LED strip lighting glossary
The terms on spec sheets, submittals and inspection reports, each in one or two sentences, with a link to the guide that goes deeper. Written for contractors and specifiers, not for a first lesson in lighting.
#
- 0-10V Control and dimming
- An analog dimming standard: a two-wire control signal from 0 to 10 volts sets the level on a compatible driver. Simple and common in commercial work; it needs a driver with a 0-10V input. Guide
- 120V AC strip Strip and products
- Strip that runs on line voltage with no remote driver, cut in long increments and run far from one feed. Dimming is phase-cut only, TRIAC or ELV. Guide
- 12V, 24V, 48V Electrical
- The common DC strip voltages. Halving the current for the same watts, 24V runs farther than 12V and 48V farther again; the strip model sets which are available. Guide
- 80% loading rule Electrical
- Our sizing rule: keep the connected load at or below 80% of the driver rating so it runs cooler and lasts. It is a design margin, not a code requirement. Guide
A
- Addressable strip pixel strip Strip and products
- Strip where each LED or group has its own driver chip and address, so patterns can move along the run. Also called pixel or digital strip. Guide
- AFCI Electrical
- Arc-fault circuit interrupter, a breaker that trips on arcing signatures. Some driver front ends mimic those signatures and trip it without a fault. Guide
- Aluminum channel profile · extrusion Installation
- An extruded profile that holds the strip, spreads its heat and carries a diffuser. Recessed, surface and corner families; standard sticks of 2 m and 3 m. Guide
- ASHRAE 90.1 and IECC Codes and compliance
- The commercial energy standards most states adopt. They set lighting power density allowances and require controls such as occupancy and daylight response. Guide
B
- Backlighting Installation
- Strip behind a translucent panel, stone, acrylic or a stretch ceiling. Spacing between strip rows and panel depth set the evenness. Guide
- Beam angle Light quality
- The cone inside which intensity stays above half of the peak. Bare strip emits about 120°; lensed wall washers narrow it to 10° to 60°. Guide
- Bend radius Strip and products
- The tightest curve a neon or strip can take without damage, given per model. Side-bend neon turns corners in the plane of the wall; top-bend arches away from it. Guide
- Bill of materials BOM Ordering and projects
- The parts list for the job: strip by model and length, drivers, connectors, channel, diffusers and end caps with quantities. Built from the takeoff. Guide
C
- Candela Light quality
- Light intensity in one direction. An IES file lists candela by angle, which is what lighting software needs to predict lux on a wall or floor. Guide
- CCT Light quality
- Correlated color temperature, in kelvin: how warm or cool a white looks. 2700K reads as warm, 3000K as the usual interior white, 4000K neutral, 5000K and up cool. Guide
- Circuit schedule Ordering and projects
- The table of which runs sit on which driver output and breaker. It is where Class 2 limits and inrush get checked before the job is wired. Guide
- CL2 / CL3 cable Electrical
- Cable listed for Class 2 or Class 3 circuits; CL2P and CL2R are the plenum and riser versions. The driver output class decides which the inspector expects. Guide
- Class 2 Electrical
- An NEC Article 725 output class limited to 100 VA at up to 60 V DC, with the wiring relief that comes with it. Our Class 2 drivers are rated 60 W; a bigger load needs more outputs or a non-Class 2 driver. Guide
- COB Strip and products
- Chip on board: many small chips under a continuous phosphor layer, giving a dot-free line without a diffuser. Guide
- Commissioning Installation
- Setting and verifying the controls after installation: addresses, dimming ranges, scenes and schedules, then documenting them for handover. Guide
- Conformal coating Strip and products
- A thin silicone or acrylic layer over the PCB that resists moisture without a full extrusion. Common on IP65 strip. Guide
- Constant current (CC) Electrical
- A driver that holds a fixed current while voltage varies. Constant-current strip carries on-board regulation and runs farther from one feed; it needs a CC driver, never a CV supply. Guide
- Constant voltage (CV) Electrical
- A driver that holds a fixed output, 12V, 24V or 48V DC, while current varies with the load. Most LED strip is constant voltage. Guide
- Controller Control and dimming
- The device that sets color or level and sends it to the strip, from a wall panel to a DMX console. Distinct from the driver, which only supplies power. Guide
- Corner dark spot Installation
- The unlit gap where two runs meet at a cove corner. Solved with corner connectors, mitred channel or a short bridge piece. Guide
- Cove lighting Installation
- Strip hidden on a ledge or in a recess that lights the ceiling indirectly. The cove's depth and lip height decide the throw and whether the strip is seen. Guide
- CRI Light quality
- Color Rendering Index, 0–100: how truthfully the light shows colors next to a reference source. Ra≥90 is the usual bar for interiors.
