LED Strip/Tape Lights

[Barney12]

I’m intending to fit a fair amount of RGBW LED strip lights into the kitchen (under cabinet etc). 

After a fair degree of research it’s clear that the price varies wildly, even for essentially the same specification.

 

At one end of the spectrum you’ve got eBay selllers selling for as low as c£2 a linear meter. At the other end I’ve got quotes from specialists at c£9 a linear meter for what they would describe as ‘commercial grade’ LED strip. In the middle you’ve got the established LED online shops (such a LEDhut etc) selling somewhere in the middle of that price but with warranties from 2-5 years.

 

So my question(s) : Is it all same stuff? Are some simply pricing in warranties, some playing the ‘pro’ marketing card? Or do the quality of the LED chips and manufacturing vary?

 

Would be interested in people’s views.

[Onoff]

Not sure if anything here is any good "LED" wise . I've had a few random bits off of them, cases, chargers etc. The AGL stuff I'm referring to.

 

https://www.mobilefun.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=Agl

 

Not sure on the motion sensor wc light! 

 

[oldkettle]

When I was looking at it, I noticed "commercial grade" was usually applied to strips requiring 24V (as opposed to 12). Is it the same in your research?

[Plumbersmateuk]

1 hour ago, Barney12 said:

So my question(s) : Is it all same stuff? Are some simply pricing in warranties, some playing the ‘pro’ marketing card? Or do the quality of the LED chips and manufacturing vary?

I can't say for RGB but I have bought a fair amount of strips over the last few years and because of my sporodic purchases from various supliers some UK based and fleabay and I have found them all to be as far as I can tell the same. The reason for me buying so many is I am trying to make my own fittings as the ones I really like are far to much money. The ones I have used in my house  (some have been in 8 yearish) have given me no problem apart from the very first ones when I didn't put them on a decent heatsink so they started to fail.

[Barney12]

2 hours ago, oldkettle said:

When I was looking at it, I noticed "commercial grade" was usually applied to strips requiring 24V (as opposed to 12). Is it the same in your research?

 

Some but not all. As an example these guys are quoting £9 a meter for 12v

 

https://www.instyleled.co.uk/10-watt-rgbw-led-tape/

[Barney12]

2 hours ago, Plumbersmateuk said:

I can't say for RGB but I have bought a fair amount of strips over the last few years and because of my sporodic purchases from various supliers some UK based and fleabay and I have found them all to be as far as I can tell the same. The reason for me buying so many is I am trying to make my own fittings as the ones I really like are far to much money. The ones I have used in my house  (some have been in 8 yearish) have given me no problem apart from the very first ones when I didn't put them on a decent heatsink so they started to fail.

 

Interestng comment re heatsink. I’ve read that placing them on aluminium or another conductive material helps.

Is this what you’ve done?

[Plumbersmateuk]

1 hour ago, Barney12 said:

Interestng comment re heatsink. I’ve read that placing them on aluminium or another conductive material helps.

Is this what you’ve done?

HA I now have to admit my mistake Dam.....I thought I would be clever. I used a channel and diffuser (diffuser because I do not like to see the individual LED's) but laid the strip in the channel so that if I needed to replace them I could just pull them out, WRONG, they need a heat sink otherwise they over heat, so I took them out and stuck the new ones to the channel, been no problem. Just need to be on something that can dissipate the heat.

 

[oldkettle]

1 hour ago, Barney12 said:

 

Some but not all. As an example these guys are quoting £9 a meter for 12v

 

https://www.instyleled.co.uk/10-watt-rgbw-led-tape/

 

Thank you. 

 

May be cheaper ones generally have lower light output per meter? Those you linked to are 10W / 720Lm per meter,  this one https://www.ledhut.co.uk/led-strip-lights/non-waterproof-ip20/led-strip-non-waterproof-60-small-led-chips-per-metre-5-metre-roll.html at £2.6/m is a half of that.

