Comparisons between vairous materials of waterproof led strips

In last page, we posted the IP ratings means.

Today we write something about the specific differences between various materials of waterproof led strips.

How many kinds of materials of waterproof led strips?

The waterproof LED strip, literal understanding is protected against water. But variations come with the protection against liquids. Waterproof LED strip is with a minimum IP rating of IP65 for the entire assembly.

So depending on the application, waterproof LED strips are available for IP65, IP67 or IP68 ratings. All are hermetically sealed with the highest level of protection for solids (dustproof), but different levels of protection for liquids.

Before we go any further, attention should also be paid to the issue of sealing materials. The resin used to seal LED strips is usually one of three types, namely epoxy resin, polyurethane (PU) and silicone.

In these three materials, epoxy resin is relatively inexpensive. It exhibits low shrinkage when cured, good high temperature performance, good acid and alkali resistance. Epoxy resins are known to have two main disadvantages. One is that the cured epoxy coating is usually brittle due to the rigid cross-linked network. Typical operating temperatures are 0 to 60°C. Another disadvantage of epoxy coatings is the photodegradation under radiation at high temperatures, which can lead to be yellow.

Polyurethanes(PU) exhibit high UV stability, good low temperature performance, and good resistance to a wide range of chemicals. For most polyurethanes, the minimum operating temperature can be as low as -40°C. Of the three types of resins, polyurethanes have the best resistance to moisture. The adhesion is second only to silicone. Polyurethane resins have high light transmission (97.7% light transmission), which greatly exceeds that of epoxy resins (82.1% light transmission).

1. Its mainly characterized no ripples, no bubbles after curing. Good transparency, repeatedly folded without breaking, anti-tear, anti-UV not yellow, excellent surface gloss. You can realized that the whole led strip is hard, not bend easily.
2. But its shortcoming is low temperature cracking, high temperature swelling. 

Silicone offer excellent UV stability, biocompatibility, adhesion to various substrates, and structural stability during use. The material has excellent stability over a wide operating temperature range (-50 to 200°C). Like polyurethanes, silicones have good thermal conductivity, which makes them advantageous for sealing self-heating LEDs. Silicones also have good optical conductivity (94.6% transmission). Despite having a large coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), high moisture and gas permeability, and a high price compared to other alternatives, silicones are the most popular LED strip glue/encapsulation material due to their excellent overall performance.

• Its mainly characterized is whole led strip is soft (casual pinch back quickly) after curing, bend easily. 

• IP65 =  LED strip is resistant to low pressure jets of water of from all directions. The top surface of the strip ( include the PCB, LEDs and resistors) is coating with a thick layer of transparent silicone.
• IP67 = LED strip is protected against the effects of immersion between 15 cm and 1 m. Strip with IP67 is fully encapsulated by a silicone sleeve ( tube) and comes with an additional glue seal at each end.
• IP68 = LED strip is protected against long periods of immersion in more than 1 meter. This submersible strip is suitable for installation in areas where it will sit in water for prolonged periods of time. IP68 strip is fully encased by a silicone extrusion that glue inside is sealed on each end.

IP68 have three version,  Hollow extrusion,Silicone Extrusion and silicone inside Silicone tube. 

The Hollow Extrusion and Silicone Extrusion are produced with the Silicone materials by machine integrated extrusion under the high temperature.

There is an attached image to help us better visually understanding .

So, we can summarize briefly：

Silicone coating =IP65；

Silicone tube =IP67；

Silicone tube + glue seal inside = IP68；

What IP ratings is suitable for the digital RGB/RGBW pixel led strips?

Due to we have integrated pixel digital led strips and external IC chip led strips, we need to discuss them separately.

• For the integrated pixel digital RGB and RGBW led strips like SK6812 RGBW,SK9822 , considering on the assemble structure,IP20, IP65 and IP67 is most popular. Actually we do not recommend to make IP68 ones.
• The external IC chip led pixel strips like UCS2904 RGBW LED strips and DMX512 RGBW led strips, except the IP20, IP65 and IP67,IP68 is no problem to make.
• Regarding the single color LED strips ,analog RGB led strips and analog RGBW led tapes, IP68 is available.

Please note: No matter the integrated RGBW pixel led strips or the external IC pixel RGBW led strips, they should be installed in a good heat dissipation conditions.

In particular, the heat dissipation conditions of these integrated SK6812 series, SK9822 series and GS8208 series pixel LED tapes are more stringent compared to those external IC chip pixel LED strips.

Write here, we upload an image for the SK6812 RGBW 144 pixels led strip lighting glossy effect comparison. 

Ready to get projects started ? 

Best regards from Art LED Team