- CSP Strip and products
- Chip scale package: the LED die with phosphor and no plastic housing, so the strip is thinner, brighter per chip and emits over a wider angle. Guide
- Cut schedule Ordering and projects
- A list of pieces by type and quantity, as a factory can build it, rather than a total length. Needed for pre-cut and pre-wired orders. Guide
D
- DALI Control and dimming
- Digital Addressable Lighting Interface: a two-wire bus that addresses up to 64 drivers per line and reports back. DT6 covers single-channel dimming, DT8 covers color and tunable white. Guide
- Decoder Control and dimming
- A device that turns DMX or DALI data into PWM output for constant-voltage strip. One decoder serves a few channels; large jobs use many. Guide
- Derating Electrical
- Reducing the usable output of a driver as its surroundings get warmer, per the datasheet curve. Enclosed ceilings and closets are where it matters. Guide
- Diffuser Installation
- The cover on a channel that softens the LED points: clear keeps output, frosted blurs, opal hides the dots at the cost of some light. Guide
- Diffuser distance Installation
- The gap between the LEDs and the diffuser. Together with pitch it decides whether dots show; deeper channels hide a coarser pitch. Guide
- Dim-to-warm Strip and products
- Strip whose color temperature drops as it dims, mimicking an incandescent lamp. Fixed behavior on a standard dimmer, with no separate color control. Guide
- Dimming curve Control and dimming
- How light output follows the control signal: linear, square-law or logarithmic. Mismatched curves between a dimmer and a driver cause a jump at the bottom or a dead zone at the top. Guide
- DLC Codes and compliance
- The DesignLights Consortium qualified products list that many utility rebates require. Strip is listed as a system by model, so check the QPL before promising a rebate. Guide
- DMX universe Control and dimming
- One DMX512 data line with its 512 channels. It holds 170 RGB pixels or 128 RGBW pixels; larger runs need more universes. Guide
- DMX512 Control and dimming
- The stage-lighting protocol used for color strip in architecture: 512 eight-bit channels per universe over a differential data pair. Guide
- Dot-free hot spots Light quality
- Light with no visible LED points. Reached by COB construction, a dense pitch, or enough distance between the LEDs and the diffuser. Guide
- Driver efficiency Electrical
- Output watts divided by input watts. A 90% driver turns a tenth of the power into heat inside its own case.
- Dry, damp and wet location Codes and compliance
- NEC location types: dry is indoors and protected, damp is sheltered but humid such as a covered soffit, wet is exposed to weather or washdown. The strip's IP rating and the driver's listing must match the location. Guide
E
- Edge lighting Installation
- Strip aimed into the edge of glass or acrylic so the panel glows. Clear edges and a tight channel matter more than brightness. Guide
- ELV (reverse phase) reverse phase Control and dimming
- Trailing-edge phase-cut dimming, designed for electronic low-voltage loads. Smoother at low levels than TRIAC on most LED drivers. Guide
- End cap Installation
- The closure at the end of a channel or neon section. On IP-rated product it is part of the seal; on channels it finishes the extrusion. Guide
- ENERGY STAR Codes and compliance
- The EPA efficiency label for consumer products. LED strip generally falls outside its lighting categories, so do not expect it on strip.
- ETL cETLus Codes and compliance
- Intertek's listing mark, tested to the same UL standards. cETLus and cULus marks cover Canada and the US together. Guide
- EXW and FOB Ordering and projects
- Incoterms that say where the seller's responsibility ends: at the seller's premises for EXW, loaded at the named port for FOB. In both the buyer arranges and pays the freight from there.
