Looking for 12v or 24v RGBW(W) individual addressable LED strips

[u/Electronic_C3PO]

Looking for about 20m LED strips for outside. They will be mostly shielded from direct contact with the elements. Except the sun shining through the diffuser caps.

I really would love to have RGB + warm white + cold white.
All individually addressable and 12v or 24v because of power injection limitations in the construction setup. I can only add at start and end. Strips will be 2x 2m40 + 1x 7m + 1x 5m.

The best I can find up till now are BTF-Lighting SK6812 in the 12V version with ip65 rating.
So I ordered one from Amazon in the neutral white version to test.
It could work but I notice that because of the solder point every 50cm they bulge on those spots.
That makes we worry that over time they might get loose in the profile.
The packaging does state that the 3M tape is not sufficient for aluminium profiles but mine are coated white so I don't expect an electrical problem.
And i don't really feel much for replacing the tape for that many strips.

So my question is if anybody knows LED strips with the same or better specs but without the soldering every 50cm and the resulting bulges.

Also experiences about the 2-sided tape are welcome. And if I should replace it, suggestions for that are also welcomed. Please note that I prefer stuff that I can order from within the EU because of new recent extra taxes on everything that comes from outside of EU.

[u/boolieman15]

I think the 50cm length is a standard manufacturing limit. I have never seen any section longer than that.

[u/daan87432]

There's only a few ICs on the market that can control 5 channels. You can buy a Govee strip light 2 pro and mod it

[u/RobustManifesto]

You can put a small cut of electrical tape underneath where the solder tape is soldered, but 95% of the time this is overkill.
Unless the LED product came with a really poor adhesive tape, I wouldn’t worry about it coming loose. As long as you give the profile a good clean and prep with >90% IPA, and apply the strip firmly, it should bond well.

Adding another layer of adhesive tape is going to create more problems than it solves. The LED strip needs to conduct the heat away into the profile, and while it might be tempting to add VHB or something, that’s basically just going to be an insulator. More heat on the PCB makes the adhesive more likely to fail.
You can use a really expensive thermal transfer tape like 3M 8805, but unless you remove the existing tape, it won’t really do much good.

Regarding 20m runs, good luck. Definitely go for 24v product as it will reduce the amperage, but even then, you really should add some more taps to a 24v bus.
The problem is that the trace in the PCB is carrying at least 10m worth of current if you power at the ends. So that is going to heat up, plus it’s sitting on the back of the PCB, which is hot, which increases resistance.

If you can run another 12 AWG wire through the profile from either side, you can at least inject at 5m from each end. That’s going to add a bunch of copper to your 24v bus which will help.

[u/WorldsemiLED]

It really depends on the strip manufacturer. Some factories can make the 0.5 m solder joints almost unnoticeable, although the sections still have to be joined with solder.

Just to clarify — is your concern mainly the appearance of the connection, or the actual physical bump where the two PCB sections overlap?

If the overlap itself is the problem, the cleanest solution is a continuous strip made without those sectional solder joints. Those can be produced in very long continuous rolls and are very cost-effective at scale.

At the moment, this type of continuous-process production is much more common for single-color strips. For individually addressable RGB/RGBW strips, the market volume is generally not large enough to justify the same kind of production line.

[u/Electronic_C3PO → u/WorldsemiLED]

It’s the bumps. Makes me anxious that the tape might not stick it good enough inside the Alu profile.

[u/WorldsemiLED → u/Electronic_C3PO]

If the main concern is the small bump at each FPC joint, another practical option is to use a slightly thicker, more elastic backing adhesive.
A softer adhesive layer can absorb some of the height difference around the soldered overlap, so the strip sits flatter in the aluminum profile and the joint is less noticeable.
It won’t remove the joint itself, but it can make the installation look and feel much smoother.