LED lighting is considered to be the most energy efficient. However, there is a significant drawback - LEDs require special power supply. You can't just take and connect an LED strip or lamp to an ordinary outlet with a voltage of 220 V. For efficient and uninterrupted operation, the installation of special power supplies is required.
How to choose a power supply for LED lamps
To select a suitable model, you need to correctly calculate its power, equipping with a cooling system. The type of performance and functionality also play a role.
The main task of the cooling system is to reduce the temperature of the source and extend its service life. This design is divided into several types, it can be active and passive. The first system is equipped with a fan, has a compact size, but is noisier than the second and requires regular cleaning. The passive design takes up more space but is virtually silent and easy to use.
According to their functionality, power supplies for an LED lamp are divided into the following types:
- Conventional PSUs. Their main task is to ensure uninterrupted operation of the tape.
- PSUs equipped with a built-in control device called a dimmer. Its task is to provide operation and control the brightness and colors of LED lamps.
- Remote controlled. The set includes a remote control that works via infrared or radio.
- Modifications with the maximum complete set. The LED lamp comes with a remote control and a dimmer switch. This design avoids the installation of additional equipment in different places.
Next, you need to decide which type of power supplies for the LED strip in terms of design will be preferable. Structures are completely open, semi-hermetic and completely sealed. When choosing, you need to analyze in which room the lamp will work - a production area, a living room or a bathroom. The maximum degree of protection is required if the luminaire is intended for outdoor use.
The simplest, cheapest and most common design is open models, placed in a high-quality plastic case. This type is only partially protected from the ingress of dust, suitable for use exclusively indoors in dry rooms. In a car, for example, sources are used to illuminate the dashboard, ceiling or floor. When installing in a residential area, you should pay attention to the relatively low power (up to 75 W). For normal lighting, at least 2-3 tapes are required. They are usually masked behind a suspended or stretch ceiling.
A characteristic feature of a semi-hermetic power supply is its relatively affordable cost and average size. They are intended for installation in rooms with high humidity, but with a small probability of water ingress directly onto the case. For example, in the bathroom or in the kitchen, they are mounted under ceilings or special awnings. They can also be used in industrial facilities.
Sealed structures are blocks placed in protective capsules, they protect the mechanism from the harmful effects of the environment. The control board is sealed with silicone and is located inside a transparent glass.This type is used, as a rule, to create outdoor lighting of the machine, as well as to work in conditions of high levels of dust and humidity.
In comparison with analogs, the size and weight of sealed modifications is larger. The power has been increased to 100 watts, which allows feeding long tapes.
Control unit characteristics
A power supply is an electrical design, the main task of which is to convert the current strength of 220V to 12V or 24V, depending on the required operating voltage. In most cases, switching power supplies are used to power LED lamps. Resistors act as limiters here. There is a common analogue of a power supply unit - a driver; its disadvantage is the absence of current limiters.
When choosing a power supply for LED bulbs, you need to familiarize yourself with the characteristic features that the device should have.
- Working voltage of the lighting fixture.
- The total power of the LED strip.
- The need to protect the power supply case from the harmful effects of the environment.
- Overall dimensions of the structure.
Working voltage
The operating voltage of LED lamps, depending on the design modification, is 12V, 24V and sometimes 36V. The operating voltage of the SPI controlled LED strips is only 5V. For smooth operation, the output voltage of the power supply must correspond to the set parameters.
There are power supplies that allow you to manually adjust the strength of the output voltage, they are used to implement non-standard projects, as well as when you need to compensate for the voltage drop on long wires.
There are also non-standard PSU modifications equipped with several channels. Each has a different output voltage. This can be very useful if you feed different tapes to the same source.
Lighting device power
It is necessary to choose a power supply unit in terms of power as follows: power = total power of LED lamps * short-circuit safety factor (it is equal to 15-30%). If we neglect the safety factor when choosing, the electrical device will work at its limit, its service life will be very limited.
To calculate the total power of the LED strip, each meter of its length must be multiplied by the power.
Dimensions (edit)
The dimensions of the case are of great importance. Powerful PSUs can be oversized, it will be almost impossible to hide them, moreover, most of them are equipped with a built-in fan. If you need to connect a long section of tape, you can revise the wiring diagram and use the option of operating several units of smaller size and power.
When choosing a place for installation, it is necessary to take into account: the higher the power of the device, the more it heats up, therefore it is important to provide enough space for a heat sink, otherwise it will overheat and quickly fail.
PFC in transformer characteristic
Sometimes on the power supply case you can see the PFC marking, which translated from English means reactive power correction. This parameter indicates on which circuitry solution this model is designed, which allows to reduce power consumption.
These modifications are characterized by a high value of the power factor, they belong to the high quality models with low starting current. Another advantage of such models is that with a large number of simultaneously used power supplies, there is no need to install and operate special starting machines.
A power supply is an electrical design that is indispensable when installing LED lamps at home, at work, in a garage, etc.