Today we will focus on checking if it is economically profitable to put a strip of LED lights or if they really consume more than we think.
How much does an LED strip cost?
The cost of LED lights, as you have heard many times, is low, but there are many factors that influence their price, so it may not be so cheap if we have several in our house, but well, the issue is whether it really compensates or No.
We can find many types, from 60 leds per meter of strip to 120 or even more. In addition, it will depend on the degree of lumens that each one has as well as its total size and power that we give it.
The first thing we will have to do is search the box or the internet for the model and consumption of our device. Although if you don’t find it or you don’t know which ones you bought, nothing happens, knowing the distance in meters and the number of leds of each one that we can calculate by eye will be a very real approximation.
We will carry out a simulation with an average cost (almost all the LED strips that are sold have similar values).
An LED strip of 5 meters and 60 Leds per meter will have a consumption of approximately 5W/m. Therefore, its total consumption will be 25W/h (5 meters x 5W). With this data, we will only have to see how much we pay for each KW of electricity and get the total.
Assuming a cost of €0.17/KW, having a strip of 5 meters would mean an expense of €0.00425 per hour, that is, rounding up we would spend about half a cent. This would vary quite a bit depending on the intensity of the light itself. It is not the same to have them at 100% than to put them at 25% at night in ambient mode. Its consumption would be greatly reduced.
You also have to take into account the number of LEDs per meter, if instead of 60 you have 120 your cost is multiplied by two.
Therefore, we can now calculate how much it would cost us to have them for 24 hours in a row for a whole month. We multiply the €0.00425 per hour x 24 hours x 30 days and the result is €3.06 per month.
A fairly normal expense in my opinion. Now it depends on whether we only have 5 meters or surround a room with 15, as well as the intensity and the daily hours.
In my case, I have 8 meters of wall that I use as a night light while I watch TV, as well as 2 meters surrounding an aquarium which is at 10% for 24 hours. an expense like this would not mean 30 cents per month.
If you are interested in knowing which model I have, I will leave it here.
In summary, this type of lighting is very economical and we should not worry about whether we have them on all day or not, its consumption is so small that it can be used to replace other types of lights in our home and thus save on our bill, in addition of how beautiful it can be and of the customization and automation options that they offer us.
