🚨 UPDATED DAILY! BEST DEALS on AMAZON: bit.ly/48FGnUv ☑Check out my sponsor to begin your FREE 14 day trial to Aura: aura.com/chrismaher Good quality solder makes ALL the difference. The one that was recommended to me and what I use in this video is widely considered to be the best on the market. It has a flux core which has eliminated the need for me to add flux separately. All solder is not created equally and your experience soldering will more than likely be very different than what is shown in this video if you are using something else. The other thing to mention that I forgot to cover in the video is that a clean tip is very important so make sure to clean often. (links below) Best Solder: amzn.to/3r6smMA Tip Cleaner: amzn.to/4bNcFiU Wire Stripper: amzn.to/3x9RGF0 Soldering Iron: amzn.to/3BKMlWv OR amzn.to/3jxx1mB Solder Smoker Absorber: amzn.to/3Kx6K4T OR amzn.to/3rbHCYp Helping Hands: amzn.to/3v19YG3 Colored Silicone Wires: amzn.to/3Keoel3 Black and Red Silicone Wires: amzn.to/3DTFARN Heat Shrink Tubing: amzn.to/3733zSH ESP8266 Board: amzn.to/3DMYFVT ESP32 Board: amzn.to/3jkvdwM LED Lights: amzn.to/37t5OP6 LED Lights AliExpress: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DnBQWTD Spotless Regular LED Diffuser Channel 1m Amazon: amzn.to/47aIujz Spotless Regular LED Diffuser Channel 2m Amazon: amzn.to/3QoHeDb Spotless Corner Diffuser 1m Amazon: amzn.to/3DFhRpf Spotless Corner Diffuser 2m Amazon: amzn.to/3Krqw2q LED Tutorials: Installing WLED on esp32: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/m95xit1-y9PbgWw.html Installing WLED on esp8266: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/op5_gMxouLPUoac.html Link to some of my full DIY LED how-to project videos: LED Board and Batten Accent Wall: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mJdjia-asJ2lf4k.html LED Music Visualizer: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gZp1ra96lsyqnoU.html LED Baseboard Trim: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/f9Foe9F43cy1oWQ.html RGB Lamp Hack: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/i7SAhcJqnd6wgY0.html Corner LED Light using Pex pipes: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qK-Sh92GqZipZJ8.html DIY Govee Glide using only paper: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pJ98psyCpriqkac.html Simple Corner LED Project: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kKhle9SIzbO8fqM.html DIY Customizable Light Up Images: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aNePrdV2yMi8eHk.html LED Strip Diffuser Ideas: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Zp9dmcyIz7aYYo0.html DIY Hexagon Project: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qp-oetxzmcfMqY0.html DIY Edge Lit Designs: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ZsWEp6ucp6iXpnU.html DIY Black Acrylic Floating Shelves: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bMmjhrClu8XToGQ.html Unboxing Videos: Best Diffuser Channels (same ones used in this video): kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Z7l7osJ5ybG6iXU.html Lytmi Neo 2.0: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qdqYYKiVqsy3mac.html Govee Lyra Floor Lamp: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hKx0jN1knMDTiIk.html Govee Glide Hexa Panels: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/i6qJiNmXyMuYpIE.html Govee Glide Light Bars: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/m5mafdyWksy9n4E.html The best way to help support my channel is to like, comment, make sure your subscribed and share my videos with as many people as you can. The other way is to use my links above as I get a small % at no extra cost to you if you buy something. Thank you all for the support!

I don't know how many LED soldering videos I've watched, where the person either has the camera across the room, or has their hands over the piece while they're working on it. This is exactly what I wanted to see. Thank you.

Hands down the chillest, easiest and most understandable tutorial I've seen so far on soldering. I learned something about myself while watching and the soldering right after. Thanks you so very much for this Chris!

Great vid and i have now successfully soldered my first LED strip thanks to this. I made the mistake of using a fine pointed tip on my iron but then swapped it over to a flat head like you use and it worked perfectly. I am in the UK so your suggested product links I had to reverse into a UK equivalent. Maybe you can update your affiliate links to make a bit of cash from us UK viewers that want to follow your steps. Happy to share the products I purchased from Amazon UK. Massive thanks again for the great vid!

Adding the part about the protective coating at the end really completes the video! I just bought some that has it without realizing. Glad to know it's so simple to remove.

