Bulky, old-fashioned chandeliers have long gone out of fashion and remained only in specific interiors, where they perform the role not only of the lighting device and decoration element. More popular today a hidden or spot lighting that does not create Intrusive light and avoid eye strain. Is this effect using small lamps or strip led.
It LEDs often use designers to create a certain atmosphere in the room, and people «to the uninitiated» it seems very complicated and impracticable. In fact, led backlight ceiling with his hands – it is quite simple and does not require any specific knowledge, it is enough to know few subtleties, and to prevent installation errors, which will be discussed later.
Common misconception is that a suspended ceiling with led lighting can only be matte because the glossy surface reflects the lights and concealed lighting effect disappears. In fact, it is not just the decision to install lighting should be taken before I mounted the ceiling.
Our experts will consider this request and will establish a discreet reflective side on the perimeter of the room, it will be mounted a tape, and the light is refracted from the walls, will be reflected in the ceiling of a smooth spectrum with no visible points.
Suspended ceiling with led light ↑
The ceiling of plasterboard with led backlight, must also have some design features. Typically, the tape is mounted in a specially made niche, which can be on the outer perimeter of the ceiling and internal. It all depends on the design of the room and what is the objective of the lighting, because depending on the location of the tape, it can serve as a main light source or simply to stress the necessary local zone.
It is a local area, often be a difficulty when mounting LEDs on the ceiling. For a harmonious combination with other light sources in the room, you need to correctly calculate the power and brightness of the tape and put it on a separate switch that will work independently from the main source.
To visualize how the process of manufacturing under LEDs, and how would look this kind of lighting, you can see the video
The combined ceiling on several levels ↑
Complex ceiling structures often use hidden lights. First, they are easier to organize a special niche that will not be evident, and second, a two-level ceiling with led lighting can create a focus on the brightest areas and leave in the shade less important. This applies not only to the ceiling, but only what is under it.
The emergence of led strips in the construction market, significantly expanded the capabilities of designers when developing new concepts. But experts working for a long time with diodes, know all their subtleties and what to look for when choosing. The man, previously not encountered with such works is much more complicated. Therefore, it is necessary to consider in more detail the led strip and figure out what to pay attention to get competent and unobtrusive lighting in your home.
How to choose a led strip ↑
Before proceeding to the choice, you need to understand what is led strip and what makes them different from each other different models.
So, tape is a flexible Board with a crystal diode, which may differ according to the type of elements:
- DIP tape consists of a convex bulbs. Because of their relatively large size, such tape is most often used for street lighting or in rooms with large area.
- SMD ribbon is a small crystals connected in parallel. They create soft lighting and for use on the ceiling merge into a single luminous composition. It SMD strip used in concealed lighting and that they will be discussed further.
Marking ↑
Marking the led strip consists of letters, in our case the SMD, and four digits that indicate the size of the crystals in accordance with this power of the tape itself.
For example, the numbers in the marking 5050 mean that each crystal has a size of 5.0 to 5.0 mm. Apart from the size, on the ribbon indicates the power of the illumination of each individual diode, it is expressed in Kelvins and can be from 2500 to 10000. The brightness selected individually on the basis of the characteristic features of the ceiling and its height, but as an example, you can imagine the gypsum ceiling with frosted white paint, then it is calculated from 2000 to one meter of ceiling height.
Power supply ↑
The LEDs operate on 12 or 24 volts, which means they need a transformer that is selected separately under each type of illumination. That is, depending on the length of the strip and its brightness will be calculated and the power supply. In fact, there’s nothing complicated here, the table below will help you navigate and understand how is the calculation of the indicators.
| The size of individual crystal. | The capacity of one meter of tape. To | The required power of the transformer. W |
| Three thousand five hundred twenty eight | Four thousand | 4.8 |
| Three thousand five hundred twenty eight | Six thousand | 9.6 |
| Three thousand five hundred twenty eight | Eight thousand | Sixteen |
| Five thousand fifty | Four thousand | 7.2 |
| Five thousand fifty | Six thousand | 14.4 |
| Five thousand fifty | Eight thousand | Twenty five |
It is also necessary to take into account the power margin, which is conventionally present as 1.25.
For example, the height of our ceiling is 3 meters, so we need 6000 K, and the crystal size was chosen 3528, on the table it turns out that one meter of such a tape will have a capacity of 9.6 W but we have, for example, 5 meters of ribbon. So, 9.6 multiplied by 5 and multiply by the reserve capacity of 1.25, it turns out that we need a transformer with a value of 60.
As you can see, nothing complicated, most importantly, to save the above table and focus on it when choosing.
Resistance to moisture ↑
Another very important indicator, especially if you plan to do the ceiling lights in the room with complex conditions, such as the bathroom or the kitchen.
In moisture resistance of the led strip are divided into three categories:
- IP68 is completely encapsulated in a silicone band that is not afraid of moisture and can even be used under water.
- IP65 led coated with silicone. Ideal for illumination of the ceiling in the bathroom.
- IP33 tape without additional protection, and can only be applied on the ceilings in rooms where there is high humidity.
Installation of led strip on the ceiling ↑
The led strip has an adhesive base, so with it problems will not arise, but before that you need to make all the connections.
First and foremost, you need to determine what will be the total length of the backlight. Led strip sold in coils of five feet, so if you need more length, connect multiple segments. You need a soldering iron and at least basic skills.
To connect two tapes will need «terminal block», where is spike.
When the tape is ready begin its installation on a ceiling, but rather into a prepared niche. For starters, you need to install the power supply, as a rule, it is put in the corner and hide the power cord in a wall or under any decorative elements. Next, remove the protective strip and the strip is glued in the right place. Most importantly, remove the film in stages, that is, every half-meter. As only one site pasted, removed, and then glued the following.
Some difficulty may arise with suspended ceilings where the led strip must be glued on the drywall. The fact that the adhesive on the tape, bad on paper or painted surfaces, so in place of fixing usually put a thin strip of plastic. It can also be a decorative area or strip of polyurethane, with which the adhesive interacts well.
The installation of lighting for the ceiling is ready, it is possible to turn it on and enjoy the pleasant soft light diodes.
As you can see, nothing complicated self-organization of the illumination on the ceiling is not important – all the calculate correctly and think. No need to hurry with the purchase. The error in the calculations will lead to the complete disappointment of the result. Have to do it again, but this additional cost, both financial and physical.
