Putting up light strips in your home is one of the most fun and entertaining ways to add a pop of color to your décor. Whether you want some mood lighting after a long day of work, or soft lighting for a pathway at night, light strips are definitely the way to go.
While there are many brands to choose from, many people are on a budget and tend to gravitate towards less expensive brands, such as Govee. Now, depending on where you’ll be placing your lights, or how you’d like your lights to display, you may need just a few, or even several feet of light strips.
This then begs the question, is it possible to connect Govee light strips to each other, in order to extend them across your space?
What Are Govee Light Strips?
Govee is a brand of light strips, and much like other LED light strips, they’re designed to help you add that brilliant pop of color to your home. They come in different varieties such as traditional strip lights, as well as those with a protective plastic coating. They even come in neon lights – though these come at a slightly higher price tag.
In contrast with more popular, and expensive brands such as Philips Hue, Govee lights are often considered a more affordable option. They’re also readily available on Amazon as well as Govee’s official website.
Govee LED light strips come in a few different versions with a variety of ways to control your LED lights according to your individual needs. Some can be controlled via a remote control. This particular version doesn’t have smart home capabilities, such as being able to connect to Wifi or integrate with your smart home hub. They rely solely on the remote for operation.
For a slightly higher price tag, they also come in a smart home version that you can use with smart home hubs. A majority of their strip lights use the Govee app in order to control them, and some even have Bluetooth capabilities:
Govee’s LED strip lights also come in a variety of lengths, making it easier for you to fit them into whatever space you want them in. They come in lengths ranging from 9.84 feet, up to 32.8 feet.
Even with the varying lengths available to choose from, what happens if you have an awkward space that requires a little more than what the light strips have to offer? And perhaps slightly less than if you put two together – what do you do then? Can your light strips be extended or connected in any way?
Can Govee Light Strips Be Extended?
So now that you’re looking into Govee lights, can they be extended, as in, connected to each other without you needing to be a certified electrician?
The good news is yes, they can be extended, but it depends on which Govee LED light strips you’re trying to extend.
Govee’s more ‘classic’ RGB LED strip lights, the ones that are controlled via remote control, but not the Govee app, for example, have gold perforations on the strips where you can safely cut them. From there, you can attach them to another light strip via a pin, or quick connector kit.
They’re sold separately, but there are many affordable pin and quick connector kits readily available on Amazon.
It’s important to note that whatever section of strip lights you cut, must be connected to a portion that contains the power source in order for it to work. If that section is not properly connected to a power source either directly, or via an adjoining light strip, it will not work.
Things are much different, however, when it comes to Govee’s RGBIC lights. These are outfitted with IC chips, which allows them to be used with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and be connected to your smart home hubs. Connecting them like Govee’s RGB lights isn’t possible. In fact, you cannot cut or extend them as it will damage the IC chips and render the light strips inoperable.
While extending Govee LED light strips is a possibility in some cases, the problem of voltage distribution may become an issue. So how can you safely extend your light strips without causing power issues?
Series Extension vs. Parallel Extension
When you’re connecting strip lights to each other, in order to avoid power issues, there are a couple of different options to consider. Both have their pros and cons. But if done correctly, they can save you a lot of hassle in the long run. Two options you have are Series extension and Parallel extension.
Series Extension
Series extension is when you connect all of your light strips in one long series, with the power source at the end of the connected strips. The pro to this method is that it’s more streamlined which leads it to being the option most strip light users go for.
Unfortunately, the con is that if you have too many strips connected to just one power source, the voltage may drop, and the brightness of your lights will most likely suffer.
Series extensions are often less complicated, but great care must be taken to make sure that no electrical problems occur. The power source/box assigned to light strips is typically designed to handle a certain amount of voltage. With more lights attached than originally intended, power issues can occur. The more strips attached to one power source, the more likely the power issues.
Parallel Extension
In contrast, parallel extension is when the power source is between two strips you’ve connected, as opposed to at the end. The pro to this is more even power distribution. The con; if one of the power strips malfunctions or happens to go out, the voltage increases for the other, and may burn out the strip.
Some users want to use more than one light strip on an outlet, but even Govee themselves strongly warns against this. This can cause serious power problems such as electrical shorts, and your lights may stop working altogether.
Other Options For Extending Govee Light Strips
Another option for connecting your Govee RBG LED strip lights, is soldering. This would be used in place of pin or quick connectors and essentially does the same thing. It connects the circuits so that power will be able to flow uninterrupted. However, soldering requires a bit more technical expertise as you will have to use a soldering iron, and make sure that the terminals needed are exposed and free of any plastic coatings that may bar a proper connection.
Once you’ve connected all the light strips you’d like to, and you’ve made sure they’re all in one circuit with the power source, your lights will work.
If you don’t want to go through the more technical steps of extending your Govee lights, you can always opt for a set of strip lights that are closest to the length that you need. Measure the space you need the lights in, then select a length of LED light strips that suit your needs.
If you fall short, you can first try to arrange them in a manner that covers the space with evenly sized gaps on the sides. Instead of looking like you ran short, this can make it look like you’re going for a particular style.
Another option you can explore is getting a second set. If it’s too long, and a version that you can’t cut and extend, you can run one set down – or up the wall, depending on your placement, for a different effect. You can even double up, and make one section wrap around so that there are double lights. LED strip lights are so versatile that the options are endless.
Most users comment that because of Govee’s affordability, going through extra steps in order to connect them to each other via cutting and quick connectors, really isn’t merited. It’s often a lot more hassle than necessary to go through.
Other Low Cost Light Strips That Can Be Extended
Truth be told, many brands of strip lights operate similar to Govee lights. This means that extending them by means of cutting and putting them together with another strip of lights, is not always possible.
If you’re opting for smart LED strip lights, for example, aside from the more expensive lightstrips such as Philips Hue that has its own extension kit, you’ll find most smart LED light strips cannot be cut or extended.
There are some non-smart budget brands, however, that do offer the option to extend the lights. One such is Tenmiro’s LED Strip Lights. Retailing at about $25 for 65 feet, they’re a bargain and can be extended – though with 65 feet of lights, it may not be necessary!
Another brand is LE, also readily available on Amazon. For about $14 they offer 16 feet of strip lights that can be cut and extended.
In general, many argue that low-cost LED light strips aren’t worth extending, as you can easily just purchase either longer strips, or run two adjacent to each other to create the same or similar effect.
Light Up Your Night
Govee’s light strips are a great addition to your home, whether you use the smart version or opt for the remote control edition. Their affordability, as well as versatility, make them a great alternative to some of the more expensive brands on the market today.
When it comes to extending them, fortunately, you have a few options in that department as well. There’s no need to go through extensive DIY steps, you can simply either choose the best length for your needs or attach the light strips to each other. Whatever you choose, you’re sure to enjoy how they light up your night.
