# Forum Home Renovation Lighting  LED strip light getting hot

## RichardF

I have 6 lengths of 5metre waterproof 3528SMD LED light strips, each containing 60 LEDs, with output power of 24Watts.  I have joined them together, so in total have 30m strip with a total of 144Watts output power.
I needed a driver/transformer for this, and on advise purchased a 200W driver (DC24V 200W) to sufficiently power all LED's. 
I have just hard wired it up and turned it on (light switch) - works great...  for the first minute!  I then saw a little smoke coming from the first 40cm of LED strip (nearest the driver).  Obviously i turned it off, and noticed that the plastic covering the LED lights seemed to have melted a little.  Also, this part of the strip also felt quite warm.  The rest of the strip was still cool to touch. 
Does anyone know why this would be happening? Driver too powerful; LED strip faulty; any other suggestions? 
Dont want to use it again and burn my house down. 
Thanks in advance for your advice. 
Richard

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## watson

Info I've got on that strip is that it requires 12V not 24V.

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## watson



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## RichardF

> Info I've got on that strip is that it requires 12V not 24V.

  Yep, just realised the strips are 12V and the driver is 24V - stupid oversight.  Would this cause the overheating? 
Richard

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## watson

Sure would.... As you saw, it would manifest itself in a dirty brown smell, eventually accompanied by smoke and buggered LED strips.

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## commodorenut

> I have 6 lengths of 5metre waterproof 3528SMD LED light strips, each containing 60 LEDs, with output power of 24Watts.  I have joined them together, so in total have 30m strip with a total of 144Watts output power.

   Even with a 12V supply, what you've done there still has the potential to cause problems. 
The 5m strips may only draw 24W each (144W in total as you've noted) but the very first strip, and in fact, the first several cm of that strip, will be carrying the full 144W of power through it. 
The little copper tracks on the flexible PCB aren't designed to carry high wattage, and there's a limit to what they can take before they will heat up, and melt the flexible plastic on the outer face of the strip. 
It would be best to power them up individually, or only run 2 strips daisy-chained, not all 6.

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