What are electric bikes? A lot of people may be surprised at the mere fact that electric bikes even exist, but their history goes back even to the late 1890s. Different U.S. patents dating back to the 1890s actually mention the existence of said bikes! Sometimes also referred to as e-bikes, this special bicycle is actually a bicycle that features an electric motor that is normally utilized to power up an ordinary vehicle. These kinds of bicycles actually rely on a rechargeable battery and can even attain speeds as high as 15 miles per hour or 20 miles per hour. Of course, this all depends upon the specific laws of the country in which these kinds of bicycles are sold!

The good thing about these electric bikes is that they can be utilized as an alternative form of transportation to cars and even normal bikes! Believe it or not, these kinds of bicycles are actually quite good for people who are suffering from heart problems, but still are told to get more exercise into their lives. According to an entry on Wikipedia, these types of bicycles require a lot less cardiac exertion, which is good news to people who already have established heart problems.

When it comes to the cost issues of an electric bike versus the costs behind cars, you can bet your bottom dollar that choosing these types of bikes is more cost-effective than buying or maintaining a car. Let’s look at just one aspect of this consideration, which is in regard to the price of gas to operate either kind of vehicle. With electric bikes being limited to just 20 miles per hour according to American law, you do not even need to pay for a special registration, insurance or license, unlike a car! Further, according to the website called Eco Wheelz, it takes just about 10 cents to charge a battery for this bicycle! With gas prices in the U.S. hovering near $4 already, and with most cars getting just 25 miles on the gallon, it is obviously a lot more expensive to buy, own and maintain your car.

On the issue of safety, electric bikes have a little bit farther to go before they can be considered totally safe. Take for instance China, which is the world’s biggest market for these kinds of bicycles. There is road traffic safety concern in general over these kinds of bikes because they oftentimes use the same lanes as slower-moving normal bicycles and even pedestrians.

As you can see, electric bikes are an alternative to cars and regular bicycles. They are allowed in the U.S. and are more cost-effective than cars, although there may well be some safety concerns attached to this type of bicycle.

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Strips with more LEDs per foot will consume more power.

In short, if maximum energy efficiency is what’s most important to you, choose a light strip with smaller LEDs and fewer LEDs.

In order to ensure your LED power supply doesn’t overheat and fail prematurely, we use this general rule of thumb:

Make sure the total wattage of your LED strip lighting is at least 20 percent less than the power supply’s rated wattage.

For example, if you have an LED strip light that requires 80 watts of power to run, you’ll need a power supply that’s rated for at least 96 watts.

The vast majority of our strips include wattage per foot right on their product pages.

power supplies range from six watts to 1,500 watts for compatibility with a wide variety of LED strip lights.

Let’s take a look at an example:

It’s important to verify that the voltage of the power supply you choose is compatible with the voltage of your LED strip lighting. Also, be sure that the power supply’s input voltage matches that of the location it will be installed in. If you have an LED strip with 12-volt DC operation that you wish to use in a 120-volt AC home wiring system, you’ll need a power supply that includes 120 volts in its input range and has 12-volt DC output.

Another factor to take into account for longer runs is voltage drop. A significant voltage drop is present after a certain distance of LED strip. After this distance, there will not be enough voltage present to light the next length of strip. This varies depending on the type of strip and length being used. Usually, a single-density strip (nine or less LEDs per foot) will need to run back to a power source every 32 13/16 feet (10 meters). A high-density strip (18 or more LEDs per foot) will need to run back to a power source every 16 3/8 feet (5 meters). Please refer to “Max Run” in the specifications table of the strip light to determine how many can be run continuously without a parallel run back to power.

3) the 4) if you want your strip to be dimmable

power supply calculator on the product pages of all of our LED strip lights!

There are a few steps involved:

Step 1: Select your strip and the length you need.

Step 3: Click the green “Power Supply Calculator” tab, and select your product by choosing it from the list OR by pasting the exact part number in the search bar.

Step 4: Enter the number of strips at the desired length you’ve selected and voila! You’ll see a list of all compatible power supplies with the best match at the top of the list!

When dealing with electronics, safety is paramount, and you want everything to work like it’s supposed to. So if you’re still not sure which power supply to use for your LED strip lighting project, just reach out to our technical support team or customer service department at 866-590-3533. Our teams are available from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. CDT Monday-Thursday and 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. CDT on Friday.