can I power led strips with a 3.5mm phone connector?

Hello.
quite a simple question,
I am looking for a elegant way to power an object that embeds led strips.
In order to move this object, I want the power cable to be unpluggable.
Can I put a female 3.5mm phone jack plug on my object and solder a male plug to the end of the power cable?
My strips specs are the following
0,4A/m /12 volt white color.
I will use 2.5 m of strip.
If jacks can't do the job, is there other nice cheap plugs I can use?
thanks

1106348_jack_plug.jpg

Well... yes

but i'm not sure i would 1m strip alone should get the flimsy wires from a headphone jack warm in no time....

feltonn:
Hello.
quite a simple question,
I am looking for a elegant way to power an object that embeds led strips.
In order to move this object, I want the power cable to be unpluggable.
Can I put a female 3.5mm phone jack plug on my object and solder a male plug to the end of the power cable?
My strips specs are the following
0,4A/m /12 volt white color.
I will use 2.5 m of strip.
If jacks can't do the job, is there other nice cheap plugs I can use?
thanks

I assume you meant a pluggable connection, not an unpluggable connection?

Anyway the plug you displayed is not really designed for DC power and better ones are available.

Here are inexpensive DC jacks and plugs that would do the job:

http://www.taydaelectronics.com/hardware/dc-power.html

Lefty

thanks you.

Sorry, english is not my mother tongue.
I meant "that can be unplugged or plugged"
Hopefully, you understood what I meant.

What type of wire gauge should I pick?

3.5mm phone connectors are OK for low voltage and low current. However I would recommend you use the stereo (3 pole) rather than the mono type. The mono type uses the socket body as one of the connection poles and this is unreliable since there is no "pressure" applied to this pole - it simply relies on touch contact. I can state this from experience of using such connectors for a similar project. If you use a stereo jack the outer two poles are connected by spring loaded contacts and therefore offer a much more reliable connection.

jackrae:
3.5mm phone connectors are OK for low voltage and low current. However I would recommend you use the stereo (3 pole) rather than the mono type. The mono type uses the socket body as one of the connection poles and this is unreliable since there is no "pressure" applied to this pole - it simply relies on touch contact. I can state this from experience of using such connectors for a similar project. If you use a stereo jack the outer two poles are connected by spring loaded contacts and therefore offer a much more reliable connection.

thanks for the advice jackrae.
Do you know the maximum cable length that I could use without altering voltage?

That all depends on :
a) length of cable
b) make-up of cable (number of strands of what cross section per core) or better still the resistance of the cable/metre
c) current drawn by the load

3.5mm are OK for low currents 10s rather than 100s of mA. You might be able to push an amp or so through them but you could end up with contact problems = heat = even more contact problems. Lots of gadget chargers use 3.5mm plugs as charge leads so they are capable of carrying current.

Have you thought about using RCA phono plugs/sockets. These are much bulkier but they can carry a lot higher current than the 3.5mm jack.

jackrae:
That all depends on :
a) length of cable
b) make-up of cable (number of strands of what cross section per core) or better still the resistance of the cable/metre
c) current drawn by the load

3.5mm are OK for low currents 10s rather than 100s of mA. You might be able to push an amp or so through them but you could end up with contact problems = heat = even more contact problems. Lots of gadget chargers use 3.5mm plugs as charge leads so they are capable of carrying current.

Have you thought about using RCA phono plugs/sockets. These are much bulkier but they can carry a lot higher current than the 3.5mm jack.

Hello jackrae.

The 2.5m long strip will draw 1 A.
I will ideally need 4 meters of cable between he power source and the light.
Should I pick the classic electric cable used for any kind of lamp? (which has a 2x 0,75mm section.) or can I go for a thinner section?
The thinner is the better in my case (I need this cable to have a really soft sheath.)

thanks again.

Just make sure it is inflammable.

michinyon:
Just make sure it is inflammable.

are you serious?