Commercial Grade – what are the benefits of a high-quality LED tape?

Why choose branded LED components?

Surface-Mounted Diodes:

InStyle LED’s commercial-grade tape uses surface-mounted diodes (SMDs) from Epistar, recognised as the market’s highest quality supplier of LED tape SMDs. While Epistar’s SMDs are more expensive than some cheap Chinese alternatives, they represent much better value for money. Among the advantages are:

• Brighter LEDs – Epistar’s 3528 and 5050 SMDs are among the brightest like-for-like LED tape SMDs you will find. Output is typically 30% – 50% brighter than cheaper Chinese alternatives.
• Vibrant colours – Epistar SMDs have a higher Colour Rendering Index (CRI) value score on the when compared to cheap Chinese alternatives. This means that LED strip lights with Epistar SMDs produce brighter, deeper and ‘truer’ colours.
• Colour consistency – At InStyle LED, we track Epistar’s SMDs by batch, to ensure that your LED tape is correctly colour-batched within each reel, and also from reel to reel. We record batch numbers, so if you need additional LED reels that match a previous order, we can oblige. (This is important in larger projects where many reels are being used – with cheaper SMDs and suppliers there can be major colour batch issues.)
• Accurate life expectancy – With Epistar components and good temperature control, the life expectancy of your InStyle LED strip lights will actually be real. Cheaper alternatives quote life expectancies that are very different to reality… and not in a good way!

Thicker Wider PCBs:

Another essential feature of our commercial-grade LED tape is the thickness of the printed circuit board (PCB). A thicker PCB helps disperse heat, so its mounted LEDs will run at a cooler temperature. This helps prolong the life expectancy of LEDs – which is why 70% of InStyle’s LED strip lights last for 50,000 hours or better.

Other manufacturers cut corners with their lower domestic-grade LED tapes, using 1-ounce PCB boards instead of 2- or 3-ounce. Cheaper LED strip lights also reduce cost with narrower PCB boards. A board 10mm wide (rather than InStyle’s 12mm,) can impact the tape’s operating temperature and therefore reduce the longevity of the LEDs. Thicker and wider PCBs contribute to the superior heat dispersal that helps us achieve our tapes’ 50,000 hour life expectancy.

Resistors:

All resistors on commercial-grade LED tape are correctly managed for optimum performance. This lets the LEDs run at the right brightness levels and temperature, which helps our LED tapes achieve their excellent longevity. Many alternative LED strip lights – domestic-grade and cheaper – use LEDs that are less bright, so they have to overpower their resistors to make their LEDs as bright as branded Epistar SMDs. So even though they appear similar at first, such LEDs may start to lose brightness after as little as 2000 hours due to poor resistor management. Over time, this only gets worse.

InStyle’s High Quality LED Tape vs Cheap LED Tapes

LED tape suppliers come in many types – from eBay and other internet sellers, through electrical wholesalers and shops, all the way to qualified electricians. Prices vary widely, yet the products all look very similar and quoted specifications seem identical.

InStyle LED have been supplying LED strip lights for over 10 years. Our products use only premium components, and are all built to last with a 2 year warranty. Unfortunately our competitors don’t always adhere to the same high standards.

This pair of comparison videos explain some of the differences between high quality and low-cost LED strip lights, and test InStyle’s LED tape against an online LED tape supplier that claims to offer the highest quality on the market.

High Quality vs Low Cost White LED tapes