As a newbie of LED Lights, when we browse the LED Light products on the internet, we find that the working voltage has 12VDC and 24VDC, so, what’s the difference between them? which one is better for me? today let’s check.
When we select the LED Lights we have many factors that need to think about, colors, waterproof or not, length or quantity, but about the working voltage, 12V or 24V, which one is better for us, we think it’s a question to most of the newbies. the answer is that comes to your project. we know the working voltage less than 36V is safe for humans and animals, so both working voltages are safe for your kids and pets. each voltage is better suited for specific applications, when we choose the working voltage for the LED Strips, the 24VDC is less susceptible to voltage drop, so that it can illuminate a strip more consistently over a greater distance, but for 12VDC, if the length over 5meters, the brightness will become weak from beginning to end slowly. so if you want to run a long length of the LED Strips, the 24V will be a better choice. also good for the high densities COB LED Strips.
On the other hand, if you want to run many LED Strips for your lighting project, we will recommend connecting the LED Strips to the Power Supply in parallel to avoid the voltage drop issue, or not connecting them one by one, whatever 12VDC or 24VDC LED Strips.
Before you try to light up the LED Lights, you should check carefully the working voltage of your LED Lights and accessories. if the unmatch working voltage maybe damage them. for example, if the LED Strips work in 24V, then the output voltage of the Power Supply should be 24V, if you want to add a Dimmer or Controller, the working voltage should be 24V.
the word “Max Run” means the maximum continuous length of LED Strips to a single Power Supply. the limit is not related to the maximum electrical power of the circuit, but instead is determined by establishing an acceptable amount of voltage drop, it depends on the number of LEDs and working voltage. the additional power suppliers or amplifiers mounted mid-run can drastically increase the run length, because the extra power inputs spread across the run help to decrease voltage drop. for some high-density Addressable LED Strips, we will recommend adding the same voltage every 5 meters to avoid the voltage drop issue.