[Closed] LED strips from ebay

Until it burns out 3 LEDS at a time. We tried it and was great for a start now completely dead.

Can't comment on the tape. Remember that even with LEDs light output depends on the watts. I'm happy with the 8W LED striplight I got from Ebay a few months ago. £14.99. You can link them if you need a longer run. No idea how that sort of price compares with Ikea.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371260520579

Looks good but 8W sounds like a lot for close quarters, 10w is enough for our whole living room!

Blazin saddles - what transformer did you use? Could it be that it was the wrong kind?

Also - what wattage per metre, and how bright was it before it failed...?

The ones I used were advertised as being IP rated so I ran a 5m length along the tile-capped garden wall we have. As per Blazin-Saddles they gave up very quickly.....

It's a proper LED driver, albeit a very cheap one so could be that killing them I suppose but haven't really been bothered to experiment again at moment.

I see they are also available from 'reputable' suppliers with proper websites and all - including Maplin and Screwfix.

What wattage per metre did you get? I'm wondering if the comonest 4.8W/m is enough for worktop lights?

I've got a couple of sets, seem fine. The tape doesn't like bending round corners and the self-stickiness is crap but it's held in place fine with cable clips. Improvement on the old crap under-shelf lights that they replaced.

From memory mine were approx 5w/m and were plenty bright. you need to stick to straight runs as noted above they don't do corners well, I used Isoprop on the cupboards before fitting and they have stuck fine.

And they were ebay jobs?

I'm thinking of paying a bit more for some support and a guarantee of sorts.

Yes, as an experiment. I'd prob go for the ones on offer at LEDhut next time as at least they have a warranty of sorts and tbh not that much more expensive.

I've just kitted out our conservatory with a 5m roll (60LEDs per m, cut in half to two 2.5m strips) and alu 'housing' with a diffuser cover.

REALLY impressed TBH.

Lovely broad splay of light, and lights up the whole area (3m x 2m) brilliantly.

All came from LED hut using their online calculator thing for thetransformer.
Can do pictures if you want?

DrP

It seems that they don't have constant current drivers like bike lights do, so the voltage of the supply is what drives them. So you need accurate voltage, and you need to know what current is being drawn apparently.

Someone like LEDhut should be able to recommend a suitable driver, hopefully. Thanks folks.

DrP - yes, interested in the housing, thanks.

I was thinking of simply sticking them under the cabinets out of sight, and splitting two runs with a bit of wire inbetween. But that might result in a lot of voltage drop from one end to the other I fear.

Depends how far they are I suppose, you can cut them easily and they have pads to solder link wires onto or use the connector strips available now.

I was thinking of simply sticking them under the cabinets out of sight

If doing this, then I wouldn't fret about housing them as they won't be seen.
Mine are like 'tiny 2.5m fluorescent lamps' on display, stuck to the roof of the conservatory. Hence I wanted a nice finish on them.

They are pretty cool lighting sources - I'd love to have a little 'indent' in the top of the wall in our lounge, hide a strip all around, and have funky lighting with these strips!

Will do pics when I get home...
..though the photo with the LEDs off will look like this:
[img] /revision/latest?cb=20150317090032[/img]

DrP

Oh yes, mine were cheap ebay things, with a remote control though I just wired in a switch (so the transformer wasn't left powered up all the time). Don't really see how more expensive ones would work any better, but maybe I was lucky.