LED Strip Lighting Installs: Beginner, Intermediate and Expert Level

LEDs can make even cheap furniture look expensive, but make sure you avoid these common installation pitfalls.

💰💰💰Pro Level Install 💰💰💰
Joylit 24V 90W LED Strip:
24V Power Supply:
Shelly RGBW2:
Hunhun Aluminum Channels:
2 LED Wire:

💰💰 Intermediate Install 💰💰
Pautix 24V COB Tunable White Strip Kit:
Pautix Solderless Connectors:
3 LED Wire:
WAGO Inline Connectors:

💰 Novice Install 💰
Novostella Tunable LED Strip Kit:

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00:00 Introduction
00:23 Beginner Install
02:50 Amateur Install
05:37 Expert Install

[susugar]

Another benefit of using aluminum channel is it helps cool down LED strip. It's quite important if you use high power LED and in hot weather.

[KimmoJaskari]

Great little comparo. Getting some diffusers for LED strips is kind of the bare minimum in my book, they're so very cheap and they basically always massively improve the end result.

[SynthMan]

The one gripe i have in all of these three levels of experience is that the bottom self is hotter in the corners than in the middle. That doesn't seem to be the case with the upper shelf. Other than that, it looks very nice.

I did an expert level job in my kitchen with shallow aluminum channels with white defusing covers. The indirect effect turned out perfect, and i get compliments all the time. I'm an engineer so i can tell you for a fact that those aluminum channels are going to extend the life of your LED strips by nearly twice the life. Heat is the enemy of any electronics component, so if there's any way you can use a heat sink to dissipate that wasted energy, the better.

[paulm]

I really like the format of using three approaches and contrasting them. Thanks!

[nvosburgh]

The channels idea really inspire me! After hurricane Ian destroyed my outside LED installation, I redid my outside with 12V LED string lights and I have a bunch of those channels hanging around and some LED strips I haven’t used yet. Thanks now I got to get my Boss to buy in too.

[OVERKILL_PINBALL]

Those WAGU lock nuts are the best invention ever!

[roberthernandez]

I've been working on a very similar solution with Besta furniture as well. It's been an iterative process over the last 6 months. Since some of my Besta cabinets have doors, I was able to solve the downlight challenge by attaching the LEDs to the back side of the doors, also with 45 degree aluminum channel. For cabinets without the doors, I've implemented two solutions. For the top most shelves (where the Besta furniture is thicker) I routed a groove in the top for LEDs mounted inside of a shallow aluminum channel. For the adjustable shelves not hidden by a door, I designed and 3D printed my own color-matched face plates which slide over the front of the shelf, adding a hidden channel into which the aluminum extrusion can be press fit for a clean and hidden look. The latter solutions have been far more time consuming than most would even consider, but the results - completely hidden LEDs that illuminate everything below - are fantastic.

[light-master]

Great comparison. Would love to see some tips about installing LEDs under kitchen cabinets above the countertop

[JavierPerez-fqfi]

Great video as usual mate! love the non classical videos you provide to the community with real use cases and insights of things that we all are interested. Thank you!

[JI]

Went from beginner to Expert in only two projects thanks to your vidéos and Chris Maher's too. Even though the full project went from 6 hours to 12 (because it was massive and needed many soldering points while we didn't use an iron in ten years) but it was super worth it!
Thanks bro!

[lunatik]

on the 1st less expensive device, you might get better results if you ran across top and then out the back, . then down and across the top of next shelf and out the back and so on.

[holohane]

Nice one Rob. Never thought of the idea of turning the aluminium channel to face backwards. I’m planning to do something similar on some ikea furniture so your timing is perfect.

[seantellsit]

good video. As a test, if you pull the aluminum channel towards the front, when even mid way, and fire them down back at a 45 degree angle, you'll light the shelves a LOT more.

[paulvail]

Haven't even watched through this yet, but HELL YEAH! Thanks. I wired my built-ins (Ikea) years ago, and switched from standard lights to LED lighting a few years ago, but it doesn't look great. I have exposed LEDs, but they are at the front and blocked by the doors, so it has indirect lighting. I have multiple different sections which are jumpered together. I see a lot of falloff in brightness from end to end, and the jumpers which are crimped together have some issues with current dropoff.

Maybe I will try those LEDs and the splices to see how it works. It's very similar to what I'm currently doing, wiring hidden behind the doors.

[themikozee]

Buying those aluminium channels that look like stapler bullets with acrylic diffusers can actually make the first installation 10 times better. Or do a a strip lining the top shelf or what not better.The problem with backlighting is depending on what you put in sometimes it blocks the light too much that you have to turn up the brightness more than intended. Also, for some reason I'ma fan of using those small LED lamps on top of these types of cabinets sort of like the ones Ikea demonstrates with this and the Billy bookshelf.

[byronhadley]

I’d love to see some of your projects around the house that you used LED light strips on

[marcberm]

I think I would just use black foam mounting tape across the entire length of the aluminum channel, vs. the alternative of electrical tape across the entire front. That little bit of light that still leaks through would gnaw at my OCD.

[EricWelander]

What a great video! The final setup looks so nice and I love how the second option doesn’t require any soldering

[RaffBuilding]

A week ago I lined my home bar shelves with 12v BTF-LIGHTING FCOB from one of your shoot-out videos. My God are they bright, but I didn't include a way to dim them. What was supposed to be accent lighting is now serious task lighting, but after a few days we've learned to like it. Great vids btw.

[Arda-ffqb]

how can anything with black electric band be an expert level?