Can You Cut Led Christmas Lights

From there you can connect the leds to a power source either through a quick connector or by soldering.

Can you cut led christmas lights.

Calculate the length of the lights you will need. If however you are installing c7 c9 18 awg christmas light cords with sockets and screw in bulbs that are wired in parallel yes you can shorten them. We explained in our article answering the question are christmas lights in series or parallel we discussed that while mini lights with small wiring harnesses wired in series cannot be easily cut to custom lengths parallel wired cords can be cut and terminated. Led strip lights are designed to be easy to cut apart with a pair of scissors.

You can find led calculators to determine the propper resister but too many different voltages for different leds. Each led has a pair of copper dots at the end. R v supply n v led over i led p i led 2 r. Twist the two bare wire ends together.

After twisting the wires together secure with a wires connector. Electrical tape this is optional but if you want to make sure that your wire nuts are secured then it s best to purchase a roll as well. Use wire cutters to strip the ends of the two wires cut in the previous step. They will be used to cut and shorten your led christmas lights.

If you know or can measure the led current for each led end therefore for a series and the voltage drop of each and the applied voltage you could calculate the resistance and wattage of a resistor to limit the current to a safe value. As stated you must change the current limiting resister to match. For instance if the christmas lights stretch to 25 feet and you need to cover 35 feet you will need two 25 foot light strands. Step 3 cut a portion of one strand of lights to the length you need to add.

As long as you cut between the dots all of the leds will work. When your three strand christmas lights are too long for the place you had intended and you do not have any shorter strands you can shorten your light strand in a couple of easy but time consuming ways. With the lights unplugged cut the two wires that enter the last light in the series strand with wire cutters. Wire cutters again a pair can be purchased in any hardware or electrical supply store.

If you are handy with a multimeter it is really simple. No you can t lengthen or shorten standard series wired incandescent and led christmas tree light strings that are made with 2 or 3 wire harnesses. Even if they work at first they won t last long. Yes you can cut led strings down to whatever length you need.