Tips for identifying the quality of LED light strips

　　1. Flexible LED light strips use FPC as the assembly circuit board and SMD LEDs for assembly, so that the thickness of the product is only the thickness of a coin and does not take up space; the common specifications are 30cm long with 18 LEDs, 24 LEDs and 50cm long with 15 LEDs, 24 LEDs, 30 LEDs, etc. There are also 60cm, 80cm, etc. Different users have different specifications. And it can be cut at will, and it can be extended at will without affecting the light emission. The FPC material is soft and can be bent, folded, and wound at will. It can be moved and stretched in three-dimensional space without breaking. It is suitable for use in irregular places and places with small spaces. Because it can be bent and wound at will, it is suitable for any combination of various patterns in advertising decoration.

　　2. LED hard light strips use PCB hard boards as assembly circuit boards. LEDs are assembled with SMD LEDs or with direct-plug LEDs. Different components are used depending on the needs. The advantage of hard light strips is that they are easier to fix, and are convenient to process and install; the disadvantage is that they cannot be bent at will and are not suitable for irregular places. Hard light strips use SMD LEDs in many specifications, including 18 LEDs, 24 LEDs, 30 LEDs, 36 LEDs, 40 LEDs, etc.; those using direct-plug LEDs have different specifications, including 18, 24, 36, 48 LEDs, and some are frontal and some are side-lit. The side-lit ones are also called Great Wall light strips.

　　LED light strip production has a low entry barrier, so many people have started this project. However, experienced people still have ways to identify the LED light strips produced by regular manufacturers and the knock-off LED light strips (that is, products produced entirely by manual labor in a rental house) by looking at the appearance.

　　1. Check the solder joints. LED strips produced by regular LED strip manufacturers are produced using SMT patch technology, solder paste and reflow soldering technology. Therefore, the solder joints on the LED strips are relatively smooth and the amount of solder is not much. The solder joints extend from the FPC pad to the LED electrode in an arc shape. The solder joints of the knockoff LED strips have uneven solder amounts, mostly in the form of a round dot covering the solder foot, and there will be different degrees of tin tips, which is a typical phenomenon of manual soldering.

　　2. Check the quality of FPC. FPC is divided into copper-clad and rolled copper. The copper foil of the copper-clad board is protruding, and you can see it from the connection between the pad and the FPC if you look closely. The rolled copper is closely connected to the FPC and can be bent arbitrarily without the pad falling off. If the copper-clad board is bent too much, the pad will fall off. Too high temperature during maintenance will also cause the pad to fall off.

　　3. Check the cleanliness of the surface of the LED light strip. If the LED light strip is produced by SMT process, its surface cleanliness is very good, and no impurities and stains can be seen. However, if the knockoff LED light strip is produced by hand soldering process, no matter how it is cleaned, there will be stains and traces of cleaning on its surface, and there will be flux and tin slag residue on the FPC surface.

　　4. Check the packaging. Regular LED light strips are packaged in anti-static reels, usually 5 meters or 10 meters per roll, and then sealed with anti-static moisture-proof packaging bags. However, knockoff LED light strips use recycled reels to save costs, and do not have anti-static moisture-proof packaging bags. If you look closely at the reels, you can see traces and scratches on the surface left when the labels were removed.

　　5. Check the label. Regular LED light strip packaging bags and reels will have printed labels, not printed labels. The counterfeit labels are printed, and the specifications and parameters are not uniform.

　　6. Check the accessories. Regular LED light strips will come with instructions for use and specifications in the packaging, as well as LED light strip connectors or sockets; while knockoff LED light strips will not have these accessories in the packaging, because some manufacturers try to save money.

　　Nowadays, there are many LED manufacturers in China, and the quality is uneven, which makes customers worry about choosing high-quality light strips. I would like to recommend Huihao Optoelectronics to everyone. Huihao Optoelectronics is a LED light strip manufacturer from Shenzhen. It has good product quality and low price, and has a good reputation in China. There are many choices of light strips, suitable prices, and reliable quality. I believe it will be helpful to everyone.