How to choose the right color for your led strip lights?

Quick answer

At SuperLightingLED we carry LED strips in every color on this page, from single colors and whites by Kelvin to RGB, RGBW, RGBCCT and addressable strips. Which one to order depends on what the light is for, so start there. Below you will find all the options in one table, what the color codes mean, and then the questions we get most about LED strip colors.

This article we will talk about these questions. If you are interested in these questions, let us explore the answers together. 

1. How many colors are in led strip lights?

2. What do LED light colors mean?

3. Why does white LED light turn yellow? 

4. Why are your led strip lights not the same color?

5. What is the most relaxing color for LED lights? 

6. Are led lights bad for your eyes? 

7. Is cool white or warm white better for eyes?

8. What color led light is best for sleeping?

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How many colors are in led strip lights?

More and more people are willing to use LED strip lights. This phenomenon has to be attributed to its advantages--can be cut and connected, easy to install, high efficiency and energy saving, have a long lifetime reaching 50,000 hours, and safer due to the low voltage.

The color make using LED strip lights be a fun. There are many colors for you to choose that led strip lights can produce.

►Single color: 2700K and 3000K warm white, cool white, 6000K daylight white, 4000K natural white, red, blue, ice blue, green, purple, yellow, orange, pink, and tunable white.

*Various light color in COB LED strip (You may be interested in the COB LED knowledge: What is COB led strip light?)

►Multi-color: RGB, RGBW, RGBCCT, and addressable dream color(full color changing). 

Related LED light color and kelvin color temperature knowledge: 

The Color Difference Between Warm White 2700K, 3000K, 4000K, 6000K Pure White and 7000K Cool White

What is LED white light color temperature?

LED strip color options at a glance

Every LED strip color type we carry, what it can show, what controls it and where to read more:

Widest choice. The addressable range comes as addressable white/WWA, addressable RGBW and addressable RGBCCT. Each type is also available as a COB strip: White COB LED Strip, Non-white Single Color COB Strip, Tunable White COB LED Strip, RGB COB LED Strip, COB LED Strip RGB+W, RGBCCT COB LED Strip and Addressable COB LED Strip.

For special uses we also carry Ultraviolet UV LED light strips, InfraRed IR LED strip lights and full spectrum LED light strips. Choosing a white? The Kelvin number is explained in what is color temperature, and how true colors look under white light in what is color rendering index.

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What do LED light colors mean?

Single color LED strip lights

Single color light strips indicate that they can only display one color. It is not boring at all, you can adjust the brightness by installing a dimmer.

White color light usually is used for lighting like bedroom or living room. Other colors are suitable for an atmosphere lighting.

Tunable white

Tunable white led strip lights have two different colors of white light at the same time. One is a warm white light, and the other is a cool white light. It has one more choice than ordinary single white light.

You can enjoy the warm and comfortable environment brought to you by warm white. And if you want a bright environment to work or read, you can adjust the color to cool white.

Multi-color LED strip lights

• RGB : RGB LED strip lights mean that the color is RGB, which is a color model. It can produce various colors by changing the three color channels of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) and superimposing them with each other.

It is one of the most widely used color systems.Under normal circumstances, a RGB color each has 256 levels of brightness, which are represented by numbers from 0 to 255. Although the highest number is 255, 0 is also one of the numbers, so there are 256 levels in total. 

256 levels of a RGB color can produce 16 million colors by mixing different red, green, and blue colors. So, RGB LED strip lights are also called color changing LED strip lights.

• RGBW : The RGBW LED strip lights have a RGB color changing color and a white color. When you want an entertainment environment, open the RGB color and not light up the white color. And if you need a lighting light, you also can use the white color of the RGBW strip light.

• RGBW VS RGB: The biggest difference between RGB color and RGBW light color is that the white light of the RGBW LED strip is purer than the white color of RGB color changing LED strip lighting which is mixed by red, green, and blue colors. The white color of the RGB strip is bluish, and the white light of the RGBW led strip is more whiter. 

• RGBCCT : The RGBCCT color model is also known as RGBWW or RGBWWA. It has a more white color than an RGBW strip light. This means it has two white colors, a warm white color and a cool white color.

The warm white color gives people a comfortable and warm feeling, and the cool white color makes things cool and be not approachable.

