Led strips

[Hornnumb2]

Is there such a thing as a good strand of led strip lights. Mine have been on there for about 1 1/2 years and I lost half a strip. Ugh!

[Hornnumb2]

It's running through a wifi controller so voltage should be good.

[bdpreece]

OK. Misunderstood location. As someone said get bulbs rated at higher voltages. Or you could still install a dropping resistor or regulator to keep the voltage at 12 volts.

[Ivylog]

Fortunately I used led panels, not strips when my ballast burned up. I have replaced the led strip we use as a night light under the bathroom cabinets for the third time in five years... every 2000 hours as more than half have stopped working. The led strip I put under my awning did the same in less than 300 hours as it hard to find voltage regulated ones.

I'll ask a friend that's big in led lighting if there is a strip that's worth buying and report back as what I'm doing is not working. Other than the strips, all the other cheap China/EBay LEDs have worked out well.

[Hornnumb2]

bdpreece wrote:
I am hesitant to brag as I bought the cheapest strings of led lights I could find. After reading how the cheap ones won't handle higher voltages I made the decision to install a dropping resister on the input to each light.

I did this over four years ago using 4 strips of 12V 5M 500CM Waterproof Warm-White 5050 300 LED's in each of my fixtures. I stripped out the ballasts and just used the shells.

I was worried about the led's burning out as the higher the voltage the more current they draw (LED's work backwards from everything else electrical) . My solution was to take the highest voltage I thought they would see calculate the current draw for the four strips I was using and then buy dropping resistors to make sure the led's never see over 12 volts.

So far I have not lost one LED and I really don't notice any dimming of the lights when my batteries start to get low.

A lot cheaper than buying expensive LED's or installing regulators and much easier to wire in, just have to make sure the resistor is placed where the heat can dissipate.

This is the strip on the camper outside wall not replacement bulbs.

[ford_truck_guy]

On my last trailer, i got them from SuperBright LED's.com. .. .. quality product , great company to deal with... had them on for 4 years till I sold the trailer and they were still looking good as new

[MrWizard]

I bought my roll on Amazon almost 2 years ago
Put strips in our fluorescent lights
No resistors or any regulation,
So far exactly 1 led in 1 strip, in the most used light , has gone out
The other fixtures all leds still 100 percent
Guess it's my turn to be lucky

[pianotuna]

look for led's that will tolerate 30 volts.

[GordonThree]

It's a ****-shoot. Used to be you could shop for a brand like Cree, etc, but the market is flooded with nock offs. Scammers seem to be able to use trade names with impunity.

Buying from a reputable vendor might help, like SuperbrightLEDs or M4 Products.

[bdpreece]

I am hesitant to brag as I bought the cheapest strings of led lights I could find. After reading how the cheap ones won't handle higher voltages I made the decision to install a dropping resister on the input to each light.

I did this over four years ago using 4 strips of 12V 5M 500CM Waterproof Warm-White 5050 300 LED's in each of my fixtures. I stripped out the ballasts and just used the shells.

I was worried about the led's burning out as the higher the voltage the more current they draw (LED's work backwards from everything else electrical) . My solution was to take the highest voltage I thought they would see calculate the current draw for the four strips I was using and then buy dropping resistors to make sure the led's never see over 12 volts.

So far I have not lost one LED and I really don't notice any dimming of the lights when my batteries start to get low.

A lot cheaper than buying expensive LED's or installing regulators and much easier to wire in, just have to make sure the resistor is placed where the heat can dissipate.