Can you cut LED light strips?

LED light strips are favoured for their versatility and flexibility – particularly since they can be cut to fit different areas of your home. Whether you want to add extra illumination to your kitchen work surfaces or a backlight for your TV, LED strips can be trimmed to fit your needs and space.

Where to cut an LED strip

While LED strip lights are adaptable, it’s important to cut them in the right place to make sure they continue working. LED strips are made up of multiple individual circuits. The designated cut lines mark the end of one circuit and the beginning of another. You should therefore only cut along these lines, which are usually located between copper dots.

If you cut an LED strip, will it still work?

Providing that you only cut along the marked cut lines, LED strips – including certain Hue lightstrips – will work after cutting. Many people experience issues with their light strips if they cut outside of these lines. The cut lines are also the safest place to cut LED strips, as the circuits here are closed.

Cutting and reusing Hue lightstrips

Want to reuse the cut-off piece of a LED light strip? No problem – especially with the Hue lightstrip V4, which comes with a connector to reuse cut parts with other Hue lightstrips. This means leftover pieces won’t go to waste, and you can further customise the placement of your LED strips.

How to bend an LED strip

LED lightstrips are designed to bend with ease. If you want to curve your light strip around surfaces, or the back of your TV or computer screen, there are two options to do so effectively.

Bending an LED strip directly

The simplest technique is to bend your LED strip directly, but it’s important to only bend on the designated cut lines to avoid damaging the strip light. Hue lightstrips provide clear cut lines to help you do this.

Using a connector to bend your light strip 90 degrees

If you want your strip light to go around a right-angle corner, such us along the corner of a work surface or in line with the stairs, using a corner connector is the best approach. Corner connectors are L-shaped and allow you to easily connect two pieces of LED strips. They give a better overall finish versus trying to bend strip lights around right-angle corners directly.

Hue lightstrips also have the added benefit of being smart. Philips Hue works with either Bluetooth or a Hue Bridge – whichever you choose, you’ll be able to control your LED strips no matter how you’ve placed them.

*When a bulb displays "Up to" a certain number of lumens in its specifications, it displays the maximum lumen output of the bulb. It shows how bright the bulb can get at 2700 K (White bulbs) or 4000 K (White ambiance or White and colour ambiance bulbs). Learn more about brightness