Addressable dream color LED strip lights (Addressable white/RGB/RGBW/RGBCCT)

You can think of addressable light strips as an upgraded version of color changing light strips. The difference between them is that the addressable light strip can individually control the interval controlled by each IC and these ICs can change the brightness and color of the LED lights in their control area.

The IC is sometimes exposed on the circuit board and is called an external IC. The built-in IC is hidden in the LED lamp beads, which is difficult to see with the naked eye.

You can use addressable light strips to produce almost unlimited light effects.

To fully understand the addressable pixel LED lights: 

Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Right Addressable LED Strip

How to wire addressable led strips?

LED strip installation knowledge: 

How to wire single color led strip lights?

How to wire tunable white/CCT led strip lights?

How to wire RGB color changing led strip lights?

How to wire RGBW led strips?

How to wire RGBCCT led strip lights?

How to install led strip lights? What accessories will be needed?

LED light strip color codes: RGB numbers and pad letters

As explained above, each RGB channel has 256 brightness levels, numbered 0 to 255. A color code is simply those three numbers in the order red, green, blue: 0 means the channel is off, 255 means full brightness. Apps and web pages often write the same three numbers as a hex code. The basic mixes:

Pad letters. The other code you will meet is printed on the strip itself: the letters on the copper pads tell you the color type and which connector and controller you need. Count the pads at the cut mark:

A 4-pad strip can also be a dual-signal addressable strip; 3-pad strips are either CCT or single-signal addressable, so read the letters. V+ is the common positive; on RGB, RGBW, RGB+CCT and CCT strips every other pad is a switched negative channel. Match the controller to the pad count, not just the color name. These diagrams are drawn by the SuperLightingLED engineering team; wire colors follow our house convention (red V+, black V-/GND, green data). Click a diagram for the full notes in our LED strip wiring diagrams library, or see diagram C8 for connectors by pin count.

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Why does white LED light turn yellow?

The basic structure of the LED strip is an electroluminescent semiconductor material chip, which is cured on the bracket with silver glue or white glue, and then connects the chip and the circuit board with silver or gold wire, and then seals with epoxy resin around it which plays the role of protecting the inner core wire, and finally install the shell.

The yellowing of led strip lights is related to the quality of the light strip itself, but the main reason is that the temperature of the light strip is overheated.

LED lamp beads quality

LED light-emitting technology uses diode blue light technology to mix yellow phosphors to emit white light. Therefore, the amount of blue light produced by the components will decrease after aging. At this time, the proportion of yellow light will increase, and the emitted light will turn yellow.

During the installation process or welding process, if the led strip light is affected by tin, it will cause the phosphor to produce vulcanization and lose its effect. 

If the LED lamp beads are of good quality and airtight, it is not easy to be invaded by the outside, and can reduce the possibility of yellowing.

Defects in the production process may lead to the heat dissipation of the LED chip that cannot be well derived from the pin, which causes the excessive temperature of the LED chip to increase the chip attenuation. 

If the led strip light uses a bad chip, it will also cause the light to turn yellow, because the brightness of the LED lights will decay faster.

Regarding the brightness attenuation, there is another problem here. Why is the LED light getting darker? There is light decay in the led strip light. After a period of use, its light intensity will gradually decrease and cannot be restored. The reduced part is called the light decay of the LED. And light decay is inevitable. This is why the LED light dims after using the light strip for a period of time.

*COB LED production process

Temperature overheating

When installing led strip lights in kitchens, cabinets and other places, we usually install light strips under the counter or around the cabinets to meet our lighting or atmosphere requirements, and most of these places are wooden surfaces.

Choose to install led strip lights on the surface of wooden furniture, and due to the poor heat dissipation of wood, the heat generated by long-term use of the strip lights cannot be quickly discharged, which may cause the light strips to overheat and age and turn yellow.

However, installing led strip lights on the ceramic and marble surface will not produce this problem, because ceramics and marble have better heat dissipation conditions than wood.

Most people like to install led strip lights behind the TV and under the bed to bring themselves different mood experience. I have to admit that sometimes owning an led strip light is much better than not owning it. However, taking into account the heat dissipation requirements, running the led strip light in a narrow space requires good ventilation conditions to lower the ambient temperature. 

Another way to dissipate heat is to install LED aluminum channels. The installation of aluminum channels on the wood surface can compensate for the poor heat dissipation of wood and achieve better heat dissipation.

