What are the best quality LED strip lights?The quality of an LED strip light is determined by the material used, performance, certification, and services related. The four aspects are explained to help customers understand what are the high quality LED strips. The highest standard for each aspect will make the best quality. Quality materialsQuality materials are the foundation for high quality LED strips. They include quality LED packages, double-sided copper FPC board, 3M double-sided back adhesive, waterproof material etc. Certain material quality can be inspected by the naked eye, such as FPC board.
1. LED (also referred to as LED package).
LEDs of a batch(bin) shall emit light with the same level of brightness and the same color temperature, delivering accuracy and consistency. If the LEDs cannot achieve these performances, they are inferior in quality. A method to inspect LED's quality is to apply 6-8 voltage DC to an LED strip light. If every LED emits slight light in low brightness, and the brightness levels of all LEDs on the strip are the same, the LEDs are considered having great consistency. If the brightness of the LEDs differs, some are brighter, some are not bright, then the LEDs are low quality. Especially for 5050 LEDs with three color chips inside, we can tune RGB controller to check three chips separately. Every chip should light up. If not, the LEDs are defective.
2. Flexible printed circuit board(FPC). Single sided FPC contains much less copper hence are cheaper than double-sided. In order to save cost, many manufacturers use single sided FPC. Light strips with single sided FPC will generate too much heat and their lifespan will be much shorter. How to tell from the appearance of the LED strip light if it uses double-sided or single sided FPC? Single sided FPC has only one side printed with circuits, the other side looks smooth and even distributed color. Double-sided FPC has printed circuits on both sides. When you hold the LED strip light with two fingers, you will tell that the double-sided FPC is thicker than single sided. The thicker the FPC board is, the better the heat dissipation.
3. Genuine 3M double-sided adhesive backing. Fake 3M tape has the character that when applied, it delivers strong adhesive bond at first and the light strip stay on application surface well. But as time goes by, the tape will become less and less adhesive. In contrast, genuine 3M double-sided tape, after applied, will deliver stronger and stronger adhesiveness as time goes by. If not peeled off intentionally, the light strip will not fall off by itself.
4. Waterproof material utilized. Silicone has high light transmittance and does not turn yellowish later on. They have constancy of properties over a wide temperature range of -67 °F to 392 °F (-55 °C to 200 °C). So they work very well in super hot to super cold areas, no too softening to loose, no crispy, no crack. Inferior waterproof strip lights use cheaper PU glue for waterproof material. PU glue is toxic and not good for indoor use, and it will change to yellowish and become crispy and crack in several months. The manufacturing process with PU glue results in that the PU glue contacts the LED surface, which will shift the light color temperature. For a normal light strip of 6500K covered with PU glue waterproof material, the color temperature will shift up by about 1000K, turning into about 7500K-8000K. Solid performanceQuality materials cannot guarantee good performance of strip lights, because design and manufacturing processes are also very important. Fortunately, the performance can be told by viewing with naked eyes, by feeling with hands, or by inspection with equipment. Three performance features to consider:
CertificationUL listed. UL approval is a factor of quality in the sense it ensures the design and manufacturing comply with certain regulations. All of our strip lights are UL listed in the category of low voltage luminaire. ServicesGood customer services before and after sales. We help all customers, company or individual, with passion. All of our strip lights have a 30-day return and refund policy. |