The aluminum channels may help dissipate the heat from the LED strips, but for the most part they are not necessary for thermal management and are primarily for mounting and diffusion purposes.

Strip Lighting | Kitchen Strip Lights | Toolstation Under Cabinet Strip Lighting | Kitchen Strip Lights | Toolstation

Make sure that your power supply has enough power capacity to power the LED strips (detailed steps here). Every DC power supply will list its maximum rated current (in Amps) or power (in Watts). Determine the total power draw of the LED strip using the following formula:LED Quantity & Quality-The efficiency, quality and stability of light output is directly determined by the LED emitters. Look for LED strip lights that place stringent quality controls and specifications on the LED emitters, and watch out for LED strips that claim a high power despite a low LED count, as this can indicate overdriving the LED emitters, leading to premature failure. You may have correctly read elsewhere that LEDs need effective thermal management for reliable operation. Higher quality LED strip light products actually underdrive the LEDs, and are designed to last tens of thousands of hours without any heatsinking. During operation, the LED strip can get warm to the touch, but the temperature rise is far below the thermal limits of the LEDs and circuitboard components. (Our products typically exhibit temperature rises of 55 F or 30 C over ambient temperatures, without any heatsinking). Color rendering is a measure of how accurate colors appear under the light source. Under a low CRI LED strip, colors might appear distorted, washed out, or indistinguishable. High CRI LED products offer light that allows objects to appear the way they would under an ideal light source such as a halogen lamp, or natural daylight. Also look for a light source's R9 value, which provides further information about how red colors are rendered. Circuitboard Composition & Quality- For higher power LED strips, the quality and specification of the underlying circuitboard is paramount. Because high levels of electrical current must travel through each section, sufficient copper material is needed. Look for LED strips with a copper weight of at least 2 oz, and ideally 4 oz to ensure the circuitboard can handle the higher power - otherwise, you can become victim to voltage drop. There are two primary types of colored LED strip: fixed single color, and color changing. A fixed color LED strip emits just one color, and the operating principle is just like the white LED strips we discussed above. A color-changing LED strip consists of multiple color channels on a single LED strip. The most basic type will include red, green and blue channels (RGB), allowing you to dynamically mix the various color components on the fly to achieve virtually any color.

LED Strip Lights, Cool White 6000K, 300 LEDs, 2300lm Lepro 5M LED Strip Lights, Cool White 6000K, 300 LEDs, 2300lm

Choose between a wide range of wattages, lumens, and CRI options. All of our natural LED light strips are designed to offer a comfortable middle ground between other types of lighting. The natural white LEDs are not as cool in terms of colour temperature as our cool white LED strips (6000K) or as warm as our warm white LED strips (2000–3000K). Instead, their tone is carefully balanced at 4000K to sit neutrally in between the two. LED density is important in determining the distance between LEDs (pitch) and whether or not there will be visible hotspots and dark spots between the LED emitters. A higher density of 36 LEDs per foot (120 LEDs per meter) will typically provide the best, most evenly distributed lighting effect. LED emitters are the most expensive component of LED strip manufacturing, so be sure to account for LED density differences when comparing LED strip prices. The TP-Link Tapo Smart Lights can be scheduled and synced with other TP-Link devices and controlled via Alexa, Google Home or Apple HomeKit without the need for an additional hub.

LED strip brightness is typically described in lumens per foot (or meter). A good quality LED strip should provide at least 450 lumens per foot (1500 lumens per meter), which provides approximately the same amount of light output per foot as a traditional T8 fluorescent lamp. (E.g. 4-ft T8 fluorescent = 4-ft of LED strip = 1800 lumens).

LED Batten Lights | LED Battens | Screwfix LED Batten Lights | LED Battens | Screwfix

Despite their versatility and ease of use, LED strips are nonetheless bare circuitboard components. Mounting the LED strips inside of an aluminum channel, along with a diffuser cover, can significantly improve the aesthetics of a lighting installation. The LEDs themselves are super bright and punchy and once connected to the app can be set to your choice of 16 million different colours. Unlike some LED Strip lights, the Tapo light lets you display more than one colour at a time. There are a number of themes already built-in, or you can use the colour painting option to set up your own custom patterns. It even offers effects, including the ability to sync to music. For more neutral settings you can also precisely dial in the colour temperature of the white light to match it to the ambient lighting in the room.With their allocated cut points, these neutral white LED strip lights can be cut to size or connected to other lengths of LED strip. They're available in a variety of widths and lengths, allowing you to customise your display to suit your needs. Some will allow for dynamic control of white color temperature tuning or even both color temperature and RGB hues. Aluminum channels are typically long pieces of extruded aluminum in a U or V shape. The LED strip is them placed and secured (using the double sided tape) at the bottom of the channel. A long piece of frosted polycarbonate plastic (typically provided with the aluminum channel) then snaps onto the top of the aluminum channel.