Awesome! I've been doing simple led strips on my custom cabinet projects and have always wanted to branch out into something like this! Your videos are great and invaluable for anyone who might want to play with this, thanks..:)

Omg, this video has made me feel so much more confident in doing some soldering with my current project. Thank you so much.

Chris, this was outstanding. Thank you simplifying what all the other soldering videos I’ve watched have made into a convoluted nightmare.

Chris I legit used to solder circuits boards for a living. In my expert opinion, this is a great tutorial!

Just finished connecting two strips for my gaming room/office. Very tense because it was basically my first time doing this. But cannot thank you enough for all the tutorials.

This KZfaqr is great at explaining the topic of "how to solder", I would like to see more on the history and what made it (i.e. soldering) so popular & who came up with this idea 💡 I never understood how soldering worked, but this video made me understand things a little more clearly regarding the technique of soldering and why soldering is used, after watching this great video... Plus, the announcer had a very clear and smooth narration voice! The background music also had a nice, relaxing & good vibe to it!

I got it first try after watching this. Thanks breh

I want to get started with WLED but soldering is still a foreign thing to me. I'm saving this tutorial for later because it's simple, thorough, well-illustrated and well-explained. Thank you so much!

duuuuude this might be exactly what i’ve been looking for including the other light boxes and stuff. love it

Excellent video. Thanks for posting.

Hands down the best of those tutorials on here. No fluff trash nonsense.

Thank you, this really helped me out 🎉

By far the best wire soldering video this is so helpful well worth a follow for this

Thanks to this tutorial i overcame a frustration soldering LED strips and it enabled me to mass produce a little DIY Simracing gadget.

Excellent how to video. I love how detailed, thorough and concise your explanations were. It always helps to go step by step instead of jumping to the finished product. It's very helpful to someone like me who likes to follow steps in a certain progression in order to make things work. I also enjoyed the close up. I am a visual person so the close ups definitely helped. I will certainly be subscribing to your other videos. Great job and thanks for creating!

New to this and was very frustrated trying to solder my LED strips..... watched your tutorial and nailed it the very next try. thanks a ton :)

Chill. Short helpful. Perfect

Thanks to your tutorial, I improved my soldering skills. Good job!

Thank you for this. I need to learn to create some new art and this has me feeling better about trying to solder it all myself

You are really getting good at making these videos. Thank you!!

Best tutorial I’ve seen yet, always looking for good videos to send to folks when they ask for help and Tin outta Tin on this video😉 You definitely LED us through the processes.

Such a good video, now I can do the led projects I want to do and tailor it to what I need instead of whatever length and brand the straps come with. Thank you so much man, easily earned sub

Omg Thank you. I have been struggling to solder for such a long time. Thank you again.

Excellent, simple, well explained video.

Clean explanation and straight to the point, excellent video!

Great video thank you

Amazing tutorial! Been a long time since I've soldered anything so this was a great technique video. I was using those little plastic clamps for connecting my strips and they kept causing flickering down the line and when I squeeze the clip I can see it stop and the strips even get brighter so I am hoping this will be the fix!

❤❤❤ Great and easy tutorial. thanks. ❤❤❤

You're the best man..." You can do it" ... This line sure motivated me.. I successfully connected led strips thanks man 🥰🥰

thank you so very much!! you have a calming voice as well.

Thanks for this great tutorial. I'm hoping to try soldering soon when I have some more time for some project ideas.

Thanks Chris! Another great video!

Very informative video. Thank you Chris.

Explained perfectly .. Show us more!

OMG - this project is going to be so much easier and neater now - Thanks Chris. 🍎

Man your videos are so awesome thanks so much

close-up of this is a amazing! Thank you

Thank you so Much for a detailed video. I tried and it worked So happy Thanks ❤️

Thank you! Great help

You make it look so easy! Great video!

BEST TUTORTIAL EVAAAAHHRRR !

Thank you. Great tutorial.

Great mate! Really helpful

Chris, I'm wanting to create a wildfire scene at night. Unlike a campfires, the colors are mostly orangy-red and flickering slightly. I have photos of what I'm trying to accomplish. Thanks for sharing your work on the channel!

