Recent LED Strip Comparisons?

[ssanasisredna]

People are getting too hung up on 5630, 2835, 5050, 3014, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, etc. ..... it's all pretty meaningless.The die coming out of Taiwan (Epistar), and the better mainland Chinese companies (various), used properly, is going to last 50,000 hours with little degradation (70%+ lumen maintenance). The problem is are they used properly. If it's a die meant for 20mA and it's driven at 50mA, it's not going to matter whose die it is. Same deal if it is packaged really poorly.W.r.t. package type, the bulk of the volume market has moved past the 5630, it's just too expensive a package. 3030 packages are preferred in the 0.5W (ish) to 1W range. 2835 is somewhat dominant at 0.2 - 0.5W, driving a lot of the LED tube and some of the backlight market, with the backlight market moving to much smaller packages, i.e. 3014/4014 as they need them to be thinner.A "good" 60mA 2835 LED is about $0.01. A lot of the strips use lower quality than that. That market is going to be better served by 3014 LEDs as the volume of those increases as the package costs less (less phosphor in particular). Given $3.00 of LEDs in a 5 meter, 300 LED strip, it would be pretty easy to make something tolerable in the $15-20 resale range), with decent thickness copper so there is not too much drop. Unfortunately, as most people want the cheapest crap, you get $10 strips with crap LEDs, too thin of copper, etc.

 

[jimsy1]

whats the difference between 5736 and 7020 tho

 

[alpg88]

the way the strip is build, it makes little difference what leds are used, heat is not removed properly.

 

[ssanasisredna]

the way the strip is build, it makes little difference what leds are used, heat is not removed properly.

That is a generalization that may be true for cheap LEDs and poorly constructed strips, but it is just that, a generalization ... it does not apply to every strip.

 

[alpg88]

That is a generalization that may be true for cheap LEDs and poorly constructed strips, but it is just that, a generalization ... it does not apply to every strip.

show me good flexible strip.

 

[angerdan]

show me good flexible strip.

Philips Hue LightStrip Plus.

 

[mds82]

Has anyone ever used these before: http://www.mouser.com/search/ProductDetail.aspx?r=997-L219-3080006FV0C I plan to use these for my kitchen undercabinet lighting with a 24v power source

 

[Lithopsian]

Has anyone ever used these before: http://www.mouser.com/search/ProductDetail.aspx?r=997-L219-3080006FV0C I plan to use these for my kitchen undercabinet lighting with a 24v power source

I've never needed to use a constant current strip to get an even brightness over the lengths I wanted to run. A good quality unregulated (just a current-limiting resistor) will run 5m (10m with 24V) without a big brightness drop, and certainly half that without any brightness change that you can see at all. If you're just running fairly short pieces, or it is convenient to wire the power separately to short lengths, then I'd just get a standard strip and spend the extra cash elsewhere, perhaps on a nice profile to house it, or some cute gadgets like touch-sensitive switching or a PWM dimmer. Using 24V already gives you so much flexibility to run long lengths. The constant current chips do save you having to think about such things though, and they avoid dumping 25% of your electricity into a keeping a resister warm, and avoid glitches like different brightness levels when different drivers don't quite put out the same voltage.

The brightness looks about right for under-cabinet lighting, perhaps even a bit too bright if there is such a thing. Strange that they chose to run those tiny 3014 SMDs quite hard to get it, but should be OK with a good build behind them. It's still only about 0.15W per LED, so hardly going to melt under the load.

 

[alpg88]

Philips Hue LightStrip Plus.

wow that is pretty expensive, thou i can see why, defiantly looks more complicated than rgb strip that is 20 bucks per 5 meters.

 

[angerdan]

wow that is pretty expensive, thou i can see why, defiantly looks more complicated than rgb strip that is 20 bucks per 5 meters.

Only the StarterSet seems expensive, but the AddOn is just $25 per 1meter/40inch/3feet.

Compared to the old Osram DECO FLEX (from 2011), the Lightstrip Plus seems cheap.
Think about the technical data!
idealo.de/preisvergleich/CompareProducts/100C-4883149-2660392-5167844-2660420-5014152.html

Philips Lightstrip Plus
25 $/m
800 lm/m
11 W/m
73 lm/W

Osram Deco Flex
50 $/m (100% more expensive)
63 lm/m (just 8% brightness of Lightstrip Plus)
5 W/m
13 lm/W (6x less efficency than Lightstrip Plus)

 

[alpg88]

Only the StarterSet seems expensive, but the AddOn is just $25 per 1meter/40inch/3feet.

Compared to the old Osram DECO FLEX (from 2011), the Lightstrip Plus seems cheap.
Think about the technical data!
idealo.de/preisvergleich/CompareProducts/100C-4883149-2660392-5167844-2660420-5014152.html

Philips Lightstrip Plus
25 $/m
800 lm/m
11 W/m
73 lm/W

Osram Deco Flex
50 $/m (100% more expensive)
63 lm/m (just 8% brightness of Lightstrip Plus)
5 W/m
13 lm/W (6x less efficency than Lightstrip Plus)

i find the numbers fishy to say the least. 13lm\w is what 100 years old incandescent light do. even decade old 5mm leds do better. seems like marketing b.s. to me.

but this is not really what i care about with strips, it is ability to remove heat to allow sustained output, and so far i have not seen any flexible tape that does it. they all made using same flexible board with plastic backing, regardless of leds, or processors mounted.

