LED (12v) strip is very dim, LED globe is bright

Projects General Guidance
1

Hi All,

I've been trying to wire a strip of 15 LED lights to a USB-C breakout board and I can get power and lights work, but the LED strip lights are very dim where a LED globe is nice and bright.

AND, I do know the power source is a 5.1V USB charger and I know that the LED strip requires 12V, but I'm not powering the entire strip, just the 15 LEDs and am wondering if there's something I can do get these brighter?

Parts I'm using:

  • Arduino USB-C breakout board (4090)
  • 5.1V USB Charger with USB-C Cable
  • 2x resistors
  • 15 LEDs on 12v LED strip

As we can see in the below photos, with 15 or 3 LEDs connected, I still get a very DIM light source and I'm sure these get brighter.

PXL_20221001_073930405
PXL_20221001_0739304051920×1446 117 KB

PXL_20221001_074319930
PXL_20221001_0743199301920×1446 154 KB

As for the board config, here's a photo of how it's wired up

PXL_20221001_073935764
PXL_20221001_0739357641920×1446 182 KB

I'd love to know if there's something I'm doing wrong here or a better way to wire/set this up so I can get my LEDs working properly.

Thanks for any insight!

2

Powering 12V LEDs with 5V is never going to be bright

Either change to 5V LEDs or power them with 12V, possibly using a boost converter to turn 5V into 12V

2 Likes
3

Thanks @UKHeliBob - I thought that was the case, but just wanted to check. Thanks for confirming!

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