LED Strip Light Channels

Introduction to LED Strip Light Channels:

1. Surface-Mounted LED Strip Channels: Surface-mounted channels typically use adhesive backing, screws, or mounting brackets and can be installed directly on ceilings, cabinets, and walls. They provide even lighting, avoiding the complexity of exposed installations. This design makes them ideal for enhancing linear lighting effects in residential and commercial spaces.

2. Corner LED Strip Channels: Designed specifically for edges and corners, corner channels are commonly installed in wardrobes, bookshelves, and display racks. They create a reflective effect that enhances spatial layering, offering soft, indirect lighting that prevents glare while adding visual depth.

3. Recessed LEDStrip Channels: Recessed channels are embedded in ceilings, walls, or floors for a seamless effect. This installation hides the light source, achieving a minimalist, clean, modern look suitable for ambiance lighting in hotel lobbies, exhibition spaces, and modern minimalist home designs.

4. Driveway LED Strip Channels: Driveway channels are reinforced for durability and are typically waterproof and dustproof, suitable for driveways, hallways, and outdoor areas. These channels provide safe nighttime lighting and can withstand pedestrian and vehicle pressure, ideal for various outdoor environments.

5. Suspended LED Strip Channel: Suspended channels are installed below ceilings or walls, hanging in space via suspension cables to provide a unique, decorative lighting effect. They are ideal for high ceilings or open layouts, such as offices, restaurants, retail stores, and over dining tables or kitchen islands in modern homes. Suspended channels deliver uniform, downward lighting, enhancing brightness while adding a stylish visual element to create a clean, modern ambiance. The height is adjustable to meet the lighting needs of different spaces.

These specially designed LED strip light aluminum channels can be installed perfectly in grooves of cabinets, ceilings, stairs, walls, and floors. The resulting lighting is aesthetically beautiful and stylish due to its elegant linear shape, spotless diffusion, and low profile, and unobtrusive contours.

Benefits of Installing LED Strip Channels

Except working as heat sinks to enhance heat dissipation, LED aluminum channels, together with LED strip lights, are an essential element of personalized lighting loved by many lighting designers. They have countless advantages.

1. Work as led strip diffuser. The cover of aluminum extrusions is the often called LED strip diffuser. It can be frosted or opal, providing the best light diffusion, achieve perfect spotless and more homogeneous lighting effects, and avoid glare. LED strip lights inside the aluminum channel with diffuser deliver softer and more comfortable light than those without diffuser.

The diffuser removes the glare of the lighting. The light is more friendly to eyes and help protect your vision. Also the light looks more beautiful with aluminum channel. It offers dotless lighting when installed inside a proper aluminum channel with diffuser.

2. Improve the aesthetics of lighting. The aesthetically pleasing appearance of the improved linear illumination with aluminum channels creates wonderful lighting shapes for the space. When the light strip is installed, its contours can increase the layering of the indoor environment.

If the shape of the linear lighting is well applied, a house of the simple structure will have amazing effects. It can be said that the strip lighting is the little makeup of the house! For commercial use, it displays goods with more attractiveness. Installed in the home, it is very elegant. On the stage, it is very eye-catching.

3. Enhance heat dissipation. Work as heat sink, LED aluminum channel draws the heat generated by LED strip lights during operation, and dissipate away to the air through the channel's surfaces. The improved heat management system prolongs the lifetime of LED strips.

4. Protect LED strip lights. Anodized aluminum tubing provides a rigid housing for LED strips, protecting from water, dust, UV radiation, weather conditions, and unwanted impacts. For example, it can be used for strip lighting of splash areas.

5. Easy fit. Aluminum profiles can fit seamlessly into grooves in cabinets, stairs, walls and floors. They occupy little space but provide lighting precisely where you want to light, without seeing the bulky light fixtures.

6. Help LED strip installation. The aluminum profile can help install LED strip lights in different ways. Some surfaces are uneven, rough, or too oily, not suitable for sticking the LED strip. Aluminum channels can help with mounting LED strips to those surfaces. Aluminum channels can also work as a bridge to fill the gap between two separate mounting surfaces.

7. Easy to form different shapes. DIY lighting shapes is easy. Aluminum channels can be easily cut into different angles at ends for angled connection, forming square, triangle, L shape, or tree shape of lighting design. Easy to create more personalized lighting.

LED strips can be changed easily. The internal light strips can be easily removed and replaced, in case users want to have a different color of strip lighting.

