LED Strip Lights - GoVee RGBIC

[dekuiper]

Hello all,

Our standard rope accent light (white incandescent) has burned out. It is 12V wired to a switch in our header. I would really like to put something up there with some character and I found several programmable LED strip lights.

I was looking at the RGBIC series from GoVee. What makes these attractive is that each segment can be individually colored so we can set up with Red/White/Blue or Red/Green, etc depending on the time of year.

As they are powered by 120V which is adapted down to 12V I was thinking I could simply wire the controller to my 12V system and skip their adapter.

There was a comment on Amazon that said someone tried it but failed. I cannot understand why that would be the case. Isn't 12V always 12V? I do know that LEDs are required to be wired exactly and you cannot reverse polarity.

Is there any experience here?

[astrnmrtom]

I've used similar strip lights wired straight to 12V without problems so far. I have two "household" multi-colored strips with remotes wired directly into my RVs 12V power. Only issue I could see would be if the strip and or controller needs a constant regulated 12v, if the 110v transformer has more than just a positive and negative output or if the control system works off different voltage.

The voltage in a vehicle can be over 14 volts when the system is charging and I found this was too much for some of the cheaper LED strips. Wasn't long before individual chips were burning out. Might be worth asking the company.

[Lt Dan]

I have my LEDs wired directly into my 12v coach supply. The problem is some brands of LED strips are sensitive to higher voltage and the coach converter can be 14.2-14.5 volts at times depending on bulk charge, float charge, etc. Most of the time it runs at around 13.2 volts in float mode. You can purchase a 12v filtered power supply that hooks into the house batteries and maintains an exact 12v all the time but I have never had a problem just running mine off the 13.2v.

Also, be aware that if you get the RGBW LEDs, that requires a different controller and five wire conductor as they contain a fourth LED that is white light. The RGB LEDs mix the three colors to simulate white light like a LED television or computer monitor does.

[dekuiper]

LOVE these answers. Thanks. I've ordered them and an power regulator.

[dekuiper]

Update: this has worked perfectly now for 3 months. Thanks for the guidance.