F
- FCC Part 15 Codes and compliance
- The US rule on radio-frequency emissions from electronic devices. Drivers and controllers are the parts that have to comply; Class A is commercial, Class B residential. Guide
- Feed point power injection Electrical
- A place where driver cable lands on the strip. The model's run limit per feed sets how many a run needs. Guide
- Field evaluation Codes and compliance
- An NRTL inspection of an installed, unlisted product that results in a field label. The route when a job needs strip or a fixture that was not listed in advance. Guide
- Flicker Light quality
- Rapid change in light output, usually from the dimming method or a poor driver. Percent flicker and flicker index describe it; IEEE 1789 gives guidance on what is noticeable or harmful. Guide
- Free-cut strip Strip and products
- Strip built to be cut at any point rather than only at marked pads. The cut end still needs a proper connection and, outdoors, a seal. Guide
H
- Hiccup mode Electrical
- A driver's overload response: it shuts down, waits, and retries, often with an audible click. Usually a sign the load exceeds the rating or a wire is shorted. Guide
- Home run Electrical
- The cable from the driver location to the first feed point on the strip. Its gauge and length are what the voltage drop calculator checks. Guide
- HPD and EPD Codes and compliance
- Health Product Declaration and Environmental Product Declaration, the disclosure documents LEED and WELL projects may ask for. Issued per product by the manufacturer. Guide
I
- IES file Codes and compliance
- A photometric data file in the IES LM-63 format that lighting software uses to model a fixture. Available for lensed products; bare strip is usually modeled as a line source. Guide
- IK rating Codes and compliance
- Impact protection per IEC 62262, IK00 to IK10. Floor channels and handrails are where it is specified. Guide
- Inrush current Electrical
- The brief surge a driver draws at switch-on while its capacitors charge, many times its running current. Several drivers on one breaker can trip it at power-up. Guide
- IP rating IP20 · IP65 · IP68 Codes and compliance
- Ingress protection per IEC 60529: the first digit is solids, the second water. IP20 is dry interior, IP65 washdown, IP67 temporary immersion, IP68 continuous immersion to a stated depth. Guide
- IP67 Codes and compliance
- Dust-tight, and protected against temporary immersion in water. The usual rating for wet or outdoor runs that are not submerged all the time.
L
- L70 Codes and compliance
- The hours until output falls to 70% of initial, the usual way LED life is stated. L70 at 50,000 hours means the light has faded a third by then, not failed. Guide
- Lead time Ordering and projects
- The days from a confirmed order to shipment. Everything we supply is made to order, so lead time is quoted per line, not from a shelf. Guide
- Lead wires Installation
- The short pre-attached wires on a strip or neon section. Sized for inches, not a home run; extend them with proper cable. Guide
- LED density pitch Strip and products
- LEDs per meter or per foot. Higher density means smoother light and more output per foot, and usually a shorter cut unit. Guide
- LED driver power supply Electrical
- The power supply that turns line voltage into the DC the strip needs, and carries the dimming interface. Also called a power supply or transformer, though it is not a transformer. Guide
- LED neon flex Strip and products
- A silicone or PVC extrusion with strip inside, lit as a continuous line like glass neon. Top-bend and side-bend versions bend in different planes. Guide
- Light trespass Light quality
- Light that lands where it is not wanted, such as a facade fixture lighting a neighbor's window. Dark-sky ordinances and some codes limit it. Guide
- LM-79 Codes and compliance
- The IES test method that measures a product's total output, efficacy and color. An LM-79 report is the proof behind a spec sheet's lumen and CRI numbers. Guide
- LM-80 Codes and compliance
- The IES test that tracks an LED package's lumen maintenance over thousands of hours at set temperatures. It is data on the chip, not a life claim for the strip. Guide
- lm/ft lm/m Light quality
- Lumens per foot, the brightness rating of a strip. Multiply by the run length for the total; divide by watts per foot for efficacy. Guide
- lm/W Light quality
- Lumens per watt: how much light the strip gives for the power it draws. Higher means less heat and less driver load per foot.
- Low-voltage lighting Electrical
- Strip and fixtures fed at 12V to 48V DC from a driver, as opposed to 120V line voltage. Low voltage does not by itself mean unregulated: NEC Article 411 and Article 725 still apply. Guide
- LPD Codes and compliance
- Lighting power density in watts per square foot, the budget energy codes set per space type. Strip watts count toward it like any other fixture. Guide
- Lumen (lm) Light quality
- The unit of light output as the eye weighs it. Strip is rated in lumens per foot or per meter, not per LED. Guide
- Lux and footcandle footcandle Light quality
- Illuminance on a surface: lux is lumens per square meter, footcandle is lumens per square foot, and one footcandle is about 10.8 lux. Strip ratings in lm/ft say nothing about lux until the geometry is known. Guide
M
- MacAdam ellipse Light quality
- The region on the color chart inside which an observer cannot tell two whites apart. SDCM counts how many of these steps separate two LEDs. Guide
- Made to order Ordering and projects
- Built after the order is placed, to the model, CCT, length and leads specified. It is why batches match and why change orders after release cost time. Guide
- Millwork lighting Installation
- Strip built into cabinetry, shelving and reception desks. The driver location and access are decided before the joinery is built. Guide
N
P
- PCB and copper weight FPC Strip and products
- The flexible printed circuit the LEDs sit on. Copper weight, stated in ounces per square foot, sets how much current the strip carries before it warms and drops voltage; 2 oz is the usual commercial spec. Guide
- Pixel Strip and products
- The smallest independently controlled section of addressable strip, from one LED to a group of three or six. Pixel count sets the data and universe budget. Guide
- Plenum Codes and compliance
- A ceiling or floor space that carries building air. Cable there must be plenum rated, and drivers need a listing that allows the space. Guide
- Power factor Electrical
- The share of apparent power a driver turns into real work, 0 to 1. Commercial specs often ask for 0.9 or better on larger drivers.
