There is an evident, highly growing demand for LED neon strip lights and the reason for this can be traced to how it has come to be the solution to lots of lighting challenges that the traditional neon light could not solve.
The LED neon strip has proven to be an outstanding, effective, and affordable alternative to the traditional neon lights. Its versatility makes it thrive extremely well in the lighting market as it can be used in very creative ways both indoor and outdoor for both aesthetics and functionality.
However, even though there are lots of advantages that come with choosing LED neon strips for your projects, there are still challenges that could be faced if certain precautions are not taken especially when it is being used outdoors – This is what would be discussed in this blog post.
Peculiarities of LED Neon Strips (Features)
The LED neon strip stands out and has become the choice of the people because of the following needed features it possesses.
- Smooth Light Line:
Compared to the traditional neon lights or the regular Led Light strips, LED neon strips diffuse light smoothly without black spots in between. The light emitted is continuous, bright, and aesthetically pleasing. This makes it a great choice when it comes to decorative lighting.
- Flexibility:
The LED neon strips are so flexible that there is literally no kind of design that you can imagine and not make from it. It is very bendable and can be bent in any horizontal direction. This feature makes LED neon strips a better choice when you want to mount lighting on mounting surfaces that are complicated than usual because they can be bent into different shapes and curves.
- Environmental Friendliness
The technique with which LED neon strips are being produced makes them non-toxic and environmentally friendly. Compared to the traditional neon light which causes issues of mercury contamination and metal poisoning, the LED neon strips are safe to use and can even be recycled.
- Energy Efficiency:
LED Neon strips are known to be more power-conservative as they require less power to produce bright light. It can operate on a voltage as low as 24v and still produce sufficient light that lasts three times longer than the traditional neon light.
All of these features contribute to why the LED neon strip is a preferred choice among other lighting options. However, while the LED neon strips can be used for different purposes both outdoor and indoor, it is important to take note of the likely problems that come with them and how to prevent and solve them.
Let’s get right into that!
Some Outdoor Problems of LED Neon Strips
Without taking proper caution, LED neon strips can generate problems, some of which include:
- Short Lifetime
Usually, compared to other kind lighting types, LED neon strips are expected to last as long as 50,000 hours. This way you get good value for the money you are investing in it because you wouldn’t need to be consistently changing lighting.
However, there are cases whereby LED neons strips that are used outdoors only last for only about a year or two after which they start dying out. This could be a result of poor water resistance.
What it means is that if your LED neon strip does not have strong water resistance in place, it starts to wear out early when used outdoors. This is because of exposure to water in the form of dew, snow, rain e.t.c.
- Yellowing of Strips
When LED neon strips are used outdoors, they become exposed to ultraviolet rays. If the weather resistance of the product is not good enough, it starts to turn yellow which affects the luminous effect of the product.
- Flickering and Lack Of Light Uniformity
After some time of using LED neon strips outdoors, you could start to notice inconsistency in light production across the strip.
This could include the dimming of light at the beginning and end of the strip. The probability of this issue occurring is high in LED neon strips that are really long.
This problem occurs as a result of using low-quality LED chips or beads during LED neon strip production. The consistency of color produced by the LED strips is dependent on the quality of the LED chips used.
- Voltage Drop
Voltage drop is what happens when there is an obvious reduction in the voltage supplied from your power supply to all parts of your LED strips. This can cause your light to flicker or even burn out.
Most times voltage drop is noticed when the LED strip is ultra-long and the cable used to carry current is either not made from quality material or not thick enough, making it unsuitable for the length of the strip.
Potent Solutions To These Problems
- Choosing Good Waterproof Process To Ensure Longer Life Time
The process used in making your LED neon strip waterproof goes a long way to affect its efficiency and length of lifetime. You need to choose a good waterproof process to get your LED neon strips to have a longer lifetime.
At Potato Lighting we use the tested and trusted extrusion technology in the production of our LED neon strips for waterproofing. This guarantees a long lifetime for our products.
This is how it works.
Extrusion Technology
This technology is a special wrapping technology for flexible light bars. Using the LED strip Extrusion technique will help you achieve continuous and unlimited length. It also helps to achieve multiple colors of colloids coming together to form a light-mixing protective layer.
The extrusion process can control the light-emitting direction of the light strip to produce the front and side surface or full luminescence.
The light bar produced by the extrusion process would be able to withstand high temperatures and would not easily deform. The low temperature also contributes to maintaining good flexibility and extending the life of the LED.
Check out this short video to watch how we carry out the extraction process on our LED neon strips at Potato Lighting Factory.
- Selection of Quality material to increase the weather resistance and prevent yellowing
To ensure sustainable weather resistance, it is necessary to choose the best protective casing for the LED neon strips.
The protective casing for your LED neon strip should be able to protect it against both ultraviolet rays and other forms of pollution like salt, fog, dust e.t.c.
Using silicone or high-level PU (Polyurethane) material is the best to get higher Weather resistance protection for your LED neon strip. At Potato Lighting, we particularly use silicon because it lasts longer and doesn’t easily get oxidized (turn yellow).
- Getting Quality LED Beads to Ensure Colour Uniformity
Since the quality of light you get from your LED neon strips depend a lot on the quality of LED beads (chips) used, it is important to ensure that they are of high quality.
Choosing to import the lamp beads from the world-class major brands such as Osram, Nichia, Hongli e.t.c can help you achieve color consistency across the length of your LED neon strip.
Because of its own packaging, the entire series can be shipped, and the color tolerance of the lamp beads can be controlled within two steps (2<SDCM).
- Use of New Ultra-long Tech to Avoid Voltage Drop
At Potato Lighting we develop ultra-long low-dropout LED flexible light bars using a new light bar structure design that greatly reduces PCB voltage drop.
We are able to achieve the ultra-long length under low voltage (DC 12V or DC 24V). With the effect of a 30m low-pressure drop, the light bar can be bent at will, can be cut and extended, and has the needed weather resistance.
These characteristics of strong performance and long life meets the needs of lighting designers for product performance in the design.
- LED neon Tech for High Flexibility
The LED neon flexible light strip developed by the company can be bent sideways, through the use of silicon containing light diffusing agents. The plastic material and the structural design of the inner side makes the light strip light evenly.
Because of this, the LED neon strips can be cut and extended easily.
With good connection, high waterproof level, weather resistance, and a guarantee for long life, the LED neon strip can be used in lighting engineering, home lighting, landscape lighting and a vast number of other applications.
Let us know if you have any other concerns about LED neon strips through the comment section or contact us, we can’t wait to speak with you!
