Complete Newbie: Need help wiring LED lighting kits

[angus1973]

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry for wasting your time, but I'm having lots of difficulty wrapping my head around some lighting I purchased from ebay (**broken link removed**). My intention is to wire four of these together, spaced about a foot or so apart from each other, on one cord that I can plug in. I quickly discovered that LED doesn't match up to extension cords, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what I need and how to go about doing this. Again, I sincerely apologize for taking up your time, but I hope a few people on this forum can help me.

Thanks in advance,
Angus1973

 

[BradtheRad]

The lamp terminates in two plain wire leads. Will they be installed indoors or outdoors? If outdoors then I'd advise to use low voltage.

I'm not sure what to make of the power specs stated in the Ebay listing: "Working Voltage: DC 12V; AC/DC 85-265V". Anyway it implies you need 12VDC 9W for one lamp. Since you have four lamps, then the power rating should be 4 x 9W = 36W. Avoid leaving bare wires exposed to the elements.

To connect wires quickly, you have wire twist-connectors which can be purchased in local hardware stores. If you can locate a large enough size, it will gather 5 wires into one connector. You must strip away insulation, with a razor blade or electrician's all-purpose combination tool.

If you want to add lengths of wire, you need more wire-twist-caps.

The photo looks as though the wires are color-coded for DC polarity. Usually the lighter or more intense color is positive, the darker or duller wire is negative.

 

[angus1973]

Thanks for the power rating. I'm still unsure of what I would need to plug this in to a normal outlet. Is there a special plug for LED wiring? Do I need some type of conversion along the way? I can figure out how to connect all of the lights through wires (thanks to you), but I am confused about how to finish the line so that it ends in a plug I can use in a normal outlet.

 

[Audioguru]

Since you bought a Chinese light from ebay who sell mostly cheap Chinese products then we don't know and you don't know how to power it since it says 12VDC/85V-265VAC and they do not say if it is wired for AC or for DC or if it has the AC to DC converter inside it.
It is made by Ranpo in China. Its datasheet does not say it is certified to be safe from a shock or fire hazard.

BEWARE! If it is wired for 12VDC and you connect it to your AC electricity then it will probably explode and/or catch on fire.