Led reels

Here's a link that explains the numbers 5050 and 3528. SMD is I believe short for surface mount device:

http://www.flexfireleds.com/pa...s-and-5050-LEDs.html

A 6A 12VDC power source can handle a lot of these lights. The few you would need for the bridges would leave lots of available amperage for future use of LED's in buildings and such.

I use one 8A 12VDC power source for LED lighting and it will handle many lights.

Here's a chart and an explanation of how to calculate what size power supply you will need taken from the above referenced web site:

 Use the charts to figure out which LED strip light power supply you need.

Use the key below to see which power supply you will need. Look below and find the number of feet you are going to use. Then look across to the final column for the recommended LED power supply to use. 

The power source needed depends on the length that you cut the LED strip. Let's use the 150 LED RGB strip light as an example: Each foot uses 2.2 watts. Add the amount of feet together, multiply by 2.2, and you have the wattage used. You should add 20% more room in the power supply so take the wattage, and divide by .8 to get the power supply needed. 

Example. 8 feet of RGB LED strip light. 8 X 2.2 watts = 17.6 total watts used. 17.6/.8= 22 watts. You need a power supply that will handle 22 watts.

12V Colorbright Single Color LED strip light -  600 LEDs per reel

Banjoflyer,perfect just the answer i was looking for,i went to that web site & printed out the information,boy are they expensive!!! i will go to e-bay to order the lights thanks for your very detailed response i really appreciate your help.

Hi Gerald, you are welcome. Ebay is the way to go on these light reels. I've bought several and they work great. The big advantage is you can alter the length to suit your needs. Look around on the various sites that sell the reels and you'll find extra terminal end sets with attached power wire leads that allow you to clip onto the newly cut segments. That way you can easily attach a power source to light up the LEDS.

Mark

Note that the 600 LED strips are pretty dense for providing a lot of light.  Most of the time, the 300 LED strips are plenty for lighting.  The denser ones are also, of course, more expensive.

gunrunnerjohn,i know they have wires with 6" leads that you can clip on to the end of the leds,but i believe you said in a previous post that you just soder wires to the end of the led tape ,what size wire did you use,& how difficult was it? Also,can you advise me as to a particular web site that i can buy from? Thanks in advance.

I have ordered a reel of blue lights on amazon for $8.96 the expected delivery is between August 14,& August 30 i assume the are coming from China,which is ok because i am in no hurry for this project,i also ordered a 30 watt 12 volt power supply for $12.49,expected delivery is July 25,these are cheap prices i hope the quality is decent because i don't know much about which ones are better than others.