Buy pre-wired LEDs, don't do the dyi/Superbrightleds.com thing

[Svenn]

This is the second time I've bought hundreds of dollars worth of led strips and accessories from them only to have no explanation given as to how to connect the strips and, after days of labor on my vehicle, only to have them not work.  I watched dozens of youtube videos to try to see how my connectors work and bought every 'recommended' accessory on their website.  It's all garbage.  Unless you're a trained electrician or have someone onsite who can show you to do it, just buy pre-wired stuff; ESPECIALLY if you go the RGB-W route.  Rant over.

 

[FALCON]

huh....

I bought LED light strips from SuperbrightLEDS. All I had to do was cut them to length, solder the wires on, and turn them on. (I also used a dimmer switch, and I'm extremely glad I did.) They were super easy. I'm not a trained electrician - not even remotely close. I can't recall how much instruction they came with, but there's really not much to mess up. I just wired them up in my kitchen to test them and get them working (which took, IDK, a couple hours), and then put them in the van. They have worked perfectly for a year and a half now.



Their lights are certainly not garbage. The problem is... ahem... something else. That stinks that you're having trouble. It does sound like the right thing at this point FOR YOU is to buy pre-wired ones.

 

[Svenn]

I bought a soldering gun, spent hours trying to melt the RGBW wires on the strip; didn't work, wouldn't stick, etc. Sounds like you probably got one of their easier monochrome strips.

 

[shadow]

I bought a soldering gun, spent hours trying to melt the RGBW wires on the strip; didn't work, wouldn't stick, etc.  Sounds like you probably got one of their easier monochrome strips.

You bought a soldering gun, but did you buy the correct solder ?.
You don`t melt the wires to the strip, you solder them to the strip.

It kind of sounds like you don`t really know what you are doing.

 

[tx2sturgis]

I bought a soldering gun

A soldering GUN?

Ooops.

Wrong tool for the job.

 

[jonyjoe303]

I also use the supernight rolls, 12 dollars and still have half a roll left over. I use a small 12 dollar 40 watt solder iron with a fine tip to solder wires to the strips. It does take practice but nothing that can't be done. 

You just barely have to touch the strip. I put some solder on the strip first, then some on the wire, then get the wire on the strip and barely touch the iron on them really quick and it will stick. If the solder iron tip is too big you might have problems, but don't give up and don't leave the iron touching the strip too long, it has to be quick.

 

[Svenn]

A soldering GUN?

Ooops.

Wrong tool for the job.

Correction: soldering iron.  I always just called it a gun.

Guys, I've wired entire homes before no problem and have done other forms of carpentry for 20+ years.  Never have I found anything even remotely as difficult as trying to solder 5 wires within less than a millimeter of each other over cheap Chinese strips. Their monochromatic strips are easier I'll admit, but representing to customers that they can "DIY" GRBW is insane.  

Again, you could spend days learning how to do this specific craft but I stand by my original post- just pay the extra fifty cents and buy pre-wired strips.  Sure you might have to tuck some extra wire in here and there but it's more than worth the labor and uncertainty of doing it yourself.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Correction: soldering iron.  I always just called it a gun.

Ok...I wasn't just nitpicking your words...they are two different tools.

I was picturing a relatively large, clumsy soldering gun tip on those tiny connections.

The soldering iron you used, I assume, has a small, precision tip, and you used good quality 63/37 (or 60/40) rosin core solder.

The right tools make jobs like this much easier.

 

[blmkid]

[font=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]Soldering LED light strips video:[/font]

 

[highdesertranger]

yes link please. highdesertranger

 

[FALCON]

Yeah the strips I used were not the milti-colored ones, so it was just two wires to solder per connection. I could see that being (very) hard to solder if you have to connect 5 wires, depending on how the connection points are arranged.