LED strip lights offer a beautiful and energy-efficient way of creating a contemporary ambiance in your room.
You can place them around furniture, a TV, or underneath cabinets for some really cool effects.
But one of the most popular uses for strip lights is to run them around your entire room, usually hidden by coving.
This helps create a stylish light that’s easy to adjust to set the perfect mood. But how long of a strip do you need to buy?
When buying LED strip lights, you need to measure the total perimeter of your room, including any alcoves or sections of walls that stick out. Then buy strip lights that are either the perfect length or, more likely, longer than you need – you can cut them to length.
Let’s get into that in a bit more detail, as I explain:
- How long your LED lights should be for your room
- Whether you can use multiple strips
- What to do if your strip lights are too long
How Long Should LED Lights Be For A Room?
LED strips come in different lengths, so how do you know which one you should buy for your room?
The answer’s simple – you just need to get the tape measure out and start checking the measurements of your room.
Suppose the room you’re installing the strip lights in is either a simple square or rectangle. In that case, you can save yourself some work by only measuring the length and width of the room and then doubling the total to find the total perimeter.
However, if the room has any alcoves or areas that stick out (perhaps over a fireplace), or if the room is L-shaped or has some other configuration, you’re going to need to measure along the length of every wall.
Keep track of the measurements as you go.
You could use a notepad or your smartphone, although don’t be tempted to add it to a calculator as you go as if you press one wrong button or forget whether you’ve added the current wall to your total, you’d have to start again.
Instead, keep track of each individual measurement so that you can check you’ve not missed any area and double-check your calculations once you’re done.
Once you have the total, you’ll know how much distance you need to cover for your LED strips and how long a strip you’ll need to buy.
To make things easier, you can also use my perimeter calculator:
Can I Use Multiple Strip Lights If One Is Not Long Enough?
Once you know how long the strip is, it’s just time to buy an LED strip that measures that length, yes?
Actually, not quite. For a couple of reasons.
Firstly, rooms really aren’t a standard size, so LED strip lights can’t be either. So you’d have to be extremely lucky to own a room that perfectly fits the length of an LED strip.
There are some long LED strips (Amazon) available, but often you’ll find that your options are shorter than what you need.
One of the most popular options for light strips is Philips Hue (Amazon) but their strips are normally relatively short.
But instead of having to find multiple power outlets, you can connect multiple strips together instead, and power them from one plug.
Alternatively, there is a way to power strips with a battery pack, though I would not recommend it.
How to Connect Strips Together
There are a couple of ways you can connect light strips together.
The easiest is to use a connector (Amazon) – these simple clips contain the necessary pins to link the strips together.
You just open the connector, insert the strip and close it, and the connectors will be touching the pins.
The alternative is soldering the connections together yourself – a little more advanced, but it can be more reliable and efficient.
There are a few things you still need to consider.
You might need to use a sharp knife to expose the connectors on the strip, and you have to make sure you correctly connect the strips.
On a white LED strip, it’ll just be checking that positive links to positive and negative to negative.
RGB strips have four pins, so make sure they’re in the same positions.
You also need to think about power.
The strips should be rated for the same voltage, and you need a power source with sufficient wattage to correctly power the length of your lights.
Any LED strip should tell you how many Watts per meter it requires.
If you connect too many strips together, the LEDs furthest away from the power source may not get the power needed and may be dim.
It’s worth reading my guide on connecting LED strips together for more information on how to do it, and some of the other considerations.
LED Strips From Different Manufacturers
If you’re planning on connecting multiple light strips, it is always best to buy from the same manufacturer and, ideally, the same product.
Light strips always have a slightly different manufacturing process depending on who makes them.
A light strip from one manufacturer might not be compatible with another light strip.
Even if you can physically connect them, they might not be rated for the same power draw, which could mean they’re too dull, or they’re actually over-powered and become dangerous.
They’ll probably look different, too – the actual LED chips might be brighter or a slightly different shade, and even if it’s subtle, you likely will notice it.
Just because you see a light strip from a different manufacturer on a cheap deal doesn’t mean it’s worth buying it to add to your existing setup.
Also, it’s worth noting that not all LED strips are designed to be connected together, although most are.
Make sure your strip has the lines on it that show cutting points – this makes it clear they can be cut and reconnected as needed.
And speaking of cutting lines…
What If My LED Strip Is Too Long? Can I Cut It?
Just like you may end up buying LED strips that are too short, you can also find longer strips that are too long, or you may connect two strips together but end up with something bigger than you need.
As long as your LED strip lights have cutting lines – they can be dotted, dashed, or solid lines depending on the manufacturer – you can cut them, providing you cut along that line.
Each cutting line represents the end of an individual circuit within the strip. Therefore, you don’t interrupt a circuit if you cut along that line.
Cutting elsewhere will cause that circuit to fail and potentially the whole strip.
You can also re-use the piece you’ve cut off, either by connecting it to a new power supply elsewhere or using a connector.
A lot of people will cut LED strips to use a corner connector to navigate an LED strip around a tight bend neatly.
Final Words
With the option to connect LED strips together and cut them to length, it’s pretty easy to make sure you get the right length for your room.
It’s just that first step of measuring the room accurately and then making sure you buy compatible strips and your power source is sufficient to make sure they all work correctly.
Have you had any problems measuring your room for LED strip lights or finding something suitable once you know the size you need?