9. Safety. LED strip channels are designed for low voltage light strips. It is very safe to install and use.

Pairing LED Strip Lights with LED Aluminum Channels

Thanks to the LED technology, LED strip aluminum channel can be paired with single color, tunable white, RGB and RGBW LED strip lights. As effective LED strip diffuser, they are often used to set ambient lighting, accent lighting, bias lighting, and task lighting.

With single color LED strip or RGB LED strip
Monochrome LED strips can be used as part of general lighting. They are suitable for both residential and commercial lighting. With LED aluminum profiles being LED strip diffuser, it is so easy to set the atmosphere lighting with RGB LED strip lights or single color strips such as warm white, neutral white, and cool white LED strip. Each different color of light creates a different mood lighting. The wide aluminum channel can be equipped with one or more LED strips of high lumen output to produce sufficient brightness for task illumination.

The aluminum channels are also styled with monochrome white strips or RGB strips to create remarkable linear lighting that enhances the modern elegance of the space. The aluminum channel for led strip lighting can have the edgeless design. When recessed mounted in walls, it looks as if the walls are emitting light. It performs the functions of both decorative lighting and safety lighting.

With tunable white LED strip
The tunable white light strip can be adjusted according to different times of the day to produce light of different color temperatures. Set a cool morning light at breakfast time to make you feel like a refreshing day. At dinner, it is set to a warm candlelight, make you feel released from a stressful day, and returned to the comfort of the family.

With RGBW LED strip
Indirect lighting, such as cove lighting, combined with accent lighting, optimizes the lighting of the entire room with homogeneous and pleasing light, which is made possible by LED aluminum channels, the most effective LED strip diffuser. RGBW LED strips can be used to create more possible light, both as functional lighting and as ambient lighting.

Aluminum track for 12V LED strip and 24V LED strip
LED aluminum channels work very well as aluminum track for 12V LED strips and 24V LED strips. As 12V LED strips typically draw bigger current than 24V strips, 12V LED strips have, in this sense, more grounds to be installed together with aluminum tracks for better heat management.

Check LED strip light channel size when buying

1. LED strip light channel width size. Make sure a proper matching of the aluminum channel and the LED strip. The inner base of the LED channel should be wider than the width of the LED strip, so that the strip can be smoothly installed into the channel.There are many choices of the inner channel widths. Typically, aluminum V channel sizes, or aluminum U channel sizes are from as narrow as 5mm, to as wide as 50mm or more, suitable for all kinds of light strips, such as 5mm, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm and other light strips.

Tip: RGBW and waterproof LED strips are 12mm wide, choose a channel with an inner width greater than 12mm.

2. LED strip light channel depth size. The depth of the LED strip channel has two-fold impact on the strip lighting installation and use.

• The depth of the LED strip channel needs to match the depth of the mounting groove. Remember, the thickness of the mounting surface can limit the depth of the groove.
• The depth of the aluminum profile determines the distance between the LED strip and the diffuse cover. The distance affects the uniform distribution of light. For the same LED strip, the deeper the profile, the more homogeneous the light distribution. If the profile depth is constant, the light distribution of the LED strip with a higher density of LEDs is better.

3. The shape of the LED strip channel: LED strip U channel. Different shapes and different installation methods produce different lighting effects. Most of LED strip aluminum channel are aluminum u channels, also known as aluminum c channels. LED strip u channels.

Of course, there are other different shapes, such as angle or round aluminum profiles, to match different needs of installation. For example, the corner aluminum profile is suitable for corner installation. Aluminum u channel can have wings or no wing, also called flange. LED profiles with flange can help cover uneven grooves.

4. The quality of the LED strip aluminum channel. You can know more about the thickness of the oxide layer. If the oxide layer is thicker, the profile is harder and not easily deformed. It has better corrosion resistance as well.

5. The difference of the covers. The covers work as effective diffuser or lenses for LED strips. This is why LED aluminum channels are referred to as LED strip diffuser. The covers can be clear, frosted or milky. The clear cover is transparent and allows the light to pass through without reducing the brightness. Therefore the illumination is brighter than the frosted cover.

The frosted cover reduces the brightness a little, and can let 90% of the light through. But its main role is to deliver a more homogeneous light, achieve spotless illumination, and avoid glare. The milky cover is similar to the frosted, but just whiter.

If you don't like seeing the individual LED light dots, but want to see only the dotless lighting, select the LED profiles with the frosted cover or milky cover, and match with the right LED strip, with the LED density of at least 120 LEDs per meter.

In addition, the profile covers provide a strong defense against weather conditions, dust, water drops, and UV radiation for LED strip lights inside the aluminum channel.