- Private label / OEM Ordering and projects
- Product made to your specification and branded for you. Minimums, lead times and what can be customized are on our private label page. Guide
- Proforma invoice Ordering and projects
- The document that fixes products, quantities, price and terms before payment. Production starts once it is confirmed and paid as agreed.
- Proposition 65 Codes and compliance
- California's labeling law for products that may expose users to listed chemicals. It drives the warning label, not the product design. Guide
- Punch list Installation
- The inspector's or owner's list of items to fix before sign-off. For strip it is usually dark spots, visible dots, loose connectors and missing labels. Guide
R
- R9 Light quality
- The saturated-red test color in the extended CRI set. A strip can show Ra 90 and still render reds dull, so spec R9 of 50 or higher where skin, food or fabric is lit. Guide
- RDM Control and dimming
- Remote Device Management, a DMX extension that lets the controller read and set a fixture's address and status over the same cable. Guide
- Reel Ordering and projects
- The supply length strip ships on, which is not a run length. Runs are cut from reels at the cut points and fed per the run limit. Guide
- RGB / RGBW Strip and products
- Color strip with red, green and blue chips, plus a dedicated white chip on RGBW for a clean white. RGBWW adds a second white. Guide
- RoHS Codes and compliance
- The restriction on hazardous substances such as lead and cadmium in electronics. A product-level compliance statement, usually from the manufacturer's test report. Guide
- Run Installation
- One continuous length of strip between its two ends, with one or more feed points. Schedules list runs, not total footage. Guide
- Run limit per feed max run Electrical
- The longest strip one feed point can carry before the far end dims or the copper overheats. A spec-table value per model, not per voltage. Guide
S
- Salt spray test Codes and compliance
- ASTM B117 corrosion exposure used to qualify marine and coastal product. Hours in the chamber, not an IP rating, is the measure. Guide
- SDCM Light quality
- Color-consistency steps (MacAdam ellipses). Fewer steps means two strips from different reels look like the same white; 3-step is hard to tell apart by eye.
- Signal amplifier repeater Control and dimming
- A repeater that re-drives PWM or data to another section of strip from its own power feed. Used when one controller output cannot carry the whole load. Guide
- SMD 2835 · 5050 Strip and products
- Surface-mount LEDs placed along the strip as discrete packages, named by size in tenths of a millimeter: 2835 is 2.8 by 3.5 mm, 5050 is 5 by 5 mm. Guide
- Solder pads Strip and products
- The copper contacts at each cut point where leads or connectors attach. Wide pads take a connector; narrow ones are solder only. Guide
- Spec sheet datasheet Ordering and projects
- The manufacturer's datasheet: electrical, optical and physical ratings per model. The cut unit, run limit and W/ft used by our calculators come from it. Guide
- SPI (addressable data) Control and dimming
- The one-wire or two-wire serial data that drives addressable strip, named after the chip interface. Data is regenerated at each pixel, so distance limits apply between controller and strip, not along it. Guide
- Strip connectors Installation
- Solderless clips that join strip to wire or strip to strip, matched to the PCB width and circuit. Rated for a current, usually 5 A, that limits how much strip one feed can carry through them. Guide
- Submittal package Ordering and projects
- The set of documents the contractor sends for approval before ordering: spec sheets, listings, IES files, wiring diagrams and the schedule of models per location. Guide
- Surge protection Electrical
- A driver's ability to survive voltage spikes from lightning or switching, stated in kilovolts per IEEE C62.41 or IEC 61000-4-5. Outdoor and parking garage circuits need more of it. Guide
T
- Takeoff Ordering and projects
- Measuring every run from the drawings before quoting. A takeoff by run, not by total footage, is what lets feeds and drivers be counted. Guide
- THD Electrical
- Total harmonic distortion of the current a driver draws from the mains. Lower is kinder to the building's electrical system; under 20% is a common spec line.
