some people find it incredibly challenging to connect wires to led strip but today
we're going to make life super easy with this macau easy clip connector system from robus
please tell me i haven't got to do any soldering you don't have to do any soldering here all
right fantastic so previously we looked at the chip on board macau led strip if you
haven't seen that video check it out it is a fantastic system especially when you want
high quality lighting and that's what we've got in here because that's what we're actually
lighting our set with today um but we're going to take a little bit further today we're going to
look at actually how you connect to that led strip yeah and connecting's always a challenge isn't it
so it's the part of led strip that probably most people are fearful of they're okay with it coming
out the packet just connecting it and cutting it to length but obviously joining it and going
round corners are incredibly challenging but you seem to think today isn't going to be no it is
i mean i've been playing with this for right yeah the last couple of weeks obviously i'm reasonably
confident soldering led strip because we've done a lot of that on the channel before we'll leave
a link to gary's previous effort as well just to see how how bad it can get as you try and chase
chase wires and solder around a workbench but this system here i've got it in my hands here
it is yeah it is what it says it is really easy so i guess we should start gary by looking
at how we connect to the ip20 version of the macaw led strip you're going to show me how to connect
to this led strip then yeah so i'm going to have a super nips there and we're just gonna cut right
in the middle of the uh between the two solder pads and then we'll bring in this insulation
displacement connector so it's metal pins up and the yellow phosphor strip facing up bringing the
pcb with our wires on that we're going to connect to the led strip and then it's just a case of
punching that through the circuit board so we've got some plastic pliers we used to do that just
so it's quite gentle on the on the connector and it's just a good squeeze and that actually punches
through the circuit board itself so you're telling me that that is connected now so i
could energize it at this stage and find out i've made that connection yeah you could but in also
on the pack you'll find this clear heat shrink so that serves two functions one uh it insulates the
metal pins on the top of the idc connector and also provides a degree of strain relief
to our connection um so just bring in our heat gun and you'll start to see that form around
the connection we've just made there's something quite satisfying about seeing that shrink up as
well isn't that yeah there certainly is uh that certainly is um so once that's done you're going
to energize this and just confirm that we've actually got it connected properly yeah let's
just uh do a quick test uh always best to try and do that before you get the site or up in the roof
yeah so that works fine something i find quite challenging is when i have to join two led strips
together yeah and again with this idc system it is incredibly easy so again similar process we'll
just look at that connector we can see the metal pins again that we've just used to connect the
wires to it and the same heat shrink so there is a there's a top tip here well you're telling me you
should put it on before you make the connection yeah make sure you put that on yet otherwise it's
you'd have a long length of led tape to run that down if you didn't same principle yellow side up
for the phosphor strip metal pins up just push the push the led strip in and then just bring
in the pliers again and punch through so then the insulated pliers squeeze them together we've made
the connection that is incredibly simple i think even i could do that yeah so then just to uh
finish the process we're just going to bring in our heat shrink that we've put on
just put that over the top and then again back in with the the satisfying heat gun again that just
provides a degree of strain relief and insulates the connections on the top of the of the connector
those joints are transparent so from a lighting point of view you wouldn't see them would you
yeah that is super easy right challenge times let's go back on with the soldering on that
was very easy what we've just seen is it as easy when you're soldering okay so i'm just using some
robust vegas led strip here now again soldering for me is incredibly easy when you're on the bench
however on site it's more of a challenge but again we'll just tin in our wires tinned out pads and
bring the two together and if you're not confident at soldering this i would not recommend even
trying you can see i'm shaking away there gary no i'm liking the first method a lot more already
yes than making the connection without soldering exactly the same process with the heat shrink yeah
same process with heat shrink uh yeah again and it's probably more important with these
two because that strain relief if you haven't got the strain relief on it is incredibly easy to uh
tear the wires and the pcb pads off the led strip you know you get it caught on site or something
like that when you're trying to install it i'm not sure i'd want clear if i was doing
the soldering it may be black for me but again that's a good thing uh it's a bright clear heat
shrink a lot of people supply led tape and it's uh it's an opaque um an opaque heat shrink so you
in this case you'd lose an led i think i'm going to stick with the insulation displacement method
of connecting to led strip anyone who's seen me solder before my days of soldering to led
strip are over i can hear the cheering already with those idc connectors they're incredibly
easy i don't know i think i think i haven't used this system i think my desk soldering
led strip could be over especially if you're on site you know it is easy to do if you're in the
workshop but yeah this system would work equally as well inside just have a closer look here gary
let me bring the camera close in there i've done two versions here one i've soldered and
one i've used the easy clip connector system i just think that looks a lot more professional
but it also is a lot more robust in the system i mean if i give that a good pull there that is not
uh certainly not coming off i just think if you if you're um you know always trying to say an
led project you can do it off-site and get it prepared and take a uh you s makes life a lot
easier yeah this and think of those challenging circumstances and you're in a very very small
space you're under something trying to connect your led strip and make those joints or even
go around corners soldering iron then becomes a challenge beyond belief doesn't it and in our
previous video we also looked at the ip67 version of the macau led strip and i've actually got some
in this tub here full of uh full of nature's finest water this has been in there for a week and
this again is a very simple connector system for outdoor installation should we have a closer look
at how that works gary so this is the macau ip67 led strip is it more complicated to connect to no
still going to use the easy clip connector there's just a few more steps involved in the assembly