*COB LED strip installed in the LED aluminum channel

There are more knowledge about led strip light overheated: 

Are led strip lights safe? Do LED strip lights overheat? How do you stop LED strips from overheating? Can LED strips catch fire?

Ultimate Guide on Aluminum Profile for LED Strip Lighting

In conclusion

The led strip lights will age and turn yellow after long-term use, which is still a problem that needs to be overcome. What we can do is to delay its aging and yellowing speed. But because the led strip light has a life of up to 50,000 hours, so as long as the light strip is used correctly, we can still enjoy it for a long time. 

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Why are your led strip lights not the same color?

Led light have a special physical and chemical structure, the color change depends on the size of the current. When it is a small current, it is red, and when the current gradually increases, the color changes to orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and other colors.

If the power supply of the light strip is insufficient, the current of the light strip at the back will become smaller, and the color will be different from the previous one.

Want to understand the reasons why your led strip lights are different in color, check the following factors to see if your strip lights have the same problem.

Caused by voltage or current drop, the light strip is too long and the power supply is insufficient. Provide power at the beginning and end of the led strip to solve this problem.

The light strip itself has light attenuation and the brightness is reduced. The external force causes the light strip to accelerate the aging and turn yellow, the specific reason we have explained in detail in Why do white led light turns to yellow.

The color temperature will change to a certain extent after your led strip is used, and this change becomes more and more obvious with the increase of time. You bought a 6000K led light strip. Three months later, you want to buy another one and install it with it. At this time, you find that their color temperature is different. You think it's a product problem, but you don't know that this is because the time of use has quietly changed your light strip. So try to buy enough light strips for your use at the same time.

Wiring it. Feeding power at the beginning and end of a long strip is drawn out in wiring diagram S3 (feed at both ends); for 20 m or more, see diagram S4 (four feed points). Planning a long run of one white? Buy all the reels in one order so they age together.

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What is the most relaxing color for LED lights?

Warm color series such as red, yellow, and orange can make people feel comfortable and feel excited.

The cool color series such as blue, gray, and green make people feel calm and even a little melancholy.

White and black are the two extreme points of vision. Black can distract people's attention and make people feel depressed and boring. Living in such an environment for a long time, the pupils of people are extremely enlarged and feel numb. Over time, it will have an adverse effect on people's health and life span.

Rooms are arranged in white, which gives a sense of cleanliness, but if the contrast of white is too strong, it is easy to stimulate pupil contraction and induce headaches and other diseases.

The most relaxing color of led lights is the sunset colors. The sunset is a gentle color, giving people a warm and comfortable feeling. Bathed in the afterglow of sunset, let people forget the unpleasantness and enjoy inner peace.

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Are led lights bad for your eyes?

For the problem of vision damage, incandescent bulbs are smaller than led lights. The brightness of the light strip is too bright to make the eyes uncomfortable, such as cool white (7000K-9000K), like the color of the sky on a sunny day. The light on sunny days will make us feel a little dazzling, so don’t choose a led light strip with too high color temperature.

Compared with cool white, we are recommended you to purchase the warm white and daylight white color, which makes your eyes more comfortable.

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Is cool white or warm white better for eyes? Warm white VS Cool white

Warm white and cool white have their own advantages and disadvantages. Warm white is easier for people to adapt, without dazzling feeling, but it is not easy to see things and needs sufficient brightness.

The brightness of cool white is enough to see clearly, but a long time will cause visual fatigue. It is recommended that you install the white light according to your different needs, which will be more appropriate.

The color of the light is yellowish, which makes people look warmer. The light emitted by the warm white led strip light is like the color emitted by a tungsten bulb.

Daylight white light looks more natural to human eyes, so it is also called natural white.

Cool white because the proportion of blue light is very high, the color emitted is bluish, so the color of the light gives people a dazzling feeling in the eyes of human eyes. Cool white light with the same wattage has higher luminous efficiency than warm white light, and the glare will be greater if you look directly at it. 

*Warm white - natural white - daylight white/cool white

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What color led light is best for sleeping?

There are many colors in led strip lights, which one is the best color for sleeping? Let us see the effect the different color bringing to you. 

Red

Red makes people have a lively, vivid, and uneasy reaction. It is full of strength and enthusiasm, it will stimulate and excite the nervous system, increase the secretion of adrenaline and enhance blood circulation.

However, too much exposure can cause anxiety and physical stress, and make people who are prone to fatigue feel exhausted. When a person is depressed, seeing red will immediately change his mood, but not for too long.

