● How long will LED lights last?
Our LED lights will last 35,000-50,000 hours. By comparison, an incandescent light bulb lasts 750-1000 hours, a CFL lasts 8,000-10,000 hours and a Linear Fluorescent bulb (office tube lights) last 20,000-30,000 hours.
● How quickly will I start saving?
Depending on your usage of our LED, the amount of time it takes to recoup the cost of an LED will vary. For example, 1 of our 8W LED bulbs ($14.99) when run 8 hours a day will recoup their cost in 1 year. To find out how quickly, and how much you will save go to this site. http://www.ushio.com/support/roicalculator.htm
● How bright are LEDs?
When determining the brightness of an LED, Lumens (units of light output) are more relevant than watts. A bulb’s wattage doesn’t give us enough information about its brightness, because LED’s yield more light per watt as new technology is produced.
● Can I dim my LEDs?
All of the LED bulbs on our site, excluding the Afford Series, are compatible with high voltage dimmers. LED strip lights can be dimmed using a low-voltage dimmer (available from HitLights) or a dimmable driver (not available from HitLights). HitLights only offers low-voltage (12V) in-line dimmers. For low-voltage wall-dimmers, we recommend Lutron.com. For dimming strips using a high-voltage wall dimmer, you can use a 12V DC dimmable driver (which acts as your power adapter).
● What do I need to install my LED Strip Lights?
To use our LED Strip Lights you need to first have 12V DC power source. If you don’t already have one, HitLights sells adapters that convert the 110AC power in a U.S. outlet, to a usable 12V DC current. If you have one of our color changing strip lights, you will also need a controller to change the color of the strip. We also have various dimmers, controllers, and power adapters in our “LED Strip Lights Accessories” section that will help you get the most out of your strip light.
● Can I cut my LED Strip Lights?
All of our LED Strip Lights, with the exception of our Dreaming Strip, can be cut after every 3rd LED chip. If you decide to cut an IP 67 (Waterproof) strip, you will have to place a waterproof cap on the end of the strip to keep the strip waterproof.
● How do I connect cut strips together?
To connect our Strip Lights after they have been cut follow these steps.
1. Do you have an SMD 3528 or SMD 5050 strip? (If you have an RGB Color Changing Strip you have a 5050)
2. Select the proper connector from our LED Wiring and Connectors section (If you are using an SMD 3528 High Density Strip Light, please use our SMD 3528 High Density Strip-to-Strip Connector)
3. Take the cut end of your strips (should be copper) and slide them under the connectors. Make sure that you align the positive side of the strips. (Look for 12V+)
4. Turn on your light strip to make sure you have a good connection.
a. If you do then go ahead and close the connectors.
b. If you don’t then leave your lights on and keep trying to make a connection. (If you have an RGB Color Changing Strip then set your strips to white while you make this connection)
● Can I use a battery to power the light strips?
Yes, you can power our strip lights with any 12v power source. We also sell a 3800 mAh rechargeable battery pack for those reasons.
● How can I connect LED Strips to my car?
In the future we will offer a cigarette lighter-to-DC plug which will plug directly into either your 3528 strip, or you 5050 color changing strip controller (which would then plug into your strip)
However, for now there is a relatively easy way to hook your strips up to your cars power.
1. Buy a cigarette lighter plug that outputs 12v electricity (make sure the plug does not convert the power), with bare wire on the end. (Available at Walmart) And our Strip-to-Male Plug Adapter.
2. You can either solder the wires from the cigarette lighter plug to the Male Plug, or use a wire nut to connect them together.
3. The Male Plug will plug into the controller for our Color Changing Strips (which then plugs into your strips), or directly into your Single Color Strips.
● Can I solder the LED Strips?
Yes, you can solder wire to any of the copper ports to connect strips together.
● Can I use the light bulbs outdoors?
We do not recommend using our light bulbs that will get too humid or wet. If you use your LED bulb outdoors, make sure you are not going to let them get abused by the elements.
● How do I hang the IP 67 (Waterproof) strips?
Our IP 67 Strips do not have a 3m adhesive on the back of them. So you will need to mount those strips with the mount clips.
● Can I use regular wiring to connect the LED strips?
Yes! Our LED strips can be directly wired with any wire 22-gauge or larger! This means that most common electrical wires can be used to connect our LED strips. The ports where our LED’s are cut can be directly soldered to these wires!
● How long do the LED Strips last?
Our LED strips are expected to last for 35,000 hours of use! Using the strips for 8 hours a day, that would mean that your LED strip will last roughly 12 years! Our LED’s also come with a 2 year warranty to help if you have any trouble with the LED strips.
● Is the strobe on the light bulbs customizable?
Unfortunately, the color-changing LED light bulbs that we sell with strobe functions are not customizable. The remotes which ship with our color-changing bulbs have default animations, which cannot be edited (yet).
● How do I calculate the amount of power I’ll need to use my light strips?
Our light strips vary between 24 and 72 W power requirements. Every strip on the site has its wattage listed. When selecting a power adapter, simply add up the combined wattage you need for your strips! The watts required are also proportional to the length of the strip you are using. For example, using 1 foot of our 16.4 ft., 72 W spools will draw roughly 1/16th of 72W, or 4.5W.
● What’s the difference between UL and non-UL HitLights products?
This is mostly used among professionals who prefer high-quality components, but our regular strips fit most residential needs. Our UL LED Bulbs carry the official UL mark for quality. The LED strips that we sell with UL Recognized components are made with different LED’s with official UL Recognition for quality. These strips also carry the official UL Recognized Components logo, as verification that they are of a higher standard than regular strips.
● Can I use the same remote for multiple lights?
With our infrared remotes (All bulbs with remotes use these), one remote can control multiple receivers/bulbs. For example, 4 of our BlueMoon bulbs and a BlueLux bulb could all be controlled with only one of the remote controls!
● How long are the LED light strips?
We sell strips in spools of 16.4 Ft (5 meters).
● Can I connect a single-color LED strip with a color-changing LED strip?
The color-changing strips we sell use 4 connections, as opposed to the 2 (+/-) connections on our single-color SMD 3528 strips. For this reason, color-changing strips require a controller and cannot be connected to SMD 3528 Strips.