The Smart strip lights have fundamentally altered the way we tackle our home lighting installations in recent years. These lights provide you with the ability to personalize a wide selection of illumination settings. There is no job that these lights cannot enlighten, whether you are installing luxury underneath lighting in your living area or constructing new utility lighting in your garage.
One of the most inherent benefits of smart strip lighting is that it is often customized to meet your specific requirements. For example: If you purchase a 16′ strip but only require it for a 12′ pass, an uncuttable strip would be completely ineffective.
Some brands even have tools built in that let you to recycle the cut-offs in subsequent projects, which is very convenient. But is it possible to cut LIFX Z light strips, which are one of the most famous brands of smart lighting?
The easy answer is yes, you can remove LIFX Z light strips. However you probably don’t want to do so for a variety of reasons. As opposed to other manufacturers of strip lights, these were not designed to be cut, and cutting them would void your warranty. If you really want smart strip lighting which can be trimmed to size, there are various workarounds you may use as well as alternative companies to consider.
What are LIFX Z Light Strips?
A smart lighting solution, LIFX Z light strips can be incorporated into almost any smart home environment, making them a versatile option. The total length of these lights is a little around 80 inches per set. The lights include customizable zones, as well as all of the color possibilities that you’d expect from current smart LED lighting. Because the lights have their own built-in Wi-Fi, there is no need for a separate hub to control them. If the number of hubs in your smart home is becoming a little overwhelming, this could be the best option for you. The LIFX app, which is available for iOS, Android, and Windows 10, allows you to customize your lighting options:
These are a great replacement for smart lighting in general, but the method by which they may be cut presents a challenge for some users.
What You Should Know About Cutting LIFX Z Light Strips?
Whereas the LIFX Z light strips may be an excellent alternative for the majority of customers, their inability to be successfully cut immediately eliminates their viability for certain of these users.
It’s possible to cut a LIFX Z light strip using this method if you’re a daring DIYer in the smart home world and don’t mind tossing your warranty out through the window (yes, this will void your guarantee…)
Instructions on How to Remove These LIFX Light Strips
So you just want to cut the light strip that can’t be cut? There are a few “step 0” safety procedures that need to be followed before we can start cutting.
Remove the plugs from the lights. Despite the fact that it should go without saying, it is always advisable to be safer than safe while interacting with electricity. Following that, you’ll want to know where to make the cuts. It’s necessary to cut almost every LED light strips just at the solder point, as is illustrated in the illustration following table:
Cutting an LED light strip along the edge of the tool is a simple process (solder point)
Keep in mind that this cut might be utilized for a DIY solution in the future. You may also trim LIFX Z light strips in the following ways:
- When there are 6 LEDs (light-emitting diodes, which are the single squares that emit light), there are blank white gaps in between them.
- At the solder sites, which are 50cm/19.8′′ apart, there are two solder points.
- Between each group of six LEDs, there is a blank white space between them.
Now we’re ready to securely make the cut, which will entail the following steps:
1. Switching off the electricity (this is something that should be repeated because it is so simple to forget!).
2. Determine wherever you want to perform your cut based on the information shown above.
3. Make a single clean cut using a pair of sharp scissors. Don’t ‘hack’ at it, or you can end up damaging the strip’s real electrical components.
You’re left with one smaller LED light strip and a few scraps of metal. While it’s now in ruins, there is a means to restore it back to life, which we shall cover in further detail later.
The final thing to remember with LIFX Z strip lights stands that you may only cut the last strip in your series if you have more than one. When you cut a strip, you also cut off the connector, which is the end that connects the strips together.
Reasons how you might not want to go through with it
If you haven’t made it to the top yet, you may not have to wait much longer to do so. Although the LIFX Z and other smart strip lighting brands may theoretically be cut, this is also true for nearly every other type of smart strip lighting. It’s clear that this brand was not created with that in mind, as their support website states:
We are unable to give a warranty on strips that have already been cut. In order for a strip that has been cut to be the final strip in the line of your strips, it must be cut first.
We’ve already discussed how removing these lights can void your warranty, but it’s possible that the risk isn’t worth it in this case.
Because these strip lights are not intended to be cut, you will not be able to receive any official assistance if you do so after breaking the connection. Cutting these lights places you squarely in the realm of do-it-yourself.
Why LIFX does not want you to cut them is just because doing so makes guarantee and assistance claims more difficult to process. Internal wire and diodes are found in abundance in LED light strips; disconnecting them in the incorrect spot will cause them to malfunction. Due to the fact that it is not often evident how to correctly cut them, LIFX has simply established a blanket policy that “any splitting will void the warranty.” While it’s unfortunate, this is somewhat understandable.