6. LED strip channel accessories.
In order to help users make full use of LED profiles easily, we offer a variety of mounting accessories for various LED profiles, such as the installation brackets, 3M tape, fasteners, and more.

Mounting brackets. Mounting brackets, also called mounting clips, ensure easy and safe installation. They can also be used as a connector between two aluminum profiles.

3M tape. For surface mounting the LED profile, you can use 3M double-sided tape (not included, but can be found in our 3M double-sided tape section).

End caps. Aluminum profiles come with standard end caps. They fit into the profiles to further protect them from dust and other harmful elements, also complete a more beautiful outlook of the profile.

Other accessories for LED strip channel. In addition to the above accessories, there are aluminum profile connectors, fasteners, suspensions, pendant cables, etc. They help make your professional installation as easy as possible.

LED strip light connectors. Please note that some LED strip light connectors are too large to fit in the aluminum track channel. Find out the internal dimensions of the anodized aluminum tubing and select the LED connectors with appropriate width.

Install LED Strip Light Aluminum Channel.

The installation of LED strip light channel includes three sections. Install the LED channel, install the LED strip into the LED channel, and install the aluminum channel cover. The order of these three sections varies depending on the type of installation. The detailed installation steps will be explained step by step below.

1. Mount the LED strip light channel.

LED strip light channel is easy to mount due to its light weight. Depending on the shapes and functions of the LED aluminum channels, they can be surface mount, recessed mount or flush mount, corner mount, or suspended mount. LED channel installation typically use mounting brackets, screws, 3M double-sided tape or mounting adhesive, hanging cable, and fasteners.

Surface mount aluminum channel for LED tape light.
Mount the LED strip light channel directly on a wall, ceiling or other surface using mounting brackets, 3M double-sided tape, or screws.

Mounting brackets usually have pre-drilled holes. They can be easily fixed to the wall with screws. Then, the aluminum profile snaps into the mounting brackets.

Installing LED strip light channel with 3M double-sided tape is as easy as peel and stick. This installation requires preparation of the mounting surface and ensuring it is clean and dry. Use isopropyl alcohol as cleaning solvent if necessary; for oily substrate, use acetone instead.

Since the LED profile is made of aluminum, it is also easy to penetrate with a screw, so that the aluminum profile can be easily fixed to the mounting surface.

Recessed mount or flush mount LED recessed strip lights with aluminum channel and plastic lens

Recessed mount or flush mount the LED strip channel. By this way, the aluminum channel is mounted behind a wall or other surface with the contoured opening flush with the surface. You need to dig a groove in the mounting area that matches the width and depth of the LED strip channel.

Worrying the grooves are opened uneven or too wide? Don't worry. There is a type of LED aluminum channel tracks that come with lips(also called wings, or flanges) on both sides. They can overlap unpleasing groove edges or gaps when recessed mounted.

Some LED aluminum profiles have two grooves on the side wall. Using mounting clips to clamp on the first or the second groove to adjust the installation height, and the cooling distance between LED profile and the bed of the mounting surface groove.

Corner mount
Angle LED aluminum channels work as an angled installation substrate for LED strips, making it possible to provide a beam angle of 30°, 45° and 60° with respect to the mounting surface, and creating an ambience for the corner areas in a room. Corner mount is easy by using mounting brackets, double-sided tapes, etc.

When corner mounted, LED aluminum channels make good use of the otherwise unusable spaces by other luminaires. Furthermore, it is the dark corners that need special attention when designing lighting plans. Corner mounted LED profiles make it easy to bring bright for corners in a fashion and elegant way.

Where does the high cooling performance of corner mount LED channel come from? Let's take the 45° beam angle LED profile for an example. The corner mounted profile has an inner base that is angled 45 degrees to the two walls of the profile. The inner base and the two walls of the LED channel create a cavity, which enhances the heat dissipation of LED strips and the cooling effects of the channels.

Suspended Mount LED Strip Light Channel

LED strip channel have been more and more used in elegant strip lighting for modern spaces. Hanging the LED extrusion profile from the ceiling is a new way to create contemporary lighting in the air. Pendant cables, buckles, and fasteners are usually used to hang the LED profiles.

2. Install LED strip lights into the LED aluminum channel.

This is the typical peel-and-stick installation. Peel off the protection liner of the 3M double-sided tape and stick the LED strip to the inner base of the aluminum channel.

3. Pair the LED aluminum channel with cover.

Line the cover with the LED aluminum channel at one end, squeeze the cover into the holding grooves on the inner walls of the channel. Then press all the way to the other end. You can tell by the click sound if the cover sits to the position.