Device and technical characteristics of LED strips

When creating an LED strip, the main trick is to correctly connect the element base. The manufacturer chooses the components that provide the specified characteristics at the lowest cost. Competition leads to the formation of an average price, the manufacturer’s natural desire is not to fall into the lower segment, but to sell a cheaper product for the average price. The quality should not be too different from the analogs on the market. Today we consider the device and technical characteristics of LED lamps.

A little about

LEDs The ordinary consumer is able to assemble the LED strip. Standardly manufacturers put on three points of luminescence 1 resistor. Therefore, it is convenient to use the LED blocks to 3 V, limiting the current( according to the technical characteristics) with a resistor, and powering the design from the 12 V block dominating the market. Alternatives:

1. Use of industrial voltage. LEDs are full members of their family, they rectify the current. Based on this statement, assemblies are constructed that feed directly from the outlet. Example: we recruit pieces of 40 LED blocks, connected in parallel. On each falls 5 V. More accurate calculations are not required. To use both half-periods of a sine wave, we create a second branch parallel to the first, but we connect the LEDs in opposite directions. The second branch works in antiphase. Both are switched on alternately. Minus - at zero( in the graph node) all the LEDs go out. There is a blinking, indistinguishable by the eye, but acting on the psyche.
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2. Reliable LED lights, including ribbons, use their own power supply. The simplest is a smoothing capacitor built into the inside of an LED light bulb. The circuit that feeds the source is called the driver. It is built according to the diode bridge scheme, but the principles of voltage transmission are different. The rectified voltage feeds the high-frequency generator chip, which supplies power through a pulse transformer to the load. This principle is implemented by EKF. Schemes are used more simply, where the rectified voltage is filtered and fed to the LED elements. Realizing any principle, withstand voltage.

We discuss technical details because the owner is able to disassemble an LED light bulb and borrow a circuit from it. The last thing to do is to collect a source that supplies energy to the tape with hundreds or thousands of LEDs. We remind each driver is characterized by its own maximum load capacity. It is impossible to remove the surviving elements from a burnt-out LED light bulb and use it directly.

Do the following:

• extract the driver;
• selects to it the LED elements of the same voltage, which consume 5 to 10 times less power;
• connect all sources in parallel;
• set limit resistors.

The set of elements is possible in any order. Suppose we have 3 V LED arrays, the driver gives 50. We collect garlands of 15 - 16 arrays, set a limiting resistor. Then we check the final power. If there is no overrun, we hang two garlands in parallel.

Detailed explanations are given so that readers understand: there is no single design of LED strips, the number of sources is different. On the Internet, it is easy to find pictures showing the contents of the EKF lamp: more than two dozen LED arrays. It remains to expand them with tape. As for the driver, such chips can be fixed. Through online stores acquire any element base. It remains to collect the tape.

Composition of LED stripIt is a multi-layer track consisting of:

1. Underlay of insulating material. The outer side is covered with a layer of glue, covered with a special film. In this way, LED strip is mounted on the base. Even a pharmacy plaster can serve as a material - if we assemble the product with our own hands.
2. Internal printed wiring — tracks of conductive material hidden between the surface of a flexible printed circuit board and the backing.
3. Mounted components - resistors and LED arrays - are located outside. Triads are common - fragments consisting of 1 resistor per three LED arrays.
4. If the tape is three-colored, each color has its own power line( or ground).We get four contacts that complicate the wiring of the electrical circuit.

LED lighting in the interior

For ease of use, LED strip is marked in sections separated by a cut line. Two contact pads are applied along the line on both sides: +12 V and neutral wire. Thanks to this organization, the LED strip is cut into the required number of segments. Along with a single standard for power, this quality makes LED strips versatile.

Only passive elements are mounted inside the LED strip, that is, they convert electricity, but do not amplify the signal. Power supply sold separately. Structurally, brightness adjustment is provided. Tri-color LED strips allow you to get any shade of glow. Options are implemented using an AC power supply unit and an adapter with the required number of channels. If necessary, power from three garlands are used amplifiers, bringing the weakened signal to the desired level.

It is useful to know that not all light bulbs work with brightness adjustment( what the effect of getting shades is based on).Do not transfer such a circuit with the power supply from the master oscillator through a pulse transformer. Changing the voltage with a dimmer, we create a situation when the circuit becomes inoperative. Bulbs built on passive elements work, but in a limited range of adjustment.

When creating a driver, the following factors are taken into account:

• overvoltage acceptability on LED arrays;
• at too low a nominal light just goes out;
• adjustment is needed simple, so that the handle is spinning over a wide range.

Requirements are related to the accuracy of setting parameters. Example: dimmers for working with incandescent lamps through a variable resistor reduce the voltage to zero, to which the coil responds with a consistent change in the brightness of the glow. Drivers must respond adequately to changes. The luminous flux is ideally proportional to the current. But the real graph bends and runs lower due to heat losses, increasing with increasing current. WAH LED is nonlinear. For work, it is desirable to use a straight section, individual for each element base. Therefore, the same dimmer or driver is not suitable for different schemes.

Adapters for LED strips

An adapter is an active unit that consumes energy to convert voltage according to colors, and the efficiency of LEDs depends on the color of the radiation.

The efficiency parameter of lighting devices is measured in lm / W and shows which luminous flux is formed in one way or another. Example: the efficiency of green LEDs is 93 lm / W; at a consumption of 10 W they will give a flux equivalent to 90 W incandescent light bulbs. This means that at the same voltage the current does not appear the same, and the light output depends on many factors. Therefore, the adapter produces three types of voltage( or earth) with different conditions:

1. Voltage providing the desired intensity of three colors.
2. The design contains equalizing resistors, by varying the resistance of which the transmitted current varies.

Tape with an

adapter In this case, the parameters are selected according to the color of the products - this determines their effectiveness. Usually RGB( red, green, blue) color scheme is used, but this is not the only option; there is a CMYK decomposition scheme using cyan, red and yellow colors.

Parameters of LED strips

Parameters are similar to those of a light bulb, excluding the type of base: LED arrays are fused to a pair of conductors.

1. Energy Saving LED Strip reaches 90%.Take note if you intend to collect light-music. An additional plus is the low power consumption of LED strips, the design elements are not heated.
2. Numerous colors. The desired shade is created using special lenses or a specific selection of the element base. That is, the design optimization possibilities are unlimited. LED tape pick up on the desired parameters. Minus - the complexity of the design will cost a round amount of money. Remote with adapter will cost 10,000 rubles.and above( for comparison, 1 meter of the simplest tape costs 35 rubles).
3. Dimensions( dimensions) of LED strips are easily typed using a predetermined pattern. The branches are chained or switched on in parallel, taking into account the total power consumption of LED strips.

And a few words about the appointment of LED strips. Why are they? For a spectacular backlight. Applied in combination with motley decorated with stretch ceilings. Disadvantages of LED strips have not yet been found. LED strips are cheap, economical, durable( up to 50,000 hours).The mating equipment fails in which the shortcomings are concentrated: high cost, inconvenience of installation and placement, low fault tolerance. The ribbons themselves are invisible, miniature and bright( a small tablet gives a luminous flux of thousands of lm).