Masterpiece! ❤

Thanks, this gave me the courage to try myself

I thought I knew how to solder, but this video showed me so many new tricks. Thank you! Do you have any experience with or examples of scratching through the backing, and soldering wires to the strips from behind? I'm trying to press mine flush against a surface and it'd be way easier if i could pre-place everything then solder it all together 😅

Thank you, for the helpful video.

Amazing tutorial. Thank you.

I'd love a video about what to do when something goes wrong - common problems / solutions - for example, on small LED strips, what to do when the copper pads burn off.

THANK YOU!!! SENSEI 🙇🙇‍♂🙇‍♀ ... 😂YOU ROCK BUDDY!

THANKS!!!!!!

Chris, awesome video on how to solder wires together. I’ve always been afraid of trying soldering but with this tutorial I’m buying all the supplies and giving it a try. Thanks again.

Congrats, I came here to learn how to solder, and now I want to make a LED strip project. I am not even mad. lol

Bloody awesome video - I need to repair some LED strip indicators on my motorbike and have struggled with plastic strip melting etc., ... - this makes it all so bloody stupidly obvious! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Thanks so much for posting this - you've no idea how helpful this is 😁😁😁😁😁😁

Thanks for these tips :)

A great video thank you for sharing, it has been very helpful

Looks fun

Thank you for a great video. I never solder before and know I feel comfortable doing it after watching your awesome tutorial.....Thanks for the links to the products you use.

I just tried soldering for the first time and sucked horribly at it. But now after re-watching your video, I feel like I will be a bit better next time. I knew the trick about tinning both the gun and wire, but I missed the part of holding the gun under the wire until it was heated up enough to take the solder from the top. I also did not try the push in method from the edge of the strip. Hopefully now, I'll get it work and not want to rip my own hair out.

Good stuff

This needs to be the first result on KZfaq. Period. Such a good tutorial. Thank you for this 🙏

Any possibility you could make a video on how to install LEDs in a work van with a dimmer? How to tap into battery for power, what are the best materials to use, style options, etc. There is little to no videos out there at your quality. Im sure it’d be a hit with all the trades men out there using ford transit vans or even work trailers. Your channel is incredible man! Thankyou

Thanks again for great video! (y)

Sadly I can't go practice what I just learned. I'm terrible at soldering but feel like I learned enough to get better fast after watching this great tutorial. I am curious about what you use for diffuser on your larger projects like the lights on either side for the TV? 6:47 I know of the aluminum strips with diffuser for smaller stuff like the light under the TV at the same time stamp.

You are my favorite channel this year! awesome videos. One quick tip that I see you completely ignored: Use flux! that will change your soldering life.

This is great! Thank you very much. Do you know how to combine LED strips and DMX? I’ve found ways to make all of them the same color/intensity, but I’d love to hear if you have ideas on how to work with individually addressable strips. This is for a church stage design. Thanks man!

Thank you bro really helpful

Awesome video. Can you be more specific on how you hid the wires along your wall?

Great tutorial. I usually skip any tutorial where the author has been pretentious enough to put “THE BEST” in the title. You don’t make that determination, the audience does. I would have used DuPont connectors for the end board myself. Thanks for the great info.

This is great no expansive tools no bs branded shit just whats neccessary to get started

Brilliant video, thank you. Question: I'm using separate flux and solder, it is easier using a combined product?

Great tutorial clearer than egg whites! Appreciate you dude! Do you have the Links to all the items needed on your description? Links to the soldering machine and wire etc would be dope!

Love your videos! Question, is there any enclosure you'd recommend to protect the ESP32 board?

Great tutorial! I'm really liking that cupped tip on the iron you're using. I've done a fair amount of soldering to PCB's, but today's search resulted from me needing to solder RGB LED Light strips together. 6:25 My situation is compounded by me lights being covered by a layer of silicone, that I'll have to practice separating and cleaning for solder. SLFS = Subbed, Liked, Favorited, and Shared!👍

God bless you, Chris! Love you bro! (No homo)

I have a few questions. 1) Instead of using a 5 volt adapter, is it okay if we connect the mobile phone adapter from the mini usb input of the ESP 32 and give it voltage? 2) When we use a telephone adapter, is there a need to apply voltage to other points of the module? 3) How many pins of ESP32 did you connect the green wire to?

