SMD 5050 LED RGB Strips

Every 2 or 3 inches you can cut it and hard wire it at the gold connections.

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However it is a lot of work and time consuming soldering. I would suggest looking at rgb pixel dots.

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This is from the booth but it looks just as good at 30 as well and can form to pretty much anything.
 
Environmental Lights as a product they make specifically for this application that they call Zig Zag LED Strip. I find their prices to be higher than market average, but the quality of their product and their customer support makes them my go to for applications that have the money to make sure everything works 100% for extended times. For the amount you're looking at I would recommend that you call them to talk about your intentions and request a sample. I don't believe their standard product is individually addressable if that's what you're after, but that's a problem money can solve if someone really wants it.

Beyond that specific product I have a few other recommendations that more generally relate to strip light:
  • Don't trust the sticky back to hold. I always put a dab of super glue every foot or so when running LED strips. For something as hard to get to as the stage proscenium I would probably invest in the strip hanger clips. Most places that sell them for really cheap sell a soft flexible silicon type that works, but rigid plastic ones tend to work better.
  • You can only run so much current through the LED strip. Not only would a single run along the arch be WAY over the strip's current rating you would see significant decreases in intensity as you moved along the strip. The standard rule of thumb is you can run 5m of tape from the power connection although even that is optimistic at times. There are tricks out there like injecting power along a single unbroken line or connecting power to at both ends of a 10m run, but the trickier you get the harder it becomes to properly protect each run from over current situations. I find it's best to just have a 5m run connected via a home run to the power source. I sometimes will connect that to both sides of a 5m run to their home run to ensure even intensity along the strip, but I that's about as tricky as I'll get.
  • 24V strip is less common, but the increase in voltage means less current. That can mean less intimidating terminations at the power supply (many power supplies >750W are have a single set of output terminals sized for 6 AWG or larger ring terminals) as well as smaller gauge wiring for the long run around the arch which can really add up if there are long runs back to the power supply.
 
sk8rsdad said:
There is a compression coupler and wire harness designed to connect SMDs if you want to avoid soldering. Google LED STRIP CONNECTOR. I order them from Ray Wu on aliexpress.
Click to expand...

Those connectors are a pita and IMO are garbage. You still have to peel away the plastic coating. We used them for a while for our horse costumes and they don't take well to bouncing and moving at all. But that's a different story.
 
Amiers said:
Those connectors are a pita and IMO are garbage. You still have to peel away the plastic coating. We used them for a while for our horse costumes and they don't take well to bouncing and moving at all. But that's a different story.
Click to expand...

They work much better if you are using the non-waterproof variety of strip. Also some clear 3/4" adhesive lined heat shrink can do wonders to keep the connector in place. I'm not sure it would be enough to survive on costumes, but very useful for strip attached to solid objects.
 
Yeah, for interior work like that, you don't need the potted strip, by any means.

That said, if if you have actual curves rather than just corners, I concur you'll likely be better off with individual pixels, rather than strip, though they will be a *bit* longer to install.

Power splitting will still be an issue.
 
I have had success in curving the cheap tapes, even on fairly sharp curves ( 2 feet radius). The secret is to get the crappy tape, and use hot glue every few inches "wrinkling" the tape to force the turn.

It is not at all perfect, but it can be done

If you go his route leave it plugged in while you attach it. You will break the connection at some point and you want to know when it happens.

I would suggest picking up a cheep reel from amazon and seeing how it works for you.
 
Babe of 5050 tape. I learn that lesson the hard way the first time using it.

Very good lesson in you get what you pay for.
 
What will the Chinese think of next.
 
Amiers said:
What will the Chinese think of next.
Click to expand...
Pretty much anything you ask them.

I like to point out to people that -- assuming you can figure out how to ask them for it, Chinese manufacturers will build you anything you want, at pretty much any price point; the price point determines how long it will last and how well it will work.

As evidence, the prosecution adduces Foxconn, Chinese manufacturer of HP Enterprise rackmount servers; they start at about $6-8k and go up. New.

I can tell you from all the used ones I've worked on that they're paying enough; they last half of forever.
 
Apparently the wavy 5050 has made its way to FB clickbait selling.

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Looks like straight 5050 tape to me, Amiers. It's a stick on "bias light", used to keep a dark band around your TV set from screwing with the fast AGC on your eyeballs while watching stuff.

Now, the *impressive* ones take an HDMI input and adjust color to the predominent color of the program material, though I don't know what I think about that idea. Sharp builds them in, IIRC.
 
Jay Ashworth said:
Looks like straight 5050 tape to me, Amiers. It's a stick on "bias light", used to keep a dark band around your TV set from screwing with the fast AGC on your eyeballs while watching stuff.

Now, the *impressive* ones take an HDMI input and adjust color to the predominent color of the program material, though I don't know what I think about that idea. Sharp builds them in, IIRC.
Click to expand...

It's a video click it. The first few seconds shows the wave version. I just found it ironic we were talking about it and boom it pops up on my FB.
 
Jay Ashworth said:
Now, the *impressive* ones take an HDMI input and adjust color to the predominent color of the program material, though I don't know what I think about that idea.
Click to expand...
With the right source and settings and environment, it can actually be quite impressive and cool. The better ones actually take the data from the outer edges of the video and match the individual dies to the different colors around the edges, not just a single color all the way around. It makes it seem like the picture almost extends beyond the edge of the TV. The best I think I've seen was watching Finding Nemo. The multiple, vibrant colors of the coral reef really showed what it can do. It was enough to convince me that I need to get the kit for my TV. Now I just have to convince the wife to let me spend the $170 for the kit. http://www.dreamscreentv.com/
 
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