SKV89's LED Strips and bulbs test results

Jerommel · 2020-05-20T13:10:55.000Z

snakebite:

not good with variations in led vf and drop due to length.
the ones closest to the feed will be overdriven.
the resistors relieve this.

Jerommel:

Meh, bypass the resistors with solder blobs and use a real driver for the lengths you cut yourself.

Never caused me any problems, but i do tend to underdrive them.
YMMV, as they say.

Curious · 2020-10-22T13:51:43.000Z

I’m totally new here. Where can I find explanations about all those parameters?

Joshk · 2020-10-22T15:48:52.000Z

It’s a good question, I just don’t have much time to type. Maybe this along with google will help… CCT is the warm/cool choice you have. DUV is unwanted tint shift, usually green or rosy. CRI is a measure of the how balanced the rainbow is, under 90 is not very good. R9 is one of the rainbow measurements, it’s the hardest with modern tech, it is usually far lower than 90.
The others are a bit harder to explain in a short amount of time. I hope this helps.

Curious · 2020-10-22T17:22:27.000Z

Thanks Joshk.
Which parameter is relevant for blue light level? I guess that low CCT and an even spectrum mean low blue light but is there a more direct measure of it? Do you have a definition of the blue peak value and typical values for incandescent bulb, for example. Google didn’t help me with that.

SKV89 · 2020-10-22T17:33:54.000Z

In general, the higher the CRI, the lower the blue wavelength because the phosphor needs to convert more blue wavelength into other wavelengths to achieve the high CRI. Of course lower CCT means lower blue light because more blue light needs to be converted in order to achieve the lower CCT. But you never know unless you test them. You can compare the blue peaks in the ones I tested.

Joshk · 2020-10-22T18:24:29.000Z

Curious:

Thanks Joshk.
Which parameter is relevant for blue light level? I guess that low CCT and an even spectrum mean low blue light but is there a more direct measure of it? Do you have a definition of the blue peak value and typical values for incandescent bulb, for example. Google didn’t help me with that.

The 460nm “blue peak” of a 2700k LED bulb is about 1000x LESS than the sun at noon today. “blue fear” mostly comes from shady salesmen and click-bait writers.

Joshk · 2020-10-22T19:17:57.000Z

To better quantify what I am saying, The sun is putting out 2000mw/m² of 460nm blue light right now. My 2700k LED bulbs put out 2mw/m². My meter was in relative mode back when I was testing cool-white bulbs, so I don’t know the numbers for them right now. Factory defaults…

Curious · 2020-10-22T20:04:50.000Z

Thanks for the answers. Just to be sure - is it true that whenever the blue peak is low and the spectrum is similar to incandescent light there will be not much UV? So there’s no need for getting a separate UV measure?

Joshk · 2020-10-22T20:58:43.000Z

Yea a quality 2700k LED bulb will look incredibly similar to a 2700k incandescent to your eye. The meter will know the difference though. LEDs get away with the difference so well because our sensitivity to light drops off bad out where the LEDs drop off. Honestly, I think we (humanity) has the tech to fill the graph a lot better, it’s just not worth the extra power and heat to do so.

2660k Incandescent bulb:

2600k LED bulb:

There are some specialty LEDs that use a UV emitter (I think user Sunlike sells one), but I have never seen a second seller of them.

SKV89 · 2021-03-22T23:36:27.000Z

I ordered a new batch of Auxmer (formerly Auxma) LED strips to test. My all time favorite was their 2400k. Seems the quality haven't changed after two or more years. They recently released the 2200k, which is also amazing. The 2000k is like candle light and perfect for the bedroom as it produces negligible amount of blue light, which means it is the best for sleep.

Auxmer 120LEDs/m LED Strip, CRI95 DC12V/24V, 28.8W/m 2000K	2007K	-0.0009 DUV	95.3 CRI	Blue light relative amplitude 0.07	94.5 R9	94.1 R12	92 Rf	106 Rg	https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32948777264.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.54fe4c4dn4hG5Y
Auxmer 120LEDs/m LED Strip, CRI95 DC12V/24V, 28.8W/m 2200K	2109K	-0.0024 DUV	94.5 CRI	Blue light relative amplitude 0.12	90.3 R9	81.9 R12	93 Rf	104 Rg	https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32948777264.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.54fe4c4dn4hG5Y
Auxmer 120LEDs/m LED Strip, CRI95 DC12V/24V, 28.8W/m 2400K	2340K	-0.0049 DUV	95.0 CRI	Blue light relative amplitude 0.22	97.8 R9	88.2 R12	91 Rf	108 Rg	https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32948777264.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.54fe4c4dn4hG5Y
Auxmer 120LEDs/m LED Strip, CRI95 DC12V/24V, 28.8W/m 2700K	2505K	-0.0018 DUV	96.5 CRI	Blue light relative amplitude 0.24	94.6 R9	88.5 R12	94 Rf	102 Rg	https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32948777264.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.54fe4c4dn4hG5Y
Auxmer 120LEDs/m LED Strip, CRI95 DC12V/24V, 28.8W/m 3000K	2955K	-0.0023 DUV	96.0 CRI	Blue light relative amplitude 0.41	88.7 R9	90.7 R12	95 Rf	101 Rg	https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32948777264.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.54fe4c4dn4hG5Y

JaredM · 2021-03-17T04:03:47.000Z

Thanks so much for these tests! I recently had my first experience with E17As in 2000K and I’m hooked. Never really ventured below 3000K before. I’m liking the look of the 2000 and 2400s… Also going to try and replace some kitchen cabinet lighting with some ~3500K strips. Anything in that range you have experience with?

