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Arc LED Strip vs eBay/Amazon Strip Lighting

6988 Views 0 Liked Posted on: February 19th 2019
By: Ben Kowalski
It's time we talked about the commercial grade LED strip we offer, right? LED strip lighting has fast become one of the most popular lighting options on the market and unfortunately, has been drowned in low cost and quality tape lights. Since being in the LED strip lighting market in the UK, we have had many calls asking, what makes your strip different? A huge percentage of our customers are looking to change their existing strip lighting due to the fact theirs has failed within 12 months, loss or brightness or voltage drop running in long lengths. This is where we have the solution. We have spent a lot, and we mean A LOT of time, effort and resources to ensure we only supply the best quality lighting available.
 

Things to look out for when buying LED Strip Lights
 
PCB Thickness – This is one of the most important factors when buying LED strips. The copper thickness should always be 3oz and above. Having thick cooper ensures that electricity can easily flow through LED tape lights. If you do not have enough copper, like with many knock of strips you can purchase for a cheap price, there will be an increased risk of electrical resistance, heat builds up which then leads to voltage drop, loss of brightness and more often than not – early LED failure. 
 
CRI (Colour Rendering Index) – This is a very important factor to consider before buying lighting. Essentially the CRI of an LED helps to light your home in true colour. So if you find yourself struggling to see if you're picking a navy or black jumper, this is more than likely because the current lighting you have in your home has a low CRI. The rating scales from 0-100, 100 being how the colours would appear under direct sunlight. When buying LED strip lights, never go below CRI 80. Our commercial grade range of strip lighting ranges from 90-95 CRI – the best on the market. 
 
Mounting options  - When buying LED strips, we always recommend to mount into aluminium profile. This is to help with heat dissipation. 
 
LEDs Per Metre – This is another essential point to keep a close eye on when buying LED tape. Ultimately, the more LEDs per metre, the less spotting you will see. With lower wattage strip lights such as 4.8W, you should look for 60 LEDs/m. As your wattage increased, so should the number of LEDs. Our high-end range goes from 60 all the way to 300 LEDs per metre. 
 
Warranty – We cannot stress enough how important this is. You are making an investment, if something were to go wrong, would you want to fork out more money to replace it? With many eBay, Amazon purchases (though not all), you will not be offered a warranty or maybe 1 year if you are lucky! Here at Arc LED we have total confidence within our product and are proud to offer an extended 5-year warranty on our standard range. We will also be introducing a premium 7-year warranty LED strip – so keep those eyes peeled! 
 

The difference in Arc LED Chips
Arc LED Chip Components
 
Here at Arc LED we aim to produce all key components and raw materials to better ensure quality and product time. 
 
Gel and Fluorescent Powder -  Our factories only use top brand glue from Japan Shin-Etsu or US Dow Corning, and phosphor power from US Intematix.
 
Gold Wiring – Here we use gold wiring. Heraeus gold wire 99.9% purity at a diameter of 1.0UM or above ensures better heat resistance and durability.
 
LED Chip – If you notice your LED chips are round, small sized, sliced or with undisclosed branding it is probably more than likely your Epistar chip is fake. Here we use Epistar branded LED chips for high performance and CRI.

 
LED Lead Frame – Taiwanese Ethyl brand, non-reconditioned plastic and 100% purity copper LED frame increases longevity. Most knock of LED strips are manufactured using low-quality nozzle plastic and iron lead frames increasing the risk of failure significantly.
 
Now, we are not saying 'do not buy LED strip lighting from Amazon or eBay', you may well find yourself a bargain. However, don't forget to consider the factors above when making your decision. We are confident in our products and offer a minimum 5-year warranty on our LED strip lights, drivers and controls.
 
We have an exciting video currently being produced to show you exactly how our LED strip lights are made. We hope to share this with you very soon!
Tag: Quality led lighting
Posted in: Arc LED, Home Improvement, LED Strip Lights
Author: Ben Kowalski

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