Why LED strip voltage drop happens and how can we avoid it?

When working with high power LED strip projects, you may have observed firsthand or heard warnings about voltage drop affecting your LED strips. What is LED strip voltage drop? In this article, we explain the cause of it and how you can avoid it from happening.

The voltage drop of the light strip is that the brightness of the head and tail of the light strip is inconsistent. The light close to the power supply is very bright, and the tail is very dark. This is the voltage drop of the light strip. The voltage drop of 12V will appear after 5 meters, and the 24V strip light will appear after 10 meters. Voltage drop, the brightness of the tail of the light strip is obviously not as high as that of the front.

There is no voltage drop problem with high-voltage lamps with 220v, because the higher the voltage, the lower the current and the smaller the voltage drop.

The current constant current low voltage light strip can solve the voltage drop problem of the light strip, IC constant current design, more lengths of the light strip can be selected, the length of the constant current light strip is generally 15-30 meters, single-ended power supply, the brightness of the head and tail is consistent.

The best way to avoid LED strip voltage drop is to understand its root cause – too much current flowing through too little copper. You can reduce current by:

1-Reducing the length of LED strip used per power supply, or connecting multiple power supplies to the same LED strip at different points

2-Selecting 24V instead of 12V LED strip light (typically same light output but half the current)

3-Selecting a lower power rating

4-Increasing the wire gauge for connecting wires

It’s hard to increase copper without purchasing new LED strip lights, but be sure to find out the copper weight used if you think voltage drop might be an issue.Contact us and we will provide you with a satisfactory solution!