Yellow

Yellow is the brightest color among the colors and has the characteristics of happiness, liveliness, hope, and light. It can bring a sense of sharpness and expansion, can stimulate the nervous and digestive system, and strengthen logical thinking.

But the golden yellow decoration is easy to cause instability and arbitrary behavior, so it is best to avoid using it in the bedroom and activity place. It is also often used as a warning color.

Orange

Orange has a rich, flaunting, and hot emotional meaning. Like sunlight, it produces vitality, induces appetite, helps the body absorb calcium, and is beneficial to recovery and maintenance of health. It can be used in recreation rooms, kitchens, etc. But it is not suitable for bedrooms and study rooms.

Blue

Blue can adjust homeostasis. Using blue in the bedroom can eliminate tension and help relieve headaches, fever, fainting, and insomnia. The blue environment makes people feel elegant and tranquil.

Green

Green is a natural color, giving people a feeling of peace, youth, and freshness. Its tranquility and static properties are good for digestion, promote body balance, and have a calming effect. It can relieve people's fatigued brain and optic nerves, and is good for active or depression. It also has a certain effect on overcoming fainting and negative emotions.

White

White gives people the feeling of being white, bright and spotless, and can play a role in consolidating and purifying the human body. If combined with other colors, it can enhance the therapeutic effect of this color.

Therefore, it is also a synergist for other colors. White not only reflects that a hospital is an uncontaminated place but also reflects the sense of zero distance between patients and medical staff. So this is also an important factor in choosing white for hospital wards.

Black

Black is a negative color, lonely, mysterious but serious, reserved, and solemn. It calms down emotionally charged people and suppresses conflicts. But too much black can lead to mental depression.

The black and white collocation effect is particularly good. It can calm people's moods, help control people's behavior, and correctly grasp the situation. This may be the reason why most people choose black clothes on formal occasions such as the political and business stage.

Purple

Purple is with blue and red personality, active, dignified, and honorable. It has effects on the motor nerve, lymphatic system, and heart system, can maintain the balance of potassium in the body, and promotes the feeling of calm and love and caring for others.

Pink

If the surrounding environment is pink, it will reduce the commotion and chaos common in areas. The maximum effect of pink is self-decompression.

Pick an LED strip color by room and mood

Here is everything above in one place: the room or feeling you want, the color to pick, and the strip that gives it to you.

Details for each color are in what color LED light is best for sleeping and the most relaxing color above.

Match the controller to the color type

The color type decides the controller: a controller with too few channels cannot run all the colors on the strip. More help: how to choose LED strip light controllers.

Shop LED strips by color

Pick the color type from the table, then the strip. Blue, ice blue, green, purple, yellow, orange and pink are chosen as a color option on the product page of our single color LED strip lights; more whites by Kelvin, from 1500K candlelight and 1800K amber to 3500K soft white, are in static white LED strip lights.

LED strip colors FAQ

How many colors do LED strip lights come in?

Single color LED strips come in 2700K and 3000K warm white, cool white, 6000K daylight white, 4000K natural white, red, blue, ice blue, green, purple, yellow, orange, pink, and tunable white. Multi-color strips are RGB, RGBW, RGBCCT and addressable dream color; an RGB strip alone can mix 16 million colors.

What are LED light strip color codes?

On an RGB strip each color is three numbers from 0 to 255 for red, green and blue: 255, 0, 0 is red, 0, 0, 255 is blue and 255, 255, 255 lights all three. On the strip itself the pad letters are the code: R, G and B for the colors, W for white, WW for warm white, CW for cool white, V+ for the common positive and DIN for the data input on addressable strips.

What is the difference between RGB, RGBW and RGBCCT LED strips?

RGB mixes red, green and blue, and its white is bluish. RGBW adds a separate white, so the white light is purer. RGBCCT, also called RGBWW, adds two whites: a warm white and a cool white.

What color LED light is best for sleeping?

Blue: using blue in the bedroom can eliminate tension and help relieve insomnia. Green is also calming. Golden yellow and orange are best avoided in the bedroom, and too much red can cause anxiety. The most relaxing LED light color overall is the sunset colors.

Why are my LED strips not the same color?

Three common reasons: voltage drop on a strip that is too long for its power supply (feed power at the beginning and end), light decay and yellowing over time, and strips bought at different times. Buy enough LED strips for your project at the same time.