Most commercial and residential settings are adopting 4-foot LED strip lights for their lighting solutions. But why?
Well, 4-foot LED strip lights have proven over time to be versatile and energy efficient, thus consuming less electricity but yielding more light.
Generally, these lights have long, flexible PCBs integrated with LEDs allowing for easy customization and installation.
For example, you can easily mount them on any surface, including walls and ceilings.
Moreover, 4 feet are long enough to illuminate a large space/area. And with this comes low power consumption and increased durability.
Today’s articles help you understand 4-foot LED strip lights, focussing more on types, installation, and benefits. Let’s get rolling!
What Is a 4-Foot LED Strip Light?
(A human hand with colored LED lights)
This is a 4-foot or 48-inch light fixture with a flexible PCB with closely spaced light-emitting diodes. The strip light is long enough to illuminate light over a large surface.
4-foot LED strip lights have become popular among commercial and residential owners dues to their high versatility and energy efficiency.
Funny enough, most people are replacing traditional lights with these solutions since they consume less energy yet emit high light amounts.
Moreover, these lights are easy to install, giving room for cutting or extending to fit your desired length.
Furthermore, they are available in different control features, colors, and brightness to meet your lighting expectations.
We usually use these lights as decorative, accent, and task lights, especially in homes, retail spaces, and offices.
Types of 4-Foot LED Strip Lights
Single-Color Lights
As the name suggests, these 4-foot LED strip lights produce only one color.
This means that this light can only emit one color, and this includes white, cool white, or warm white.
And although they produce one color, the light is uniform and consistent. Therefore, we prefer these lights over any version of conventional lights.
RGB Light
(A multicolor RGB LED strip light)
RGB stands for red, green, and blue, the primary colors or the light spectrum. Surprisingly, you can combine these colors to come up with a colorful output.
RGB lights are among the most common options and have controllers to regulate the different lighting effects.
RGBW Light
This is just a 4-foot RGB LED strip light with a separate white LED light. Therefore, besides the RGB light, you can still get pure white light.
Tunable White Light
With these 4-foot LED strip lights, you will get adjustable color temperatures from cool to warm white light. And anytime you change the color temperature, you achieve a unique ambiance.
Smart LED Lights
Funny enough, we have 4-foot LED strip lights compatible with smart home systems, and you can control them using smartphone apps and voice commands.
Additionally, these lights provide extra features like dimming, color changing, and scheduling.
High CRI Lights
(A shining LED strip light)
Since Color Rendering Index (CRI) measures how accurately a light source will display colors, a high CRI translates into a high color accuracy.
Therefore, you can use 4-foot LED strip lights in photography studios and art galleries where accurate color representation is vital.
How to install a 4-foot LED Strip Light
(A person installing warm LED strip light)
This section takes you through a step-by-step guide to installing 4-foot LED strip lights.
- First, gather the materials and accessories required for installing 4-foot LED strip light. The common materials/accessories include adhesive backing/mounting clips, power connectors if necessary, a reliable power supply, and 4-foot strip lights.
- Secondly, identify a perfect location to install the lights and take accurate measurements. For your information, the place should have a reliable power supply.
- Thirdly, cut or extend your LED strip lights to your desired length. For our case, we assume you already have a 4-foot (48-inch) LED light.
- Connect your LED light to your preferred power supply. You can only make reliable connections and wiring if you follow manufacturer guidelines. However, some LED lights have an in-built power supply, and you won’t have to rely on an external source.
- This is the time to mount your strip light to your preferred surface using an adhesive backing or mounting clips. However, ensure you clean and dry the surface before making any installations.
- After installation, switch on the LED strip lights to check whether they are operating to expectation. And if required, you can make some alignments or position adjustments to keep the LED lights in good shape.
- And even after installation, never leave any cables hanging freely. Instead, secure them in place using adhesive clips/cable ties. At this point, you can proceed to enjoy your energy-efficient 4-foot LED strip lights.
Why Select 4-Foot LED Strip Lights
(A modern kitchen with LED lights)
Why would you select 4-foot LED strip lights over the other available lighting solutions? This section provides all the reasons you need.
Adequate Length: All 4-foot (48-inch) LED strip lights have an appropriate length to illuminate enough space. Therefore, you can count on this light for sufficient brightness.
Versatility: There is nowhere you can’t install 4-foot LED lights. These lights are highly flexible and can adapt to different shapes and surfaces, including ceilings and walls.
Energy efficiency: Manufacturers make these lights with high-quality light-emitting diodes. Surprisingly, diodes consume less electricity than traditional lighting options yet emit more light. Experts place their efficiency at 90%, translating into low energy costs.
Customizable lighting: You will get LED lights in different colors like tunable white, RGB, or RGBW lights. As a result, it becomes easier to adjust the lights to your preferred color output.
Long lifespan: You can expect at least 50,000 operation hours with a high-quality LED strip light. As a result, cases of replacements or maintenance become minimal, thus lowering the operation costs.
Easy installation: 4-foot LED strip light comes with adhesive backing or mounting clips, making installation easy even for non-professionals. Adhesive backing enables you to stick LED lights on surfaces with ease and without them falling off.
Low heat: Since these lights are highly efficient, they convert most input energy into light, and little goes into heat. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about hot environments or accidental burns.
FAQs
Where can you Use 4-Foot LED Strip Lights?
4-foot LED strip light find great application in any of the following areas:
- First, we use them in residential buildings to improve the ambiance in bedrooms, kitchens, and living rooms.
- Secondly, you will find the 4-foot LED lights in commercial spaces like restaurants and retail stores.
- And lastly, these lights are in high use in the hospitality industry, entertainment venues, and different outdoor applications.
How many watts will a 4-foot LED strip light use?
The 4-foot strip light wattage varies from product to product and depends on the manufacturer’s specifications.
But generally, most 4-foot strip lights average 18-24 watts/foot. Therefore, a 4-foot (48-inch) LED light will use about 72-96 watts.
However, expect the LED watts or power consumption to change depending on factors like color temperature and light density.
Final Remarks
4-foot LED lights are 48-inch strip lights with closely spaced LEDs mounted on a flexible circuit board.
These lights have been around for some time and are slowly replacing conventional options like incandescent lights.
Some common types of 4-foot LED strip lights include RGB, RGBW, and high CRI light.
Choosing these lights means high energy efficiency and improved lifespan (less maintenance).