Building a floating pallet bed - with LED lighting

Pallet bed - what do you need?

We will show you a short set of instructions on how to assemble the pallet bed as a floating construction in just a few steps and provide it with LED lighting.

How much does a pallet bed cost?

Euro pallets are available in different versions. Coarser, unpolished pallets are available from most industrial and commercial companies for 5 - 6 euros each. However, these are mostly used and splinter or have to be extensively sanded first. If you don't mind this, or if you board the pallets or cover them with other types of wood, you can create a complete bed construction for very little money.

New and sanded Euro pallets can be purchased in specialist stores, online stores or simply on Ebay classifieds. The prices here are usually between 15 and 30 euros / piece. This also depends on whether the Euro pallets are already sanded or painted. If you want to implement a pallet bed with indirect lighting, you have to decide what type of lighting you want to use. Should the lighting only be warm white and dimmable or should it also be possible to switch colors (i.e. RGB control)? Once this decision has been made, the next step is to choose the right product from the LED strip sets. 

Which LED strip set is the right one?

As a specialist retailer with more than 400 lighting designs in the private, hotel and catering sectors every year, we generally advise against DIY store strips at rock-bottom prices. If you are looking for brightness, durability and safety quality in terms of brightness, durability and safety, you also have to invest. That's just the way it is. But it's better to make the right investment once and enjoy the realization for a long time than if the joy is gone again after a very short time due to a defect ;-)

Which transformer do I need for my LED strip?

There is a simple formula here: Each LED strip has a certain wattage per meter If the light is conducted through a transformer, the power can never be fully utilized. Therefore, a 100 W transformer as specified below is sufficient for the calculated 96 watts. The wattage is therefore (at least) covered. For warm-white / cold-white LED strips (only 2 chips, therefore higher power distribution) and/or the use of DALI controls, the power difference to the transformer must be at least 10 - 15%, i.e. a transformer with a correspondingly higher power than would actually be calculated for the LED strip.

If you solder more LED strips together or use a different LED strip: You can find more (more powerful) transformers for your combination here. If you have any questions about suitable combinations, our service team will help you directly. Just let us know your project and we will tell you which LED strip is the right one or what exactly you need.

The project shown here requires the following for lighting and installation: 1x 5m LED RGBW strip

• 1x transformer (100W)
• 1x LED controller
• 1x control panel (either for wall or as remote control)
• 1x cooling profile into which the LED strip is simply clipped
• Also: mounting adhesive (Pattex or other special adhesive) & appropriate Wago clamps for easy clamping of the cables.

Assembly instructions for the pallet bed with LED lighting

We normally always have these products in stock in our online lighting store or with a short delivery time of 5-7 working days. This means that you can start assembling your pallet bed immediately within a week 

Assembly instructions: 7 steps to the realization of the floating pallet bed. Pallet treatment: Assuming you are not covering the pallets, sand the outside of the pallets clean (can you borrow a sanding machine?) and paint or impregnate the wood accordingly. If the pallets are covered, you can generally save yourself this step (rough sanding can still do no harm if you want to avoid wood shavings or falling pieces of wood).

1. Placement in the room: Now carry the pallets into your bedroom / wellness room / party hut / garden house or wherever you want to set up the bed
2. Bed dimensions: The dimensions of a Euro pallet are 120x80x14.5 cm. This dimension fits perfectly to create a bed with standard mattress dimensions such as 160x200 or 240x200. In the example shown, a floating bed measuring 160x200 cm is being built.
3. Bed backs: Place two pallets crosswise and screw them together using flat brackets. These serve as the back and will later weigh down the entire bed construction.
4. Floor frame: A floating bed is characterized by the fact that there are of course no supporting legs. Therefore, place a whole pallet and a half pallet end to end in the middle of the bed back pallets on the floor to form the base frame. Connect these together and screw them to the back.
5. Bed surface: In the next step, place the pallets of the bedside cabinets or the bed surface on the centered pallets as shown in the picture and support them with books or other support utensils of your choice.
6. Screw them down: Use brackets from the DIY store to screw these pallets (bomb) tight together. Don't skimp on screws here.
7. Load-bearing test: Once everything is firmly screwed together, you can check the load-bearing capacity of your bed. As a rule, the floating bed does not need to be fixed to the wall. The two pallets at the back are very helpful here, as they also serve as support and weighting. Fluffy cushions can also be placed on them (...).

Installation of indirect LED lighting for the bed

1. Shorten the cooling profiles: Position the cooling profiles once and make sure that they do not protrude from the underside of the bed. You can easily shorten them with a flex or pliers
2. Glue on the cooling profiles: Apply adhesive spots to the cooling profiles with the assembly adhesive and stick them to the underside of the bed
3. Connect the RGBW strip set: Install using a screwdriver in the following order: cable wall outlet or socket -> transformer -> RGB controller -> RGBW LED-RGB strip. (In the case of a socket outlet, the Tafo must be connected with a socket outlet plug. You can get one at any DIY store)
4. Teach the RGBW strip: Now you have to teach the LED strip correctly: 1. power on. 2. Press "on" 3 times on the desired zone of the remote control/panel. The LED strip flashes 3 times in succession and is programmed. (Note: If this was too quick for you: More detailed information can of course be found in the instructions in the product packaging of the remote control/panel)
5. Insert the LED strip: Now remove the adhesive foil on the underside of the LED strip step by step and clip it into the cooling profile
6. JUHUU: When you are finished, you can switch on the LED strip and the indirect lighting is ready.