[Plumbersmateuk]

3 minutes ago, oldkettle said:

May be cheaper ones generally have lower light output per meter?

Not that I have come across, but I could be wrong.

[Jeremy Harris]

I've used lots of LED strip, ranging from these inset into the rain drip groove on the joining cill above our front door: 

 

to strips under our wall units in the kitchen, to locally light the work surfaces. 

 

I also used long lengths to light up our walk-in wardrobe, set right up in the apex of the ceiling:

 

A  couple of weeks ago I fitted long lengths in our eaves storage areas, just to make it easier to find stuff.  I've also fitted strips under the shelf above my workbenches and in the cupboard under the stairs.

 

Generally, the lower powered stuff doesn't really need a heat sink at all, and I have found no difference at all in terms of quality from LEDHut or a couple of Ebay sellers.  I had one duff roll of 5630 warm white strip (the stuff that I used for the light over the front door), where the bonding between the main flexible PCB and the secondary flexible PCB underneath it (the one that's there to take the higher current of 5630 LEDs) was poor, but that was easily fixed by just gluing the separated parts back together again.

 

Only the section outside, over the front door, is effectively mounted on a heat sink, as it was exactly the same width as the groove in the alloy cill (which was a bit of luck).  What I have found is that the self-adhesive tape is fussy about what it sticks to, but the fix I've come up with for all the strips where you can't really see them directly is to stick a layer of aluminium tape down first, then burnish that with something very smooth so it bonds down well, and then stick the LED strip to that.  Not only does that give a much better bond, but the aluminium tape adds a bit of back reflection (and a very tiny bit of heat sinking).

 

The major difference between these strips is in the type of surface mount LED they use and the colour of the light.  At the very low output end there are strips that use 3528 LEDs, which are not at all bright, but OK for places where you just want a very gentle light.  I've used some low power 3528 strip as outside lighting, solar powered, like all out outside lights (including the strip over the front door) and they are good enough, but only really as light to mark the edge of the drive.  Next up come the 5050 LEDs, and these are pretty good general purpose lighting - the wardrobe above has warm white 5050 strip.  Top of the light output seems to be the 5630 LEDs, and these are what I used above the front door.  They are very bright, but they also draw a lot of current, and for long lengths they either need to be fed with power at both ends or they need to be the type with the extra flexible PCB bonded under the main one.  It's hard to tell without getting samples which is which.

 

As a final not of caution, then choose the 12V power supply for these carefully.  Some of the cheaper ones can emit a fair bit of RF interference, creating noise on radios and interfereing with wireless remote controls.  Also, I made the mistake of using some dimmable electronic 12V DC halogen light power supplies, and these do not put out clean DC, but rather pulses of DC at a high frequency.  There was no radio interference, but the high frequency flicker was noticeable when you made a sudden head movement, and sufficiently annoying that I ended up replacing them.

[8ball]

I am in the process of making some bespoke lighting and have heavily researched products on the market including, LED strips both 12 and 24v, Drivers - dimmable and non-dimmable, Switches LED dimmable, diffuser materials and last but not least units to control the lights via Amazon Echo.

 

If anyone wants any info just ask as I have been testing for the past few months and I think my results are pretty good.

 

Anyway after testing many diff LED strips from many suppliers I have settled with a company called Tagra who supply very good LED drivers and from my tests very good LED's. I chose 24v in the end as the Lumen per metre met my requirements when lighting from behind diffusers.

 

I found that the cheaper 12v LED strips had bad connections, failed or just not bright enough for lighting living/dinning rooms.

[ProDave]

Well I m once more going to be a stick in the mud.

 

I am just back from a job where I have fitted some stick on LED strips as lights under a kitchen cupboard run.

 

My honest opinion is what a stupid idea. I give it 6 months max before the steam from cooking and washing up gets to the adhesive and they start peeling off.

 

Sorry, but give me a solid light fitting attached with screws.

