FAQ

Watts measure how much power a lamp uses, while light output is measured in lumens. Efficiency can thus be calculated in terms of lumens per Watt. Light sources differ in their efficiency ratings, meaning that the amount of power used does not necessarily reflect the amount of light emitted. Even LED products can vary in their efficiency, and are becoming increasingly efficient as technology develops. Traditional light sources such as halogen and incandescent lamps produce light through heating a filament, so most of the energy used in these lamps is wasted as heat. LEDs produce light in a different way and do not produce as much heat, making them much more energy efficient.

All low voltage (12V DC) products should be operated with a suitable LED driver. When retrofitting low voltage LED products, the transformer must be replaced with a suitable LED driver.

V-TAC offer lamps in warm, cool and natural white with colour temperatures measured in Kelvin (K). The lower the colour temperature is, the warmer the light given by the LED: Warm white = 2800-3500K Natural white = 4000K Cool white = 5000K+ Warm white creates a lighting scheme that more closely matches the light given by traditional halogen or incandescent lamps, while cool white creates a lighting effect which appears closer to daylight, with natural white light creating an effect that lies somewhere in between these.

Yes, they are easy to install. In most cases you just plug the power supply into the controller/dimmer (which then connects to the LED strip), and then plug the power supply into a normal outlet.

Yes, most of our controllers and strips are 12V DC so you can connect them straight to your battery (we recommend a 3-5A fuse in-line after the battery).

No. You can run low voltage wire/control cable up to 50 feet in most cases. But keep in mind the longer the run, the more voltage drop you will have and while it can be hard to notice with LED lights, they may not be as bright as they could be if they were shorter runs. On long runs and using the RGB strips set to white you may notice a change in the colour temp the farther you go from the power supply, so keep it short, or use larger wire if you have long run.

No. The power supplies are not made to be dimmed – it will damage them. The strips, however, can be dimmed by using any one of our PWM dimmers or controllers placed between the power supply and the strip.