Customer Reviews

5 Meter Reel Warm White 3100k Flexible LED Ribbon 300 Leds 16 Ft by LEDwholesalers, 2026ww-31k

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3 star:		(4)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I ordered this 5 Meter reel of 300 LEDs hoping that they would be bright enough to serve as under-cabinet lights to brighten my counter tops. Not only are they bright enough, they can be cut into sections as small as 2" (with 3 LEDs) and put just about anywhere. With simple soldering skills and some light gauge wire, it is possible to place these light strips into just about any configuration.

A single strip of these LEDs are bright enough to make the countertop bright, but my application has given me almost twice the LED ribbon that I need. I plan to double-up on the LEDs by running an additional strip behind the front strip giving me additional light. If this is too much, I can always dim down to an appropriate level.

Along with the LED reel, I also purchased PWM Dimming Controller For LED Lights or Ribbon, 12 Volt 8 Amp, 3301 and 30 Watt LED Power Suppply Driver Transformer 120 to 12 Volt DC Output, 3207. The dimmer works wonderfully and the power supply seems to have enough zip to keep things bright!

In brief use this product is working well. Some technical data you may find helpful:
1. Product is 10 pieces of 0.5m flex, with 30 LEDs each, joined end to end by solder, with continuous adhesive backing.
2. Product can be cut at each 3-LED increment, marked with a silk-screened dash. (Each increment has 3 LEDs and one resistor, in series)
3. Solder pads are present at every 3-LED increment, though soldering to the existing "joins" every 0.5 meters will be easiest because they already have solder blobs.
4. With a regulated 12 volt supply, total load for the 5m chain is about 1 Amp. Voltage drop at the end of 5m is 10%.

As a professional remodeler, I have install under counter/ under cabinet lighting in various applications. This LED ribbon is superior to any halogen, quartz or fluorescent fixture. Minimal energy usage, great flexibility, extremely easy to install. I cut this to the length I need and then solder the power leads to the transformer. You can see from the pictures I added, the illumination is very even and consistent.

Don't bother buying the halogen or quartz or xenon undercab lights. They get too hot, bulbs frequently burn out and the replacements are expensive.

I even connected the left over 12" to a 12v battery and it worked great. Might utilize in the bed of the truck.

Unfortunately, I bought this from a local lighting supply and paid $140 for 13' of ribbon and transformer. Next time I will buy on Amazon.

IMPORTANT: Do not energize the lights while they are on the reel as shown in the advertising photos!!! I did that to test the power supply and light strip before installation,and the other end of the light strip had two wires that were shorted together resulting in the lights coming on then dropping out after a few seconds when the power supply protection kicked in. I thought it was a bad power supply, and then hooked the led light strip up to a car battery and it got VERY HOT very quickly. Fortunately I felt the heat and immediately disconnected the battery... then unrolled the strip off the reel and found the connections on the other end shorted together. Well doggone it all anyhow. Fortunately there appeared to be no damage to either the power supply or light strip, so I used them anyway, and they are working great.

These lights work very well, with a single strip is enough to very nicely light the area under the kitchen cabinets.

The light is esthetically very pleasing, being essentially hidden but giving a uniform nearly shadow free light for working the kitchen. The warm color temperature is pleasing, matching other warm lights in the kitchen reasonably well. The LED's can be seen in the reflection off the counter, but that is not distracting or unpleasant, and actually adds a but of "light" bling to the area.

I did not use a dimmer, since it was easy to add one later if needed. The illumination level is comfortable as it is, and so we do not plan on adding a dimmer.

Installation was relatively easy. I took the 120 ac from the existing light over the sink, put the power supply for the LED lights in that area, and then ran the wiring either through or under cabinets as needed to conceal the wiring and LED light strips. The light strip tape adhesive has proven to work well so far (even after being overheated), no problems with the light strip falling. I think that soldering the wires to the LED strips was the hardest part, small wires being soldered to a tiny spot on the light strip is more tedious than difficult, but if you do not have experience soldering I suggest using the slip on connectors.

Most importantly my wife like the lights very much.

I bought this strip to be placed in the back of wooden shelves I made, as an accent light... I was more than impressed.

First of all, don't test them while still in the coil... I've heard of people burn the lights that way.

The LED lights are bright little suckers. You can cut them down to couple of inches if you want, and it's well labeled. My project required 4 long strips of lights, and I would need to connect them by wire. That was pretty easy to do, with most of the learning on youtube.

I bought a 25 watt soldering iron (the Shack), rosin core solder (The big orange box store), and wire (I bought solid core from the big orange box store but I would recommend buying braided wire so it's soft and bendable). Another thing that helps: soldering iron sponge (I used Hakko Solder Tip Cleaning Wire Sponge).

