LED Tape - getting what I pay for?

kicknargel

kicknargel

Well-Known Member
I'm comparing this LED RGBW tape w/ 18 SMD 5050 LEDs per foot (alternating RGB and W) for $139.95/spool
https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...ith-18-smds-per-ft-3-chip-rgbw-led-5050/1572/

to THIS LED RGBW tape w/ 18 SMD 5050 LEDs per foot (alternating RGB and W) for $9.90/spool:
http://a.co/9QMQxg4

Any differences I'm missing?

On the cheap stuff, I see some negative comments about the adhesive (I can deal with that) and one about burnouts over time.

I only need this to survive a week, but I REALLY need it to survive a week. What's your experience? Anyone have problems with LED tape failing after a few days, or only immediately / long term?
 
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The second link didn't work, it's coming up 404. I haven't used the first style before, with the separate blue LED . I've only used the style that had the RGB all on one.
 
I’ve used a number of the 10-15 dollar a roll tapes from Amazon in RGB. In an order of 5 rolls I would,expect one section ( 4 inch or so) where one color did not work.

I also caused some failures while installing if I was not careful and b not the tape too,hard.

Aside from that, no trouble.
 
I'm working on installing White LED tape we got for $8/spool into a show. When I tested the roll of tape, it worked fine, but after installing it in some of the channels, there were several broken sections, several individual LEDs broken. Some of the tape I pulled off "brand new" reels, the ends were crumpled as if they were stepped on. There were drips of solder on some of the tape that should not have been there, as if they were accidental drips. When I tested them, each diode was not the same color, as if they all came from various batches.

If you want reliability, color matching, and quality and you NEED them to work, buy the good stuff.
 
We've used the inexpensive tape in a couple shows. Did not have any issues or drop outs during the build and runs, but they did not take well to reuse. The silicon(?) covering began to turn yellow and drop outs appeared the next time we unwound them. We did not use the adhesive on the back at all because we figured on reuse, so problems were not from that.
I would say the strips from SuperBright are better than others at that price point, but plan on single use.
 
What I have seen with the cheaper stuff is just incosistency. Sometimes you will be fine everything you get will work great, sometimes a reel will be bad.

Another issue that you can run into is longevity. First of it working for an extended period but also staying the same color across all LED's.

The second problem might not be an issue since you only need it for a week. But even with expensive tape you can have sections fail because of a resistor or bad trace. The likely hood is usually lower with the expensive stuff. Either way replacing a segment of tape is not terrible if you can get to it.
 
We buy those LED from superbrightled.com all the time and have seen them work for 5 years (general run length for shows on the ships) Worth the money as far as I'm concerned. No fixes/maintenance on the back end....
 
As mentioned consistency and durability are key factors. With the nicer stuff you get a better chance of color matching between reels. That can be really important if you have a few reels kicking around from a show you did last year, but need to order more to have enough for a new project. The cheap stuff is unlikely to match from batch to batch.

The other really big difference is the quality of the flexible PCB the LEDs are attached to. I've seen $10 Amazon LED tape that had traces so thin that they could barely make it 5 feet without a noticeable loss of intensity because of voltage drop. Thinner, cheaper PCBs can be more difficult to solder to and are more likely to get lifted pads. For single color strip with relatively big pads this isn't as big an issue, but with 5 little pads to connect to for RGBW it's noticeable.

There are also little quality of life details that are in the better stuff. There is a big difference between good 3M brand sticky backing and cheap whatever they could find the the Shenzhen market sticky backing. Oh yah, and the superbright stuff has a UL listing that the Amazon brand does not.
 
I've had some of the cheap amazon RGB tapes, and they worked great for about 6 months. Then one color stopped working. Eventually, the power supplies go bad (that have the wireless remote controls built into it) and so now my lights will only turn on a certain color, and won't change to anything else. Also if you try to turn the color that comes up "off' it just turns the diodes down to 5% and they never shut off. I'm not too upset that the only ones that work at Blue, which is what I wanted them to be anyways, but it's definitely a "you get what you pay for." I don't know if anyone honestly has a solid solution.
 
Well, if ones $140 a spool, and the other is $10 for (what I'm assuming is the same sized) spool, then you can buy 14 rolls for the same price (or, 3 or 4 rolls, for still a big discount)... and that's about how this stuff goes: the SBL's product is so much more expensive because they do the "buy a lot and test" part for you.

That said, $15,000 HP servers are made in China too: they will make you pretty much any level of quality you're willing to pay for...
 
The supernight stuff is great for the theater. I've used it over and over again. Ethernet style controller and happy days. Because of the price point I always pick up an extra spool in case there are any issues, but almost never had any.
 
The Supernight stuff is great! You can get around most accidental damage to diodes by getting the waterproofed tape. I've been using the cheap Amazon stuff for years and even mixing brands I don't have issues with color consistency. Get a 12v power supply (a better one than what usually comes with it) and a cheap DMX decoder and you're in business.
 
Ive used the supernight stuff and stuff from Hitlights. Expect to repair 1 section per 2 rolls, depending on how you treat it. When you have a bad section I've usually been able to repair it by re-soldering the individual LED's in that section, but worst case cut out the bad and stitch the sections together with solder. The waterproof covering definitely yellows with exposure to any atmosphere, not just UV. Unless you need the waterproof, i'd steer clear of it. I've seen sections where the solder pads reverse from roll to roll, RGB+ is not in the same order, etc.. so pay attention to that when opening a roll.
Once installed they've all been pretty durable. I had one piece on a constant color roll for 2+ years and it seemed fine. I've not taken it apart to examine all the sections or anything though.

Bottom line, for the one offs I've been building I've never seen a reason to pay 10 times as much for the 'good stuff'. If it was going to be a broadway tour I might spring for the City Theatrical.
 
Thanks everyone. I've ordered the Supernight stuff with plenty extra. I'll be sure to report back. Not to kill the thread; still interested in peoples' experience and tips. Seems every corporate project we take on these days calls for LED tape.
 
bobgaggle said:
We buy those LED from superbrightled.com all the time and have seen them work for 5 years (general run length for shows on the ships) Worth the money as far as I'm concerned. No fixes/maintenance on the back end....
Click to expand...
Be warned that the expensive stuff can come with major factory defects, that in my experience is not mitigated by the company in any way.
We had a project with ~$600 of the super high output, super expensive RGB stuff, got it on site. Power up showed tons of broken diodes and inconsistent color rendering. Vendor refused a refund. Sucked.

That said, never had an issue with stuff from USledsupply or the shitty Supernight stuff (at least in terms of reliability)
 
For important short term stuff on a budget, I would go with Torchstar. They are however I think $20 to $30 per roll.

Interesting to hear about SuperNight. I'm surprised to hear that the quality is usable at $10/roll.

I put up a page with my reviews on various brands:
http://lights4music.com/reviews.html
 
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