Need help replacing awning LED strip

[Stark Fire]

I recently purchased a 2018 travel trailer and everything is in great shape. One of the issues is the LED strip that goes across the upper side of the camper under the awning.

The existing strip is 20 feet long, and only 4 feet of the strip was working, so I know it was receiving power. The remaining 16 feet didn’t work.

I purchased a new 20 foot LED strip. I removed the old strip and disconnected it from the wires coming out of the camper. There are five wires coming out of the camper providing power to the strip. The new strip I bought only has two wires. Is this compatible? If so, does anyone know how I should connect these wires? I can solder them no problem. Or do I need a different strip altogether with five wires instead of two?

 

[HueyPilotVN]

I am surprised that I am the first to answer this.

Most LED strips have a very simple way to hook up. The new one in your picture shows a red and black wire. The red is positive and the black is ground.

Check the wires that you have coming out of the RV. You can use a test light to identify which is the positive lead. connect the ground clip on the test light to a frame spot and touch the pointy end to the wires and when it lights up, that is the positive or hot lead.

I suspect that the red wire will be it. test the others and they will not light up if they are ground.

Simply hook up the positive to the red wire from your LEDs and the others to the black.

If you checked it you will be fine. If you get it backwards a fuse may blow.

 

[Tom_M]

It looks like there are two circuits. Check the switch for the light and see if it is multi-position. Your new light is a single circuit so most likely you can use either the green/black or the white/blue pair of wires. A multi-meter would be best for checking voltage and polarity.

 

[John From Detroit]

Is it compatable .. YES.. so why the extra wires.
There are two types (or 3 or 4) of LED strips and note this may have been the problem with the old strip.
One is solid color. end to end. ON/OFF (What you bought. Simple 2 wire hookup
Then there's RGB or RGBW This type has 3 or 4 different color leds and you can choose the color. Every additional color adds a wire SO RGBW takes 5 wires. (Hummm)

And there are "Chasing" or Marque type lights where the lights "Travel" down the strip (One of several options) each step takes another wire

And there are segmented strips For a 20' strip each 5 feet has a different power lead.

You need to figure out which lead is negative and the rest will likely be positive and figure out how you want to do the controller.

 

[Kirk]

Every additional color adds a wire SO RGBW takes 5 wires.

That is just what I was thinking. I see no other reason for 5 wires from the RV.