LED dome light upgrade won't stay in place

[vlopddap]

I purchase a large quantity of 24 LED panel (SMD 5050) over eBay to upgrade all dome/wall/cabinet/exterior lights of my trailer to LED (cool white). I order them from eBay and they are AWESOME. Light is powerful a LOT and no more yellowish light inside the trailer! The price is kinda incredible too... 20$ for 15X units.

I only have one issue so far and I want your advice... those LED panel came with a double-sided adhesive on back of the panel to mount inside dome light. But after a few hours of use and because those SMD 5050 panel became a little warm (not hot, just a little warm), the cheap double-sided adhesive felt appart and LED panel won't stay in place anymore.

Any suggestion? I'm pretty sure many other people experience this issue here... do you use a industrial adhesive maybe or silicone glue maybe? Or maybe there's some kind of true heavy-duty double-sided adhesive?

Even with this minor issue I do recommend this upgrade to everyone, light is awesome and low power drain too!!

Thank you!!

[Raften]

Dab of GOOP, five years and still stuck.

[oldbeek]

My cheap china units said they were 3M sticky. I have had no problems with them falling off. If I did, I would use 3M-77 spray contact cement. ( Home Depot) Works great in all types of contact glueing problems.

[ryanallie1]

gazingm42 wrote:
We had the same problem. I worked on a solution for several weeks last year. Finally I used Velcro with the stick tape. Working in the service field on computer I also have a different view on anything I work on or build. That is how will I repair/replace it when it fails. For this reason I used Velcro because
I did want new double side to have it stick and with heat maybe not be able
to remove it.

But saw the zip tie idea which maybe a easier solution.

Hi All.

Yes the Zip-Ties might work. That is if you have the type light fixtures that you can use them on, in the first place. The type light fixtures that are in my Motor Home, Zip-Ties can not be used, period. That's why I went with the Heavy Duty Black Velcro. Still holding, no matter what the Heat Range or Sub Cold Ranges are.

Happy & Safe Travels. Dan & Austin. Full-Timers & True "Spirits of the Wind".

[4x4van]

ktmrfs wrote:
Been there, done that. These LED strips
a) don't use 3M VHB tape but something much inferior
b) don't use current regulation but a dropping resistor.

the combo is a bad combination. LED current is an exponential function of applied voltage. LED's are 10-15% efficient, the rest is heat. Fine at 12V nominal, charger goes to 13.6 or 14.4 and you found out what happens. In some cases the LED will get hot enough to melt the solder.

short term solution is to use silicone adhesive or real 3M VHB tape.
If you don't do much camping (a few weeks/yr) they may hold up.

We do lots of dry camping. These ended up very short lived. (well about a year but that was over 100 days camping). when hooked to shore power or generator or solar charging the batteries in bulk mode, the LED's overheated and eventually got very dim and finally failed.

solution is to spend the bucks and get arrays that have a built in current regulated supply.

So far, I haven't had any runaway heat issues even though I am using the inexpensive LEDs. I've let them run continuously for 4-5 hours straight, while using shore power (13.8v), in 90+ degree ambient temps. The 48-5050 arrays got up to about 200 degrees and no higher. That's only about half the temp of the incandescents they replaced. My long strip lighting did even better, settling in at only about 120 degrees. I've had them now for a year; about 8 3-day camping trips, half while boondocking, half with full hookups. Not a single LED has failed and they are still very bright.

I did have one single array come loose (the two corner dots of silicone pulled the paint off the inside of the fixture), but that failure was NOT from heat, as the light was only used about 3 times, for 2-3 minutes each time, as opposed to the others which have seen use for hours at a time.

So for me anyway, current regulation would have been a waste of money; the dropping resistor built into my units have done the job wonderfully. Interestingly enough, I see very little if any difference in brightness between battery power (12.6v) and full hookup (13.8v). Did I get lucky with the "cheap " units that I bought? Perhaps, but I'm not going to argue with success. 🙂

[gazingm42]

We had the same problem. I worked on a solution for several weeks last year. Finally I used Velcro with the stick tape. Working in the service field on computer I also have a different view on anything I work on or build. That is how will I repair/replace it when it fails. For this reason I used Velcro because
I did want new double side to have it stick and with heat maybe not be able
to remove it.

But saw the zip tie idea which maybe a easier solution.

[doughere]

drill 2 tiny holes on each side of the lighting plate, and tie with fishing line. Can't even be seen when installed.

Doug

[ktmrfs]

Been there, done that. These LED strips
a) don't use 3M VHB tape but something much inferior
b) don't use current regulation but a dropping resistor.

the combo is a bad combination. LED current is an exponential function of applied voltage. LED's are 10-15% efficient, the rest is heat. Fine at 12V nominal, charger goes to 13.6 or 14.4 and you found out what happens. In some cases the LED will get hot enough to melt the solder.

short term solution is to use silicone adhesive or real 3M VHB tape.
If you don't do much camping (a few weeks/yr) they may hold up.

We do lots of dry camping. These ended up very short lived. (well about a year but that was over 100 days camping). when hooked to shore power or generator or solar charging the batteries in bulk mode, the LED's overheated and eventually got very dim and finally failed.

solution is to spend the bucks and get arrays that have a built in current regulated supply.

[Stefonius]

Ironically, I have the exact opposite problem. I replaced about half of my incandescent lights with the LED panels pictured in the original post. They are way too blue and bright for us, and I need to remove them and get some with a lower color temperature. Unfortunately, the adhesive is mighty strong and I'm trying to remove it without damage to the fixture or panel.

[Bobbo]

I replaced all of my lights with that same LED, and have had a total of 1 (one) that won't stay. And it really WON'T STAY. I have put it back a dozen times.

[SpringerPop]

These are what I used, too.

I peeled off the adhesive it came with, cleaned thoroughly with iso-91% alcohol, cleaned the inside of the reflector, and ran two heavy beads of clear RTV (silicone)/ Then, pressed them down into the reflector, allowing a bit of the RTV to squeexe out of the edges. Placed a light weight on it to hold it down while curing, and soldered the wires directly to the bulb socket.

If I had to do it all over, I'd do it just like that again.

I used the warm-white ones, as that's my wife's preferred color.

Pop

[4x4van]

Silicone on all of mine; a dab at two opposing corners.

[Bill_Satellite]

I would pull off the tape and use a dab or 2 of silicone. Done.

[Almot]

vlopddap wrote:
The price is kinda incredible too... 20$ for 15X units.

It probably wouldn't be against the forum policy if you posted the link, or seller's username?

[EMD360]

So they let go? Most of ours did in the AZ heat (despite cleaning with alcohol) so I just let them sit in the plastic covers. Some of the wires are pulling loose with travel. I didn't get the correct light bulb connectors with ours and had to glue them into broken bases of the old bulbs! Maybe it is time to re-look at this solution....