process the first being that we need to remove the 3m adhesive tape from the back of the strip
in the area we're going to make the connection so then we just bring in this plastic end cap
so a few things there first we need to put some silicon in there so just a small amount of rtv
silicon oh something quite satisfying about doing that build an air fix model um and then you can
see where we've cleared the tape there we're going to push this on now there's a window on the bottom
of this end cap and that goes on the adhesive side of the tape and you'll see our excess silicone has
just squeezed out the end that window there so the connections can go through it certainly is yeah
so we've got that ready um so now the next day we're just going to get the strip warmed up a
little bit nice and supple because again we're going to use an idc type connector
that's going to push through the silicon and the pcb just bring that in and that clicks through
and then if you look in close there you can see where the connections have gone through the pcb
so let's just have a quick test see if that worked and again being clear it allows the light to come
through as well as seeing those connections yeah perfect first one that's it so let's again look
at another scenario so again we're going to cut some led tape and then we're going to join it
together um so again using the same plastic end caps and here's our joining connector
um so same process again some rtv silicon in the back of each side okay so that's quite a silicon
and then obviously they're going to slide on exactly the same process for this time we've got
effectively two sections to clip into again remove our tape that won't go on if you remove that if
you don't remove the tape so just slide it into place and you'll see the excess squeeze out at the
end is there any issues now with polarity we've got to make sure we get it around the right way
yeah so again it's more case of looking to make sure on a cut length that you're connecting to the
right end and obviously your positive and ground connections are obviously in line with each other
so again same process we're just going to heat up the strip and then it's really easy
just push the connections through again there's a satisfying click and you'll notice how the other
one mates into that slot in the middle we're giving a solid joint between the two then yeah
and you'll see again they've buttered right up to each other there's almost you know there's a tiny
a tiny gap in the in the light line but it's going to be unnoticeable when you come to uh check it
push down with the pliers just to make sure we've got our connections yeah and it's lined up well
what's this so here's a short end-to-end joining cable where you can see we've got two of the easy
clip connectors at each end so this might be if you're going around a corner of a building
or something like that it's often not good you know you see sometimes people yeah twist and
bend the strip around so they only join on the straight isn't it yeah okay so again you just
have to watch your polarities here a little bit okay is that from personal experience here gordon
okay this is our second attempt at the first time again yeah just got to watch the uh obviously
the various ends to make sure that our plus the positive end and the ground connection
line up but the procedure is the same put our end cap on with the window facing down
again we've got the silicon in there and you've confirmed this time that when we bring these two
together we've got the positives facing each other is that right it's more case of just making sure
you get the going at the right end of the led strip again the warm-up procedure is the same
but you'll notice there's polarity markings on the back of the connector that's handy
yeah yeah so it's again just making sure that the positive lines up with the positive on each side
when you make that connection and then again just push together and there's a firm click
you can see him through can you yeah and then again checking on the other end that our positive
connections remember we're upside down when you've turned that uh the white connector over
the other way the positive obviously underneath and just making sure when you do push through
is going into the positive connection these idc connectors are really going to make life easy for
everyone aren't they yep there we go really good connection let's just check that works
yeah generous length there to turn it around with as well what we're doing next so finish our system
just in case of putting a silicon end cap onto the end of our macaron led strip so getting a
bit of our tv silicon in there and just push this end cap on again you'll see i've removed the tape
in the area when i apply it i don't know about you but for me when i'm faced with ip67 led strip
a little bit nervous i'm hoping the reel that i've been given is either exactly the right length or
i need to shorten it because the last thing i want to tackle is joining it or sending it round
corners however this system was incredibly easy wasn't it going yeah i mean you could if you want
to go still make your life difficult you could solder to it but obviously you'd have to remove
the silicon from around the chip on board led strip access the solar pads and then you'd have to
obviously re-waterproof it probably with some double wall heat shrink choose a suitable cable um
i wouldn't really want to be doing that on site myself why would you when these insulation
displacement connectors okay are fantastic aren't they yeah so we did that footage uh last week
uh we've had it in a tank of water since just to check that our work uh makes the grade you can't
see any of that dotting either just no i mean that is the advantage of a chip on board led strip if
you haven't seen that other video check it out because this is something i think we'll find
lots of applications uh in the garden uh bathrooms places obviously can benefit from that waterproof
protection if i just switch it off you'll see what we did on camera there so there's our end cap move
down the strip we'll see our joining piece and again you can see where those connectors have
pushed through the the circuit board and again on the back the all-important just to make sure
your polarity is correct and there's our inline connector and the fact they are so close and
it's chip on board you essentially you do not see that join point in there and lose no light as well
i know we've seen gordon there do all the connections on camera and whenever there's
anything like this always dive in for the camera just to be on the safe side however
off camera i've been playing around with the easy clip connector and i think they're fantastic and
at the end of this i'm going to hoover up all the spare bits for projects i've got at home as well
oh well we've heard gary's feedback but now it's time for yours what do you think of the macau
easy clip connector system by robus and what are your top tips on installing led strip in
ip rated applications so we're thinking gardens we're thinking bathrooms possibly even kitchens
let us know what you think put your comments below and we'll try and get back to as many as we can