How to cap off cut ends of LED strips?

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dbannister
 
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Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2014 5:11 pm

How to cap off cut ends of LED strips?

Post by dbannister »

Hi,

I'm using the FadeCandy to drive strips of 64 LEDs. This means I'm cutting longer strips into sections of 64. I'm using the 60 LED/meter strips so the numbers don't work out nicely. (product suggestion - make up strips with 64 LEDs per meter) This means that I will have 8 strips, each slightly longer than a meter, that I will have to wire back to my FadeCandy board. To do this I'm planning on using an 1/8" stereo headphone jack on each one to carry the three wires. This will allow me to easily connect them and add extension wires if I need to.

My question is - how do I neatly cap off the strip where it connects to the stereo jack? You use some sort of non conductive silicon glue and an end cap when you terminate the strips. Can I buy this glue and these caps from you?

Another question - does my idea of using a stereo headphone cable to handle the three wires back to the FadeCandy sound reasonable or will the gauge of the wire be insufficient?

Thanks.

Doug

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pburgess
 
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Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2008 2:29 am

Re: How to cap off cut ends of LED strips?

Post by pburgess »

We have silicone caps for LPD8806 strips...these are a little wider than NeoPixel strips, but one could fill the cap with silicone glue:
https://www.adafruit.com/products/774

I've had perfectly good luck using hot glue (or Permatex 66 silicone glue) and clear heat-shrink tubing (using a heat gun for a good, uniform shrink...trying to do that gauge of tubing with a lighter would be BANNED.) You can see this in action in the NeoPixel curtain and Cyber Falls wig tutorials:
https://learn.adafruit.com/1500-neopixe ... led-strips
https://learn.adafruit.com/neopixel-cyb ... led-dreads

I'd recommend against using phono jacks. They're OK for signal, but aren't designed for carrying lots of current (the brand of hot wire stripper I have uses a phono connector and it's a notorious point of failure). 3-pin JST plugs work great for this though (see curtain tutorial above).

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dbannister
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2014 5:11 pm

Re: How to cap off cut ends of LED strips?

Post by dbannister »

Thanks for your help! Those caps you pointed to are exactly what I'm looking for. Do you sell the Permatex 66 silicone glue?

I ran a test with the audio cables and you're absolutely right - the gauge is too small and therefore there is substantial power drop even over a few feet. I've now upped that to 3x18 gauge wire and am able to transmit power and data through a 15 foot extension with no noticeable illumination drop in the LEDs.

Appreciate it!

Doug

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