If you’re not confident in your ability to search the internet for solutions to specific project queries, you could be better suited to purchasing a strip light that is already assembled.
Fortunately, cutting the LIFX Z smart strip light is not required to solve the majority of interior design challenges.
What You Should Know About Cutting LIFX Z Light Strips?
Cutting is mostly used to deal with excess length and manage places that do not require illumination. If all you want is to be able to handle curves and twists, you can get over this problem with a little creative thought.
Although the LIFX Z cannot be bent, it is possible to loop the strip. Consider the following as though you were going to put the LIFX Z away for storage. Just one of these small loops can be used to round a tight curve without the need to cut or bend the light source itself.
Even if this is an excellent option for folks who only need to make those tight maneuvers behind a television set, what happens if you actually need to disconnect your light strip? Here are a few brands that can withstand being disconnected and then rejoined.
How to Cut These LIFX Light Strips?
When it comes to smart home design, it seems like things are continuously getting better. Newer smart gadgets have addressed the minor flaws that made prior smart devices irritating or difficult to operate. The same holds true when it comes to cutting light strips, which is not an exception to the norm.
You may cut to your heart’s content with these smart light strip brands, which are ready to use straight out of the box.
Light strips from Philips Hue
The obvious choice for the first step is to start with the behemoth that is intelligent lighting. Philips Hue does not take corners whenever it comes to producing goods; instead, they leave it up to you to do it yourself.
Their LED light strip has helpful “cut here” marks on the LEDs, which makes it easy to cut the lights. This eliminates the need for any unsafe guessing and allows you to understand precisely where to chop each and every time. According to what you would have guessed, these lights are intended to be cut down to size. However, their chopping interval is rather short, at every 13′′/33cm:
The length of the Philips Hue Lightstrip V4 is shown by a tape measure next to it.
Philips Hue now sells a V4 version of those smart LED light strips that include connections directly in the box, which is similar to the V3. You may cut and reuse these lights as many as you like without having to worry about the same issues that you would have with LIFX Z.
Feit Electric Smart LED Strip Light
Feit Electric is yet another reputable brand of house lighting that you should consider. Their LED strip lights are equipped with the same “cut here” functionality that established Philips Hue such a wonderful choice in the first place.
This particular model of smart lights really urges you to turn off the lights when they are no longer needed. Feit has issued formal instructions for removing its strip lights from the ceiling. Their lights can only reach a maximum height of 32 feet, so that should be plenty for most home improvement tasks.
Kiko Smart LED Strip Light
It’s a strip light that uses Bluetooth to communicate. This smart light is intended to be used in conjunction with Ios and android smartphones. In the same way that our other two alternatives do, these lights include “cut here” indicators sprinkled throughout their strips to indicate when it is safe to take a break from working.
The majority of smart LED strip lights upon that market are beginning to incorporate “cut here” markings for the convenience of their consumers. The reason for this is a well-kept secret that is shared by all LED strip lighting products.
When it comes to LED strip lighting, it’s past time for you to know the truth.
Let DIY Illuminate Your Life
Now, I’ll let you in on something secret regarding LED strip lights, whether they’re smart or not: Almost all of them are capable of being disconnected and rejoined.
Yes, you read that correctly. It is possible to cut and disconnect LIFX Z, Philips Hue, and other brands to lights of the same manufacturer and model. LED light strips may be cut and connected in whatever way you see fit if you are ready to take on the prestigious role of smart home DIYer.
As is always the case, we’re dealing with electricity in this situation. Before we begin, please ensure that you are accustomed to working with this potentially dangerous source of energy before proceeding. Prepare yourself by unplugging whatever you’re working with, reading up on electrical safety 101, and not being hesitant to seek advice online.
The following is an explanation of how LED light strips function. They are, at their heart, a string of diodes that are connected together at regular intervals by copper connectors. These copper connections are just what we’re searching for. The Philips Hue kit serves as an excellent model for what we are attempting with this DIY project.
We disconnect the lights at the copper connections and reattach them using a connector with the appropriate number of pins on either end. In most cases, this is a 4- or 5-pin connector, but you should double-check the specifications of your individual brand before proceeding.
The following is a brief overview of the in-depth guides available for your particular brand of LED strip light on the internet:
1) Determine the location of the copper connections.
2) Remove the copper connections from their sockets.
3) Remove the plastic that covers the copper connectors and allow the copper to be seen.
4) Connect the sliced parts together using a 4-pin connection. Make certain that they are connected with the correct polarity.
Some approaches need soldering, but we’ll reserve those for a more in-depth DIY tutorial – which I also discuss in a YouTube video: soldering techniques for beginners.
