2023 Author: Philip Bishop | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 22:24
- Reasons for partial burnout of the LED strip
- Consequences of saving on buying LED strips
- Why else can LED strips burn out?
- How to properly operate an LED strip to extend its life
Recently, LED products have been in very high demand in the domestic market. At the same time, LED strips are in the highest demand. Despite the abundance of offers on the market, the problem associated with the fact that the LED strip has stopped burning turns out to be relevant for many users.
Reasons for partial burnout of the LED strip
Unfortunately, tough competition is not always an incentive to improve product quality. Of course, the quality of the LEDs plays a huge role, it depends on the type and generation of the element used in the strip. Therefore, many sellers have traditionally been quite successful in increasing sales by lowering prices. Buyers, not being experts in the field of LED technology, buy cheap tapes on the advice of sellers, install them and are happy with the result. True, this joy continues for a very short amount of time. Very soon, users face the question of why the LED strip burned out. But even if the tape continues to function to the delight of the buyer, after a while it will lose the brightness of the glow by about 30-40% of the original indicators. And the user will again be disappointed.
In principle, the service life of LED strips is quite long. But only if we are talking about high-quality lighting equipment manufactured in full compliance with the technological process. Unfortunately, about 99% of LED products are manufactured in China. Of course, high-quality LED strips are also produced in China, but you can hardly find them for a little over 100 rubles.
Many consumers of LED products do not think about whether LED strip with such a low market value could burn out. As a result, they become the owners of a product with a minimal copper content or even on foil, with low-quality diodes and resistors and a falling adhesive layer, which was made by hardworking inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom in some basement workshop.
Recommendation: it is better to buy LED strips with one solid diode inside, and not consisting of many small elements.
Consequences of saving on buying LED strips
If you have made a choice in favor of cheap and deliberately low-quality LED products, you should not be surprised by the fact that after a short amount of time, the LED strip stopped showing signs of life. Moreover, you must be prepared mentally for the following unpleasant surprises:
- variegated glow;
- loss of glow brightness;
- uneven glow from the beginning to the end of the tape;
- poor quality of glue.
In this case, all claims against the seller will be useless. At best, he will complain about the Chinese quality, and at worst, he will simply refuse to talk.
Why else can LED strips burn out?
However, the purchase of a rather expensive tape is not always a guarantee of long work. Breakage can also happen with an expensive and potentially high-quality product. And the problem is often not in the use of cheap components or factory defects. Often, the problem turns out to be related to the fact that the tape chosen by the buyer does not correspond in its technical characteristics to the conditions in which it will be used.
So often they do not take into account the current strength of the tape and the source of energy from which it will work or do not observe the thermal regime, mounting LED strips intended for indoor use, on the street.
Often, the reason that a part of the LED strip has burned out or the equipment is completely out of order is associated with an error in installation. Often, users simply incorrectly install the LED strip. In particular, they do not provide it with reliable mechanical protection. As a result, even the most insignificant damage leads to the ingress of moisture or water into the device, and then individual sections or entire LED strips burn out.
Sometimes the reason for the failure of LED strip equipment is an error made when drawing up a connection diagram. Since the bulk of the LED strips is a chain consisting of parallel segments, at the ends of the entire chain, the current passing through all individual sections is summed up. And in the event that we are talking about a sufficiently large segment, the total current can be rather large. This usually leads to the fact that the tape tracks are exposed to overheating, and therefore very quickly partially or completely fail. To prevent this problem, it is necessary to break down long sections of the tape into smaller pieces.
How to properly operate an LED strip to extend its life
If you do not want the LED lamp to burn out, you should follow a number of rules that will help to significantly increase the period of trouble-free operation of LED equipment:
In no case should you connect LED strips in series, the length of which exceeds five meters. In this case, only parallel connection of the segments is allowed. Otherwise, significant voltage drops and an increase in current on the tracks cannot be avoided. And this, in turn, will cause serious damage to the tape, up to and including its failure.
Do not operate LED strip equipment in conditions where the ambient temperature exceeds + 40 ° C.
Do not allow moisture to enter the open belts.
Under no circumstances should LED strips be immersed in water, even partially.
It is equally important and correct to mount the LED strip. Correct installation combined with correct operation will significantly increase the life of LED strips.
Before proceeding with the installation of the equipment, it is strongly recommended to turn it on and check the indicated color. Unfortunately, practice shows that tapes from different batches can differ significantly in shade.
When connecting, pay particular attention to the polarity. This is especially important if you don't want the LED strip to stop burning after a couple of months.
If LED equipment is mounted on a metal or other conductive surface, it must be insulated. If this is not done, a short circuit will occur, which can lead to the most tragic consequences.
In no case should even the slightest damage to the tape path be allowed during installation. Cutting the tape is only allowed between the special areas for soldering. If you cut the equipment in other places, non-working segments will appear.
LED strips often burn out because users plug them directly into household AC power supplies, which is completely unacceptable. The LED strip is designed to operate on DC 12 volts or 24 volts only.
Usually the voltage is indicated along the entire length of the tape. A switching power supply is required for voltage conversion. This device is responsible for converting 220 V AC mains voltage. into direct current of the required value. An online calculator will help you calculate the current correctly.
Accordingly, when choosing a power supply, it is very important not only what kind of constant voltage it produces at the output, but also how much it can deliver to the load. In order not to be mistaken with the choice, it is necessary to make careful calculations of the total current that the installed LED strips consume. And depending on the result obtained, choose a power supply.
In recent years, LED strips have been very often used to decorate both the interior and exterior of buildings. And every consumer who makes a choice in favor of this equipment is interested in that it will serve, without causing problems, as long as possible. This is quite possible, the main thing is to purchase products from only a reliable manufacturer and not make mistakes during the installation and operation of equipment.
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