This video was inspired by the problems with the illuminated props used in the Bollywood act during the 2015 Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The props were made in India and shipped across, so certain elements of their design were a bit suspect. That said, they more or less lasted the full run of the show with some regular tender lovin' care from the military and myself.
The single biggest weakness with the LED tape was the way it is manufactured in 500mm sections that are then linked together with a solder bridge across the pairs of power pads. That joint was just not strong enough to handle the high level of flexing the tape was exposed to on the fabric of the prop.
The fix was to patch in a new piece of tape. I chose to be generous in the way I cut the tape to give full pads on both ends, then soldered a bridge wire between them, adding a small amount of two part resin to some for extra strength too.
The single biggest weakness with the LED tape was the way it is manufactured in 500mm sections that are then linked together with a solder bridge across the pairs of power pads. That joint was just not strong enough to handle the high level of flexing the tape was exposed to on the fabric of the prop.
The fix was to patch in a new piece of tape. I chose to be generous in the way I cut the tape to give full pads on both ends, then soldered a bridge wire between them, adding a small amount of two part resin to some for extra strength too.
I feel your pain
Is it possible to have a controller at each end of the tape? I'm thinking IR one end, Bluetooth the other on a RGBW tape?
I have come across good quality led strips / tapes with no or minimum joints
or just reinforce those area to begin with
I wonder, Clive; Does pleated flex / ribbon wire exist? Seems like that could be a solution for flexible areas, if said cable also had elastic integrated into it somehow.
I don't know if the waterproof stuff you use is the same as mine, but I found that you could peel up the adhesive on the back, exposing the contacts on the underside rather cleanly.
Weak solder joints on costumes: I haven't built any since the incandescent era, but I got in the habit of glopping the connections with a bit of hot-melt glue. It kept them from flexing and breaking at the connection. Since the glob of glue usually tapered off onto the wires, it formed a graduated strain relief. And if I did need to get into the connection again, a soldering iron works fine as a hot-melt glue gun. No need to remove the glue before re-soldering the connection! 🙂
So I've been binge watching your videos since I discovered your channel and I came across this. I had this exact same issue a few years ago. I solved the issue with getting custom 1000mm sections made since I never used anything longer. I sell LED costumes so this is super important. Love your channel by the way!
I imagine preparing a roll of tape by having a pile of pre-snipped tiny copper wire bits that you could drop onto each solder joint. As well, a piece of fiberglass reinforced packing tape to go on the back of the joint and a blob of epoxy on the front after the soldering.
Although unless it's epoxy with a long cure time, you'd have to stop and mix new every so often. Maybe something like JB Weld?
Great information on the rgb lights, I actually just ordered a couple strings and other pieces so that I can run them along the ceiling of my room. Do you have any idea on how noticeable the brightness drop caused by the voltage drop would be from running more than 2 strings in series would be?
+bigclivedotcom i have a question what can LED light strips be used for?
I wonder if something like some 0.5mm PCB material stuck on the back as a stiffener would help. Some tapes have pads on both sides, so an option may be to fully overlap them & solder face to face so you have a thin layer of solder over wide contact area
I have also a salvaged waterproof LED tape, but whenever I try to get the silicone off it takes white paint off too.
all ur videos r awesome, can u hack on all in one solar power led street lights. every thing fit into 1 panel. it so interesting.
What about applying epoxy to each of the joints before they break – would that make them solid enough to stop the break happening ?