RGBW LED Strip Calculator
RGBW strips add a fourth, dedicated white diode alongside the red, green and blue. That matters wherever the light has a job to do: mixing white from RGB gives a tinted, low-CRI light that is fine for mood and poor for a worktop. Under cabinets, along stairs or down a hallway, the dedicated white is the reason to choose these.
Because they are still individually addressable you keep zones and effects, but the extra diode means more current per metre than plain RGB at the same density. Enter your run length below to see what that means for your power supply and injection points.
When to use Task-oriented accent lighting (Digital RGBW)
Primary use: Task-oriented accent lighting where individual control of LEDs is needed and pure white light is desirable.
RGBW adds a dedicated white LED (W), which provides better-quality white light for functional purposes, such as under-cabinet lighting or stair lighting. Digital control allows creating zones or patterns for more customized and visually interesting effects.
- Under-cabinet lighting (kitchen workspaces, bars)
- Staircase lighting (dynamic effects or zones)
- Pathway lighting with individual LED control
How the calculator works
- Select the purpose of the lightstrip. Choose whether you are lighting for ambience, for task and accent work, or as the primary light source for a room. The purpose determines whether you want digital RGB, digital RGBW or analog strips, and the calculator only offers strips suited to it.
- Enter the available length. Enter the length of the run you need, in metres or feet. The calculator works out how that maps onto the strip's cut zones, since a strip can only be cut at fixed intervals and the usable length is rounded down to the nearest cut point.
- Read the results and bill of materials. Each matching strip expands to show its power draw in watts and amps, the number of power injection points needed, and a full bill of materials: controller, power supply, wire gauge, aluminium diffuser and tools.