What do the numbers of LED mean? such as 2835, 3528, 5630, 5050, and so on.

If you've ever bought or read about LED strip lights, you've probably been impressed by these numbers (models), 2835, 3825, 5630, 5050, etc. Actually, the meaning of these numbers is very simple.

Fundamentally, all of these numbers are the models of SMD (Surface Mounted Diode) LEDs, representing their sizes. Take SMD 2835 LED as an example, 2835 means its length and the width of the LED is 2.8mm and 3.5mm. SMD LED is a kind of semiconductor light source that directly mounted on the LED light strip, having characteristics of high brightness, low power consumption, and good workability.

Normally, the larger the sizes of the SMD LED, the higher the lumens and the better the heat dissipation. But, there also have exceptions. Let's compare the RU5050 LED strip and RU5630 LED strip these two LED flexible strip lights. Obviously, the RU5050's SMD 5050 LED light source is larger than the SMD 5630 LED of RU5630. However, in fact, the RU5630's brightness is higher than that of the RU5050, that is caused by the 5630's chip size is relatively bigger. But SMD 5050 LED has more excellent heat dissipation performance, which makes the LED light strip working more stable. Even the brightness of the same model of SMD LEDs may not be the same, which involves the materials, processes, and rated power.

You should know the meaning of these number of LED strip lights and their main differences by now. MLDR® is a professional LED light strip manufacturer in China, aiming to provide reliable LED lighting products to customers all over the world.

The difference between rope light vs strip light

In today's market, due to the product names haven't been standardized, the names of various LED light strips are a bit confusing. According to the input voltage, LED strip lights can be classified into high voltage LED strip lights and low voltage strip lights. Due to the high-volt LED strip are commonly sealed by protection tube, which makes it look like a rope so that LED Rope Light is its another well-known name. Therefore, in this post, we are actually talking about the difference between high and low voltage LED strip lights.

IP65 waterproof LED rope light

LED rope light i.e. high voltage LED light strip is a flexible LED light fixture directly driven by high voltage alternating current without the adaptor. The rope light is completely wrapped in the insulating sleeve, for its high working voltage is dangerous. Although it will result in the light strips' sizes increasing, it also improves their dust and water protection rating. In addition, the high voltage AC direct driving mode can save a lot of cost of power supplies, and let the LED strip can be connected longer length in series. In order to control the heat production, high voltage strips' power cannot be high as the low voltage strips, resulting in the relatively low brightness.

Low voltage LED strips are commonly driven by direct currents, such as 5V, 12V, 24V, etc, having really high safety and stability. The regular low-volt lights have no waterproof processing, their PCB direct expose in the air, which makes them have a good heat dissipation performance. Of course, they can also be manufactured to IP65, IP67, IP68 waterproof for outdoor use. Thanks to the excellent heat dissipating efficiency, low voltage LED strips can use higher power of SMD light sources and achieve higher brightness.

These are the main differences between the rope light and LED strip. MLDR ® is a LED lighting manufacturer, producing and selling all kinds of LED light strips.

How to improve the brightness difference of LED strips caused by voltage drop

A typical 12V LED light strip is basically formed by a plurality of light groups in which three SMD LED beads are connected in series. In an ideal situation, the voltage input to each group of LED beads should be 12V, but in actual use, the input voltage of the LED groups far from the power supply is less than 12V, resulting in their brightness is significantly lower than the LEDs that closer to the power supply. What caused this?

Voltage drop issue (from www.mldrled.com)

The main reason is that the copper foil circuit inside the LED strip has resistance. The power output from the power supply needs to go through a longer loop to reach the far-end light bar. As this distance increases, the power loss also increases, so the actual voltage input to the far end is not enough to fully drive the LED light. Similarly, if an improper wire is used in the circuit, the voltage drop will be aggravated.

It can be seen from the above that the root cause of the voltage drop phenomenon of the strip led light is the current loss in the circuit. Based on this principle, there are several ways to improve the problem.

1. Increase the thickness of the copper foil
The resistance of the conductor is related to the size of its cross-sectional area, so the use of thicker copper foil can reduce the resistance of the PCB and increase its ability to carry current. Although this method is effective, it will result in an increase in the cost and price of the lighting products.

2. Use a higher voltage LED light strips
In the case of the same power, the higher the voltage, the lower the current. Therefore, as the input voltage increases, the current in the strip circuit decreases accordingly, thereby reducing the current load of the PCB. This is why the maximum series length of the 24V strip is longer than 12V.

3. Install in parallel
We know that the longer the series length of the tape lights, the more obvious the voltage drop. Therefore, we can install a certain length of the strip in parallel to reduce the inconsistency of the first and last brightness caused by the series connection.

We are a China strip LED lights manufacturer dedicated to providing reliable and quality light strips to customers around the world.

