I just bought a cheap LED strip from China. The used LEDs are from the SMD5630 type. Each meter has 60 LEDs, so 300 LEDs for 5m. The voltage is 12V.
From what I found, the current for 1m should be around 1A (12W / meter). I connected 5m on a power supply that is rated 120W (10A x 12V).
I wanted to make sure that everything is okay. So, grabbed a multimeter and measured the voltage wich is around 11V. Then I measured the current as following: 1 wire from the power supply to the multimeter, from the multimeter a wire to the LED strip, and the other wire from the LED strip to the power supply. This gave me only 1A.
This would mean a power consumption of only about 11W. This sounds very strange to me, as the LEDs are quite bright.
I guess there is something wrong. Any suggestions?