Cut and Splice Chauvet Epix Flex (or other LED tape)

Jeff Lelko

Active Member
Greetings! I’m working on a project where I’d like to line trussing with LED tape. I’m interested in the Chauvet Epix Flex product due to its tolerance of wet location use along with nearly plug-and-play use. I noticed that the manual states that while the product can be cut, it cannot be spliced. My question is...why?

Is it because Chauvet cannot guarantee the reliability of the product when the end user would need to solder and waterproof the splices to uphold the IP67 integrity (which is understandable), or is there a mechanical reason why this cannot be done? I would think that so long as the LED number and cable length limits aren’t exceeded I should be free to cut and splice as desired. Can anyone confirm the ability to do this? Thanks!
 
You are on the right track.... The reason that you can go such long distances with the tape from the psu is because we use a patented system which steps the voltage down periodically over the length of the tape. If someone splices it incorrectly, it:
A. Won’t work properly
B. May compromise the IP rating
C. They may cut it in the middle of the “LED cluster”, which could be... less than awesome when they try to reattach it.
D. You will DEFINITELY void your warranty.

So... yeah... if you’re super confident, you may choose to try it. But it’s an expensive mistake to make.
 
You are on the right track.... The reason that you can go such long distances with the tape from the psu is because we use a patented system which steps the voltage down periodically over the length of the tape. If someone splices it incorrectly, it:
A. Won’t work properly
B. May compromise the IP rating
C. They may cut it in the middle of the “LED cluster”, which could be... less than awesome when they try to reattach it.
D. You will DEFINITELY void your warranty.

So... yeah... if you’re super confident, you may choose to try it. But it’s an expensive mistake to make.

Thanks Ford, I was hoping you’d chime in! Yeah, I think it goes without saying that I’d definitely be voiding my warranty by attempting this! Just reading through the literature, it looks so tempting to be able to snip across the three pads as indicated when cutting the tape down to size and then just solder on an Epix IP67 jumper. Add a bit of silicone or epoxy to seal the end and some shrinkwrap for additional protection and strain relief. I agree that it’s definitely an expensive experiment though. The catch is that I need 1m segments of LED tape, and I really don’t want to buy (in this case) 24 rolls of Epix Flex 20 when I could get by with only 5 and some DIY jumpers. I’ll see how lucky I feel... Thanks again!

I appreciate the other suggestions too. I’ll take a look at the other products. While my light consoles (ETC Cobalt Series) can drive the pixels individually if desired, I really like how packaged the Chauvet solution is. The rack-mounted driver with quick easy setup really seems to be the best fit for what I’m doing, but I’ll have a look at the other offerings as well. Thanks!
 

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