Powering an led strip?

Hardware Hub
1

Hello, so i bought an led strip off of Ebay, for putting behind my desk, monitor and under my case. But i realized that i have little to no idea of what i'm doing. First off, how am i meant to actually power this thing? It's a roll with a 12v outlet on it that has something go into it. I'm pretty sure i can just use a 12v power adapter that plugs into my wall, but is there any way i can power it from my PC itself? or am i asking the impossible?

Also as far as cutting the strip to extend it where i don't need the led's, do i just cut it where it says and solder black and red (for 12v) wires of the right size?

Sorry if i am being confusing, i'm trying to explain the situation but i have little knowledge. Thank you to anyone that can understand this and help.

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So you're wondering how to attach an LED to your power supply essentially?

Assuming it's a single-color strip, that's actually really easy. What I've done in the past is take one of those 4-pin Molex to 3-pin Fan adapter things, snip and strip the wires near the 3-pin bit, and solder it up, making sure the red wire is to +12V and the black wire is to ground. Just plug the new LED/Molex combo into a Molex connector from your power supply and you should be good to go.

Like so:

TL;DR, you're thinking the right thing.

1 Like
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Haha, alright. I'm pretty sure i know what to do now, all i have to do is get a needle point solder and get some 12v wires (luckily that won't be hard)

Thank's for your help again Wiemerimer