LED tape

[Jamtastic3]

Hi BR.

There's a store near me selling those RGB 5m LED tape kits with the controller and power etc for £30 - IP65 too and they're pretty good! It's the QTX stuff in this link...

 

http://www.djanddiscostuff.com/lighting-c1/led-lighting-effects-c4/qtx-diy-led-tape-5m-multi-colour-rgb-with-remote-control-p1158?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=qtx-diy-led-tape-5m-multi-colour-rgb-with-remote-control&utm_campaign=product%20listing%20ads#1182

 

It might be my lack of where to look on the net but I can't seem to find tape for near the £6 per metre I'm getting from the kits. Is it cheaper just to use the tape from the kits and use an adequate power pack for the particular length - in my case I'm needing 8.3 metres.

 

Thoughts or knowledge to cheap tape welcome ;)

[mrboo]

I would just get it off ebay there lots of people selling it for far less like £12 for 5 metre with controller. most you can cut and join also. QTX are just importers that get it branded and repack them once they get them from china.

[dbuckley]

Have a look at Ray Wu's Store on AliExpress.

 

Edited to add: this (and several other suppliers on the same website) is where the eBay crowd get their kit from.

[CallumP93]

You tend to be able to get it cheaper through eBay than AliExpress or Alibaba. I recieved over 60 quotes from Alibaba for 125m of tape, but obviously this isnt a big enough order to make it worth there while, hense it was not cheap.

 

In the end I purchased it via eBay speaking with the seller to order 125m instead of 100. It cost me arround £2.15 a M excluding VAT. Obviously you are only after 10m, so I would suggest this seller on eBay at £11.71 for 5m which is £2.35 a meter. Obviously this does not include the controller but they can be picked up for a £1 or 2 a time.

[alistermorton]

You tend to be able to get it cheaper through eBay than AliExpress or Alibaba. I recieved over 60 quotes from Alibaba for 125m of tape, but obviously this isnt a big enough order to make it worth there while, hense it was not cheap.

 

In the end I purchased it via eBay speaking with the seller to order 125m instead of 100. It cost me arround £2.15 a M excluding VAT. Obviously you are only after 10m, so I would suggest this seller on eBay at £11.71 for 5m which is £2.35 a meter. Obviously this does not include the controller but they can be picked up for a £1 or 2 a time.

 

What's it like for terminating if you cut it into lengths, OOI?

[CallumP93]

What's it like for terminating if you cut it into lengths, OOI?

 

It cuttable at 5cm ish lengths (every 3 LEDs), and it has pads to solder onto where you cut it. Both ends if the roll are fitted with connectors that you can either plug into the controller or solder to. With regard to terminating, the tape doesnt need to be terminated as it is built is 12v sections (each 3 LEDs) which are in parallel along the strip.

 

Callum

[musht]

Remembering that LEDs are like a lot of other things, can get only what your prepared to pay for. Top tip, pay the extra for a decent power supply...

 

Cheapest no brand `seasonal` quality raw LEDs are less than 10% of price of high quality brand LEDs.

 

Seasonal are expected to last for Christmas, Diwali etc. that`s just fine if you need the tape to last just for a run or its on very itermittent use, its an expensive mistake to make on an install thats on 14 hours a day.

[gyro_gearloose]

Another thing to be aware of is that the labels on the LED tape might not mean what they actually say. I've recently installed some tape that came with some mulit-coloured ribbon cable already soldered in place. While the cable was coloured red, green, blue, and black for the +12v, the label printed on the tape didn't match up. The 'Green' label had the blue cable connected to it, and vice versa. In the end it was the cable that was the correct colour, and the labels were wrong. Fortunately I was only installing one run back to one controller, so could get away with swapping the blue and green cables over.

[alistermorton]

It cuttable at 5cm ish lengths (every 3 LEDs), and it has pads to solder onto where you cut it.

 

Thanks - that's what I meant by "terminate". Doesn't sound difficult, then.

 

 

 

[Jamtastic3]

Cheers for the advice guys.

 

Thanks for the heads up dbuckley and CallumP93 - I see alot of these LED promotions on Ebay and such like but I usually dismiss them since they just don't look unique enough to trust - all using the same picture and bargain language etc. But I'll give these links a look.

[bigclive]

On a plus note, the standard 5050 RGB tape is so mass produced these days that the quality of the LEDs used in it is pretty good. I see a lot of cheapo stuff in shop windows being hammered all day long and it seems to hold up well.

 

I regard the 5050 tape as a consumable item. Always allow for a means to change it out for new stuff with relative ease. LEDs do NOT last as long as the manufacturers like to imply.