"Do I need to use a constant voltage or a constant current driver to drive my LED strips?"As a pioneer in providing reliable and high quality LED drivers, Smarts Electronics has been asked questions like this many times. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this question. There are different approaches to consider depending on the stage of the design cycle of the LED application and the structure of the LED strips in use.

Component level LEDs are better driven by a constant current source because it better controls the brightness and avoids lifespan decreasing of the LEDs in use. However there are semi-assembled LED modules, which contain several LEDs and an on-board constant current source, available on the market. This makes it possible to use the constant voltage driver in the LED application.

If you have selected the LED module to be used in your application, follow the instructions provided by module manufacturer to pick the appropriate LED driver. If not, it is important to remember that the constant current source can be either implemented on the LED module level or realized by using the constant current LED driver. You must first select an LED module in order to determine whether you need to use a constant voltage or a constant current driver.

1）Advantages of using the constant current topology:

Avoids violating the absolute Max. forward current specified for the LEDs and compromising the reliabilityAchieves more consistent brightness between different LED strips.

2）Advantages of using the constant voltage topology:

A more familiar technology for the design engineers and installation techniciansThe cost can sometimes be lower.

Anyway, If you do not know which led drivers you need to choose. Just feel free to contact us, Smarts Electronics’ sales team and engineers will give you professional and timely advise.