All you need to know before buying COB led strip

All you need to know before buying COB led strip

LED strips have been a trendy DIY lighting solution for many applications for many years. That’s why we are so interested in the latest LED strip technology, COB flexible led strip lighting.

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What is COB?

COB stands for Chip on Board in the LED field, which basically means that the LED chip is packaged directly on the circuit board (PCB). Chip on Board” LEDs for flexible strip lights are sometimes referred to as flip-chips.

Flip chip LEDs are a minimalist approach to LED construction. Unlike ordinary SMD (Surface Mount Device) LEDs with a lamp bead holder and phosphor coating, the ‘flip chip’ in COB LED strips retains only the LED chip, yellow phosphor cover layer, and connection pads.

How is COB LED flexible strip manufactured?

1. Expanding Chips
2. Die bonding
3. Attaching resistors onto FPCB
4. Reflowing at high temperature over 65 degrees for finished PCB with chips and resistors
5. Mixing fluorescent powder glue
6. Applying the mixed glue on the surface of chips and resistors using an auto glue machine
7. Baking the glued cob led strip in the oven
8. Conducting QC testing after cooling
9. Soldering the PCB into 5-meter reels or custom lengths
10. Performing an aging test, QC test, then packing and shipping

Advantages and Disadvantages of COB LED Flex Strips

Now that you have a basic understanding of how COB LED strips are produced, let's explore their advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:

No LED lighting dot, even without aluminum profiles.

One of the significant complaints about traditional LED strips is the visible lighting dot. In contrast, a 480 chip/M COB strip emits a soft, uniform light with no hot spots, offering a more visually appealing illumination even in tight spaces. This makes COB flex strips ideal for applications where:

1. The LED strip itself cannot be hidden from view.
2. The illuminated surface is within 2 feet of the light bar.
3. Surrounding surfaces are reflective like granite or glass.
4. A neon effect is desired.

More flexibility

COB strips are more flexible than other flexible strips due to the small size of the diodes and uniform weight distribution. This uniformity facilitates easy installation without planning around protruding SMD LEDs, making it easier to fit into tight spaces and turn corners.

More stable, fewer problems

1. In COB strips, the chip attaches directly to the FPCB without gold wire, reducing issues related to broken gold wire inside LED beads.
2. COB strip circuits use groups of three chips in parallel, ensuring continuation of light even if a group of two chips fails. With 480 chips per meter, a malfunctioning chip barely affects overall illumination, unlike traditional SMD strips where a bad lamp bead leads to visible dark areas.

Wide emitting angle

COB light strips have a luminous angle of 180 degrees compared to the traditional SMD light strip's 120 degrees.

Disadvantage:

1. Maintaining color consistency is tough due to the absence of COB strips binning machines, making it hard to ensure 100% consistency within a 3-step color tolerance.
2. COB strip light efficiency is currently around 120LM/W, making them unsuitable for applications requiring higher light efficiency.
3. The recommended maximum power for COB strips is 15W/m due to heat dissipation challenges, potentially shortening the strip's lifespan if exceeded.

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit BLUE DIAMOND，COB LED Strip