 

They might be okay on a horizontal surface where they shine upwards, such as lighting in a reveal where the adhesive just hold them still, but where the adhesive is preventing gravity doing what it wants to, I think it is completely bonkers.

[Guest Alphonsox]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

Well I m once more going to be a stick in the mud.

 

I am just back from a job where I have fitted some stick on LED strips as lights under a kitchen cupboard run.

 

My honest opinion is what a stupid idea. I give it 6 months max before the steam from cooking and washing up gets to the adhesive and they start peeling off.

 

Sorry, but give me a solid light fitting attached with screws.

 

They might be okay on a horizontal surface where they shine upwards, such as lighting in a reveal where the adhesive just hold them still, but where the adhesive is preventing gravity doing what it wants to, I think it is completely bonkers.

 

I was worried about this and ended up fitting LAP T5 LED cabinet lights from Screwfix. They are cheap, enclosed, fitted with a screwed down clip and give out a good light.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-ykt5bf1-l90-t5-led-linear-linkable-cabinet-striplight-white-12w-912mm/5766r

[Jeremy Harris]

I've got around ten separate bits of this LED strip stuck underneath surfaces and not one bit has come loose yet.  The longest any bit has been up is around 3 years, and I'd say if it was going to fall off it would have done so by now.

Edited November 16, 2017 by JSHarris

[8ball]

Tiny dabs of hot glue do the trick if they do start coming away

[chrisb]

I've got about 12 metres of this stuff stuck around the walls of my kitchen, and also under the cabinets. It's been stuck there for at least 3 years without issue. The cabinets weren't very clean when I applied the LEDs. The ones on the walls had the emulsion cleaned with a baby wipe before application. The only thing I had to do was use a cable clip at the feedpoint of the strip on the walls to stop the weight of the cable pulling them off. Cheapest available product from WunHungLo's eBay store at the time.

[daiking]

If you use rgb led strip lights for mood lighting with an on/off switch, do any keep the colour setting and brightness you want or do you have to use the remote control every time?

[richi]

1 hour ago, daiking said:

If you use rgb led strip lights for mood lighting with an on/off switch, do any keep the colour setting and brightness you want or do you have to use the remote control every time?

 

I have a 1-metre, USB-powered strip, marketed as a behind-the-TV bias light (I'd link to it, but the product is no longer available). For what it's worth, this product retains its settings.

[daiking]

1 minute ago, richi said:

 

I have a 1-metre, USB-powered strip, marketed as a behind-the-TV bias light (I'd link to it, but the product is no longer available). For what it's worth, this product retains its settings.

 

In the past I have bought the kits off Ebay with 3m led strip, IR controller and PSU but if you switch it off at the plug you lose it when you switch back on.

 

looking for a current kit that also remembers. Would like to use it with one of those kinetic switches.

[Nickfromwales]

I think @Declan52 has used one that powers back up in the same state

[Declan52]

Yeah mine comes back on at whatever setting you turn it off. 

[Onoff]

14 minutes ago, Declan52 said:

Yeah mine comes back on at whatever setting you turn it off. 

 

Mine does too. 

[daiking]

2 hours ago, Declan52 said:

Yeah mine comes back on at whatever setting you turn it off. 

 

2 hours ago, Onoff said:

 

Mine does too. 

 

I need new ones, are yours just generic Chinese?

[Onoff]

41 minutes ago, daiking said:

 

 

I need new ones, are yours just generic Chinese?

 

Mine are random off eBay...in pieces at the mo, undergoing some mods...

[Onoff]

This "remembering the setting" question ...

 

Not sure with mine if it remembers the setting if you unplug the wall wart / switch off from the mains. Pretty sure it does just switching off via the remote. I'll try and reinstate mine over Easter and report. I could go through my thread as I think it's in there but life's too short! 

 

How will you use the Quinetic? 13A socket adapter receiver?