LED strip (tape) lights for several cabinets

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Stevenfyeager

Senior Member
Location
United States, Indiana
Occupation
electrical contractor
A customer wants LED strip lights inside of kitchen cabinets having glass doors. One problem is there are some 4 foot to 8 foot gaps between some cabinets. One brand (Utilitech) has some connectors but they are only 5 inches long. I called the company and no extra or longer ones are available. How can I connect strips, tape, through the whole kitchen so they all operate from one switch, or one remote? Thank you.
 
I've seen the connector leads soldered and heat-shrinked to class 2 cable which is run back to the led power supply(it's). The switch is on the 120v side of the power supply.
 
Solder directly to the pads on the LED tape. Extend with CL2 cable as necessary (this assumes it is low voltage tape, and not some of the wonky 120V tape that's out there). You can heatshrink the connection if you wish, but it's not really necessary.

The shop I work for builds light boxes, and we use (literally) several miles of LED tape per year for various projects. All we do is solder to the tape; it's faster, cleaner looking, and the connectors have never held up well over time in our experience.

Use a good ELECTRONICS GRADE rosin core solder and a high quality (preferably temp-controlled) soldering iron. Clean your tip with a wet sponge regularly. Tin the pads on the tape, tin the end of the wires, and tack-solder the wire to the tape. Practice on some scrap tape until you feel comfortable; it's easy to ruin the pads with too much heat. 18ga wire is about the largest size you can successfully solder to the tape. We usually use leaders of 20ga, and transition to 18ga (or larger for voltage drop compensation) right next to the tape using "Eurostrip" terminal blocks.


SceneryDriver
 
Coppersmith said:
I've had very bad luck trying to solder them. Just cut the connectors in two and connect some light gauge wire with small wirenuts. Works great. I use thermostat wire.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Southwire-50-ft-18-2-Brown-Solid-CU-Thermostat-Wire-64162140/204862204

P.S. All Utilitech products I've ever tried are garbage. Any other brand would be better.
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The customer liked the many colors options of the Utilitech. But I noticed the patch cords have 5 wires, it would be a job to cut and splice these to lengthen them. Another post above said I should stay away from Utilitech. Any other brand with color options that is easy to extend joining cord lengths? Thank you
 
171222-1421 EST

Why connect the strips in series? That cascades the internal supply buses in series increasing voltage drop, and power dissipation in the preceding strips.

Just run separate distribution wires to each strip with these paralleled at the power source (driver).

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Stevenfyeager said:
The customer liked the many colors options of the Utilitech. But I noticed the patch cords have 5 wires, it would be a job to cut and splice these to lengthen them. Another post above said I should stay away from Utilitech. Any other brand with color options that is easy to extend joining cord lengths? Thank you
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All multicolor LEDs are going to have more than two wires. Try this:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Southwire-250-ft-18-5-Brown-Solid-CU-Thermostat-Wire-64169644/202316418


Take a look at this brand. I have used it on several projects and it's very high quality. Costs more than the cheap stuff but saves a ton on labor.

http://www.armacostlighting.com/store/
 
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