 

[Lithopsian]

i find the numbers fishy to say the least. 13lm\w is what 100 years old incandescent light do. even decade old 5mm leds do better. seems like marketing b.s. to me. but this is not really what i care about with strips, it is ability to remove heat to allow sustained output, and so far i have not seen any flexible tape that does it. they all made using same flexible board with plastic backing, regardless of leds, or processors mounted.

Maybe you should actually try using some. These are not 100W emitters. They are low power SMDs, spaced out along fair amount of copper. They are not mounted on fancy heatsinks and they don't need to be. They are quite capable of shifting 0.08W, or occasionally up to 0.24W, into the copper and plastic. Where it goes from there is the most important factor in heat control. Mounting the higher power strips on an insulating surface like wood means they will get pretty hot - within tolerances but hotter than ideal. The low power ones you can run in fresh air and they barely get warm. There are some now with things like 7020 SMDs on them, or double-density of 0.2W LEDs, that really need to be mounted on metal to keep cool, but that's hardly a reason to condemn the whole concept. I sniff a bit of snobbery here ...

 

[angerdan]

i find the numbers fishy to say the least. 13lm\w is what 100 years old incandescent light do. even decade old 5mm leds do better. seems like marketing b.s. to me.

This are the specs from the Philips/Osram for these products, if you want to prove them wrong you could measure the products.
Btw, i do own both Lightstrip Plus and Deco Flex.

 

[Lithopsian]

This are the specs from the Philips/Osram for these products, if you want to prove them wrong you could measure the products. Btw, i do own both Lightstrip Plus and Deco Flex.

So do you think the quoted specs are about right for what you have? 63 lumens/m is barely a nightlight. I suppose you can use several strips in parallel

 

[angerdan]

They are "not as bright" as the Lightstrip. But six years ago they was the first from an good brand, so i was satisfied back then.
Next plan is to power the Deco Flex via USB to get them portable.

 

[ssanasisredna]

Maybe you should actually try using some. These are not 100W emitters. They are low power SMDs, spaced out along fair amount of copper. They are not mounted on fancy heatsinks and they don't need to be. They are quite capable of shifting 0.08W, or occasionally up to 0.24W, into the copper and plastic. Where it goes from there is the most important factor in heat control. Mounting the higher power strips on an insulating surface like wood means they will get pretty hot - within tolerances but hotter than ideal. The low power ones you can run in fresh air and they barely get warm. There are some now with things like 7020 SMDs on them, or double-density of 0.2W LEDs, that really need to be mounted on metal to keep cool, but that's hardly a reason to condemn the whole concept. I sniff a bit of snobbery here ...

I sniff a lack of knowledge as reasonable quality 3014, 2835, and other LEDs can be run at 85C solder point temp and hit 50K hours at 70% maintenance and 105C solder temp temp for 40K+ hours is not unheard of. Per LED wattage is quite low in strips, and at 105C, your heat transfer is going to be pretty high. What is sits on is important, but what also matters is what it is encapsulated in.

As pointed out Philips makes a quality product.

 

[alpg88]

Maybe you should actually try using some.

i have as i posted build many times on this board, you' otoh show not only lack of practical knowledge, but lack of understanding what i'm talking about.

These are not 100W emitters. They are low power SMDs, spaced out along fair amount of copper.

lol, 100W?? how is that relavant?? no one is talking 100w emiters here, try to be relevant i know exactly what is on the strips. the amount of copper is only fair at driving them at 1\2 load, something i've learned from practical use. that is also something that is the same on all flex strips regardless of leds,

They are not mounted on fancy heatsinks and they don't need to be. They are quite capable of shifting 0.08W, or occasionally up to 0.24W, into the copper and plastic.

i know they are not, none of them are, that is exactly what i was talking about, and that is exactly what you missed, no wonder you tried to be a wise azz.

The low power ones you can run in fresh air and they barely get warm.

yes i know, i wrote it may times on this forum alone. your point is????

There are some now with things like 7020 SMDs on them, or double-density of 0.2W LEDs, that really need to be mounted on metal to keep cool, but that's hardly a reason to condemn the whole concept. I sniff a bit of snobbery here ...

again i know exactly what is on those strips. i also know that mounting on metal does not really do much, that i've also learned from multiple spools of burned out leds after running for months mounted on aluminum profile, at rated voltage.

you need to make sure you know what is the conversation about before joining.
now just for fun learn what lm\w is

 

[alpg88]

So do you think the quoted specs are about right for what you have?

no i do not, i have a problem with 13lm\w for leds, but seeing how you have no idea what those numbers mean, you make yourself look bad by commenting on issues you are clueless about,

 

[alpg88]

This are the specs from the Philips/Osram for these products, if you want to prove them wrong you could measure the products.
Btw, i do own both Lightstrip Plus and Deco Flex.

not really, those look like misquotes from some seller, again 13lm\w is what old incandescent lights do, not leds, even the ones 10 years old. no led has such poor efficiency, i have seen dozens of different ways sellers tweak numbers to make stuff they sell, look presentable. this is one of the cases, no doubt to me,

 

[ssanasisredna]

not really, those look like misquotes from some seller, again 13lm\w is what old incandescent lights do, not leds, even the ones 10 years old. no led has such poor efficiency, i have seen dozens of different ways sellers tweak numbers to make stuff they sell, look presentable. this is one of the cases, no doubt to me,

I expect they are listing the lowest lm\w which would be the blue and/or listing the lm/w of a single small length of strip powered by a driver designed for much larger loads hence high quiescent power and driving the lm\w down.