Wiring LEDs Correctly: Series & Parallel Circuits Explained

Hopefully those looking for practical information on electrical circuits and wiring LED components found this guide first. It’s likely though, you’ve already read the Wikipedia page about Series and parallel circuits here, maybe a few other Google search results on the subject and are still unclear or wanting more specific information as it pertains to LEDs.

Assortment of t8 led tube light wiring diagram. A wiring diagram is a simplified standard pictorial representation of an electrical circuit. It shows the parts of the circuit as streamlined forms, and also the power and signal connections between the gadgets.

1. How to wire the power supply for a single-colour LED strip. Wiring a white LED strip (or any other strip of single-colour LEDs) couldn’t be easier.Simply connect your 240V mains supply (+ve and -ve cables) to the input terminals of your LED transformer, and connect your LED strip’s starter-lead (+ve and -ve again) to the transformer’s output terminals.

Wiring LEDs in parallel allows many LEDs to share just one low voltage power supply. We could take those same four 3V LEDs and wire them in parallel to a smaller power supply, say two AA batteries putting out a total of 3V and each of the LEDs would get the 3V they need. In short, wiring in series divides the total power supply between the LEDs.

You can do this light switch wiring in one of two ways. The most common is to daisy-chain the light fixtures by connecting them to each other and hooking the first one up to the switch. The other way to wire multiple lights to one switch is to connect all of them directly to the switch in a "home run" configuration.

Wiring 2 Lights and 3 Way Switches. This diagram illustrates another multiple light circuit controlled by 3 way switches. Here the source and the fixtures come before the switches. As with the other diagrams on this page, more lights can be added by duplicating the wiring arrangement between the fixtures.

Hopefully, you now know how to wire 12v lights and switches into your DIY Camper. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below and subscribe for future updates. Now that you know how to wire in a 12v switch and all of your lighting, it’s time for a lesson on how to figure out what size and type of wire to use in your DIY camper van electrical system.

A common mistake people make when wiring LED lighting products is trying to simplify the installation by jamming 10 wires into a wire nut or phoenix connector. Instead of doing this it is better to use multiple wire splitters, terminal blocks, or solder wires together to split your wires, rather than try and overload a wire connector which can be a serious fire hazard.

In other words, a 3 way switch is made up of one light that’s controlled by two separate switches. The most important rationale is that there are several ways that a three way switch can be wired. Wiring a 3 way switch isn’t that difficult. The answer to how it works, is to have an […]

Lighting Circuits - Multiple Lights from One Switch. How to add one or more additional lights, so that all are operated from the same switch. Adding an extra cable to the existing ceiling rose. To add a second light which is switched with the first one, the switched line, neutral and earth need to be extended to the second light.