This week we examine one of our very favorite accessories: the oh-so-convenient, and uniquely patented Solderless Tiger Paw Connectors! Depending upon your experience with LEDs, you may or may not have heard of these handy little lifesavers. But over the past few years, these simple connectors have helped to bring LED technology into the hands of the average consumer, allowing anyone from electricians to DIYers to quickly and easily make connections to any single color LED flex strips.
The Tiger Paw Connector
Back in 2014, the engineering team at Inspired LED received their first patent for the Tiger paw connector, designed to provide an extremely secure, and completely solderless connection to flexible LED strips. Yes, your read that correctly, I did say SOLDER-LESS. By eliminating the tricky, and often restrictive step of using a soldering iron, these connectors allow you to create a custom length flexible strip in just minutes. This makes Tiger Paw connectors the perfect solution for just about any DIY LED lighting project, as well as for contractors or electricians working in the field.
Inspired LED’s solderless Tiger Paw connectors are available in a variety of sizes and shapes to meet a variety of different needs. Let’s explore a few of these different connectors to discover what it is that makes them so unique, and which varieties are best suited to which applications!
Connector Options
- Tiger Paw 3.5mm End Connector: This basic Tiger Paw connector has one female end jack, similar to the ones which come pre-soldered onto the ends of our custom flexible LED strips. This particular female jack accommodates Inspired LED’s standard interconnect cables and plug-in power supplies with 3.5mm x 1.3mm plugs. To install, simply match the polarity on the flexible strip to the markings on the Tiger Paw, peel back adhesive on strip, slide slide the connector into place, close latch, and plug in your cable or power supply!
- Green Tiger Paw Screw Terminal Connector: Unlike the basic plug-in Tiger Paw, the Green Screw Terminal Tiger Paw allows direct wire connections to be made to LED flex. By utilizing the “screw terminal” feature, you are no longer limited to using Inspired LED’s interconnect cables, instead you can run any 16-22AWG wire to and from your light strips. For this Tiger Paw, instead of matching the polarity of the connector to the polarity of the flex, you simply need to strip the ends of your wire, open the screw terminals, and ensure you are matching polarity of the incoming wiring to the polarity of the flexible strip. Then, it’s just a matter of tightening screws and making the next connection!
- Micro-Lock Tiger Paw Connector: The Micro-Lock Tiger Paw is similar to the Green Screw Terminal Connector in that it provides a direct wire connection to LED flex strips. The difference between the two comes down to the way in which the wire connects to the Tiger Paw. The wires will still need to be stripped back, and polarities matched to the flexible strip, but unlike the Green Screw Terminal, no screwdrivers are needed for the Micro-Lock. The wires simply need to be pushed into the connector. The small size of the Micro-Lock Tiger Paw is perfect for applications requiring a low profile.
- Blue Mid-Connector Tiger Paw Screw Terminal: The Mid-Connector allows flexible LED strip lights to be connected on both sides. This means that power can be provided from the middle of an LED system, extending the length of light which can be run before experiencing voltage drop. This connector, similar to the Screw Terminal Tiger Paw, will require you to match polarity of the flex strips themselves to the polarity of the incoming wiring.
Each of Inspired LED’s patented Tiger Paw connectors are available for purchase on Inspired LED’s contractor page, as well as over the phone. To learn more about these connectors, or to place an order, contact us at orders@inspiredled.com, or call us at 480-941-4286.