Soldering is pretty easy, but need to practice. I've never soldered before so it was a learning experience. I watched couple of youtube videos and got cracking. So this is for the newbies like me: first, you have to heat up the soldering iron (probably 5 minutes?). Then uncoil your solder from the coil a bit, long enough to not burn your finger and make sure it's straight. With the soldering iron at the right location (little tiny circles with + and - next to the cut lines), gently touch the solder to the iron. It will take a few seconds to melt solder and you should smell this wonderful (yet cancer causing) smoke. Make a little ball of the solder (a little bigger than size of a ballpoint tip) and quickly (not too fast) withdraw the solder and your iron. The perfect one will look like a tiny Hershey's kiss. Do this for the other polarity.

Next, tin your wire. Okay, okay... that's basically melting some solder onto your wire so that they're ready. With solder on both the LED strip and the wire, you're ready to make the connection. Make sure you have the RED at + and BLACK at -, make double sure! I put the wire next to the tiny Hershey's kiss and bring my soldering iron to touch them. As soon as you feel the solder melt (your hand will move or you can see the wire go into the Hershey's kiss), remove the soldering iron while holding the wire in place a little longer. If the solder fall off of the strip, just remove the "cold" solder and start over. With practice, it'll be easy.

I would test my set-up after every strip of light added... At the end, I also used a remote control dimmer, that was icing on the cake.

So I got these lights for the ultimate test. Forget accent lighting, forget under the counter. I have a shop, 31'x45' which is over 20' tall. Just bought it and the guy before me put 8' florescent lights on the roof, with no chain to lower them. What's worse, only 1 bulb works in the entire shop. Furthermore the shop is not heated, so it can get quite cold out there.

Now for those not aware, most florescent tubes which may be used in temperatures under 50 degrees Fahrenheit require a cold weather ballast. This is much more expensive equipment and I suspect that a number need to be replaced. These lights, I'm happy to report, work to approximately -13 degrees Fahrenheit.

So I hung a set of these lights in the air, taking care to point the lights towards the ground. To my utter amazement, the strip not only produced as much light as the 1 bulb, it actually produced more.

So just to be clear, more light than a single 8' florescent tube. Getting the power adapter here as well, I was able to use the free shipping. As far as I'm concerned this was a great value. Add in the fact they are 24 watts instead of 60-100, that makes these lights awesome.

The price on these 3528 SMD LED strips is great. Bright enough for any job, under cabinet, inside cabinet, utility lighting, etc. They are warm white, so they have a little yellowish tint to them. So make sure they'll match adjacent lighting color, if you have existing LEDs or regular light bulbs. My existing 5 LED bar seems to be about 4500K color (which I love in the kitchen as a 24hr night light, very neutral lighting), so I'm not sure if I'll use these near that light. They work great with a 12v power supply from here (item #B0034GUEY4) and a 12v dimmer (item #B003L4KKF2). I have yet to cut & mount these to their permanent location.

I measured some stats while lighting up the whole strip using a volt meter and a Kill-A-Watt meter (item #B0032JRGZ8).
Volts In: 12.04
Amps: 1.4 (changes with temperature as they heat up)
Watts: 18.1
LED degrees: 97 deg F (room temperature was 78) measured with (item #B0009O1G5K)

I am very happy with the ease of installation & performance of these lights. I installed 16 feet of these under three different cabinets. The entire project took about 3 hours and that includes soldering the connections instead of using the slide-on connectors you can get for these. The adhesive sticks nicely and shows no sign of coming loose. The amount of light is just right for us without a dimmer. My only wish is that these were a slightly warmer incandescent look. Fortunately I found a great way to fix this! I just used a red dry erase marker to color every 4th LED. Presto!! Instant "warm" color!! I might try an orange or amber marker to see what that looks like too. All in all these LED's are a fantastic bargain that has transformed the look of our kitchen. I used this power supply: Ledwholesalers 30 Watt LED Power Suppply Driver Transformer 120 to 12 Volt DC Output, 3207

This product is good and easy to install as it comes with 3M tape backing. I fixed them under the kitchen cabinet in under an hour. The only disadvantage is that there is no silicone sealing over the lamp which would have helped protect from moisture and kitchen fumes.The lighting is good and my counter top is now well lit. Overall a good product.

One suggestion is for the seller to supply a few extra connectors along with the reel. This would make installation even easier. These connectors don't cost the earth and the seller should supply them along with the reel.

Extremely flexible for installing. I would have liked a longer length. They provide a great deal of light.