IP67 strips in lieu of air-seeder arches

[Iain]

Hi all,

As everything from air seeder tube to hula hoop tubing has gone up massively in price, I'm thinking of buying IP65/67 strips lights to make my arches this year. It's more expensive per pixel but I'm hoping not too bad when factoring in that I don't have to buy the tube.

I have a couple of questions about this sort of strip light stuff (never used it before):

• what do you think about using it out in the tropical rain? I can waterproof the ends but hoping the tube itself is fine as-is
• I think they're saying $9.50/m for 5m rolls so that's $47.50 per roll?
• it says 60 LEDs/m, but I'm assuming that's per-colour, which would be 5cm spacing. Are the different colours spaced out or 3 together like a node? Does this look OK for arches when mixing colours together?

Lastly, not really a question about the strip lighting itself, but do you think I should make 12 single-arches, or 4 triple-arches or a combination of the two?

Any other advice on anything would be appreciated

thanks!

 

[thewanderingpine]

So not that specific one (it’s only 10 controllable sections per metre)

One challenge — this stuff isn’t going to stand up on its own — you’ll need to work out how to give it integrity.

 

[Iain]

Ah I wondered what the IC per meter meant, thanks! So this one which is strangely cheaper.

Re: standing up, yeah I have a few ideas for that.

 

[BluePat]

With the ip67 I used it for air seeder arches and found the protective tube proplomatic to work with, it is difficult to seal the ends, and cable ties can break were just some of the issues. If I had to order again I would go the ip68 with the coating.
Having said that there are some people who have had good success with it.

As for the singles or triples, single arches give you more flexibility in placement if you want to reconfigure, however I have made several triples to act as a fenceline.

 

[darylc]

The last I saw of IP68 coating, water had gotten in under it and corroded the strip.

I like the IP67 silicone tube better, and it's great if you treat it well.

 

[Skymaster]

Yep, the tubing is infinitely easier to work with than the gel-strip. And you still need to worry about sealing up the gel stuff when cutting/splicing, which is a pain to do without getting molten plastic gunk everywhere.

it says 60 LEDs/m, but I'm assuming that's per-colour, which would be 5cm spacing. Are the different colours spaced out or 3 together like a node? Does this look OK for arches when mixing colours together?

Each LED is a full RGB led, so the colours pix properly.
As @thewanderingpine mentioned, there is "ICs per meter"- which is the number of controllable segments. Typically 3 LEDs are grouped and controlled by one chip in 12V, which is a way of reducing the voltage, rather than using resistors / regulators. That means that at 60leds/m, you have 20 controllable segments, each 5cm wide, but with three full-colour LEDs doing the same thing.

If you get 5V WS2812B strip, they are all individually controllable. There are others like WS2815 which are a 12V version, but the cost goes up with those.

 

[BluePat]

The last I saw of IP68 coating, water had gotten in under it and corroded the strip.

I like the IP67 silicone tube better, and it's great if you treat it well.

Thanks daryl good feedback , with that I think I might reconsider my statement “if I had to order again I would go the ip68” and change it to; if i had to order again I would go with pixels cause strips were a real pain in the butt! Having said that there are some people who have had good success with them.

 

[thewanderingpine]

So @SarahD does the most interesting layouts with the neon flex strips - but for some reason I didnt take a photo of it at the Melbourne mini.

Something like this one:

EDITED 17th DEC, 2023. DO NOT BUY THIS STRIP. See photo below.
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mLhoUWA

 

[Iain]

and change it to; if i had to order again I would go with pixels cause strips were a real pain in the butt

I hear you, but I’m concerned that Christmas is our wettest season and the pixels will corrode. I’m considering waterproofing a few hundred metres worth just to make them last the next season!

claims to be fully addressable … I ordered this one but haven’t taken it out of the packet or tested it.

I’d love to know your results if you’re getting to it soon?

 

[thewanderingpine]

I’ll see if I can hook it up to a tester later this week.

 

[thewanderingpine]

So I never hooked those strips up to a tester. But I put them out in my show - and realised a couple of days later they just weren’t working right. Turns out they were cheap for a reason. They appeared to have very limited copper traces and smouldered a hole in the silicon. (It’s possible this was due to physical damage - but I’ve binned both of mine).

 

[MikeKrebs]

What did the autopsy show? Just a random place on the copper trace or were there electronics there?

 

[Skymaster]

I am also curious to know the autopsy results, should they not have already been completely binned. I was looking at some of this stuff for wireframes so would love to know the failure mode.

 

[thewanderingpine]

So I've salvaged most of it from the bin. What other stuff should I check for the autopsy?

 

[MikeKrebs]

Cut the cover back about 6 inches in either direction. Look it over for what actually failed. Evidence of stress? Evidence of moisture ingress? Failed electronics?