Strips won't stick?
How to do it right
How to stop LED strip lights from falling down?
by BoscoLighting Team on 12 January 2018
LED Strip Lights are now widely used due to the fact that they are very versatile, low-profile design, efficient and easy to use for every lighting application whether commercial or residential. They can provide great accent lighting to an area and are available in different colours and style options.
Did you know that the common frustration for these strips is that their adhesive backing fails or tends to fall off over time?
Here at BoscoLighting we have taken electricians feedback and found effective ways to install these LED strips securely.
Check out the installation advice.
LED Strip Light Installation Guide
Our LED strip lights come with a self-adhesive tape backing from 3M™. Make sure to firstly clean the surface that the LED strips will be mounted onto from all dust, water, moisture, grease or otherwise. A cleaning agent such as Methylated Spirits or Rubbing Alcohol may be useful, but allow time to dry.
You will need to use a dry and lint-free cloth to properly clean the surface. Do not remove the adhesive tape cover until ready to install the LED strip.
Some finishes do not bond well with the LED tape backing resulting in the adhesive not working properly, we always recommend dabbing extra adhesive such as Selleys Liquid Nails Clear™ along the strip to safeguard, approximately every 20 cm on each side of the strip will be sufficient in most cases. Note that this product can also be used to prevent water ingress into the extrusion although we still recommend using waterproof strips in necessary locations and not relying on this alone. Please make sure that you have chosen our waterproof strips if the installation is in wet, damp or overly humid location such as Bathrooms, Laundries and outdoors.
There are a few alternative methods to do the job as well, for example, LED Strip Fixing Clips. The only negative is that you need some time to screw them into place and extra space around the strips (the clip’s additional width).
Make sure you use the correct power supply to avoid electrical failure and to make your LED strip last longer. Using an improper power supply would cause low light dissipation and flickering. BoscoLighting cannot guarantee our strip lights that have been installed with an ill-matched driver, we are able to provide advice on suitable drivers and also have several types in stock or readily available.
Drivers typically should be loaded with no more than 80% of their rated output wattage, including an allowance for all resistance such as from connections and leads, again, please contact us for advice if required.
To avoid voltage drop, please be guided that the advisable maximum linear lighting connection per tail from a driver should not exceed 5000 mm.
Strip lights do not come with supplied heat dissipation and need to be installed on to a metal surface capable of dissipating heat adequately. Our preferred installation method is in the stylish Aluminium Extrusion products. Aluminium extrusion is an affordable way to mount LED strip lights while giving them the best professional look.
Apart from this, correctly matching the appropriate aluminium extrusion with the LED strip will prevent noticeable LED dots and striped patterns and should result in a much better looking installation along with the longevity of the LED strip products.
