LED strips and strings and volts and things


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Old 08-21-19, 03:30 AM
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LED strips and strings and volts and things

hello all, this is my first time here. i am hoping to continue returning by not burning my flat down. my project is simple, i am trying to make a lamp using two strips of blue LED lights plus a string of white led lights. the strips are 5 volts and the string is 3. can the string be connected to the strips without going nuclear? if yes, what would the power supply need to be? i was planning on using an adjustable adapter that goes from 3v to 12, i believe.

i know how to connect them, i just don't know -if- they can be connected.

cheers!
 
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Old 08-21-19, 05:42 AM
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Hi, what are the strips you have, need more info.
Geo
 
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Old 08-21-19, 10:38 AM
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the strips are a usb lights set used on the back of a tv. one of those plug and play things..

<img src="https://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff284/czechzican/led%20strip_zpsnttfetwd.jpg" width="933" height="1080"/>
 
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Old 08-21-19, 04:19 PM
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I don't understand your description of "the strips are 5 volts and the string is 3". I would not use a variable output power supply. Instead I would use a fixed 5 VDC power supply and run 5v to each strip. If each LED strip is short your can power them in series (the beginning of one strip connected to the end of another), but if the strips are longer I would run 5v to the end of each strip individually.
 
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Old 08-21-19, 06:04 PM
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hello, what i mean by "the strips are 5 volts and the string is 3" is that the lights are in two forms; one form is a strip of them, the other is a string of christmas lights. the strip has a rating of 5 volts and the string of lights has a rating of 3. the string is originally powered by two aa batteries. as for the power supply, the variable one is just what i happened to have on hand. i didn't put much effort into procuring anything. however, i might have a fixed 5v somewhere kicking around in the junk drawer of doom
 
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Old 08-22-19, 04:08 AM
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How long do you want this project lamp on? A 5 vdc battery drawing 1.2A won't last long. I assume the 3 vdc LED rating is similar.
 
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Old 08-22-19, 05:59 PM
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oh, wow.. i am confused now. the string of lights is the only battery operated one.i have no idea what the rating is for it other than it uses two AA batteries. it is 7 feet long and has 20 lights to it. it's $2 thing from walmart last christmas my idea is to connect the strip and string together to a plug instead of batteries and it'd only be used for ambient lighting for a few hours at night. that said, i might not even bother with the string anymore, as i plugged the strip into a usb terminal and put batteries in the string and then loaded it all into the lamp body as a dry run and as it would seem, the white lights don't really add much to it. the blue kind of takes over.

but before i give up on it, would my idea be feasible?
 
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Old 08-23-19, 04:14 AM
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Get 2 wall warts, one with a DC output of 5V at 1.5 A minimum and the other 3V at 1.5A minimum. Connect the 5V output to the blue LEDs and the 3V output to the white LEDs. Plug both wall warts into a power strip with and on/off switch.Have a happy holiday.
 
 

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