Main lighting with LED strips: is it useful?

Light consists of different types of luminaires: direct, indirect, and accent lighting. In every room, I have a light cove on the wall on one side of the normal ceiling outlet. In the living room combined with the dining area. It was pretty much the only solution after we had already bought the apartment in the shell condition. The only thing that still bothers me is that due to the fixed section units, the strip in the living room on the right side ends earlier than on the left. If you still have freedom of choice, use all facets but never cover everything one-sidedly only with spots.

Also plan for the loss from the diffuser in LED strips (30%) and the reflection rate of the ceiling in indirect lighting.

Has anyone ever done the main lighting in a house/apartment with LED strips? Possibly in drywall ceilings and walls?

I built a light from strips for our guest WC, it's a bit too bright and I can't easily reach the trimmers anymore. My own fault, thought too short-sighted. The strips are covered by a stretch ceiling with a photo. This way I have a ceiling-filling, evenly lit picture except for one strip (tension) (see below)

Or is that too prone to faults?

No, they are very reliable if you don't use the cheapest ones. Still, make sure they can be replaced. The adhesive bond to the substrate can be prone to faults; many strips do not hold upside down.

What must be absolutely considered in the planning?

[*]Avoid glare effect from the "bright spots" (especially important) [*]Drivers with higher voltage for longer lengths (otherwise the light gets darker toward the strip's end) [*]Amount and intensity of light [*]Distribution and accentuation [*]Light color and CRI (no RGB for main lighting) [*]If necessary, light control

The apartment consists of a bedroom, bathroom, 2 children's rooms, hallway/corridor, storage room, guest WC and a room with living area, dining area and kitchen as well as a balcony with 106 (square meters) of living space.

Overall, a semi-functioning strip solution for the entire apartment will be considerably more expensive than usual lamps or daylight panels. I generally advise against it. Better use them here and there as accents.

Coincidentally, I was just looking at LED strips today. Conclusion – regardless of the practicality: the luminance is really enormous at up to just under 5000 lm per meter. However, this also requires a well-planned electrical system with several feeds for a single strip and probably several decentralized "proper" power supplies and drivers if you don’t always want to operate at maximum brightness. Last but not least, you also have to consider that not only light but also heat is produced, which should not damage the components, so you also have to pay attention to appropriate cooling. For all these reasons, there will be only very few strips at our place.

I can't report to you firsthand, but an acquaintance uses it as the main lighting and it is great.

We will also install strips in coves in several rooms (living room, bedroom, bathroom) in our new build.

I have roughly thought about how and where I want the strips and with which other lights they will be combined in each room.

To design the power supplies, you need to determine the length and select the right lamps. There is a good dealer online who likes to conduct studies about LEDs ;-) With an existing plan (where and how something should be illuminated), they select the lamps for you free of charge and give you a recommendation for installation and power supply design.

Usually, the entire planning is available for little money if you already have rough ideas. I got an offer for this, I think it was around 2-3€ per sqm… I would definitely recommend it if you have no idea yourself how to properly dimension and stage the whole thing… as has already been said several times.

My wife doesn't like these coves. Then there are simply classic burn marks...

For the design of the power supplies, you need to determine the length and select the correct light sources. There is a good dealer on the internet here who likes to conduct studies on LEDs ;-) If planning is already done (where and how something should be illuminated), they select the light sources for you free of charge and give you a recommendation for the installation and design of the power supplies

How do I find the dealer? I would be interested in that too!