Making Sense of Loox5 LED Power Drivers

We have created two web pages for the current Hafele Loox5 LED power drivers and related distributor choices. 12V Drivers and Distributors | 24V Drivers and Distributors

And a Loox5 LED Power Drivers Q&A page.

On those 3 pages, we offer a lot of helpful info, and many pictures to assist with our technical explanations.

This page will be about the Hafele diagram below, and how to make sense of the Spaghetti.

Here is the key to the above numbers in the diagram:

1. Power Cord for LED Driver

2. Extension Lead for "Lead for Modular Switch"

3. Lead for Modular Switch

4. Extension Lead

5. 4-port Daisy Extension Lead (4 port terminal block extender)

6. Lead for LED Strip Light (many choices depending upon which LED strip used)

7. Corner Connector for LED Strip Light

8. Interconnecting Lead for LED Strip Light

9. Clip Connector for LED Strip Light

10. Lead for Modular Lights (detached lead wire)

11. Light with Permanent Lead (thus, pre-attached lead wire)

12. Adapter (old to new, or new to old for the lights)

13. 6-way Distributors

Your hookup will NEVER look this crazy. This is just to show how lights and cables connect to the drivers and distributors, and it is attempting to cover most possibilities. We will explain each now. And any links below will lead to pages with these items on them.

Each LED Power Driver 12v or 24v, will automatically come with a detached power cord. Because the drivers can be used in many different countries, there are various power cords to choose from. Since we are in the US, we receive the power cords designed to plug into US and Canadian outlets. The other end of the cord pushes into the input socket on the LED driver. And you connect power last in your installation. Hook up all lights and accessories first, plug in the power cord last.

Not used very often. The Leads for Modular Switches come in basically 20", 39", and 79". If you need a little more reach from that switch back to the LED driver, you would use this lead for switch which is 78-3/4" long. Gives you another 6-1/2 feet of reach.

This wire has two distinct ends. One end looks like a little Apple Iphone jack and that connects into the back of a dimmer switch, motion switch, or just an on/off switch. The other end is square with four pin connectors that will attach to the side port of the "switch capable" distributors. These modular lead wires come in 3 lengths. Only used if you are planning on adding switching or dimming control for your lights. And by switching control, that is control from the driver+distributor combination. Not referring to just a wall switch. If you plan is to plug the LED driver into a wall outlet that is controlled by an on/off wall switch, and no dimming is required, you will not have need of using these lead wires.

The extension lead shown between the two distributors is the short lead, 7-7/8" long. The Loox5 extension leads come in 7 different sizes. We are showing 4 on our website: 7-7/8", 19-11/16", 39-3/8", and the 78-3/4". The three longer sizes cover most needs for extending a light farther away from the distributor. The short one is nice for connecting a distributor to a driver, or connecting a second or third distributor to a larger capacity driver. Gives you a little flexibility to round corners or to angle the distributor differently instead of straight off the end of the driver. This photo shows one 6-port distributor butted right to the driver, and a second after the first with the extension lead wire between them. Note: in this diagram, the LED power driver was not given mention. It is the big black box right after the power cord.

This is a combination 4-port terminal block extender, but not in block form. It is a bunch of extension leads melded together. Thus if you needed to extend the number of available light ports above the default of 6 in the distributor, AND you need a lot of reach in your downline of lights, the 4-way extension lead makes sense.

There will be numerous choices for 8mm and 10mm wide strip lighting. We do plan to add more Hafele Loox LED lighting to our website. When we do, we will outline which Strip Light Leads are used with each strip light.

Allows you to patch another piece of strip lighting via a 90 degree turn. Will add to our site when we make some strip lighting choices to offer.

Basically a cable connector for Strip Lighting to extend the reach between pieces, to go up and down across unlevel surfaces, and even to pass through light rails under cabinets.

Pretty much the same as #7 but straight. Say you are using several coils of Strip Lighting and you need to patch another piece in a straight line to the end of your current piece. This connector does that. Again, there will be multiple choices depending upon which strip lighting you choose. Coming soon to our website.

There are some lights that do NOT come with a pre-attached lead wire. Some do, some do not. For those that do not, you select a lead wire to attach one end to the light, and the other to a distributor port.

This is what we mean by pre-attached lead wire. The light already has a wire attached to the inside of it, then the end of the wire has a coupler that snaps into a port on the distributor. Lights such as the 2094-3094, Loox 2047, and 2090-3090 have pre-attached lead wires. No need to purchase a wire separately as mentioned for item #10.

