LED strip lighting screw in clamps?

[OldNick]

Does anyone know if there are screw-down clamp[s that cut into the gel on LED strips and make contact with the terminals?

So I have bought some 5050 LED strips and very soon worked out that the copper strips carrying the power are way too thin and cause massive loss of brightness over a 5m length and if strips are chained, the dimming is even worse. Running the strips at higher voltages helps, but you still get the dimming as you move away from the voltage source. Even looping the supply to both ends only helps, but does not solve.

It occurred to me that what I need is to run lengths of small cable, terminating it into the LED strips every 2 metres or so. However cutting into the gel and soldering to the terminals every 2 metres will be a bit of a pain if I do a lot of the stuff. So I was wondering.......

Any help appreciated.

 

[Str8stroke]

How many amps is your power supply?

 

[OldNick]

Thanks for the reply.

That is definitely not the problem. I have used a 3s LiPo battery and the power supply I have can output 10-14 V at 20A.

 

[Str8stroke]

Oh wow. I have two 5 meters wired together to yield one big 10 meter China cheapo and the dimming is barely noticeable on a 10 amp supply. I am running a Astron power supply. I am a little caught by your findings. I agree, they should have some type of a Wire Tap. I soldered most all my connectors. It was a pain, but if you are worried about voltage loss, soldering is the way to go for sure. That gets me wondering. Do you have a weak connection in your system anywhere?? Just brain storming here.

 

[OldNick]

Have you measured the power draw of the strips compared to the claimed figure? A 10A supply _should_ be well pushed by two strips, if they are 5050s. Also are you talking RGB strips and if so, how much of each colour are you using. A plain white strip would be a lot simpler. I believe that the RGB ones drive the Red with a pulsed voltage, making power readings tricky

I don't think it's a bad connection. This has happened over multiple setups and with more tan one strip. Mine are cheap ones as well. The loss caused by the copper strips is a much discussed and well known problem.

I reckon a clamped contact would be fine and any loss would be far less than what happens along the strip. I am surprised I have not been able to find some.

I suppose an alternative would be to dual feed power to the strips, and have end connectors that allow dual feeding and also chaining. I think I have seen those