SKV89 · 2021-03-17T05:53:01.000Z

Sorry I haven’t tried 3500K. I’m using 3000K for my kitchen cabinet strips. Looks pretty white actually especially at night time when the other lights are about 2700k and under. Incandescent is about 2700k

JaredM · 2021-03-17T06:00:07.000Z

Mine are currently in the ~3300K range and look really nice. I wouldn’t mind I don’t have a super accurate way of measuring CCT though, just my calibrated eyeball. The other way I do it is with a sheet of copy paper and my cell phone camera in manual mode where it will display CCT. Who knows how accurate that is, either.

evanh · 2021-03-19T22:22:03.000Z

Thanks for the tests! Curious about the 2000K, as I don’t see them as an option when I follow your links, but I have a sunset/sunrise simulation project on my list, and it sounds like they’d be perfect.

Edit: Also, did you test the 19 or 28W variation? And in either case, did you find the 95lm/W accurate?

SKV89 · 2021-03-19T23:36:38.000Z

evanh:

Thanks for the tests! Curious about the 2000K, as I don’t see them as an option when I follow your links, but I have a sunset/sunrise simulation project on my list, and it sounds like they’d be perfect.

Edit: Also, did you test the 19 or 28W variation? And in either case, did you find the 95lm/W accurate?

Please see post 47. It includes the 2000K and all of them are the 28.8W version. I do not have a way to test lumens for led strips. They are damn bright though but over time the brightness decreases noticeably due to the heat. These need to be adhered to aluminum channels to dissipate heat. However, I have these adhered to wood which does not dissipate heat. You can get a lower power variant to better preserve brightness and longevity of the LED

evanh · 2021-03-19T23:40:38.000Z

I’m referencing post 47 - the link you included for the 2000K takes me to a product page that doesn’t include a 2000K listing. Unless the “Amber” option is 2000K?

SKV89 · 2021-03-20T01:49:53.000Z

You need to contact the seller for the 2000K version. It is not listed.

evanh · 2021-03-20T01:52:10.000Z

Oh okay, thanks for the info! Thanks to that and your test results, I think I’ve settled on the 2000K for the end of my nightly sunset

SKV89 · 2021-03-22T20:45:28.000Z

evanh:

Oh okay, thanks for the info! Thanks to that and your test results, I think I’ve settled on the 2000K for the end of my nightly sunset :sunglasses:

Keep in mind 2000k is an acquired taste. The first time I turned on 2000k in the daytime, I didn’t like it thinking it was too orange. Half a year later I used it at night time and after my eyes adjust to the color temp (takes about 10-20 minutes), it doesn’t appear orange anymore and colors really pop out due to the high Rf and Rg values. Now I really love 2000k for bedtime use or when I need to preserve night time vision.

Barkuti · 2021-03-22T22:47:49.000Z

Auxmer 120LEDs/m LED Strip, CRI95 DC12V/24V, 28.8W/m 2000K	2007K	-0.0009 DUV	95.3 CRI	Blue light relative amplitude 0.07	R9: 94.5	R12: 94.1	92 Rf	106 Rg	2000K link
Auxmer 120LEDs/m LED Strip, CRI95 DC12V/24V, 28.8W/m 2200K	2109K	-0.0024 DUV	94.5 CRI	Blue light relative amplitude 0.12	R9: 90.3	R12: 81.9	93 Rf	104 Rg	2200K link
Auxmer 120LEDs/m LED Strip, CRI95 DC12V/24V, 28.8W/m 2400K	2340K	-0.0049 DUV	95.0 CRI	Blue light relative amplitude 0.22	R9: 97.8	R12: 88.2	91 Rf	108 Rg	2400K link
Auxmer 120LEDs/m LED Strip, CRI95 DC12V/24V, 28.8W/m 2700K	2505K	-0.0018 DUV	96.5 CRI	Blue light relative amplitude 0.24	R9: 94.6	R12: 88.5	94 Rf	102 Rg	2700K link
Auxmer 120LEDs/m LED Strip, CRI95 DC12V/24V, 28.8W/m 3000K	2955K	-0.0023 DUV	96.0 CRI	Blue light relative amplitude 0.41	R9: 88.7	R12: 90.7	95 Rf	101 Rg	3000K link

Made some adjustments to the above table by SKV89, namely for it to be considerably less wide. Helps quite a bit when viewing this thread page on mobile. It may still be good if some column widths are fine tuned, can't do it myself with ease now because (as usual) I'm on my smartphone.

However, for this to have any practical effect SKV89 needs to edit his above table and apply the changes, or copy and paste this one.