Do you know how light strips are connected to power supplies, controllers, amplifiers, and dimmers when working together? What are the differences between different types of light strips and various drivers? Let’s take a look at the connection diagrams at Meiji Lighting.
Parallel Connections
The most common way to avoid voltage drop issues is to connect multiple LED strips in parallel with a power supply, controller, or amplifier.
Another way is to connect both ends of the LED strip to the same power supply, controller, or amplifier.
Make 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 the LED controller does not output enough power, a PWM amplifier can increase the PWM power, allowing the LED controller to drive a sufficient number of LED strips.
How to Wire a Single-Color LED Strip
A single-color or monochromatic LED strip is the simplest. It has only two wires and can only emit a specific color of light.
Single-Color LED Strips
Wiring a Single-Color LED Strip with a Non-Dimmable LED Driver
The most common is a single-color LED strip connected to a non-dimmable power supply without a controller.
Please note that the total power of the LED strip cannot exceed 80% of the power supply, that is, the principle of 80% power supply.
Wiring single-color LED strips with dimmable LED drivers
To adjust the brightness of a single-color LED strip, you need to connect it to a 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
Wiring of Single Color LED Strip with LED Controller
In addition, single color LED strip can also be connected to a controller to adjust the brightness.
Without PWM Amplifier
When you connect a small number of LED strips with an LED controller, you don’t need an LED amplifier.
With PWM amplifier
For large lighting projects, many LED strips are needed. When many LED strips are connected to the controller, an LED amplifier is needed.
Wiring of adjustable white light LED strip with DMX512 decoder
How to connect dimmable white LED strip
Tunable white LED strip, also called CCT adjustable LED strip, usually has three wires and two LEDs with different color temperatures. You can adjust the brightness of these two different CCT LEDs to change the mixed CCT.
Connecting a Dimmable White LED Strip and a Dimmable LED Driver
Most of the time, dimmable power supplies can only be used to dim single-color LED strips.However, DALI adds the DT8 protocol to support tunable white, RGB, RGBW, and RGBCCT LED strips.
DALI DT8 Tunable White LED Driver
Connecting a Tunable White LED Strip and an LED Controller
A small number of adjustable color temperature LED strips only require a tunable white LED controller. If the quantity is large, a PWM amplifier is required.
Without PWM amplifier
With PWM Amplifier
Wiring of adjustable white light LED strip with DMX512 decoder
Generally speaking, there is no dedicated DMX512 decoder (2-channel output) for adjustable color temperature LED strips. But we can use DMX512 decoder with 3-channel or 4-channel output to control adjustable color temperature LED strips.
Two-wire dimmable white LED strip
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 on 2-wire adjustable color temperature LED strips, click here.
2-wire adjustable LED strips require a unique adjustable white LED controller.
Two-wire dimming to warm LED strips
Dimming to warm LED strips are designed to mimic the behavior of incandescent lighting, where the color temperature becomes warmer as the light gets dimmed. This type of LED strip typically has two wires and automatically adjusts the color temperature as the brightness decreases.
Dimmable to Warm vs. Tunable White LED Strips
| Color Temperature Range | Automatically warms when dimmed (e.g., 3000K to 1800K) | Manually adjustable between two sets of CCT (e.g., 2700K to 6000K) |
| System | Simple dimming control using standard dimmers Requires | controller to adjust CCT |
| Wiring | Two wires | Typically three wires |
| Application | Great for creating a cozy, warm ambience | Suitable for dynamic lighting environments that require different CCTs |
On/Off Dimmable White LED Strips
On/Off Dimmable White LED Strips . Adjust the color temperature with the flick of a wall switch. This method is simple and does not require a controller or receiver. The strips are available in three color temperatures that change with each on/off cycle and return to warm white (6K) when off for more than 2700 seconds.
Note: The wall switch must be located between the LED power supply input wire and the high voltage AC mains.
How to connect RGB LED strips
RGB LED strips have four wires, common anode, R, G, B.
RGB LED strips are mainly used with LED controllers, but can also be used with DALI DT8 dimming drivers.
Wiring RGB LED strips with dimmable LED drivers
DALI DT8 RGB LED Drivers
connecting RGB LED strips with LED controllers
without PWM amplifier
with PWM amplifier
wiring RGB LED strips with DMX512 decoder
How to connect an RGBW LED strip
An RGBW LED strip has four color channels: red, green, blue, and white. This can produce both vibrant colors as well as pure white light, giving it more versatility than a standard RGB light strip.
wiring RGBW LED strips with dimmable LED drivers
DALI DT8 RGBW LED Drivers
wiring RGBW LED strips with LED controllers
Without PWM amplifier
With PWM amplifier
Wiring RGBW LED strips with DMX512 decoder
How to connect RGBCCT LED strips
Wiring with dimmable LED drivers RGBCCT LED Light Strip
An RGBCCT LED light strip includes red, green, blue, and dual white channels (cool white and warm white). This allows for full spectrum colors as well as adjustable color temperature, providing vibrant colors and customizable white lighting.
DALI DT8 RGBCCT LED Drivers
Wiring RGBCCT LED strip with LED controller
Without PWM amplifier
With PWM amplifier
Wiring RGBCCT LED strip with DMX512 decoder
How to wire an addressable LED strip
an individual addressable LED strip, also called a digital LED strip, pixel strip, magic strip, or fantasy color strip, is a strip with a control IC that allows you to control individual LEDs or groups of LEDs. You can control specific parts of an LED strip, which is why it is called “addressable”.
For more information, you can read The Products” Digital RGB LED Strips”.
How to Connect SPI Addressable LED Strips
The Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) is a synchronous serial communication interface specification for short-distance communication, mainly used 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 LCD displays.
SPI addressable strips are LED strips that receive SPI signals directly, changing the color and brightness of the light based on the signal.
SPI addressable led strip with data channel only
SPI addressable led strip with data and clock channel
SPI addressable led strip with data and backup data channel
How to connect DMX512 addressable led strip
This dmx512 addressable strip is an led strip that directly receives dmx512 signals, without the need for a dmx512 decoder, and changes the color and brightness of the lights according to the signal.
Before using DMX512 addressable led strips, you need to set the DMX512 address for the led strips, this only needs to be done once.
How to connect high voltage ac led strips
High voltage ac led strips are powered directly from the mains (usually 110V or 220V AC) without the need for an LED transformer. This type of led strip is ideal for long distances and large installations. For more information, you can read Low Voltage Vs. High Voltage LED Strips: When and Why to Choose?
