Looking for a way to connect LED strip to 18 AWG wire neatly

connectorsled

I'm installing a LED strip(2pin) lighting in our staircase.
There's an 18 AWG wire coming out from each tread nosing that is attached to the LED strip a couple inches away from it.

The problem I'm having is with hiding this 18 AWG wire – it's quite thick, so it doesn't really stick well to the nosing (tried gluing it).

Any advice on best practices to hide the wire leading into LED strips for installations like this?

The wire coming in to LED strip itself doesn't have to be that thick, in fact standard connectors have 22AWG wire that I think would be much easier to glue and hide from view.

I was thinking perhaps the 18AWG wire coming out of the tread could be terminated right there with a connector to which a thinner wire could plug into and lead to the strip. Any advice on what type of connectors could work best for such a solution? I need to make a 90 degree turn from incoming wire there – had hard time finding a corner connector for that.

Best Answer

That led strip only needs a small wire - I would have a hidden connector box under the stairs and a short section of hidden thin wire to the led - even make a cover for each end.

Related Solutions

Lighting – How to connect the LED strip lights

Usually you use the two outmost connection points for +/- 12VDC on the strip ... and usually + and - leads are marked by printed labels on the strips at each seperation mark.

For connection from power supply to the strip you either use the premounted socket (if any is mounted at the end of the strip) or you solder the cables coming from the transformer / DC source onto the connection pads.

With the shopping list of your OP I would do the following wiring

            +-------------+              +-------------+                +---------.
           ~|             |+ ---------- +|  in     out |+ ------------ +|
 110/220VAC |  Mains/12V  |    12VDC     |   Dimmer    |   12VDC PWM    |  Strip  ....
           ~|  converter  |- ---------- -|             |- ------------ -|
            +-------------+              +-------------+                +---------.

The power rating of your ACDC converter is a function of the length of LED strip you want to use. If I am not mistaken - a single tripple of LEDs (the smallest separable unit) takes 60mA ... so all 300 LEDs (100 sections) would require as much a 6000 mA (6A)

The current limit of the dimmer is 12A which is fine for the whole strip.

If you are using more than -say- half of the strip I would consider more than 1 feed point to avoid voltage drops along the strip.

Electrical – How to attach 10 AWG wire to LED strip lights

Use a pigtail from the 10AWG wire to the strip light connector:

(this is just a representative image, not sure if these will fit your strip lights)

Just use wire-nuts to connect the 10AWG wires to the wires that go to the strip light connectors. Or solder and tape them.

If you have strip light connectors that aren't pre-wired, then create short jumpers with suitably sized wire to plug into the connector.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Lighting – How to connect the LED strip lights

Electrical – How to attach 10 AWG wire to LED strip lights

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