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Having brightly lit walkways and beaming signages make outdoor spaces safer and a lot easier to navigate. Especially with outdoor LED strip lights, outdoor lighting has never been as bright and cost-effective.
If you’re considering outdoor LED strip lights for your patio, pool deck, or garden, it’s important to consider the voltage specifications of your new strip lights, so you can avoid wearing them out prematurely.
Outdoor LED Strip Lights Voltage
When shopping for outdoor LED strip lights, you’ll encounter voltage ratings of 12V or 24V. For most use-cases, a 12V or 12DC is enough, hence, this is more commonly available. Meanwhile, 24V or 24DC is typically used only when powering strip lights that exceed 10 meters in length.
Keep in mind that the voltage does not determine the brightness of your LED, nor does it influence the lifespan of your strip lights, so more is not always better.
Voltage refers to electrical pressure, and because 12V strip lights are built to withstand lower electrical pressure and 24V are built to withstand higher electrical pressure, the former is often used for short runs, and the latter is used for longer runs.
Though some may think to always go for higher voltage, 24V strip lights are built to withstand greater electrical pressure, which means they cost more. For a lot of uses, a 24V LED light strip is overkill and one can spend less with no noticeable difference in lighting results with a 12V LED light strip.
However, if you’re planning to cut your outdoor LED strip lights, a key difference to take note of when purchasing is the cut points. 12V single-color strip lights have cut points as short as 25mm apart, with three LEDs per string. While RGB standard density strips will have cut points that are 100mm apart.
Why You Should Use the Right Voltage?
As mentioned above, LED strip lights have a voltage rating that indicates the amount of electrical pressure necessary to light the LED optimally. This means producing maximum brightness while generating minimal heat.
If one were to use a voltage higher than is recommended, the LED will shine brighter than is designed, thereby generating more heat than is safe. This can lead the LED to fail more quickly. On the other hand, if one were to use a voltage lower than recommended, the LED lighting will be dim, or even flicker or flash.
Buy Outdoor LED Strip Lights
Enjoy your outdoor space whenever you want with outdoor LED strip lights! At HitLights, we offer UL-listed strip lights with an IP-67 rating.
This means that our strip lights are waterproof and are safe to use outdoors. They even come with a six-year warranty, so you can feel secure that your lights will withstand the test of time.
Whether you’re looking for a single color LED strip light or multicolor strip light, visit our website and browse our catalog for the right LED strip lights for you! You may also contact us at 855-768-4135 at HitLights today!