COB LED strip is a big development in lighting technology. What is COB LED Strip? What is the advantage comparing to the conventional LED strip? Where to use it and How to use it? In this article, you will find these answers.
What is COB LED Strip?
“COB” stands for Chip On Board. COB LED strip means that it has several chips built into the strip. They are usually LED lights grouped together and coated in yellow phosphor, in order to give this feeling of uniformity without the “seams” of the different light sources being visible. It spreads out soft and even light in uniformity and it has better heat dissipation and longer life compared with conventional led strip.
Main Materials of COB LED Strip: LED flip chip, solder paste, FPC circuit board, phosphor, glue, adhesive, reel, electrostatic bag.
Manufacturing Process and Main Data
To better understand COB LED strip, here I attach a manufacturing process for your information. It is Okay just to get a general idea.
When talking about COB LED strip, we must know the following main data. They are very important parameters while you choose a COB LED strip for your space or when you discuss details with COB LED strip factory.
- Luminous Flux (Φ) (in lumens) is a measure of the total amount of light a lamp puts out. For COB LED strip, luminous flux is measured by Lumen per Meter. For example, our COB LED strip 320D-6500K Ra80, flux is about 880LM@8W , 1100LM@11W
- Light Efficacy (LM/W) is a measure of how much light a light source produces for the energy put in to it. This is normally expressed in lm/W (lumens per watt). For different light sources to produce the same luminous flux within the same time, the less energy put in to it, the higher the efficacy. COB LED strip efficacy mainly depends on chips, glue, phosphor、Color Rendering Index, CCT, etc.
- Power (P) is the average amount of work done or energy converted by the current per unit of time. It is normally expressed in P，its unit is Watt (W in short), P=I*U. For COB LED strip, power is measured by Watts per Meter. For example, our COB LED strip 320D-6500K Ra80, the power could be 6/8/10/12W.
- CCT stands for Color temperature (Correlated Color Temperature). It is essentially a gauge of how yellow or blue the color of light emitted from a light source appears. It’s measured in the Kelvin unit and is most commonly found between 2200 Kelvin degrees and 6500 Kelvin degrees. Usually, typical CCT are 2700K、3000K、4000K、5000K、5700K、6500K、7500K、9000K. Prindolite COB LED strip common CCT are 3000K 4000K 6500K; for other CCT is custom-made.
- CRI stands for Color Rendering Index (Ra) is a quantitative measure of the ability of a light source to reveal the colors of various objects faithfully in comparison with a natural or standard light source.
- FPC Width means the width of the base of COB strip, unit is mm, the common width is 4mm 5mm 8mm 10mm 12mm. Prindolite most common width is 5mm/8mm/10mm.
- Minimum Cut (unit: mm) is the minimum length of COB LED strip that can be cut. Usually, the minimum cut options are 1 light, 31.25mm and 50mm. Prindolite regular minimum cut is 31.25mm and 50mm.
- MOQ stands for Minimum Order Quantity, subject to the same item (means the same CCT, CRI and same other data). Different factories may have different requirement on MOQ. For Prindolite, we ask for MOQ>50000M for regular item, while for Custom made item MOQ>100000M.
About Wiring
- 5M/Reel，single wiring and single input;
- 10M/Reel，double wiring and double input；
- 20M/Reel，double wiring and double input
Light Effect & Advantages
Light effect depends on the light strip you choose. Let’s have a look at this combination of pictures. The left is used COB LED strip, the right is used conventional LED strip. The outcome is so obvious.
The Advantage of COB LED strip
- High light efficacy, better chip, phosphor and glue;
- Good heat dissipation, low light decay, anti-sulfurization;
- Linear uniform light, no dark dots;
- Bending resistance, no dead lights;
- High CRI, stay true light;
- Low-voltage 24V is safe and durable, with a long life of 3 years and more energy-saving;
- Custom services are available for no voltage decay strip and different light colors
The Most Popular CCTs
Typical CCT 3000K, warm light; typical CCT 4000K, neutral light; typical CCT 6000K, cool light.
Applications
COB LED strip can be used in any places or any lighting products that need to use LED strip.
Pay Attention
1, Choose Proper COB LED Strip For Your Places
When choose COB LED strip, we should take the environment, objects and style into consideration. Different applications require different COB LED strip type, such as single CCT, double CCT, RGB, matching with control system as well. Usually, warm light is more suitable for home, hotel, and places for relaxing; cool light is more suitable for office, and commercial places
2, Clean the surface before installing the COB LED strip.
Before installing, please clean the surface where the COB LED strip is supposed to install, to make sure it can stick tight.
3, Avoid sharp hard objects or high-temperature objects hitting the colloid
4, Pay attention to the cutting
Before install, please measure the length and make sure how many meters you need. When cutting is needed, please pay attention to cut at the right position as show in the picture. When more COB LED strip is needed, please solder at the right place as marked on the strip.
5, Peel off little by little while pasting the COB LED strip.
Don’t peel off the adhesive at a time to avoid the strip stick to itself.
6, When go with profile, please pay special attention to the following 2 points.
1) When installing, pay attention to the place where the cutting edge of the light strip is in contact with the bottom surface of the profile and stick Mylar tape to isolate it to avoid short circuit.
2)When installing at the corner, it is strictly forbidden to bend into a right angle, and it is strictly forbidden to directly bend and paste it on the surface of the profile.
7, Choose the proper driver for the COB LED strip
Usually, COB LED strip is DC12V /24V. When choosing the driver, you need to culculate the power supply of the total light strip first and the total power of the light strip should be lower than 80% of the rated power of the driver. For example, 5M COB Strip, DC24V, 12W/M, total power is 5*12W=60W. It should match a driver of 24V 100W.
8, Pay attention to the wiring
After the light strip is installed, we need to connect the strip to the output terminal of the power supply. Please do a good job of insulation, anti-short circuit and anti-corrosion treatment.
