Cutting and Joining LED Strip

General Information

The 5m led roll can be cut & joined together quite simply by using solder joints.

With defined cut points along the led strip at either 50mm or 100mm centres depending upon the strip you use.

The strip can be cut using a good pair of scissors or a Stanley knife, just make a clean straight cut.

Once cut, the silicon encapsulation needs to be cleaned away to allow the contact to be made, if it is the end of your run then there is no need for this but you might like to seal the end with a capping such as a small smear of clear silicon or similar.

Take care cutting the encapsulation so that you do not damage the copper ribbon which carries the current to the LED's.

Add your power connector or in line connector & then we suggest that you make a temporary connection to the power supply/controller to test the strip & your connection prior to final installation. Once you have made the test then finish the connection with either some silicon to maintain a water tight joint or heat shrink wrap or insulation tape.

Single Colour Strip

Either side of the cut point you will see two connection 'circles'. If you are cutting to end your led strip run then just leave as a straight cut, remove the adhesive backing & position.

You can use the push ft connectors every 50mm OR you can make solder connections at 500mm.

Using Push-Fit Connectors

If you need to add a connector then remove the encapsulation to expose the connection circles, perhaps just one or two millimetres from the closest led. Once cleaned then open the connector by gently pulling forward the black locking bar, insert the strip, push back the black bar & this will grip the strip. The two connection circles should be within the push fit connector to ensure a good power transfer. You may find that you have to trim back by a couple of millimetres the copper ribbon to ensure this happens.

Solder Method

There are solder joints at every 500mm where good solder connections can be made.

If you are confident in the use of solder then you can create an even better connection by soldering your cables directly to the strip at the solder points. Ensure that the encapsulation is fully cleaned & make your connection.

You can finish each by using a small amount of silicon or a heat wrap sleeve.

RGB Strip

There are cut points every 100mm & solder points at every 500mm, the strip is marked with the RGB & 12v lines, so ensure that the connections are made the correct way around, the push fit connectors will ensure this as the black push fit bar sits under the strip not on top.

Follow the procedure as detailed above, you should not need to trim back the strip as the connection points are directly at the cut point.

If you intend to use the solder points & solder then be aware that the connections are really quite small so ensure that you do not spread across two points.