DIY LED Light Panel from Flexible LED Strips

• • 21 Comments

YouTube member DTapeProductions writes in and shares their DIY LED Light panel using LED light strips. Of course you can't exact daylight temperature, and who knows if it can be properly color corrected with filters. Outside of that, it's actually quite ingenious if you think of the price + possibilities. As mentioned in the video, these uber cheap super bright LED lights can be used for accents, instead of the use of colored gels. It would be interesting to see them finish that 1200 LED panel. [Thanks Ross]

Flexible with adhesive backing, these strips are also found in waterproof versions. They are available in a variety of colors from Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, White, and Warm White. Often found as the colorful under lighting of cars since they run at 12V. It will run you about $3-4 dollars / 1M (3ft = 60 LED count) found below.

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find-price-button Flexible LED lighting Strips 12V

If you're looking to make those 12V LED lights dimmable, this 12V PWM designed for LED lighting should work.

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find-price-button PWM Dimming Controller For LED Lights or Ribbon, 12 Volt 8 Amp, 3301

[Update] Chris drops a comment and mentions that if you're not the strong silent soldering type of guy, then there are a variety of connectors available for Flexible LED strips. Check out some of the options available below that will allow you to bend the strips, or join them directly for longer runs. All found on eBay below (click here).

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LED-connect-3led-connector-2
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find-price-button Flexible LED Strip Connectors

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21 thoughts on “DIY LED Light Panel from Flexible LED Strips”

  1. You can purchase very inexpensive led strips that are 5500k +or- 100k.
    Cree is about to release strips that are variable between 4500k and 6500k have a CRI of 95. In the same way that digital sensors changed everything in photography, LED lighting is about to change everything. We'll see a great deal of resistance from the old guard, but it seems to be headed that way.

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  4. Peter Baylis

    What a great idea. You guys in the US of A have so much more gear available to you, that's not available here in the UK. I have sourced most of what you used to try to replicate what your have achieved but I'm having real problems sourcing a 12v Lithium battery. Can you let me know what make, type and # your battery (seen in the video) is, and where you got it from please.
    Peter

  5.

    @Stew, if you use yellowish(tungsten) key lights, you can set the camera to white balance for them which makes lights that are slightly blue appear much more blue. That way if you can make these LEDs appear blue for use as accent or backlights without having to bother with gels.

  6. Stew

    I'm new to DIY lighting, so I hope someone can answer this for me.
    Is it possible to mix warm white and white to get a better daylight color? Is there a certain ratio of warm:white?

    In their video they mention white balancing to the "yellow" color. Why?

  8. wesley

    Can you take a light reading so we know exactly how bright we can expect? Love the concept and design. Just trying to get an idea of what I can expect before I start buying parts.

  11.

    it would be interesting to attach whole bunch of these in strips to some fabric and attach battens in the other direction so have a roll up light 1m by how long you like.

  13. Ross Allen

    Thanks for the post Emm!

    @MikeyMike, The only issue with that is they aren't that flexible. We've tried several different ways to attach them, and soldering just works better. I also love the idea of attaching them to a cylinder and creating a 360 degree light!

  14.

    @MikeyMike @Emm I asked the guys on their Youtube Channel about bending it as I had the exact same idea.

    They said it's flexible only "up and down" but not around corners... I think it "may" still be able to do it if it's anything like thin computer ribbon cables. Note the LEDs are only facing one direction since they have adhesive on the bottom.

  17. MikeyMike

    If they are flexable enough you should be able to bend the next strip over and maybe lose 1 led in the process but save the pain of soldering. I would like to see a 600 led strip and make it about 2 ft x 3 ft without having to cut and solder.

  20. Prasamoe

    This is a great idea! These panels may end less bulky, lighter, and 10 times cheaper.

    There are other dimmers availlable on ebay (remote with 2 channels to mix warm white and day white light).

    Thank you guys

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