Lumileds introduces the industry's highest brightness 3-in-1 RGB LED

Not long ago, Lumileds released the new MultiColor Module 0.5W from its LUXEON LED lighting range, a mid-power, color-changing RGB LED bead. The LED uses the 3535 PLCC6 package standard and integrates three semiconductor light-emitting chips, red, green and blue, capable of producing 1,000 McD of red light, 2300 McD of green light, and 500 McD of blue light at 20 mA operating current. Industry data shows that this is one of the brightest RGB LED beads on the market today.

Lumileds 3535 RGB LED

The detection mechanism tests the LED in a hydrogen sulfide environment, and the result shows that the LED successfully maintains the luminous flux and forward voltage stability of the internal chip under the test environment, and has great reliability. According to Jennifer Holland, LUXEON product line director, Lumileds' reliable design and packaging technology is the key to the stability of this product. The LED's independent waterproof rating can reach 8 levels, suitable for outdoor advertising screens and decorative lighting.

How does RGB LED strip work

Before we talk about how an RGB LED strip light works, what is an RGB LED. In the LED light strip industry, the most common RGB LED bead is SMD 5050 RGB LED, which has 3 chips with different colors, red, green, and blue. Various colors light can be obtained through the combination of the light of these three chips. In addition to decorative lighting, RGB LEDs are also applied to display screens, signal lamps, etc.

SMD 5050 RGB LED

RGB LED strip light is a lighting fixture in which RGB LEDs are mounted on the felxible or rigid strip PCB, mainly using for decorative lighting. Unlike the PCB of the normal white light LED lamp, the RGB PCB has 3 independent circuits that drive each chip, providing the physical basis for the color changing effect. In order to achieve multicolor lighting effects and dimming also need the external controller, adjusting the current of each circuit.

Multicolor LED strip lights are an irreplaceable part of the decorative lighting market for their colorful lighting effect and adjustability. Although the RGB strip lights have a good performance, they still can not completely replace the white light LED lights. Compare with color changing LED strips, white light LED strips have lower prices, higher brightness, and uniform white light effect.

One of the leading semiconductor lighting company: Sanan Optoelectronics

According to the industry reports, Sanan Optoelectronics has more than a quarter of shares of the domestic LED chip production capacity in 2017. Based on the company's product structure, vertical integration of the industry chain and downstream customer dispersion, the company's gross profit margin is much higher than that of its main competitors. In terms of net profit, we found that the company's management costs, sales expenses, and financial cost control are both high in the industry, indicating that the company's management and operation standards are high, financing and low costs.

Supply-side capital expenditures, domestic enterprises have become the main force of expansion. With the constant expansion, the main large lighting enterprises will further monopoly the upstream semiconductor chip market, and the competition will also become more serious.

Sanan has advanced technologies and a large scale, which guarantee the company's high gross profit. At the same time, there is still room for improvement in large-scale production. Obviously, Sanan will maintain its leading position in the lighting industry for a long time to come.

After two consecutive years of decline in 2015 and 2016, LED chip prices have been basically stable. However, influenced by the market supply and demand, the prices will still fluctuate in the short term. For example, the collective large-scale expansion of leading LED lighting suppliers in 2018 led to another drop in chip price.

China's LED application scenarios continue to expand, and the market scale continues to increase. It is expected that the LED chip market in China will reach 22.56 billion yuan in 2018.

The semi-annual report for 2018 shows that in the first half of the year, Sanan Integrated achieved a revenue scale of 67 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of more than 1.5 times compared to the full year of 2017. Among them, Sanan integrated GaAs RF has contact with 103 customers, 58 customers have shipped, 14 customers have been mass-produced, product performance and stability have been well received by customers; GaN RF has achieved customer delivery As such, the initial performance has been recognized by customers; 5G mobile communication power amplifier chip project is in progress as planned; power electronic products have been verified by domestic and foreign customers and supplied in batches, and have entered mass production stage; optical communication chips have been sampled 26 pieces. Some products have been mass-produced and have been sold. It is expected that the profit prospects of Sanan Integration will be good in the future.

NASA uses Osram's new LED grow lighting system - Phytofy RL

Not long ago, the German LED lighting giant Osram launched a new LED plant growth lighting system, named Phytofy RL. This lighting system is equipped with 6 individually controllable spectral channels to meet the research needs of researchers and institutions involved in plant growth. With the Phytofy RL system, users can change the color ratio and light intensity without changing the lamps to evaluate the growth of plants under different artificial light conditions.

LED grow lighting system

The six spectral channels of Phytofy RL are 385 nm, 450 nm, 521 nm, 660 nm, 730 nm, and 2,700 K warm white light. At the same time, the system is equipped with LED grow lights with extremely high luminous flux and uniform light distribution. Researchers can also use the system to precisely illuminate crops with specific wavelengths and intensity of light to selectively intervene in the metabolism of the crop, thereby controlling its yield, color, flavor, and other characteristics. After professional calibration, the system can also provide accurate illumination chart, eliminating the need to manually measure luminous flux. In addition, the system can also set different wavelength combinations in one illumination cycle.

Developed by OSRAM and plant biologists, this system software has an intuitive graphical interface that greatly facilitates user operations. The Phytofy RL system has been adopted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Michigan State University.