LED lighting tape

[Fred Bloggs]

I am looking for such to put under kitchen cupboards to provide down light. I have looked on-line and there are loads of different sorts. I just want basic white light (soft) - with a spacing of lights on the tape of about 1 to 1.5 inches. Plus a transformer. Any good experiences or suggestions please?

[Tim Watts]

I've been testing 1m samples of these and their friends:

That particular one is insanely bright and available in a number of colour temperatures. Looks well made (the 24V version can be driven as a single 10m length with a single ended feed).

I would use 24V by default (solves volt drop/cable length problems).

They do RGBW and adjustable colour temperature ones too.

Aluminium profiles are available to neaten it up.

Or save yourself some effort and use these (which I did for my kitchen and shed respectively):

Very very bright and easy to link.

In the shed I have (mains):

Also insanely bright.

For all the 24V ones I use this series of PSU:

(Various wattages available).

Reasons:

• RS sell it so it's probably not going "down in flames" crap.

• Over-everything protection.

• Proper shielded and strain relief cable terminations - no dodgy pair of single insulated wires like some of the nasty PSUs.

[Fred Bloggs]

Excellent - many thanks

[John Rumm]

Yup did it with a tape from LED hut. Very pleased with the results. They do complete kits in various lengths with the PSU included - these are often cheaper than just the tape on its own.

In my case I did not bother using the supplied PSU since it was a plug in type. (I fitted an small LED driver into the adjacent cooker hood, and powered it from its own light switch. That way when you turn on its lights it also lights under the cupboards).

TLC also do a similar kit that is good (and again cheaper than the tape on its own).

Here is an example of the non waterproof kit being used for under lighting:

This one a waterproof kit used under the eves of a building to light the surrounding area:

[Fred Bloggs]

Excellent - many thanks.

[Tim Watts]

Also worth mentioning that there are 2 types of waterproof tape:

Tape in a tube (old style)

Tape with a micro coating all over (you have to scrape the contacts with a knife to remove this when making a connection). The link I posted is definitely the latter.

[John Rumm]

The TLC waterproof one is like tape with a clear rubbery top - perfectly smooth and finished in a radius so that in cross section the tape would look a bit like a D