Should I get 30 or 60 LED/meter RGB Strip?

[tjflory]

Should I get 30 or 60 LED/meter 5050 RGB Strip? (12 V DC)

They would me used along the eves of my house.

Anybody know what amperage they actually pull? I see a lot of discrepancies... anywhere from 1.2 amps/meter to 1.76 amps per 5 meter roll.

Thanks!

tj

Edited August 4, 2012 by tjflory

[WilliamS]

This depends on the size of LED on the strip as well. You have to be careful as some will have the 3528 LEDs on them, and some wont be true RGB leds, rather it will be a red, a blue, and a green led on the strip You can end up with either the 5050 or the 3528 where they are seperated leds per color. Even if they are 5050 LED RGB 60 per meter the amperage may vary as the source wont always be accurate based on input and distance from controller. Average ive seen for a 5050 RGB 60 per meter is 1.2 to 1.4 amps per meter.

In my opinion, the 60 per meter are overkill. They will be overpoweringly bright. There was a discussion about this in January and most agreed the 30 per meter fit the bill for our lighting ideas. This is just my opinion though. As you may want a solid color of light instead of what looks like individual lights.

[spomalley]

60LED/PerMetre Strips are usually overkill for lining your gutters. They are extremely bright. Most of the videos that you see contain RGB strips would use 30LED/PerMetre strips.

[tjflory]

Thank You All!

tj

[Geoff Harvey]

Should I get 30 or 60 LED/meter 5050 RGB Strip? (12 V DC)

They would me used along the eves of my house.

Anybody know what amperage they actually pull? I see a lot of discrepancies... anywhere from 1.2 amps/meter to 1.76 amps per 5 meter roll.

Thanks!

tj

I use both 30 and 60 LED/m strip in my display, 30 L/m for visible outlines along the roof lines and 60 L/m (backward facing under the eaves) for wall wash. I believe the 30/m is more than adequate for outlines (same as CCR), but I used the higher density for the wall wash. I feel this effect worked very well. See my 2011 videos at

I measured the current draw on 12V 30 LED/m strip (as a 5m length from Ray Wu) at about 0.8 - 0.85A for each colour when powered from 1 end only, 1.5 - 1.55A for any 2 colours, and about 2.25A for white (ie all 3 colours). Note that on a 5m strip, powering from both ends will increase the current draw by 5-15% due to voltage drops along the strip. The current differences are more noticeable when running white or 2 colours, than for a single colour.

I chose a 60 LED/m strip rated at 24V to reduce the required current (and hence the voltage loss in the feeder wiring), It should operate at the same current as 12V, 30 LED/m strip). However the strip supplied operated better at a 21V supply when the currents were to those obtained with the 12V strip. Note that different makers of strip may result in different current draws at the nominal rated voltage. I believe that basing your design on 0.2Amps/metre/colour for 12V 30 LED/m 5050 LED strip should be safe and maybe conservative, ie 0.6A/m for white, (ie RGB all on).

Hope this helps

[scubado]

The 5050 30 led strips are plenty bright for any number of uses, plus won't need as much current as the 60led.

[tjflory]

I use both 30 and 60 LED/m strip in my display, 30 L/m for visible outlines along the roof lines and 60 L/m (backward facing under the eaves) for wall wash. I believe the 30/m is more than adequate for outlines (same as CCR), but I used the higher density for the wall wash. I feel this effect worked very well. See my 2011 videos at

I measured the current draw on 12V 30 LED/m strip (as a 5m length from Ray Wu) at about 0.8 - 0.85A for each colour when powered from 1 end only, 1.5 - 1.55A for any 2 colours, and about 2.25A for white (ie all 3 colours). Note that on a 5m strip, powering from both ends will increase the current draw by 5-15% due to voltage drops along the strip. The current differences are more noticeable when running white or 2 colours, than for a single colour.

I chose a 60 LED/m strip rated at 24V to reduce the required current (and hence the voltage loss in the feeder wiring), It should operate at the same current as 12V, 30 LED/m strip). However the strip supplied operated better at a 21V supply when the currents were to those obtained with the 12V strip. Note that different makers of strip may result in different current draws at the nominal rated voltage. I believe that basing your design on 0.2Amps/metre/colour for 12V 30 LED/m 5050 LED strip should be safe and maybe conservative, ie 0.6A/m for white, (ie RGB all on).

Hope this helps

OMG... your display is incredible!

Is there a house in there somewhere? LOL

Thanks from a Newbie!

tj