LED strip lights are becoming increasingly popular in a variety of settings. Many people enjoy the modern look and feel that they create, as well as the fact that they are relatively easy to install. This article will detail how to wire various types of LED strips, including single color, tunable white, RGB, RGBW, RGBCCT, and addressable LED strips.

To better understand how to wire, we need to learn about voltage drop and parallel connection first.

Voltage drop

The LED strip voltage drop means that the PCB and wires will draw voltage, causing the part of the LED strip near the power supply to be brighter than the end. The brightness inconsistency caused by the voltage drop is something we need to avoid.

We can avoid the voltage drop problem by connecting multiple LED strips to the power supply in parallel rather than serially. 

Alternatively, we can use ultra-long constant current LED strips.
For more information on voltage drop, please read What is LED strip voltage drop?

Parallel connection

The most common way to avoid voltage drop problems is to connect multiple LED strips in parallel to a power supply, controller, or amplifier.

Another way is to connect both ends of the LED  strip to the same power source, controller, or amplifier.

Be sure NOT to connect multiple strips in series to a power supply, controller, or amplifier.

PWM amplifier

All LED controllers output a PWM signal. If an LED controller does not output enough power, a PWM amplifier can increase the PWM power, thus allowing the LED controller to drive a sufficient number of LED strips.

How to wire single color LED strip lights

The single color or mono  LED strip light is the simplest. It only has two wires and can only emit light of a specific color.

Wring single color LED strip lights with non dimmable LED drivers

The most common is a single-color LED strip connected to a non-dimmable power source with no controller.

Please note that the power of the total LED strip lights should not exceed 80% of the power supply power, which is the principle of 80% of the power supply power.

Wring single color LED strip lights with dimmable LED drivers

Sometimes, we need to adjust the brightness of the LED strip. So we need to connect the single-color LED strip with the dimmable power supply.

The most common dimming methods are 0-10V, Triac, and DALI.

0-10V dimmable LED driver connection diagram

Triac dimmable LED driver connection diagram

DALI dimmable LED driver connection diagram

Wring single color LED strip lights with LED controllers

In addition, the single-color LED strip light can also be connected to the controller to adjust the brightness.

Without PWM amplifier

When you connect a small number of LED strips with an LED controller, an LED amplifier is not necessary.

With PWM amplifier

For large lighting projects, many LED strips are required. LED amplifiers are needed when many LED strips are connected to the controller.

Wring single color LED strip lights with DMX512 decoder

How to wire tunable white LED strip lights

Tunable white LED strip light, also called CCT adjustable LED strip light, usually has three wires and two different color temperature  LEDs. You can adjust the brightness of two different CCT LEDs to change the mixed CCT.

Wring tunable white LED strip lights with dimmable LED drivers

In most cases, dimmable power supplies can only be used to adjust the brightness of single-color LED strips.

However, DALI adds the DT8 protocol to support tunable white, RGB, RGBW, and RGBCCT LED strip lights.

DALI  DT8 tunable white LED driver

Wring tunable white LED strip lights with LED controllers

Only a tunable white LED controller is required for a small number of adjustable color temperature LED strips. If the number is large, then a PWM amplifier is needed.

Without PWM amplifier

With PWM amplifier

Wring tunable white LED strip lights with DMX512 decoder

Generally, there is no dedicated DMX512 decoder (2 channels output) for adjustable color temperature LED strips.

But we can use the 3-channel or 4-channel output DMX512 decoder to control the adjustable color temperature LED strip.

Two wires tunable white LED strip lights

There is also a 2-wire adjustable color temperature LED strip.

There is also a 2-wire adjustable color temperature LED strip. The 2-wire color temperature LED strip can be made narrower for some narrow places.

For more details, please click here.

2-wire tunable LED strip requires the unique tunable white LED controller.

How to wire RGB LED strip lights

RGB LED strip has four wires, which are common anode, R, G, and B.

RGB LED strips are mainly used with LED controllers but can also be used with DALI DT8 dimmable drivers.

Wring RGB LED strip lights with dimmable LED drivers

DALI  DT8 RGB LED driver

Wring RGB LED strip lights with LED controllers

Without PWM amplifier

With PWM amplifier

Wring RGB LED strip lights with DMX512 decoder

How to wire RGBW LED strip lights

Wring RGBW LED strip lights with dimmable LED drivers

DALI  DT8 RGBW LED driver

Wring RGBW LED strip lights with LED controllers

Without PWM amplifier

With PWM amplifier

Wring RGBW LED strip lights with DMX512 decoder

How to wire RGBCCT LED strip lights

Wring RGBW LED strip lights with dimmable LED drivers

DALI  DT8 RGBW LED driver

Wring RGBW LED strip lights with LED controllers

Without PWM amplifier

With PWM amplifier

Wring RGBW LED strip lights with DMX512 decoder

How to wire addressable LED strip lights

Individual addressable led strip, also called digital led strip, pixel led strip, magic led strip, or dream color led strip, is a led strip with control ICs that allow you to control individual LEDs or groups of LEDs. You can control a specific part of the led strip, which is why it is called ‘addressable’. 
For more information, you can read The Ultimate Guide To Addressable LED Strip.

How to wire SPI addressable LED strip lights

The Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) is a synchronous serial communication interface specification used for short-distance communication, primarily in embedded systems. The interface was developed by Motorola in the mid-1980s and has become a de facto standard. Typical applications include Secure Digital cards and liquid crystal displays.

The SPI addressable led strip is an LED strip that receives SPI signals directly, and changes the color and brightness of the light according to the signal.

SPI addressable LED strip lights with data channel only

SPI addressable LED strip lights with data and clock channels

SPI addressable LED strip lights with data and backup data channels

How to wire DMX512 addressable LED strip lights

The DMX512 addressable led strip is an LED strip that receives DMX512 signals directly, without a DMX512 decoder, and changes the color and brightness of the light according to the signal.

Before using the DMX512 addressable LED strip, you need to set the DMX512 address to the LED strip, and this operation only needs to be done once.

You can download the dmx512 led strip wiring diagram PDF version.

FAQs

Conclusion

I believe that after reading this article, you already have an understanding of how to wire different kinds of LED strip lights.

LEDYi manufactures high-quality LED strips and LED neon flex. All of our products go through high-tech laboratories to ensure the utmost quality. Besides, we offer customizable options on our LED strips and neon flex. So, for premium LED strip and LED neon flex, contact LEDYi ASAP!