I just got a soldering iron thanks for the tutorial btw I'm 10

Best tutorial I’ve seen, made it a lot easier than most people make it sound & I’m more than likely gonna try to order a solder kit and try my own take on things. Also love all the videos on the diffusers some really cool stuff

Alright I got all the things - most of it from the links in this video - I have the same Kester solder and soldering iron. I am excited to add this to my minimal skillset. Any guidance on temp settings for the iron?

The two soldering irons you put in the description ,are good and same quality? Im ready to order the tools. Also what are the differences in ESP32 30P and ESP32 38P? Also what is AWG in the silicon wires?(which AWG do i pick?) Just gotta look for the right leds now and help with the questions .

Another great video, I’m definitely subscribed now! I had a quick question for you when you have a minute, I started a car audio and electronics channel a few months back when my wife and I closed our mobile audio/video shop after about 10 years in business, so I’m fairly familiar with electronics, soldering etc. but I was wondering if the ESP 32 module comes with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi or just Wi-Fi, I am looking to use it in my vehicle after plugging it into the computer etc. because of the better options that WLED offers compared to the chintzy modules out there. I did notice that it mentions that it is Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capable I believe but I can’t find anywhere that says whether or not it is built-in I don’t mind adding a module to it I just want to make sure I order everything that I need! Anyways hit me back when you get a second thanks again man, And keep up the great work!

I’m looking to add lighting to a small wall mounted display cabinet and I want to use Govee strips because they’ve worked great for me elsewhere but they don’t make strips in the 15-18 inch range I need. I want full customizability so each row is a different color. But I can’t find that from Govee. I’m open to all suggestions! But I want something that’s gonna last and work great.

great video and easy to follow, just having trouble myself when going to attach the wires to the already tinned led strip, the copper pads come off from the led strip with the wire ATTACHED, not sure if im leaving my iron on too long. Can i still solder the wire onto the strip with no top copper pad, having trouble having my solder stick to the strip with no pad, would flux help me with this problem thanks any help

Great tutorial Chris, when I first got into LEDs I pulled apart an old broken VCR and practiced soldering on that till I was ok... Ish! That last video using the SK6812'S was great and I'm definitely going to use them instead of my old rgbww analogue strips I've just binned, but for the areas where I don't need a warm white I've been looking at the new SK9822 strips, apparently they don't suffer so much voltage dropping problems but they also have clock as well as data, do you know if having that clock connection means I'll have more control over the speeds? Or is it something else?. Appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks, and superb. Are you using flux?

Hey Chris, I really like your videos and the tips you give are very helpful. Recently I came across an idea of installing the LED strip behind my desk and take the same strip to attach behind the monitor. Searched for a lot of solutions, got one as to use a T connector but that is impossible to get here in India. So can we solider extra wires in middle of the strip and connect the led strip. Will it work, so is there a different solution for it. It will be great if you help me find a solution for it.

excellent tutorial!! I am the worlds worst solderer lol.. Lots of useful techniques

Great Video ! If i make three of these can i connect them all to the same power supply?

Hi Chris great upload, I have a problem when trying to solder. When i try the solder just makes little balls and never stick, Any ideas what i`m doing wrong? Thanks

I purchased the giver outdoor leds. It’s the two reels 16 each. It’s split so that the power cord is in the center instead of the beer end. Can one simply wire it up like that?

Hey Chris, do you ever have issues with connecting to WIFI on these boards? I have 2 esp32 boards in separate rooms and it seems like I can only get one at a time to connect in the WLED app. I have to go into the WiFi the board is sending out to control the other. I’ve tried a WiFi extender and wiping the board and reinstalling WLED and I’m still having issues.

What cable cross section did you use to connect led strips? Is 0.25qmm good?

@Chris Maher, In this video you noted that on the ESP32 Board you connect the data wire to D2, and in the WLED APP, in LED setup you enter 2 to enable the data pin if I recall correctly, and in the sound reactive build, your wiring the D35 pin. in WLED sound setup, you enter 35. Now there are other D? pins on the ESP32 module you've been recommending in most of your videos, can you use those for added LED segments in WLED as long as they are properly powered? If you can, how many other D Pins for LED Segments can used with a single ESP32 chip and how many LED segments can be managed with WLED on one chip.. If you've done any testing or are familiar with "D" pins that would work for this, might be worth a video and some feedback here would be great. Thanks

Great videos Chris, I'm not sure which pin to use for data on my ESP32 board, mine doesn't have a D2 or D4 printed on the board? The pin on my board says G15? Any ideas thanks