- Thermal management Strip and products
- Getting heat away from the LEDs and the driver so output and life hold up. An aluminum channel is the usual heat path for strip. Guide
- Title 24 and JA8 Codes and compliance
- California's building energy code and its JA8 appendix for high-efficacy light sources. JA8 listing is per source model; the controls rules apply by space type. Guide
- TM-21 Codes and compliance
- The IES method that projects LM-80 data forward to estimate when output reaches a threshold, limited to six times the test duration. Guide
- TM-30 (Rf, Rg) Light quality
- The IES color rendition method that replaces a single CRI number with fidelity (Rf) and gamut (Rg) scores over 99 color samples. Rf near 90 and Rg near 100 describe light that shows colors truthfully without over-saturating them. Guide
- Toe kick lighting Installation
- Strip under the base of cabinets or furniture, lighting the floor. A low-brightness, usually motion- or dimmer-controlled application. Guide
- TRIAC (forward phase) forward phase Control and dimming
- Leading-edge phase-cut dimming, the kind in most wall-box dimmers. Works with 120V strip and with drivers built for it; mismatches show as flicker or a narrow range. Guide
- Tunable white Strip and products
- Strip with warm and cool white channels mixed by the controller, so the CCT can change from, say, 2700K to 6500K. Needs a two-channel controller or a DALI DT8 driver. Guide
U
- UL 1598 Codes and compliance
- The luminaire standard. Applies when strip is built into a fixture, such as a wall washer or a linear housing, rather than installed as tape. Guide
- UL 2108 Codes and compliance
- The standard for low-voltage lighting systems: strip, its driver and connectors evaluated together as a system. Guide
- UL 48 and UL 879 Codes and compliance
- The electric sign standard and the sign components standard. Neon flex and strip in channel letters fall under them, usually through the sign shop's listing. Guide
- UL 8750 Codes and compliance
- The safety standard for LED equipment used in lighting products, including drivers and modules. A driver described as designed to UL 8750 is not the same as one listed to it. Guide
- UL 924 Codes and compliance
- The emergency lighting equipment standard. Strip on an egress path that must stay lit on a power failure goes through a UL 924 device or inverter. Guide
- UL Listed vs UL Recognized Codes and compliance
- Listed means the complete product passed its standard and carries the mark; Recognized is a component meant to be used inside a listed product. Inspectors look for Listed. Guide
- Uniformity Light quality
- How evenly a surface is lit, often stated as the ratio of minimum to average illuminance. Coves and grazed walls are judged on it more than on peak brightness. Guide
V
- Value engineering Ordering and projects
- Reducing cost without losing the design intent, by changing products or details. Done well it trims the driver count; done badly it swaps the strip for one that does not match. Guide
- Voltage drop Electrical
- Voltage lost along the copper between the driver and the far end of a run, which dims the far LEDs. It grows with current and length and shrinks with higher voltage and heavier wire. Guide
W
- W/ft W/m Electrical
- Watts per foot, the strip's power rating at full output. Multiply by the run length for the connected load that sizes the driver. Guide
- Wall washer grazing Strip and products
- A linear fixture with a lens that throws light across a wall. Washing lights it evenly from a distance; grazing sits close and reveals texture. Guide
- Warranty Ordering and projects
- The manufacturer's promise to repair or replace product that fails within a stated period under normal use. It covers the product, not the labor to replace it, unless written otherwise. Guide
- WS2811, WS2812B, WS2818, SK6812 Strip and products
- Common addressable driver chips. WS2812B integrates the chip in the LED; WS2811 and WS2818 are external and WS2818 keeps data flowing past a failed LED; SK6812 adds a white channel. Guide
No terms in this group.
Units
Convert between the units on a spec sheet
US drawings are in feet and inches; most spec sheets are metric. Type in either box.
AWG to mm²
Conductor cross-section of solid copper; stranded cable of the same gauge has about the same area.
| AWG | mm² |
|---|---|
| 26 | 0.13 |
| 24 | 0.21 |
| 22 | 0.33 |
| 20 | 0.52 |
| 18 | 0.82 |
| 16 | 1.31 |
| 14 | 2.08 |
| 12 | 3.31 |
| 10 | 5.26 |
| 8 | 8.37 |
Spec in hand
Send the spec and we match the product
Spec sheet lines, drawings or a schedule are enough. An engineer replies with the models that meet them, the listings held and the lead time, in writing.
- 1 reel minimum
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