of cutting the LED strip lights from our range is far from the only thing that makes them eminently customisable. For example, these lights are available in many different colours, making it easier for you to generate the particular lighting effect you hope to achieve.
As all of these lights we provide are water-resistant and shielded from water ingress, you can safely use them even in areas where there tends to be an abundant amount of water – such as near sinks, shower units and bathtubs. We are also ISO 9001-certified, reflecting our longstanding dedication to supplying consistently high-quality LED strip lighting.
Though you should be wary of any bold claims about ‘colour psychology’, choosing LEDs of a specific colour could help you to strike a particular aesthetic vibe in your home or workplace. For example, white LED strip lights can bring a tinge of modernity to a vintage property while weaving blue LEDs with green LEDs could work well in an office occupied by a company using these hues for branding.
As you set up your LED lighting, you must make sure that they will receive just the right amount of voltage power; otherwise, the lighting could overheat or fail prematurely. We offer power supply adapters that fetch the standard mains supply power and convert its AC voltage to a lower DC current. Here is a beginner’s guide to the difference between AC and DC.
Don’t Hesitate To Contact Us For Further Advice
We keep our stock of LED strip lights varied to help ensure that, whatever mood, ambience or atmosphere any of our customers want to strike, we can help them to achieve this effect.
Nonetheless, we also know that you might need guidance on how to make the most of this lighting. This is why we have dedicated this article to how to cut LED lighting strips; we don’t want you to be held back in how far you can customise them.
Still, you might remain unsure how you can join together lights of differing colours, adjust the LED strip brightness or complement the lights by pairing them with other items. For advice on any of these matters, please phone us on 01132 799 745 or email info@vision-lighting.co.uk.