1. Introduction: What is a LED strip?

LED strips are low voltage lighting devices (5V, 12V, 24V), typically used in architectural lighting, sign lighting, concealed lighting, perimeter lighting, and many other applications as a replacement for older technologies and less efficient, such as incandescent, fluorescent, halogen. or neon lighting and are typically at least twice as bright as other décor options, such as rope lighting fixtures.

Available in single color and RGB versions, major manufacturers may offer white, warm white and red, green, blue and yellow color strips, but some major manufacturers also offer different versions of white or warm white by adjusting the output of light. and color temperature.

2. Types of LED strips

LED strip light is one of the fastest growing areas in the light emitting diode market. There are several subcategories within this category:

has. Rigid Strips: with or without waterproof protection, PCB board finished, plastic coated or aluminum backed (also known as LED bars) and using high power SMD or older LED technologies such as mounted diodes.

b. flexible strip: with or without waterproof protection, with or without adhesive tape on the back and with SMD mounting technology (several options depending on the power) or older mounting technologies (less and less common).

Most of the category is occupied by flexible LED strips and that’s why we’ll focus mainly on them (since SMD is the main technology and by far the most efficient, we’ll focus on that too).

3. Flexible LED strips

Flexible strips typically consist of low-profile surface-mounted diodes (SMDs), which are the same type of chips used in the newer T8 fluorescent LED tube, but in the case of strips, they’re attached to a conductive strip flexible. Power is then applied to one end of the strip and the diodes emit a smooth linear light.

Since the mounting base is flexible, they can be installed in multiple areas and offer a further advantage over rigid strips (LED bars), they can be cut to size and reattached or interconnected if required, either by simple soldering at the marked weld. spot or through the use of Fast connectors, offered by the main manufacturers. Normally, flexible LED strips are made in coils, usually 3 to 5 meters, and depending on the type of chip and the design of the coil connections, every 2 to 6 pieces of chips can be cut.

The strip design possibilities are limitless, although small businesses focus on a few of them. Leading suppliers can offer different PCB finishes (transparent: brass or white circuits, and even black; originally, the PCBs that held the diodes were copper-colored. Newer generation LED strips have white-coated PCBs, which gives a more even light distribution), also different widths, from 5mm for thinner strips that focus primarily on specific lighting functions, such as side view lighting, down to 8mm and 12mm, which are by far the more common, and wider strips for more complex strips, such as smart strips ranging from 15 to 17 mm.

Obviously, the width of the strip also depends on its coating and, therefore, on its degree of impermeability. The slimmer versions are IP20 (some of the major vendors also offer IP64 which is a very good and recommended alternative to IP20) and the wider ones are IP68 which consists of a full silicone shell surrounding the strip. We will analyze in more detail the different main characteristics of the LED flexible strip.