The adapters will become more important as the years go by. The 12v adapters are shown on the 12v Power Drivers and Distributors page. And the 24v adapters on the 24v page. There are two types: Loox5 to Loox ports, and Loox to Loox5 ports. The connectors on Loox5 version lights were updated from their Loox4 counterparts. So when connecting older lights such as the Loox 2020, Loox 2047, or Loox 3038, you would need an adapter to connect it to a Loox5 distributor with the Loox5 ports. There currently are distributors that have the Loox4 ports. So for now, using the Loox4 distributor with a power driver will allow you to connect your older lights. This is some of what we are currently selling now (May 2022). Or another example, say you have a few older Loox LED lights and an older driver and one light klonks out and you want to replace it. Only choice is a Loox5 light now. Well, you can use one adapter that goes from Old to New, and thus connect a new Loox5 light to an old LED power driver. So the adapters allow old to new, or new to old when using new or old LED drivers. We are available for questions.

There are currently 3 choices each for 12v and 24v systems. The first comes without the capability of a switching port, thus priced just a tiny bit less, and used when you have absolutely no plans for dimming or using any of the Hafele Loox switches. Then there is one with the switching port, shown in the diagram above with the ability of connecting a switch into it on the opposite side of those 6 green light ports. The third choice is a switch enabled distributor with the older light ports on it. The in port on the distributor end is Loox5 and connects to the LED power driver, either directly or spaced away with an extension lead. And the out port on the opposite end of the distributor is Loox5 too, allows you to connect a second distributor to the first. But the six side ports for the lights to connect into are the old Loox3 and Loox4 connections. That distributor allows you to use older lights with a new version driver+distributor. We show more info and pictures on each LED power driver page for 12v and 24v.

Not shown in above diagram: the 6-port pigtail terminal block extender. Technically, it is a 6-port distributor, but can be used as just a terminal block extender for Loox5 connections.

That explains the diagrams. But what do you need to make your lights work?

Best to select the lights you would like to use first. Take note of the total wattage or how you intend to break up the wattage. Such as I need 5 spotlights under my cabinets. That is easy, add up the wattage, if under 20, use the 20-watt driver. If between 20-40, then use the 40 watt driver. Then you need just one 6-way distributor, it has 6 ports, you need only 5.

But, next kitchen, similar layout, but you need 8 lights. All to be controlled together. All to be dimmed together. You chose the 3.4 watt light. 8 x 3.4 is 27.2 watts. You need the 40 watt driver. But one 6-way distributor is not enough for 8 lights. So you would want to get one 6-port terminal block extender. That will connect into one port on the distributor converting one port into 6 ports. You have a net gain of 5 ports now making 11 total ports to use. It is okay to leave some of them open, that does not hurt anything. By doing it this way, when you hook up a switch to that distributor, it controlls every light leading out of that distributor.

Now, same kitchen, but you have a range hood in the way and cannot cross your wires from one side to another. The electrician hooked up an outlet on each side to be controlled together by one switch, but you cannot run extension wires across the kitchen, the hood will not allow it. So you have 3 lights on one side and 5 on the other. Best to use two of the 20 watt drivers and two 6-way distributors. But what about the dimming? Dimming is controlled from the side port on a distributor. You most likely will need to set up an individual dimmer on each distributor. The dimmers do retain a memory. So if you want to use your master switch to turn all 8 lights on and off, they will turn back on to the last set dimming level.

Note: If choosing to use a wall dimmer switch to control the dimming of your lights, it must be a low voltage dimmer AND it is not controlling the dimming via the wall outlets. It still needs to be tied in to the side ports on the distributor. The only way around this is to use the E-Series Dimmable LED Drivers. Then the 120volt wall dimmer switch can be used with those. These drivers are more complex and a licensed electrician is advised to install them. Much more info on them on that web page.

When you decide upon your lights, how many are controlled here, how many are controlled over there if you have multiple zones, then you add in the correct size driver(s) and the distributors. Extension cables can be figured in if you need more reach for a few lights farther down your line. 6-port terminal block extenders are used when needed. Hafele has a nice array of switches to use in the switching ports on the distributors. All items come separately so you request only what you require. We can help you. Quite often it is complicated. Range hoods, windows, and kitchens on two walls with walkways between them add complexity to your layout. If drywall and cabinets are already in place, you have some planning on how you hide your wires. There are a lot of considerations that come up. You are not solely dependent upon yourself to figure it out, we can help. Using LED lights in furniture you are building or in a bathroom is the same. Setting up lights in a workplace kitchen or product display is similar too. Just the size of the job changes.

The Hafele Loox 12v LED lights can work from the 12Vdc directly on your boat. You do not need LED power drivers. Those are to bring 120 volt down to 12 volt. European boat owners with 24Vdc, same is true of the 24v lights. Just wire the two wires into your power and ground connections for your batteries. And 2 to 3 watt LED lights will stay lit much longer at night than all those old 20 watt halogens from 2 decades ago.

You can view our current light selections from the links below. More lights will be added to the list as we make time to do so.