Do you have different brands of led strip light leftover and you’re wondering if you can connect them together? This article you’re reading right now will answer that question for you.
Factors To Consider When Connecting Different Brand Led Strip Lights Together
1. Voltage
You can connect multiple brands of LED light strips together if they have the same voltage.
If you use power strips with different voltages, the result may be costly. Since each strip has its own voltage requirement, it won’t operate if you connect them to incompatible outlets. You risk destroying them if you do this—a waste of money.
There are two types of voltage when it comes to led strip lights, 12 volts, and 24 volts. The standard voltage is 12 volts but you need to check the voltage of your strip lights.
If they are 12 volts, you can connect them together with no problem but if they are 24 volts it needs to be connected to another strip light that’s also 24 volts.
If you do not consider this, you will burn your strip lights and potentially cause a fire. Although you can use a resistor to avoid this issue, it does not make sense to take the risk.
On top of that, the led strip light and PSU voltage have to match. For example, consider these 3 main ratings;
If your LED strip requires 5 VDC, your PSU must provide that amount of power which is 5. This same scenario applies to 12V and 24V led strip lights.
2. Polarity
You must also verify that the polarity of the connections is properly aligned. One brand of light strips may have the polarity connected differently than another. You want to ensure that all positive connectors are properly aligned and all negative connectors are properly aligned.
If you get this wrong, the strip light will not work and it may potentially damage your led lights by causing a short circuit which is another risk of potential fire hazard.
It’s worth noting that different LED strip lights brands can also be manufactured of various qualities. If you decide to connect different brand LED strips, you might find that one wears out faster or begins to dim more quickly.
So essentially, you can connect different brand LED strips together if they have the same voltage polarity and amperage (current). If these factors don’t match up, it could potentially damage the LED lights and cause a fire hazard.
3. Control Gear
Another important factor to consider when connecting different led strip lights together is control gear.
Different brands of LED light strips typically use different control gear, which means you can’t simply connect them altogether.
The control gear that comes with brand A may not work for brand B. For example, if you use an LED strip light dimmer switch that is designed for brand A on another brand of led light strip, it may cause the lights to flicker.
It’s important that you know the control gear that comes with your led strip lights. If you want to connect them together, ensure they have the same control gear as well as voltage, polarity, and amperage.
This will ensure your led strip lights work together properly without causing any issues or potential fire hazards.
4. Thermal Resistance
Next, you will need to consider the thermal resistance of your LED strip lights.
This is important because different brands use different materials to design their led light strips, resulting in varying thermal resistance.
Different brands use different materials to design their led strip lights, resulting in varying thermal resistance.
Thermal resistance is a measure of how quickly a material heats up. Some brands use materials with low thermal resistance, which means they heat up faster than other strips that have a high thermal resistance.
If you put the high resistance strip light next to a low thermal resistance strip, it can cause damage or even start a fire because of the difference in the rate of heat dissipation.
5. Order Of The RGB Channels
Finally, you need to consider the order of your RGB channels. RGB means the led strips have Red, Green, and Blue lights in them.
When you buy RGB led strip light kits they may come with a remote control that allows you to change the color of each individual led light.
With the Red, Green, Blue lights, you would be able to combine them to create other different lights such as purple, yellow, and orange.
While some brands will have their RGB order channels as BGR others will have theirs as GRB or even GBR.
If you connect different brand LED lights, this may cause your strip to flicker and become dimmer than it normally should be or simply not work at all.
It is best to ensure that your RGB channels are in the same order before connecting LED lights together. This will help you avoid any potential issues.
6. White Led Light vs RGB Strip Lights
Not all led strip lights produce white light and not all of them produce red, green, blue lights.
While some led strip lights are designed to produce only one light or white light, you would have others that are designed to produce a full spectrum of red, green, and blue lights.
If you connect led strip lights that only create a white light together with strip lights that produce red, green, and blue colors or led strips that are designed to do so you may cause the lights to behave erratically and flicker.
Make sure to match your led strip lighting according to the full spectrum of colors they provide, rather than just white light or only one color.
For example, an RGB LED strip uses 3 times more power than a white LED strip. So, using them together may affect the voltage, polarity, and amperage.
Connecting white LED strip lights with RGB led light strips, as mentioned before will cause the lights to flicker, dim excessively, or even burn out.
How Safe Is It To Connect Multiple Strip Lights?
As I might have already hinted, there are some safety issues that you need to consider when thinking about connecting multiple strip lights.
Here are some of the safety issues that could happen if you don’t connect different brand strip lights together properly:
- Damage To The LED Strips Lights
- Fire Hazards
- Cost
- Incorrect Operation
Let’s talk about these issues one by one.
Damage To The LED Strips Lights
In the worst-case scenario, you could damage or even destroy your led strip lights.
If you connect multiple strip light brands together and one of the led strips has a different power rating than another, it could cause your strip lights to burn out.
This means you would have to totally replace the burned-out strip lights with new ones and you will lose all of your time and money.
Fire Hazards
If you connect different brand-led strip lights together, it can cause a fire hazard in your home or office.
Different brands will use different materials and insulation for their led strips.
If you connect different led strip lights together, the insulating materials will be more likely to melt or burn.
This can cause a fire hazard. It is best to connect led strip lights together that are made by the same company or at least have similar insulating materials, so you avoid fire hazards.
Let’s say you have connected an RGB strip light with 30 volts of power to another that uses 12 volts of power.
If you connect these two together, it can cause your lights to burn out or start a fire because the power requirements are different.
Incorrect Operation
Connecting different strip lights together can cause your led strips to fail or malfunction in general.
Maybe you would see some flashing lights, maybe your strip light would flicker. But this is not the only issue that could happen to your led strip lighting.
For example, if you have a power supply that can provide enough current to run your led strip lights and suddenly you start adding more LED strips, it can cause your led strip lights to fail.
The power supply may not be able to provide enough current and the voltage of your LED strips may become unstable.
Cost
If you are thinking about connecting different brand-led strip lights together, it will not only cost more money but also time.
You may have to buy additional tools or simply replace your led strip lights if one of them malfunctions.
You may have to spend more money on a new power supply or on a new LED strip light that is designed to work with other brands.
It’s important to think about the consequences of connecting different brand-led strip lights together before you try it.
