Selecting cables for LED lights

The wiring of LED lights and LED strips should be planned from the very beginning. Below, we explain how to choose the right cables for LED luminaires and LED strips. This article focuses on the wiring between the power supply or receiver and the LED lights. For system-specific wiring (such as DALI, Zigbee, etc.), please refer to the documentation of the relevant system or see this general article:  https://ledstore.pro/blog/2025/11/14/led-lighting-cabling-for-different-lighting-control-systems

Single Colour LED Lights

Single-color LED lights use a 2-pole cable: positive (+) and negative (–).

• The most common wire colors are: + red, – black.

CCT LED Lights

CCT (Correlated Color Temperature) lights contain both warm white and cool white LED elements, which are controlled separately. This requires either a 2-pole or 3-pole cable, depending on the LED light.

2-pole CCT

A 2-pole CCT light operates by rapidly switching the polarity between positive and negative 1,000 times per second, which is not visible to the human eye. This is how both color temperature and brightness are adjusted.

• Wiring: – CW (cool white), + WW (warm white)

3-pole CCT (Most Common)

A 3-pole CCT LED light works with a shared positive (+), while the cool white and warm white channels each require their own negative conductor. The lights are wired using a 3-pole cable.

• Wiring: + (shared), – CW (cool white), – WW (warm white)

RGB, RGBW ja RGB+CCT LED Lights

There are various types of RGB LED lights on the market. Some include only color channels, while others also feature a white LED channel—or even two white channels (warm and cool white). Below is an overview of the most common wiring configurations.

RGB LED Lights

In RGB LED lights, each color (red, green, and blue) requires its own conductor, along with a shared positive conductor. The lights are wired using a 4-pole cable.

• Wiring: + (shared), – R(ed), – G(reen), – B(lue)

RGBW LED Lights

RGBW LED lights include an additional white LED channel, which requires its own conductor. Therefore, a 5-pole cable is used for wiring.

• Wiring: + (shared), - R(ed), - G(reen), - B(lue), - W(hite)

RGB+CCT LED Lights

RGB+CCT RGB+CCT combines RGB color lighting and tunable white (CCT) in a single luminaire. RGB+CCT LED luminaires are wired using a 6-pole cable.

• Wiring:  + (shared), - R(ed), - G(reen), - B(lue), W(hite), - CW (cool white), - WW (warm white)