Staircases Lighting with LED strips: Light up your staircase and you will get the most impressive house ever!
By using stairs led lights you can make your staircase much safer and upgrade your interior design at the same time. You can play with lights and shadows effect and even obtain a very suggestive atmosphere.
By using our led light systems the stunning result is guaranteed. With our stair lighting system and the technology used on LED light bulbs we can achieve elegant and sophisticated home styles.
Staircases Lighting with LED strips
A good system to save energy and pay cheaper electric bills
One of the main advantages of Staircases Lighting with LED strips is the economic and energy savings achieved thanks to its technology. In general, you can save between 50% and 60% of energy.
For this reason and to further improve the whole home design, LED strips have been used for illuminating staircases for some years now and the future trend is to use them more and more in any Interior Design.
Here below we give you some information and suggestions together with most popular requests and answers on led systems.
How to illuminate a staircase with LED strips
• How to choose LED strips: the first step is to choose the right type of LED strip which can be with single color, white or multi-colored. More information on led types are give below – link sotto.
• Where to put LED strips: the most common and maybe efficient way to place the LED strips on a staircase is on the steps. To do this you need to check where the power supply is located and the width and length of the rung.
• How to connect Led strips: the best way is to connect the LED strips in parallel to ensure the same level of light on all steps and achieve uniform lighting on the stairs. Your electrician is the right person to ask for any suggestion. You may need his help during fitting.
We suggest here below different ways to illuminate your staircase as well as nearby areas. The possibilities are really endless.
Staircases Lighting with LED strips on straight Staircase between walls
If your staircase is fitted between two walls you may want to place the lights under the wall handrail to light up the steps and climb the stairs more comfortably. A led strip is hidden under the handrail and gives a striking but stylish effect.
Alternatively you may think to put spot lights into the wall. In this case major works are needed to create the niches and the recess in the wall. All cables and electric systems are hidden and not visible.
Cantilever and self-supporting staircases
The cantilever staircases and the open self-supporting stairways gives a lot of possibility to work with LED lights systems. Here are some examples of what you can achieve:
Another elegant way to incorporate led lights on staircases i sthe one we show on our open staircases web site section.
How to choose the right LED strips for your staircase without making mistakes.
LED strips are the product of the moment in many ways, they offer practical solutions and are often easy to install. The led systems are constantly evolving and adaptable to many solutions.
Imagine having to create linear and homogeneous lighting with only one light point available. A strip led, another name given to the LED strips, is able to illuminate everything keeping under control the energy consumption.
First of all, however, we need to clarify some characteristics of the LED strips and where they can be installed.
Here is the list of the main features to keep under control:
- The IP protection degree
- the color temperature
- the nominal power of the LED
- the number of LEDs
- the duration in terms of hours
What is the IP protection degree of a LED strip?
The IP protection degree of a LED strip is a parameter that indicate if a led strip is suitable for indoor or outdoor use.
A degree of protection IP20, for example, is sufficient for installation in an internal environment. This indication is specially meant for homes and private houses, whereas an IP40 is recommended on commercial environments as restaurants and bars.
If instead you want to install the LED strip outdoor, in the garden for example, you will have to choose an IP65 or even IP66 protection degree. This type of IP guarantees protection to the strips against humidity, water, sun and all weathering conditions.
If you need to make the LED strip completely waterproof, then you will need an IP68. This type of protection is ideal for swimming pools, tanks or aquariums.
How to choose the right color temperature?
Now that you know what IP protection degree to choose according to the place where you have to install the LED strips, you need to find the right colour of the light of your LED system. Let’s find out.
All LED strips can be monochromatic (white, red, blue or green) or RGB (multicolor). In the first case you will have the possibility to choose lights in three shades of white and in the second several colors combinations.
The white strips are “warm white, natural white or cold white”. How to choose among them? The color temperature is expressed in Kelvin degrees, the closer this temperature is to 2700K, the “warmer light” you will get, the closer it is to 6000K the “cooler light” you will get.
Every time you but a strip led do not forget to take into account above points.
It is a matter of fact that the color of light directly affects the way we work and alters our perceptions and our physical well-being. If you want to light up rooms where concentration and work are important, always use natural light LEDs (between 4000K-5000K). If you want to light up environments where a soft and relaxing atmosphere is important, use warm light (between 2700K-3000K).
If you want to have fun use colored lights. The RGB LED strips allow you to play and discover hundreds of luminous atmospheres ranging from the main rainbow colors. Usually these strips are equipped with remote control and allow you to select your favorite color with a simple click.
How to find out the best LED chips on a strip?
On the market the most common chips types available for the LED strips are the SMD 3528, the SMD 5050 and SMD 5630 strips.
The SMD 3528 type is the cheapest. The strips have only one chip. If you want to use the light to have a decorating effect, these LED strips may be what you need. They are not very bright and you can use them to create or imitate a spot light. We could call those strips decorative LED strips.
All the SMD 5050 LED strips have three luminescent chips and are therefore brighter than the SMD3528.
these are the most popular LED strips for many uses, both decorative and above all for lighting.
The most powerful (and expensive) led strips are the SMD 5630. They have a mono chip and are twice as bright as the SMD 5050. With these strips you will have a lot of light and also dimmer its intensity in the room.
Here is a table to show all strips type you may find:
| Led Type | Lenght mm | Width mm | Luminous flux lm | Consumption W |
| SMD LED 2835 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 22-24 | 0.2 |
| SMD LED 3014 | 3.0 | 1.4 | 10-12 | 0.1 |
| SMD LED 3020 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 10-12 | 0.12 |
| SMD LED 3030 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 61-85 | 0.63 |
| SMD LED 3528 | 3.5 | 2.8 | 6-7 | 0.062 |
| SMD LED 5050 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 16-22 | 0.24 |
| SMD LED 5630 | 5.6 | 5.0 | 54-56 | 0.5 |
| SMD LED 5730 | 5.7 | 3.0 | 54-56 | 0.5 |
How many LEDs meters can I find in a LED strip?
Currently on the market you can find led strips of 30, 60, 120, 204, 240 leds per meter. Each of these ratios offers you a different lighting result.
As a general indication if you have to light up a small niche or a shelf in a closet a 30 meter LEDs will suffice. If, on the other hand, you want to insert your LED strip in a groove in the plasterboard, never go below 120 LED meters or you will see that annoying speckled effect on the wall.
When we design a staircase we always check the best options and supply finished products to our clients. If we have to design led strips on steps for examples, our engineers will calculate the length required, but also the power and the type of light according to the room and the effect client wants to have etc. Every solution is customized according to client needs and available space.
You can see an example at the following link bradley cooper biografia, for courtesy of Hollywoodiani.it.
Quality and durability of LEDs
The quality of leds is important to determine the durability with time. Depending on the way and the frequency of the led lighting you need, we will suggest the best compromise between cost and quality.
Led lights are however not eternal and it maybe necessary to change them time by time.
Is it recommended to install the LED strips on an aluminum profile?
Yes, this is what we suggest and this is the system we normally use. We only use high quality aluminium strips as support for led strips.
The best result you can achieve with led strips is on glass steps. Here is an example of how a glass steps staircase may look. Isn’t that just amazing?
Schluter-LIPROTEC can also be used to illuminate staircases – the easy way: our staircase sets comprise all components you need to install lighting on each step.
thanks for the information.
Thank you so much for showing off how easy it is to use LEDs in multiple ways. The flexibility of materials like these could definitely help us get really creative with our home’s renovation. As soon as I find an electrician in the area that we can hire, I’ll ask them to help us install LEDs like these on our stairs and other areas.