Are you looking for a nice way to backlight your TV or illuminate your kitchen cabinets? LED strip lights are just what you need. Known for their versatility, LED strips are made up of LED emitters fixed on a flexible, narrow circuit board. But there’s one problem. Most LED strips come in very long reels; some can even be 100 feet long. So, can LED light strips be cut?
LED light strips are made to be conveniently divided. There’s a line of copper dots that repeats along the strip, and that’s where you should make your cuts. If you cut the LED strip anywhere else, that circuit and possibly the entire strip will stop working. Strips can be combined too.
It seems easy enough to cut along a straight line, right? You’d be surprised to know that many people don’t do it correctly and end up damaging otherwise-functional LED strip lights. Let’s look at some essential tips for cutting LED light strips, what you can do if your LED lights strips are not working after cutting them, and how to connect multiple LED light strips.
Can You Cut LED Strip Lights?
An LED light strip like this example from Wobane (on Amazon) comes in a fixed length and is designed for you to trim it to customize to your needs. There are actually several LED light strips brands and products, so there is no one answer to the question of whether or not a light strip will still work normally after it is cut, but many like the example are designed to be used this way.
LED light strips come in various shapes and sizes: rigid or flexible, waterproof or non-waterproof, RGB or monochromatic. But there’s one common thing among most LED strips: you can cut them to custom lengths.
Generally, if there is a cut line on a light strip, you can cut it. But if there is no cutting line, it’s probably best left uncut.
Most LED strips have dotted or straight black lines at set intervals. Circuits are completely closed at these points, making them the safest points to cut the LEDs without causing damage.
Each LED strip will have different cutting lines. The lines are typically 3 LEDs apart. For instance, on a strip of 30 LEDs per meter, cutting lines will be at every 10 cm.
The black cutting line should have copper soldering pads on each side in a pattern that looks symmetrical. Finding these copper pads is one tip to ensure that you have correctly located the cutting line.
How Do You Cut LED Lights Strips?
Regardless of the kind of LED strip light you’re using, you’ll probably want to cut it down to make it the right size for your specific need.
Cutting LED strip lights may seem like a very simple thing. However, many people fail to cut it the proper way and end up destroying their good lights. Cut your LED tape lights properly using this step by step guide:
- Measure the LED length you need: The LEDs are delivered in one long strip. When you need the individual LEDs, you can cut them, but they will only work properly if you cut them at specific points. Find out the length of LED strip you need before you cut any lights.
- Locate the cut line of copper dots on the LED: Check the other side of the LED strip for a pair of copper dots. The copper dots indicate where the lights connect to each other on the strip. A dotted cut line can be seen between the copper dots.
- Cut at the line closest to your desired length: Choose the line that is closest to your previously determined LED length. You can only cut the LEDs safely on the existing lines. If you cut on any other place, some LEDs will not work.
- Use scissors to cut the LED strip apart: A pair of scissors can take care of the job. With the lights held firmly, cut through the dotted line. The correct cutting should pass through the copper dots. Align the cut carefully so that the LEDs do not get damaged.
How to Fix LED Lights That Don’t Work After Cutting
It may seem like an uncomplicated process to customize the length of LED light strips, but mistakes are quite common.
If you find that your LEDs don’t work after cutting, check whether the lights were made for cutting. If they weren’t and you ended up cutting them, then, unfortunately, there is no way to fix this. These lights are designed with the circuits running continuously all through the length, so they will be permanently damaged by cutting.
If the strip was made for cutting, the next thing is to confirm that you cut along the right place. If you didn’t cut within the circuit line, the individual circuit will be destroyed, hence, you have to trim back to the nearest cutting line.
You might experience some other issues, however, these do not relate directly to the cut; instead, they may occur when you join the strips together. If your LED strip works but has varying shades of brightness on each end, it is due to a voltage drop.
A 12V LED strip should not be more than 10 feet and 24V should be a maximum of 15 feet. You can prevent voltage drops by using a shorter length of strip per power supply.
On the other hand, if the colors on your RGB LED strips don’t change, it means you didn’t line the polarities properly when joining them. This can be corrected by flipping the strip around and redoing the connection.
How to Connect Multiple LED Strip Lights?
Except in the case of a very small lighting project, it is likely that you will need to cut and connect LED light strips to one another. As a matter of fact, this is one of the biggest advantages of opting for LED tape lights.
You can join several strips together to illuminate bigger spaces and unique nooks and crannies. LED tapes can be joined to one another in two ways.
Clipping
Using a LED strip light connecting clip is the simplest way to join two LED strips together. A male-to-male clip can be used to connect two LED strips. This clip can come in different forms:
- Hippo Buckle LED Strip Lights Connector: With the Hippo Buckle Light Strip Connector, it’s easy to join two LED strips to one another. On both ends of this connector, there is room for an LED light strip.
All you have to do is set up the Hippo Buckle connector with one end of the strip to join both strips together. Once installed, the strips will stay in place because the connector has a ‘buckle.’
These connectors can be used to join two strips to each other or to get your LED strip connected to the power supply. In both cases, the connectors effectively help to elongate the possible distance covered by your LED light strips. This connector can be used to join RGB and single-color LED light strips to each other. - Solderless LED Strip Lights Connector: Hippo clips are excellent for joining single LED light strips to one another, however, they can’t be used to join parallel LED tapes together because they lack adequate space. Here, this bigger solder-free LED light strips terminal (on Amazon) shines. It has space sufficient to join multiple LED strips to one another.
This connector can be used to join RGB and single color LED tape lights to each other. It also works for dimmable LED strip lights. The LED strips are kept in place with the help of plastic clips which help to ensure the connection is secure. - Solderless LED Wire Connector: For your project, you may need the LED light strips to pass through a corner or a special curve. A solder-free LED wire connector (on Amazon) will serve in this case. There are clips on each end of these wire connectors that allow you to join two LED light strips to one another. They are efficient for making your LED light strips go farther.
The wire connector is an excellent way to take care of corners and other parts of your space where the light will not be needed. The reason is that LEDs are not mounted on these wires. They are only used to make the strips go longer. You can join RGB as well as single-color LED strip lights to one another.
Soldering
LED light strips can be easily and conveniently joined to each other by clipping, however, clipping cannot be used in some situations. For instance, if you are joining strips that will be mounted with aluminum frames, clips can’t be used to join them. In this situation, it will be necessary to solder the LED strips to one another.
It is not an extremely difficult process to solder LED strip lights together. However, you do need some specialized machinery that takes time to master.
Solder two LED strips to each other by first cutting the strips to your preferred size and exposing the strips by removing the covering. Join the ends of each strip accurately, then solder them together.