# Led to mains



## kr0nick (Apr 18, 2012)

Hi all.
I purchased A LED strip from ebay for A car and I am wondering on how to connect it to power? Either mains or battery power. There are two small silver wires from the end of the strip? I will post pics if it will help but if anyone has experience with this any help would be much appreciated. 

There are no blue or red so positive or negative :S and I am confused


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## Scleropages (Apr 18, 2012)

12 volt transformer.

Is it 12 volt LED?


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## DazTopEndPythons (Apr 18, 2012)

If it was for a car it won't be 240v so you will need to find out what voltage and get a transformer to suit


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## Ricochet (Apr 18, 2012)

How many 12 V chargers do you have lying around (ec cordless drills, etc. etc). Anywhere from 12-24 Volts should be fine. I have my LEDs running off these.


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## kr0nick (Apr 18, 2012)

Thanks all I will try that


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## Batanga (Apr 18, 2012)

I also use 12v powerpacks.
They must be run on AC!!!


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## bimbo (Apr 18, 2012)

I would try and get a variable voltage 'power pack' I think you can even get them in woolies/coles. It will convert 240volt down to about 5 or so voltages between 1.5 and 12 and will give you an easy way to vary the brightness of the LED's. This will work with most of the cheaper standard/low output type LEDs - just don't try it with high output LED's like cree's or they go POP. 

Cheers
James


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## kr0nick (Apr 18, 2012)

Algood A 12V adapter worked fine but I might try that "power pack" as the LED's are bright as


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## JAS101 (Apr 18, 2012)

kr0nick said:


> Hi all.
> I purchased A LED strip from ebay for A car and I am wondering on how to connect it to power? Either mains or battery power. There are two small silver wires from the end of the strip? I will post pics if it will help but if anyone has experience with this any help would be much appreciated.
> 
> There are no blue or red so positive or negative :S and I am confused


ebay sells the LED strips with the 240v adapter [ u can buy them as a kit - plug in thand thats it] , u just have to look in the right place . im pretty sure i have some power adapters left over [ i doubled up on the strips per adapter ] and i brought the strips with the adapter as kits .


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## Blake182 (Apr 18, 2012)

if you were going to use batterys your going to be using lots 
so get one of these 
AC 110-240V to DC 12V 2000mA 2A Power Supply Adapter AU plug For Led Strip Light | eBay


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## kr0nick (Apr 18, 2012)

Thanks all and blake I will order one of them sounds like the easiest and safest way to go. And jas I will keep looking for A package


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## Blake182 (Apr 18, 2012)

kr0nick said:


> Thanks all and blake I will order one of them sounds like the easiest and safest way to go. And jas I will keep looking for A package


 no probz 
and there what i use for all my fish tank lighting


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## melluvssnakes (Jun 3, 2012)

I realise this thread isn't super current (and sorry for hijacking) but I'm finding a lot of 5m rolls of led strips on ebay. Some come with a transformer and some don't. My question is, can you cut that 5m roll into say 1m long sections and turn it into 5 x 1m strips? How do you then wire up all the strips to attach them to a transformer?


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## dangles (Jun 3, 2012)

melluvssnakes said:


> I realise this thread isn't super current (and sorry for hijacking) but I'm finding a lot of 5m rolls of led strips on ebay. Some come with a transformer and some don't. My question is, can you cut that 5m roll into say 1m long sections and turn it into 5 x 1m strips? How do you then wire up all the strips to attach them to a transformer?


Yes you can. Just solder wires onto the strips then wire to 12v plug packs. I used 12v dc downlight transformers to wire mine up


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## NTNed (Jun 3, 2012)

Jaycar or the likes have some cheap transfomers that you can hook several LED strips up to. Hobby shops is another option, they have them for for slot cars/trains etc, there's very little current draw with LED's so shouldn't be an issue with wattage output rating. Just join your two wires up and away you go.


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## ericrs (Jun 3, 2012)

i used a old mobile phone charger. everyone has one of those kicking around. cut the plug off and wire away. loves it.


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## jack (Jun 3, 2012)

Batanga said:


> I also use 12v powerpacks.
> They must be run on AC!!!



DC actually, they are a diode and work as a one way valve for electrical current


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