AMPS? Need Help..

[appdude]

So we came across another issue. AMPS. There are 2A, 4A,and 6A. I am completely lost here. Could someone please help?

We are doing under cabinet lighting using led strips and the power supply/transformer amps is troubling me.

 

[DonL]

Amps do not mean much, Unless you know the voltage.

The main thing is to Make sure your power supply can provide enough power, And that the Voltage is correct.


P = I X E.


Good Luck on your project.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[appdude]

Thanks, I think im going to ditch LED's because they seem a little to complex with the connectors. So i am going to use Utilitech Plug-In Cabinet Xenon Puck Light Kit from lowes insted. Does anyone know how well these work?

 

[Houptee]

LEDs will be using way less amps than any other type of lighting, and run at lower temperatures than Xenon or Halogen bulbs.

What is so confusing about using LED lights? They make ones that plug together very simple, even IKEA has some cool under cabinet LED pucks and strips as well as big box stores.

 

[appdude]

Well, its the extension part of things. There is a microwave in the way and i can't seem to find any extension cable at all...

 

[Houptee]

Google search for DIODER LED strip and pucks they have cords to interconnect them you can snake around the microwave.

 

[appdude]

Thanks for the help. But I'm not going to choose dioder because they only have a pack of 4 + There is a short cabinet beside the cabinet and looks like it won't fit. But i MAY choose it. So i made my own kit.

Led strips (1) : http://www.lightingever.com/12v-led-strip-light-waterproof-300-3528-5m-ww.html
Cuttable, Cheap, What else?

Power Supply (3):http://www.lightinthebox.com/ac-100...-supply-for-led-light-strip-cctv_p810737.html
Im getting 3 because I want keep this as safe as possible. 1 supply is for the small cabinet around the microwave. The second Is for the set of cabinets after the microwave. And the last is for the cabinet after the huge window.

Switch (3):http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/SectionDisplay.jsp?section=48515&page=2

Well, its pretty self explanatory by this part. I plug the supply's into the plug in switches and and control the lights from there.

Oh and we can't forget Connector Cable To DC Female Adapter For Single Color (2)

so any possible problems with this plan?

 

[DonL]

As long as you keep each string below 20 Watts that should work fine, using those power supplies. You may want a spare.


Good Luck on your project.

 

[appdude]

Hmm, 125V for the switch? I thought it was 120v

 

[DonL]

Hmm, 125V for the switch? I thought it was 120v

A 125V switch is fine for switching 120V.

 

[Jadnashua]

Your supply voltage from the power pole can vary...what we call 120vac, can, and probably sometimes does, vary from maybe 108-132vac or so. The exact upper voltage rating of a power switch, while important, is pretty much irrelevant when designed for the nominal US 120vac circuit. What may be more important is that the contacts of the switch can safely pass the desired current, and when built-in and tested to pass UL specs, it will be okay.


FWIW, a voltage rating on a switch gets important when you are dealing with higher voltages - you do not want the opened contacts to be so close that the power could arc between them. It takes a pretty high voltage to cause that to happen, and normally isn't an issue at all with our supply voltage.

 

[DonL]

Hanging a power supply off of a switch like that, and keeping it plugged into the outlet may become troublesome.

Especially if used on a daily basis, or gets bumped.


But it will work.

 

[Jadnashua]

Simplistic, but if you think of volts as the pressure and amps as the volume of flow in the circuit, it may help. The volts provide the 'push' to move the amps. To determine the actual amount of power used (to get watts), multiply volts by amps.

 

[DonL]

You need to only cut the LED strip on the cut line.

That should be about every 3 LEDs for a 12Volt system.

Calculate the number of LEDs you need to light, and do not exceed the power supply limit.


Soldering 101 comes next.

 

[appdude]

No where on the page does it say how many watts per foot the led's take.

 

[DonL]

No where on the page does it say how many watts per foot the led's take.

It does tell you the Power supply required.

It is a 12Volt 3 amp. 12V X 3A = 36 Watt.

So the strip could be a max of 36 watts for 5 Meter length. 7.2 watts per meter. It should be less than that, 20% maybe for good design, or that recommended power supply can get hot.

3 meters would be about the max length that you could run on the power supply that you posted. 12V 2A 24W. Cutting a strip in half would be about right for that small supply.


Good Luck.

 

[appdude]

Just want to make sure before i order the parts. SMD LED connector? Will SMD work with a normal led strip?