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Dreuxgrad

Ed
Senior User
Still working through another DW's project. Stumped on this one; strip LED cut in half to run on shelves in island.
(Worked fine on reel for the moment I tested it.) Had to expand provided connections, which were for corners, etc.
Switched out wiring to get it running,while the one closer to the source is normal white, the secondary one is green!
Five wire connectors, which I had to expand, double checked connections and looked like all match.

Suggestions?

thanks, Ed
 

ehpoole

Administrator
Ethan
Your result suggests you presumably have chosen RGBW (red, green, blue, plus white) strip LEDs (as opposed to just white) and that you have crossed the green and white channels and need to swap those channels.

When you say you cut a strip in half, was this at a designated cut point that appears every so many LEDs (depending upon voltage) or did you cut in the middle between those designated points and then scrape away insulation to solder wires? If you cut anywhere other than at the designated cut points then be aware that the traces typically swap positions at various points and are not necessarily in the same order at a given location as they would be at the designated break away connection points since all the individual LEDs of a given color (four LEDs. per LED module) have to have each of their four channels wired in series or series-parallel to achieve the desired working voltage.
 

Dreuxgrad

Ed
Senior User
Ethan, The set came from blue borg; Utilitech, has five pin connectors and corners(short five wire with connectors).
all connectors are compression.
Cut at prescribed spot, split one of the corners and put in about twenty inches of cat 5 (24g) trying to match.
Will triple check in the AM and try reversing G and W.
Why would it have five? everything I've seen on the web looks like it has four.
Would there be another work around?, Wondering about swapping ends and getting a splitter from supply (?)
Thanks, Ed
 

ehpoole

Administrator
Ethan
Ethan, The set came from blue borg; Utilitech, has five pin connectors and corners(short five wire with connectors).
all connectors are compression.
Cut at prescribed spot, split one of the corners and put in about twenty inches of cat 5 (24g) trying to match.
Will triple check in the AM and try reversing G and W.
Why would it have five? everything I've seen on the web looks like it has four.
Would there be another work around?, Wondering about swapping ends and getting a splitter from supply (?)
Thanks, Ed

There are basically three types of LED strip lighting: 1) Single Color LED (either color or white), Three Color "RGB" LEDs (typically red, green and blue, that then produce white by combining all three primaries), and Four Color "RGBW" LEDs (red, green, blue, and white) which add an extra white LED that permits truer white colors of an even color temperature and without, or at least greatly reduced, the added color cast due to shadows that form from the different incident angles that exist when creating white light with only primary color LEDs as each color LED is slightly offset within the LED module die. The single color strips use two wires (typically positive and common negative ground). The three color use four wires (common negative ground plus one for each of the red, green and blue channels). And the four color use five wires (common negative ground plus one for each of the red, green, blue, and white channels).

The three color RGB strips are by far the most common of the selectable color LED strip lighting, but RGBW is more preferred if your intent is to predominantly use white preferentially and want an even color temperature (such as warm white) across all the strips and without the colored shadows that can form when only RGB primary colors are used to create white light and where no diffuser is present to help them merge together without the color casts in the shadows due to the three primary colors all being slightly off axis from one another.
 

Dreuxgrad

Ed
Senior User
Latest results; Red and Green work as expected on both runs, blue fine on initial, but very, very light green on secondary. So dim I did not see it until I removed the bracket that the tape was mounted in to work on the connector.
White works on initial, but yellow-green is on the secondary under this mode.
Broken or mis-connected on blue secondary supply??
Removing connector on secondary, checking pins and copper on tape. When replaced, the first, or closest section of LEDs were green, as before, but the remainder was out. Twisting the tape close to the connector caused them to return to green. Thinking there might be a
short between the copper and LEDs or between the first and second grouping(?)

Ed
 
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